6/28/20 Sugar Notch/Ashley/Warrior Run Loop with Diane Reider, Robin Deitz, Professor John DiFiore, Jennifer Tull, Kirk Rohn, Lowell Perkins, Justin Gurbisz, Thomas C. Huber, Jennifer Bee, Dr. Michael Krejsa, and Daniel Trump
This next hike would be the next loop in my series covering mostly the Jersey Central and Lehigh Valley Railroad beds, which we’d gotten back to when the covid stuff started.
The old CNJ grade
I had planned my previous hike in the area to do a lot of what this hike would do, but it ended up taking us way longer and way more out of the way than I’d anticipated it would, so this one would do more that distance without some of the variables.
It still ended up being a rather long hike, but it was more manageable.
The previous hike meeting point was at the Sugar Notch Trail adjacent to the Sugar Notch Cemetery, which worked out pretty well.
Happy People!
We had done the Sugar Notch Trail itself as well as some other paths the last time, but branches of both the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Central Railroad of New Jersey were both directly across the street and down into the brush from that same lot, so using that as a meet spot again seemed appropriate.
The old CNJ grade
We waited for a bit of time in the parking lot for people who were running behind, which wasn’t too terrible. We were only going to go straight into the woods from there.
I went off into the woods near the south side of the lot to take a pee, and I found the pink hat that Justin had put on the head of a Jesus statue the last time we were out there. We had talked about that soon after arriving there, and lamented the fact that it was gone. So, it was funny that we found it again, and Justin put it back on his head.
Probably CNJ grade
When we were ready to go, we just crossed the street and headed downhill toward the railroad beds. We didn’t know what we’d find or what shape they’d be in, but we were going to try.
The first grade directly below the hill was originally a Lehigh Valley Railroad main line, but then later used as the passenger main line. It was built in 1867.
Just beyond that, slightly lower grade, was the former Central Railroad of New Jersey. Like the other ones in this area, it was built by the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad.
Along the LV grade with CNJ below
The Lehigh and Susquehanna was a subsidiary of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. This branch here was the Nanticote Branch built in 1862. It was eventually leased to the Central Railroad of NJ in 1871 I believe.
The two grades came to a point close together almost directly below the cemetery.
When we got down there, almost immediately one of the grades was a good, easy to follow ATV path. This took us to the east a bit, and then switched downhill a bit to follow the other parallel grade.
CNJ and LV grades
There were some weeds, and at one point a fallen tree we had to climb over and around, near an open area full of Japanese Knotweed, but other than that it was really pretty great.
We continued along the lower right of way, which was probably the CN one. It looks on some of the maps like the LV line goes through the yards of the houses at the northernmost street in the town of Sugar Notch ahead. The back yards came pretty close to the right of way from time to time.
On the rail bed
At one point, there were people sitting on the back porch looking on at the rail bed, and I just gave a wave as I was ahead of the pack walking east.
No one gave us a hard time for walking through this section.
The settlement of Sugar Notch is taken from a geological gap feature just to the south where the Sugar Notch Run passes out of the Penobscot Mountain. It was so named because there was an abundance of Sugar Maples growing through the area.
The rail bed
We continued walking on the clear right of way until it took us out on Hanover Street, which obliterates some of the right of way ahead.
We continued up onto the road, and then made our way to the underpass beneath Rt 29. There, there was a path going to the right that I thought might take us under the bridge. We walked it a bit, but it didnt’ go where we wanted so we had to turn back. Beyond the birdge, an active track appeared to the left as an industrial spur to buildings to the north. We got on it as it joined the old alignment.
The rail bed
The area through these new industrial buildings must have been quite disturbed. I think the main rail bed is the same, but it might be narrower because it looked like a single track cut.
Somewhere in this vicinity, the Lehigh Valley line crossed over the Jersey Central line probably at grade. There was a track to the right as we moved ahead, in a parallel ATV path, which was buried under a deep layer of cinder dirt. We walked over on that a bit, and came a bit out of the cut. It was getting really sunny at this point.
