Hike #898; Wilson/Easton to Riegelsville

Hike #898; Wilson/Easton to Rieglesville

11/25/15 Easton/Wilson to Rieglesville with Shane Blische and Dan Asnis

This next hike would be another point to point, which I had high hopes of a lot of people wanting to attend, but instead only three of us braved the night to walk from Wilson to Rieglesville.
I thought this was a great concept for a hike. I will probably repeat the same one again, hopefully with better attendance, but either way, we had a nice time.

Historic map, circa 1900

I never get tired of hiking the Easton PA area. There’s a ton of history and easy trails that lend themselves very well to the night hike concept.
I figured we would get a huge group to come out because it was the night before Thanksgiving, everyone would be off work and looking for something to do. Such was apparently not the case.
I had planned again to head to the Family Thrift, give people the chance to get cheap hiking suits, then head southbound toward Rieglesville.
We did start with some shopping after initially meeting at the former Rieglesville NJ station site, but Shane picked out something and opted not to get it because he didn’t want to carry it the whole way, and didn’t want to wait in line.

Former Easton and Northern bridge

We got on the trail right behind the place, the former Central Railroad of NJ line that went to the east to connect with Lehigh Valley Railroad’s former Easton and Northern. Both these lines were now multi use trails through town, and the Easton and Northern had been somewhat recently extended further. It only went to an access point to the east and then there are two undecked trestles I wanted to show to Shane.

Historic CNJRR view

We turned right on the former Easton and Northern, where the trails connect. The actual former junction site would have been a bit to the south because the grades of the trails are a bit off. We followed the path across the several roads and under the new culvert, then got off when we got beyond the trail section at the old trestle. From here, we turned right on the road, heading south.
We continued on roads to the school on the slope above the Lehigh, and then followed the edge of their fields. When we got to the retention pond section, we cut off to the left through mowed grass down to the handsome old stone building we had gone by on so many other night hikes. The switch backing road that leads past it has the paved pathway that leads down to the D&L Trail, former Central Railroad of NJ main line. We turned left on this, to where D&L Trail cuts to the right and descended to the Old Glendon Bridge.

Historic view of a CNJ engine near Glendon Bridge

We crossed the old bridge, turned left, and were soon on the former towpath of the Lehigh Canal. We would follow canal pretty much for the entire way from here all the way back to Rieglesville PA.
Shane liked it enough because the towpath closely paralleled the former Lehigh Valley Railroad main line, which was right above us on a slope across the canal to the right.

Historic photo

A very rare photo of Ironton Railroad Baldwin diesel #751 doing local service in Easton after Conrail took over in late 1976 Photy by Roger Durfee
We continued above the former Glendon Ironworks site, but this time we didn’t take the time to go into the ruins. There was a long way to go, and I thought some might still come to meet us, so wanted to get to a good access point within reasonable time.

Historic photo

Lehigh Valley Railroad ALCo "hammerhead" RS3 #211 heads north on the Easton & Northern Branch about to cross over on the branch's high Lehigh River truss bridge. March 1976, photo by Richard Jahn
We continued on, and passed the old lock, the second from last on the Lower Division of Lehigh Canal. I told Shane about the time I jump flipped off it with my phone at three am on a night hike. The canal was almost totally empty now, probably for Winter dredging, and the canal lock too was empty. We continued from here to the next former lock sites, and former lock tender’s house. The former Easton and Northern Railroad bridge towered above the lock site.

The Easton & Northern Branch of the L ehigh Valley Railroad bridge over the Lehigh River. (Library of Congress)

The Easton and Northern bridge is one of the scariest bridges I had ever walked across. I had only done it twice; once with the group and once with my former girlfriend, Cathy Fisher. The ties are rotten and it’s only single tracked. I hadn’t been on the thing since maybe 2002. Today, if I attempted someone would probably come after me.
We continued on the canal from this point, where it started following the slack water section of the Lehigh rather than it’s own trench. It was a lovely night, and relatively warm.
While walking along this nice section of the Lehigh River, we started hearing bangs. They were setting off fireworks from somewhere nearby. When we came to an open area, we had a good view of the fireworks, so we stood still to watch them through the grand finale. Shane found out later that this was a Phillipsburg High School Football Pep Rally that had the fireworks.

Historic view of the CNJ tracks with Lehigh Canal towpath below from Mount Ida

We continued on along the towpath, which was pleasant, below Mount Ida and under Rt 611. This is always a beautiful, well lit area. I had to stop for a few moments to try to get a good photo of the Rt 611 bridge with the old Central Railroad of NJ main line bridge towering above it. I think I got a pretty good one.

