Hike #1317; Mountain Top and Glen Summit Loop

Hike #1317; Mountain Top and Glen Summit Loop

4/12/20 Mountaintop and Glen Summit Loop with Jillane Becker, Michael Krejsa, Brittany Audrey, Professor John DiFiore, and Justin Gurbisz

This next hike would be another point to point, in an atypical move where I posted the same area and theme for the hike two weeks in a row.

437 view

The world is in a state of crazy fear, and we cannot easily just get away with any hike, and so this time I figured the previous week worked out well, we might as well do the next section up.
I made it for Easter Sunday. By doing so, we would likely not have any major problems with people seeing a group of us around.
Like the previous week’s hike, this one would be a loop using both the Central Railroad of New Jersey and Lehigh Valley Railroads, competitor companies for which the lines closely parallel each other from the New Jersey eastern ports all the way to the coal mines of Pennsylvania.

Former CNJ grade at the bridge overpass

At this point, the Jersey Central line is still active, while the Lehigh Valley line is abandoned and now most of the way the D&L Trail, Black Diamond section.
The majority of the hike would be out of sight, but there were some places in there that would not be. I didn’t want to chance walking through a town too much if it was going to be busy, but on Easter, we could do this. By doing that, we set ourselves up for other less sketchy stuff up ahead I thought. It seemed like a solid plan. There is certainly a lot of woods on the other side of Mountain Top, which would be near our turn around point.

A view from the tracks

I decided to have this hike overlap the previously just slightly because there was better parking at the next State Game Lands #119 lot down from where we turned back on the last one.
I thought it was a great meeting point, but Brittany put the GPS coordinates in wrong or something, and Diane I thought was coming but I didn’t see her.
Oh well, we headed out anyway. There was a path Jillane found down from across the street to the active tracks. This section of the tracks is pretty secluded, so it would be fine.

A view to Penobscot Mountain

It was relaxing almost right away. I felt better than I’d felt for the past several days with all of the craziness. We soon went over top of Rt 437 which uses a concrete arch.

Old L&S stone work

I wanted to hurry across this so no one would see us going over, but there were pretty literally no cars going over.
I watched the roads coming into Pennsylvania, and I only saw two Pennsylvania plates after driving over an hour. The majority going into PA are NY plates, and they’re not coming from upstate. If they were, they’d be coming by way of 84, NOT Interstate 80. Many of them have second homes in Monroe County, but many of them just want to escape the madness that is the city at this moment.

Desolate

After crossing the bridge, I noticed a secondary right of way below us to the right which was climbing gradually to the same level as the tracks we were walking.

Mike found his switch

I’m certain that this was the earlier right of way for the bridge that the concrete one replaced. They almost always build the new bridges next to the old ones so there is no interruption in service.
We moved ahead, and there were a lot of dead trees around. I was thinking probably from the new wave of Gypsy Moth infestation, or maybe one of the many other bugs around.
The view to the left, which was south at this point toward the Nescopeck area was quite nice. We could see mountains in the distance and a bit into the valleys. The road, Church Road, was above us to the right, but not very busy so no one bothered us down there just yet.

A mini rail car

The last week I checked with Dan Trump to see if any trains were coming, but I figured it was Eastern and I didn’t check with him this time. It would certainly be fine.

Tracks

Still, as we passed by a power substation where there was a view out to the road, there was a white SUV sitting parked there. Mike pointed out that there was someone there, and I didn’t think anything of it.
I did however see the car pull out, and then several other times during the course of the day there was a white SUV close to us.
Most of this was probably paranoia, but I do think that at least a few of the times it was a railroad employee waiting for the train to go by on the tracks.

Old concrete building

We started turning to the north.
At this point, the old Lehigh Valley line was a ways away from us. We were down further in the valley from it and separated by a small mountain peak.
Lake Francis Road was coming in across a stream to the left of us, and Church Road was coming in closer to the right.
The tracks were soon deeper into a cut, so it was not easily visible from the adjacent yards.
The edges of the right of way were lined with some handsome slanted stone work. It looked like those along the Lehigh Canal, so it might date back to the origin construction.