Heading east from Sugar Notch
Soon, we made our way to North Preston Street, where we had reached these tracks the last hike we did in Sugar Notch and Ashley area. Just ahead, the giant stack of the former power plant at Ashley’s Huber Breaker came into view.
A second right of way paralleled the active tracks on the north, so we walked that in better shade.
We made our way back over to the active tracks, and then to the junction site to the start of the Ashley Yard. We turned right on the abandoned rails toward the rail yard to the right just ahead from here.
Second set of overgrown tracks
Soon, we came to the big underpass that carries the Solomon Creek beneath the entire width of the Ashley rail yard.
I had done some trail work on the Warren Highlands Trail with Matt Davis, John Kosar, and this other guy Mike that had been on my first day hike in January, and while talking Matt told me that some locomotive had recently been delivered to the Ashley area, and we thought it was on the former Huber Breaker site.
Disused rails
If there was in fact a locomotive out there, I wanted to see it. I told those that didn’t want to wander out there to take a break, while some of us headed out to the open area.
Along the rail bed
The Huber Breaker was once a huge deal.
It was a more “modern” breaker, built in 1939 to replace the earlier Maxwell Breaker nearby. Coal was mined nearby, then washed and broken into desired sizes, with impure minerals such as slate all removed.
It was owned by the Blue Coal Company, which was a subsidiary of the Glen Alden Coal Company. In its heyday, the Huber Breaker produced seven thousand tons of coal per day. It was sprayed with blue dye to produce it’s signature blue coal look.
Old junction point
Coal use declined after World War II everywhere, and the company finally went bankrupt and closed down in 1976. The Huber Breaker stood forlorn from then until 2014 when it was finally scrapped and demolished, despite efforts by local history enthusiasts to save it.
A group of us headed up into the clearing and then to the two buildings that were still standing. There is a large fenced in area that is the openings to some of the local mines, one totally abandoned brick building, and another that was done up but then abandoned.
Historic view of the Huber Breaker from Underground Miners group
We had gone in the front one last time, so this time we just walked around the first building, past the second one, and then looked through the cedars in front for a locomotive.
Huber Breaker site
There was nothing to be found there.
We headed back the direction we came, but went through the open door of the second building, then into the main section on the other side for the return trip.
We headed out and then returned to the Ashley rail yard site next to the concrete culverts.
Everyone took a break here, and I wanted to show Lowell the cool passage we had found on the last hike. We went through the near tunnel, which was totally dry, then out into an opening between two sections of culvert.
Inside
The first set was two side by side, with water only going through the one to the right and totally dry on the left. The second one had water through both.
A nice sign.
The right side of the second set was eroded away, and the concrete floor was gone up the middle. We have to walk through that one on the ledges next to the streams on either side.
We went as far as the little cascade inside that I’d liked the previous trip.
To my surprise, we were not alone this time. A dad and his two kids were playing in the water between the two sets of culverts this time.
We didn’t hang out long, and went back through to the rail yards with the others to continue.
From here, we just followed the CNJ line to the east, toward Ashley Station site.
Cascade in the culvert
As we walked the still clear right of way with the ATV paths on it, we heard motors coming. It was a pretty big group of ATV riders. They were nice and slowed for us passing through.
Former Ashley Station site
We had to go around some pretty big mud puddles, but once we got out, we came to an open area near Cemetery Street, which rose to the level of Main Street just ahead.
I had photos of the Ashley Station, an idea of the location from my anthracite railroads KMZ file, and two historic station photos I wanted to try to emulate while here.
We headed over to the site knowing that the station site was also a junction site, and that there was a northbound track that crossed Cemetery Street.
Former CNJ underpass in Ashley
The station would have had tracks both in front of it and behind it, and it was hard to try to figure it out. I ended up getting one of the then and now shots right, but found out after reviewing them that the two were both taken at the same station angle, but one from higher up. I’ll have to get the other one the next time I go back.
We walked to the station site, and could see where the CNJ tracks branched off to the north toward Wilkes Barre, and where the line we had just been following came in. We walked down into the cut there.