My favorite shot I took of the bridges

We continued walking, and considered going up to McDonalds for some food, but no one called to meet up with me, so I figured we’d just continue on. I wasn’t really hungry anyway. We made our way out to the forks of the Lehigh and the Delaware, where the Lehigh Canal met the Delaware Canal.

Historic postcard view of the Forks of the Lehigh and Delaware

The forks have always been a very interesting and historic site. First, the two canals we were walking met here, but there was also once a wooden dam that provided enough slack water on the Delaware for boats to ferry across to the Morris Canal and it’s Inclined Plane #11 West. It’s the only place I can think of that was the junction of three different canals.

Another night shot I took of the Lehigh and Hudson River RR bridge

If the canals were not enough, there were several railroads here. Three of these railroads had their own bridges over the Delaware River at about the same spot: the Central Railroad of NJ, Lehigh Valley Railroad, and the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad.

Former Central Railroad of NJ bridge over the Lehigh at 611

On the NJ side, they connected with both Shane’s favorite, the Belvidere Delaware Railroad, and with the Morris and Essex, which was for most of it’s life a branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western.
We reached the northermost lock on the Lehigh Canal, and we checked out the fish ladder while Dan took advantage of the portajohn on site. We then headed south, under both the CNJ and LV railroad bridges.

Lehigh Valley RS11 #7640 and "hammerhead" RS3 #211 lead a coal train destined to be interchanged at Penn Central Kent Yard in Phillipsburg for shipping on the Bel-Del south to the Philidelphia docks or north to the power plants along the Delaware River.
March 1976, photo by Don Dorflinger
We had a nice time walking the canal south. We weren’t usually too far from Rt 611, and there was a bright full moon that shone the way and even cast our shadows well. The time went by fast.

Delaware Canal near Raubsville

In a lot of ways it was good that no one showed up. Shane and I got the chance to catch up and talk more railroad stuff, and Dan contributed as well as learned from Shane’s computer mind when it comes to these things.
It’s amazing how he knows so many facts about these railroads, when many of them he’s never seen let alone walked, only experienced them through literature and images.

Historic Delaware Canal in Raubsville

There was not a soul out along the path. I pointed out on the slope above and across the canal where the old trolley line right of way was. It was discernible with the amount of light we had from the moon, and Shane and I are talking about coordinating a hike on the trolley lines down near where he lives. It’d probably be fun to try to trace the ones up near Easton as well.

Historic view of present Rt 611, trolley tracks, Delaware Canal, and Bel Del Railroad across the Delaware

We stopped for a nice break when we got to Roosevelt Recreation Area.
When Delaware Canal State Park was first dedicated, it was Roosevelt State Park, but was changed back to it’s historic name, with only this recreation site bearing the Roosevelt name.
We went to the restroom and hung out to warm up a bit. It was so nice and warm inside that heading back out afterwards was quite cold.

Historic Delaware Canal in the dark

We passed through the little hamlets and villages, and at times near to people’s houses, but we never saw anyone. Raubsville was lovely and quiet. We didn’t have even a peep from anyone until we got to just before the last great bend before reaching Rieglesville.

Night scene on the canal

Just before that last bend, and in an area of narrows, we could hear people on the NJ side partying or something. There were cars parked who’s lights we could see, and we could barely make out someone walking around. I started making some strange sounds to creep them out. I think I freaked them out at first, but then they started answering, and we ended up making ridicules noises. It’d be funny if one day we ran into the people who were hanging out over there.

Historic view of Rieglesville Station

The distance near the end was a bit more than I had imagined; when we got to that bend, we figured we were almost there, but I think that was only at around the Carpentersville NJ area. We could not see the bridge at Rieglesville quite yet. I watched my phone and it’s GPS to figure out when we were about three miles from the end, so we could call Shane’s mom to come and pick him up when we got close.
It really didn’t take too long. Shane was starting to have some foot pain, because he hadn’t been out walking in a while. Also, we really hadn’t taken a break on this hike. We were pretty much constantly moving the entire time save for the brief stop a Roosevelt Recreation Area.
We knew when we were close when we got into the town section of Rieglesville, and then to the Highlands Trail bridge over the canal. We climbed up here, and then made our way across the Roebling Rieglesville Bridge to the NJ side. Shane’s mom was already waiting when we got there to finish the hike.
It was really a nice hike to catch up and talk about some railroad history, while enjoying the nice weather and full moon.