Abandoned rail served building

The Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad opened up in 1841 to bring coal from the Lackawanna River valley over the mountain to the Lehigh Canal at Port Jenkins and White Haven. It was a subsidiary of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.
When the Upper Division of the Lehigh Canal was damaged in 1862 after a great flood, LC&N recieved permission to extend their Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad down along the Lehigh River to Easton PA. This was accomplished in the 1850s.

Old rail served business

The Central Railroad of New Jersey leased the line some twenty or so years later, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad started heavily competing starting in the 1860s.

Former rail served buildng

We crossed over Church Road just up ahead, which also intersected with Church Road to the east (whatever), and some people drove across the grade crossing as we were walking by.
I gave them a wave, and they waved back. I wonder how many of them reported something sinister going on.
We continued across, past some junk laying around, and there was a large industrial building to the left that seemed almost vacant. It probably was. There was a large vacant parking lot and not a sound. A spur track went off to the left from parallel with the main track, and it must have come off from up ahead because there was no connection here.

Swingin

We pushed on ahead, and were pretty well out of sight from roads and such. The other spur I was looking for broke off to the right just ahead.

Abandoned industrial spur

We continued through a swath of woods, and then spotted yet another siding going off to the left. This one dipped down at what looked like a crazy drop. I didn’t think a large railroad car could possibly make such a move.
I decided I was going to walk that lower line to be out of sight a bit, but then noted that at the end of it, backed into a pile of dirt, was a small rail car.
It was about the size of a hand car, a little larger than a shopping cart, and I was easily able to push it back up the rails toward the main track. I knew I wanted to try to ride it back down.

Abandoned

Some of the group continued walking ahead, but as soon as Justin saw me pushing the thing, he hurried down to help. It was getting steeper, which made it seem heavier.
We got it just about to the top, and then I held it so Justin could get on. I jumped on, and it started rolling back down the track. It was gaining speed pretty quickly, and we barely rode it for long before jumping off.
In retrospect, I probably could have ridden the thing to the end and let it throw me off the front of the cart, but it was hard enough to land even going the slow speed that it was.

Abandonded

Maybe one day we’ll go back and give it another try, but I think I might have derailed it. It hit the pile of dirt at the other end and kind of went up it a bit. I didn’t go to inspect it any closer.
We got back on the main tracks only briefly when we spotted an abandoned concrete building down below the tracks to the left. The siding that the rail car was on used to continue very obviously, as there was a lot of cinder dirt and some ballast, down into this area. There were a lot of tractor trailers parked in the area, but no one around, and the buildings were definitely not used at all.

Formerly rail served

I went into the side door of the first concrete building, and was surprised to see after going around a corner into the main room that it used to be rail served.

Weird graffiti

The building was set up like a section house with a full roof, and a hoist hanging from the far end. Justin got on the hoist and rode it around a little bit. We then exited and headed through the lot following where the track bed was.

Crazzzyyyy

After a bit, we approached an even larger old concrete building, this one with no roof at all, just open topped, but also with rails running into the open front of it.

Abandoned

I had no idea what the place used to be, but I would assume it had something to do with loading materials from railroad cars and onto trucks, maybe vise versa.
It was a cool little spot.
I later found out that this building, with its extra super thick concrete walls, was actually a special X Ray facility used by Foster Wheeler to check the tanks they were manufacturing. In years later, the building was actually used as a paint booth for painting locomotives.
We made our way out of there and then back up to the active railraod tracks.
Along the way, we were seeing the signal towers, and Mike mentioned that last week none of them had been lit.
This time, we were seeing ones that from a distance looked like they were red. If that were the case, it would mean a train was coming. Still, when we got close, they looked to be off.

bahah

There was more of that ahead, and we decided that it was definitely lit. There might actually be something coming.
We approached a grain tower where loading is done into the tops of rail cars, and walked under it.
It was then we realized it was not a grain tower, but rather an asphalt plant. The crap was getting all over our shoes from walking the trackage that went under it. We made our way out the other side of it and reached the crossing of Crestwood Road, and used curbs and such to try to clean our shoes off.

Tracks at the Crestwood Crossing

Mike and Jillane had already reached the road and were resting there.
Just as the rest of us walked up, we heard the train whistle.
It was a down slope from where we were, so it would still be a little bit before it reached us, but of course we had to wait it out at this time.
I didn’t want to look like we were gathering anywhere, but if we were looking like we were waiting for a train to go by, that would be more believable or probably acceptable.
Soon, the train started to approach. We stayed back from the crossing, which did not have any arms to go down, and what seemed like old style lights.