Main Street underpass
The right of way ahead leads to where we had walked before on the 1866 long route around the mountains toward Seven Tubs and Laurel Run, but we only went as far as the Main Street underpass.
The stone abutments were still original, but it was capped with a newer concrete bridge.
We headed back up to the station site on the other side, looked around in the weeds a bit, and then made our way to the Main Street. Jen met up with us there, as she was running late getting ot the start.
Ashley Station historic image
Mike had a couple of other photos he’d saved that looked like they would be good then and now things, so I tried taking those as well at this time.
At the station site
This was quite the active area with a major rail yard at one time, and now not a single track passes through this spot.
My plan here was to shift from the CNJ and LV lines we had been following, and retrace some of the steps of the previous hike to the culvert beneath Interstate 81, then visit the Solomon Falls again.
We walked the Main Street to the west a bit, downhill, and then crossed the former site of the bridge that once carried the road over the bottom of the Ashley Planes. Plane #3 is overgrown and barely noticeable.
Former rail crossing
The last time we came through, I bushwhacked down and wanted to try to follow the plane as closely as possible. This time, I figured we would do something a little easier in the name of saving some time.
We turned left on Planes Avenue, then immediately right on Rodgers Avenue. This road had a bridge over the Solomon Creek right at the start, but it was closed off, complete with a sign saying that pedestrian use was not allowed. We of course used it anyway.
We turned left when we got to Davis Street, and that terminated at a little park area that had no trespassing signs on it. But it also had something about carrying out your trash or picking up after your dog or something. Quite a confusing message.
Either way, we walked on beyond that, and then followed the Solomon Creek upstream through the grass. There are two spots with rocks where it’s easy to cross.
Former rail crossing in Ashley
We went up to the farthest one in the park, where we could see upstream to a cascade and the concrete culvert that carried teh Solomon Creek beneath 81. It was really steep on the other side of the rock hop, but there was a reasonable path on top from there. It looked to be another little piece of the Ashley Plane #3 that I hadn’t done previously because I came down too early.
We walked this for just a little bit until we came to the enormous fill for Interstate 81. There, there was a good but steep path downhill to the right that led to the mouth of the giant concrete culvert.
Historic view of Ashley Station, Bob Fischer Collection
It turned out that there was a better foot path down to this very spot from the end of Cook Street, where we could have avoided the climb up and little bushwhack.
Ashley Station site today
Regardless, we got where we needed to be, and the culvert is quite excellent. There is a sign to keep out of it, but people obviously walk this way all the time.
On Ashley Plane #3
It has an excellent walkway shelf along the left side, but the water is shallow enough that you almost don’t get your feet wet at all walking through it.
We started heading through the huge culvert, and even before reaching the other side we could hear echoing sounds of Spanish music.
There was a large group of people partying at the Solomon Falls, with one of the vehicles parked just above them pumping out really loud music. We walked in from on the stream over to the site.
Big culvert
We put our stuff down to the right where the water starts to spill away, and the other group was off to the east side a bit. They had a huge pile of garbage that they had been attempting to burn probably various times with little success.
Solomon Falls
No one gave us a hard time for being there at all. Everyone was just enjoying the falls, which are quite incredible.
At one time, some of them were probably blasted away, because there is a giant metal pipe out over the water that was placed to carry water from this point down to the Huber Breaker.
It was really incredibly hot out. The last time we were at this point, it was just too cool to really enjoy the swim, but this time was just perfect. I didn’t waste any time getting wet.
Historic image at the falls
Just above the falls, we could see the abutments of the former Wilkes Barre and Hazleton Railway’s Solomon Creek Viaduct. The line was used from 1903 until 1933.
Solomon Viaduct site
That rail line was my plan to be the theme for the next big portion of the hike. We had hiked snippets of it on the previous trips, but never did anything where it was any kind of main focus. It would turn out to be a bit more complicated than we had anticipated.
I climbed up the edge of the falls to the giant pipe, which surprisingly no one was doing despite the very large crowd there. I climbed up onto the pipe and walked out onto the body of water, then jumped off into the pool.
Solomon Viaduct site
The people were all taking photos and videos of me jumping, which was kind of surprising. Usually there are a bunch of fearless kids jumping off things in these places.
There was none of that this time. I swam back around, and then encouraged the others to go off and do the same.
Lowell made his way up and went off the pipe pretty soon after I did, and John came up too. He jumped off next to the pipe at the top of the falls.
Jen also jumped off soon, as well as I think Kirk and Justin at some point there.
Every time I told myself I wasn’t going to jump off of it again, I found myself back on it. It was a little sketchy, because the pipe got more slippery the more times we did it, but it was just so fun. A slip in the wrong direction would send us off onto the rocks, but the other direction is a pretty safe fall to water.
The last time I went off, I decided to do the Pee Wee dance from “Pee Wee’s Big Adventure”. Even after so many of us had done the jump, I was surprised that the group that had already been there was not up there trying it out themselves.
The cut today
The music was less annoying the more we stayed there, and actually was kind of a nice backdrop.
Eventually, we had to make our way out and continue with the journey.
We went uphill from the falls, and I took a short side trip into the big cut that was part of Plane #3 on the Ashley Planes. The lower end of it was destroyed when Interstate 81 was completed, but from above the falls on is in pretty good shape.
The Ashley Planes were built first in the 1830s by the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad, a subsidiary of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company also, and eventually turned over to the Central Railroad of New Jersey in the 1870s.
I had an old postcard photo of this particular cut from even before the Wilkes Barre and Hazleton Railway was built over the top of it, which I wanted to emulate.
I think I got my modern photo spot on, and we all walked around the outside of the cut.
There were some more nice cascades, and people were hanging out in about all of them.
Solomon Viaduct site
We walked up a bit more of the inclined plane to a good spot to cross the Solomon Creek at a nice pool. I would have taken another dip, but there were too many people around.
Cascades of Solomon Creek
There is a dirt road for State Game Lands use on the other side, which we followed to the right from here, just slightly back downstream toward the Solomon Viauduct site.
Solomon Viaduct site
We turned left up a woods road that took us to the level of the grade at the west end of the bridge site. The right of way was overgrown but at first recognizable.
WB&H Railway bed
This railway was very interesting in that it was considered an “interurban line” like the trolleys of the early 900s, but it was also unlike other trolley lines in that it hauled some freight and interchanged with standard gauge freight railways.
It was mostly for passenger service, and was the first of the third rail interurbans, which included a covered third electric rail. The line was pretty successful for a number of years because it was otherwise a fifty mile trip by Lehigh Valley Railroad to Hazleton.
A view on Penobscot Mountain
The thirty some mile line earned itself the nickname “The Cannonball”. However, by the time Rt 309 was completed, it severely hurt the interurban ridership.
Old coal mine pit
I knew from going over my KMZ files that the old railway was completely obliterated by Interstate 81 soon after the Solomon Viaduct site, but I figured we would go on and off of it.
We walked where it obviously went for a little ways, and then it disappeared under debris and seemed to go out beyond the highway. Near this point, there was a foot path that broke off to the right and headed up onto a knoll. I figured there might be a view, and that we should head on up.
View on Penobscot Mountain
It ended up being a rather fantastic view out over the highways and such. We continued along this little ridge for a while, with a few great views.
Old coal mine
We eventually made our way off of the height of the land and in through a disturbed looking area. We had some good foot paths for a while, but they started to peter out. A power line paralleled us to the left, but I wanted to see what was left of the rail line, because I knew it came back out from under the highway at some point soon.
As we walked, there were some really deep pits, with a few remnants of some sort of woods roads around us. I figured that we were a bit high up Penobscot Mountain for them to be mines.
WB&H Railway bed
I considered for a few moments that this could have been an old cut for the interurban line. The Wilkes Barre and Hazleton did have some rather significant cuts for it being just a light weight passenger line.