Train approaches

The train pulled up and crossed over the tracks, and continued until the engine was out of sight. My plan was that we would just start walking when the engines were gone, but just after it was around the corner, the train stopped and blocked the tracks.
A guy was off to the right of the train, and approached over by the asphalt silo we saw. He jumped on, must have unhooked, and then climbed back on the train. Apparently, it is far too difficult for trains to keep pulling up these inclines, so they have to lighten the load as they go. The cars were parked and train took off ahead.

Train at Crestwood crossing

We said hello to the guy riding the back and wished him a happy Easter. He seemed fine with us being around, and I was still ready to either take the tracks or otherwise a path I’d seen on aerial images in the woods parallel with them to the west.

Train goin by

We basically took it to a vote and no one wanted to walk the section through the woods, so we crossed the tracks and then got over on Glen Summit Road.

dropping cars

This road was the predecessor to current Rt 437. We walked that with minimal traffic for a while, up hill into the settlement of Glen Summit. There were a few houses around.
At the next intersection, we went left on Lake Road, which is the older road, and that took us back down to Rt 437 again where we turned right, to the north.
We could see the tracks through the trees down to the left behind the houses, and at one point heard a very loud air sound.
That would have been the air breaks releasing from more cars getting dropped off.

Old Rt 437

We passed several houses on the left, and then I spotted where another earlier road alignment was past the last house on the left. I walked that rather than the road, and some pavement even peeked through from under a bed of moss.
When the road turned back toward the main road again, I cut to the let through the woods off trail, and made my way to the railroad tracks again. There was no train to be seen at this point, so it looked like we were good. This section was farther away from the roads again, so I felt like I could relax a bit more.

Box culvert

Mike pointed out pretty quickly that there was a nice old box culvert beneath the line, which might date back to the Lehigh and Susquehanna days.
We continued ahead and crossed over Kirby Road past a guy’s house on the left.
The guy was outside doing yard work, and I looked at him and wished him a happy Easter. He reciprocated, and we moved on with no issue. He even told the others behind us to “enjoy our walk”. It was nice to see people being so friendly and calm. Back in New Jersey, there are people reporting their neighbors for stupid crap constantly.

Along the tracks.

When I was posting on the governor’s facebook page, I saw that there were old scared women trying to out their neighbors for going out to get their mail without wearing a mask.
I think we’re reaching pathetic levels when someone thinks it’s a good idea to post their neighbor’s name and address on the governor’s social media page thinking they will get them into some kind of trouble, either because they are bored or because they’re that afraid.
People are constantly posting “Stay home”, to which I want to respond “quit smoking”.

Penobscot yard

It always seems to be the unhealthiest people doing the preaching to everyone most.
We continued walking from here, and were on a very high shelf.

Graffiti on a train

It was like we had already crested the height of the land and were on our way down, but we hadn’t just yet.
There were houses above and below us in neighborhoods, but there was room to get off of the tracks if we needed to and just sit it out until another train came by.
As we started making another corner, Mike pointed out the next one first.
I didn’t see a good place to sit down and wait it out this time. There were just two engines barely moving just ahead.
I decided it probalby didn’t matter, I was just going to walk on by.
I walked on, gave a wave, and had no issue. We all continued to walk by except Mike who bolted up to the road to the right.
I think the next crossing was Gracedale Avenue at the start of the Penobscot Yard. There was a tower there, and there used to be a station at one time. I’m not sure if it’s there.

Train graffiti

We sat on the grass and waited for everyone to catch up. Mike showed up on the road, and Brittany was behind on the tracks. She said the guy in the engine asked her how it was going, and said she didn’t look too happy, but told her he hoped it got better.
We hung out for a few minutes at the intersection here, but I did not want to walk through the rail yard. I had already planned the alternate road walk out in this area. I felt if there was no one around, and a good sized train parked on a side track that perhaps we would just fumble on through, but that wasn’t the case.
We started following Gracedale Avenue down hill to the west of the rail yard, and then back up on the other side past a few houses. No one seemed to be around; I didn’t see anyone anyway until we got up a little further.
At the top of the hill when a couple houses appeared on the left, we turned right into woods.

There was a faint path into the area that used to be more of the rail yard, with some side by side rights of way before getting out ot the main rail yard.

Some sort of old grades

I had noticed several other grades below the level of the rail yard in this area. I don’t know if they were just some sort of dump areas or if they were some sort of earleir grades, but it was definitely man made.
When we got out to the yard, we were beyond the main yard limit and it was just a few extra tracks. Some of them were disconnected.
We followed this ahead, and the train cars that were parked there were covered in some really interesting graffiti. Something about being human and wanting a mullet.

Ruins

Another right of way moved off from the rest of the yard for a bit, this time over to some ruins on the far left side of the tracks.

Ruins

I’m not sure what this was, but probably either an area for maintenance, or for maybe a scale or something.
The path went through the right side of building ruins. A flat upper area had openings to a lower one, and the farthest edge to the west had former window openings.
I climbed up on top of the thing to get a closer look, and then we moved on through the rest of the ruins on the path. There were houses somewhat close by, but it was nothing that mattered. People use this parallel path all the time.

Abandoned

The one this that struck me was that there was a path out to someone’s back yard, and someone had put up orange mesh fencing to block people from coming from that yard to the tracks.
The tracks turned a corner and switched from going west to north once again, and passed beneath Rt 437/Woodlawn Avenue.
This was the start of the Penobscot or Solomon’s Gap Cut, probably the most substantial cut not associated with the tunnel on the entire original route of the Lehigh and Susquehanna.

Historic view of Solomon's Gap Cut

Just uphill from us at the approach of the cut, the Lehigh Valley Railroad passes over the road, and is now the Mountain Top Trailhead. This was about the high point.

Solomon's Gap Cut

We walked on ahead and into the deep cut. Immediately after crossing under the road, the abutments for where a branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad could be seen.

Solomon's Gap Cut

I didn’t see them at first. It was Mike that pointed them out. We pushed on through to the other side, which became quite visible again, and then the original right of way to the top of the Ashley Planes broke off to the left.
I had though to do these as part of this hike, but then I changed my mind and figured we could make that part of the next one. It would add a lot to the trip trying to go up and down there, and there were some sketchy parts still ahead I didn't know what to expect on. My plan this time from the start was that we wold probably continue to a power line crossing that connects the CNJ line with the Lehigh Valley line and use that as the turn around point.

Where the line broke off to Ashley Planes

We continued on the tracks where Lehigh Street used to cross at grade. It no longer connects today, and there was the foundation of a house down below to the left, before one more occupied house.
We just continued on the tracks ahead, and the grade of the land below us continued to drop. This was the area where the Ashely Planes used to be. Three of them connected the former Lehigh and Susquehanna to the settlement of Ashley below.
We stayed on the tracks, and the shelf we ended up on had a great view going off ahead through Solomon’s Gap. Across the gap, we could see another right of way on the other side.

In Solomon's Gap

Mike was looking at the maps and we assumed that was another CNJ track, but it turns out it was the other right of way of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which broke off up in Mountain Top by the bridge. It weaved around and then out around the mountain. Some have told me this was the route mostly that the passenger trains would take.
We continued along the active tracks, which went partly into a little cut and started the round the corner to the north side of the mountains to head east.

At this point, the former Lehigh Valley line we would be turning back on was directly above us to the right on another, higher shelf. It was a steep cliff wall at this point, so we couldn’t just go right up to it.
We continued to walk around the corner until I saw a reasonable path that led up to the other grade.
The right of way was just basic cinder dirt, unimproved, and I was happy to see that.

The LV grade across Solomon's Gap

The view in through Solomon’s Gap would be a little more far reaching from this higher vantage point, so this would be a good point to take a break before heading back.
Brittany had fallen really far behind. When we were way back in the deep cut at Mountain Top, she had found some animal bones, which meant she had to try to piece the skeleton together for educational programs at work. She was far enough behind that we couldn’t see her for a bit.

A view through Solomon's Gap

I waited atop the rock for her to go by and made a creepy hello voice as she passed, and then she decided to climb directly up the rock rather than go around.

Path of the Black Diamond

We had a nice long break here. It got cold and then warm again as the sun came and went from behind the clouds.
Eventually, we were ready to head back along the Lehigh Valley line. It took us back above the tracks we had been following for a while, and then cut out behind a few homes as we came back toward Mountain Top. We passed the end of a driveway in front of a house, known as Sterling Street (the road continues gated up the mountain), and then crossed Solomon Creek just ahead.

1938 Chevy?

As we weaved around a bend toward the Mountain Top trail head, I spotted some old cars off in the woods to the left. There were some nice looking ones, so I had to run up there to have a look around.

Old car

One of them was probably a 1937 or 38 Chevy, with body parts in pretty good shape. There was also what might have been an early sixties Nova or something. The hood was down over the front so I couldn’t see the grill on it. I thought the one was a ’39, but Joe Tag pointed out to me in the photo of it that the ’39 would have the head lights on the fenders.
We continued from here out to the Mountain Top trailhead on Lehigh Street. The parking area provided a beautiful view to the southwest.

A view in Mountain Top

Mike started heading off to the right toward the CNJ tracks in the Solomon Gap cut we had just walked through a while before because he had an historic photo taken from the bridge of a train passing through. I went with him and we were each able to set up then and now photos from the same site that came out pretty cool.

Lehigh Valley grade

We headed back up to the Lehigh Valley rail bed, at the point probably where the station used to be, because this was the junction point where the line we had seen across the valley used to be. It branched off into what is now an undeveloped and preserved tract to the west, then weaved back around to the north on the other side of Solomon’s Gap. We’ll have to try to walk that one one of these days soon as well, probably when the country starts to calm down.
There is now parking at the spot so it’s a perfect start point.
We headed into the woods on the other side where there’s a wide right of way behind houses, probably five or so tracks wide.

Old water tower base

We continued on the right of way, which was very nice, and the grade of the trail shifted from being farther in to closer to the edge when we got by all of the houses in Mountain Top.

Historic view of Solomon cut

We stopped and took a break when we got to a large base to what I think was an old water tank to the left. I went up and walked around the outside rim of it. It was quite a substantial one with a door and a room beneath, a bit more of a structure than I’m used to seeing in such a thing.
While I was up there, Jillane got a bad nose bleed. It was so bad that it just didn’t want to stop, and I tried to pull out all of the stuff I could find in my pack. I pretty much just had napkins. I usually have a first aid kit, but I had moved it to my other backpack for some reason before another hike.
Everyone fortunately had all sorts of stuff like wet wipes and gauze and such to help out. It still didn’t stop for a very long time.

The Solomon cut today

We continued ahead and there was another water tower base at one point, and we crossed over Johnson Street where the trail officially ended. There was still land on state game lands ahead of here, and it was possible to walk, but much more rough. We passed a guy on a bike as soon as we headed out, and crossed a high fill over the Big Wapwallopen Creek.
ATV paths continued on the grade for a bit, but then went up hill to the left pretty far. The rail bed continued out behind more homes, but it was getting really tough to pass through. There was then a “no trespassing” sign in the middle of it. I went off to the left and found another grade that appeared to have once been a rail siding possibly, and that took me through to the rail bed again straight ahead. It was only just up slope, and Jillane stayed on the actual LV grade, stepping over logs and such.
The rail bed got clear again at a very wide clearing, where large machines had cleared ripped up the right of way and made a road going up and into the state forest areas.

Historic Penobscot image

A bit of this area was Pinchot State Forest.
There were some lovely seasonal views from the shelf we followed off to the west.
We continued on the rail bed, which soon approached the area of Glen Summit.

Glen Summit Hotel

Glen Summit Spring is now sort of a private community, but it started out as a resort area when Joseph E. Patterson and the Lehigh Valley Railroad worked to create the first hotel, which opened in 1884.
At the time, there was just Scrub Oak on the hillside, and it afforded grand views out over Penobscot Mountain. Even after the trees grew, it was still a great natural place.
The hotel could accommodate 250 guests, and was a restaurant stop until the Pullman rail car provided such a service. The hotel did well into the 1900s, but as these things go, it declined.

The rail bed north of Glen Summit

I don’t know what became of the main big hotel, but we could see one of the buildings up through the trees, definitely not just a regular residence unless it was a private mansion at the time.

Historic Glen Summit postcard

A pamphlet from the heyday of the hotel read
"In this sanitarium of Nature's own building, where all the elements combine to produce sanitary conditions, it is the Glen Summit Springs hotel, the most famous mountain resort in the highlands of the Keystone State. Perched like an eagle's eyrie high upon the mountain's crest, the hotel is of the Alpine chateau style of architecture presenting a truly imposing appearance."
We continued ahead through the community, and Lake Road appeared on the left. The rail grade went out near a house and was filled over just ahead to accesss the community where there must have been a bride or grade crossing elsewhere.

None trail section

I continued on the grade, but a dog at the house went nuts, so that was probably a poor choice. Fortunately, there were no problems.
The rail bed remained in a cut, parallel with Pine Lane. We just walked that road parallel for a bit, past some houses. No one appeared to be home. The last house also was not occupied at the time, but obviously used. I hurried down to the grade the first chance I got after the last house was gone on the other side.

Pretty busy

The rail bed was strewn with fallen trees in this area. Clearly, no one really tries to walk this next stretch.
We pushed ahead a bit, and some of the group followed an abandoned road along a stone row from the end of Pine Lane, which got them to the rail bed.
We pushed on ahead a bit, and came to a spot with some logs or something where it was a good idea to take a break. We were doing very well on time, so it was nice to relax again, like we had the last time. It was one of those moments that felt comfortable and normal among all of the craziness.

Rock outcrop

When we finally did push ahead, the right of way got clearer. It was obvious some ATVs made it out there, and probably people walk some of it. The branches were moved from the path, but it was certainly not a trail section just yet.

Rock overhang

The D&L Trail has an official missing section there. There are plenty of improvement spots they plan to make for the trail, which switches back and forth from using the Lehigh Canal towpath, the Lehigh Valley rail bed, and the Jersey Central rail bed. On occasion, it has a separate trail to get between points as well. Some of the Lehigh Canal stuff is not much improved, but is passable. I think at this point, the Mountain Top piece is the only missing link really in the trail.

Apparently, the rail grade is not publicly owned in between and by Glen Summit, and I would assume there are not willing sellers in there. I have read that they want to have a trail go up and around Glen Summit, or otherwise over by the road, but someone referred to both as “ugly”.
We continued on the grade, which got clearer, and eventually reached the official trail section. The trail was cut off to the left to reach Rt 437 and parking away from the right of way. We continued around the fence at the corner of the trail and continued on the wide open route, now capped with crushed stone aggregate.

Rocks

I was blown away at the amount of people on the trail. It wasn’t some nightmare photo like what we had out at my job, but it was a whole lot for an Easter Sunday.
We passed a pretty wetland, and then there was a huge rock outcropping on the left slope of the trail. Of course, we had to go check it out.
The rock in the front had a cleft in the middle, and I had to climb up to the top of it. Jillane found a rock overhang in back of it in a cliff side. This was a cool last little break spot to hang out.
We headed from here back onto the rail bed and continued to the east. When we got to Conety Run, that was where we had come up to close the loop the previous time. It was only a little further from there.
Soon, the path down to the State Game Lands 119 lot was on the right, and we descended to the parking spot.

The rail bed near the end

We chatted for a little bit about what we wanted to do for the next one in the series.

Mike had suggested a loop, and we looked at maps, where we would start in Mountain Top. The Ashley Planes go down from there into the area of Ashely, which would require us to go out to roads through the town a bit. At the time, I thought that could be avoided, but it can’t.
The majority of the loop would be following the Lehigh Valley line further to the east from where we left off, and then weave around down through the area of Seven Tubs Natural Area, which I’ve also never incorporated into the hikes, and then back up the Ashley Planes.

March 1976 image by Roger P. Cook of the Lehigh Valley line

Another loop could take us from Mountain Top on the Lehigh Valley passenger line on the other side of Solomon’s Gap and back that way. Both look like they will be great hikes.

The same bridge today

There is a lot to look forward to in this area, and I am very much enjoying the return to these two lines that I’ve kind of put on the back burner for so many years as I’m branching off into other areas. I’ll certainly have to make a point of exploring more of it in the near future.

HAM