I gave up on that idea when I soon saw the line below us just a little bit, weaving out from the highway with a good level grade. We followed it ahead a bit, and it soon dipped back under the highway ahead. I decided not to try to follow it any further, because it looked like a big drop with a lot of rocks.
WB&H Railway bed
We climbed uphill again, and toward the power line area, but found ourselves climbing over some rather large rocks.
At this point, I figured all of this was just strewn about from highway construction when 81 was built. Nothing looked like any kind of works. It just looked like a bunch of unnaturally sitting rocks, and probably some borrow pits used to create the fill necessary to build up the new highway. There was no way any mining railways or anything had existed in this area at all.
Cave opening
While walking this mess, we soon came upon a hole that looked deeper than anything else in the area. I figured this was either a natural cave or something that ha been created by strewn rocks from highway blasting.
I decided to have a closer look and started climbing down into the little cave. I was only expecting to find a little rock overhang or something.
I was blown away that this little hole in the ground opened to a larger room, and that there was some light from another opening just past that. I called back to Justin to come and check it out with me.
I went a little further down from this point, and there was yet another chamber. A huge one.
At this point I told everyone to come and check it out. I left my stuff behind there, except for my phone, and made my way further in.
I looked at the walls, and hard to my left was a huge black wall of anthracite.
Inside
This was quite the find. I couldn’t make any sense of how something like this was mined from such an inconvenient location, but there was clearly a serious coal vein there.
Only Jen made her way in further to the mine from this point. She climbed down behind Justin and I into the big room. By that time, I had amazingly found a different way out. There was a huge opening straight ahead beyond a pile of strewn rocks. I carefully made my way closer to it, while watching for holes in the floor. If this was a mine, I knew there was the chance of falling to my death pretty quickly.
.....anthracite....
These rocks were jagged and loose. They were not something that had seated themselves on the floor for a long time. I figured this was probably a pretty dangerous cave to be in because there could be a ceiling collapse at any time. There was not a single bit of bracing to be found anywhere.
I reached the other end, and climbed out. When I faced the light, I could see some sort of waves emanating from below. It was probably a good thing we were in a well ventilated chamber, and that we didn’t hang out in there for too long. This was probably dangerous methane gases.
Coal chamber
I talked to our friend Cupcake about this site, and he was blown away that we had found it at all. He confirmed that it was in fact not a mine, but designed as a ventilation system.
Coal mine
There were more serious mines below this, which got severed to some degree when 81 blasted them away, but some of these vent chambers still exist. Their purpose was to vent out that dangerous methane gas so the coal could be taken below.
Fortunately, I didn’t end up with so much as a headache when I came out. I called up Dr. Mike and asked him to take our packs and my beer around, that we were not going to be coming back through the way we had gone in. He and the others were still waiting for us to come back out on the other side.
Coal mine vent
We made our way out of the hole, and there was an excellent view to our right. Interstate 81 was literally just to the right of us, and the sound of traffic rushing was close.
Mine vent
No one goes to this site because of what along walk it is to get to, and even then, they won’t see a lot of this. We happened to find the hole we went in just because we were right up on it. This other hole is down a steep slope that no one will find. In order to get back up out of it, we had to use our hands to pull ourselves up some rocks to a better level. I noted several other holes down below, and cracks in the rocks above certainly drop down into the mines, but they can’t be fit into.
We walked up toward the power line clearing, and then took a break in the shade until the others caught up with where we were.
Mine vent hole
From here, we walked up to the power line. I thought we would have some sort of luck following this, because there is usually a road or an ATV path on it, but we didn’t really have anything. We attempted to follow it to the west a bit, but it was fast becoming crap, and descending too quickly to what was likely going to be more mine hole messes. We opted instead to go back uphill, and then cut further into the woods above the power line. I knew that there must be some sort of maintenance road for this, we just hadn’t found it.
Sure enough, we headed a bit further uphill, and there was the service road.
View on Penobscot Mountain
We had a pretty easy time for a little while, and there were a couple of very excellent views to the north out over the Susquehanna and Lackawanna River valleys.
Mine vent hole
The woods road was a relaxing walk for a time, and then it descended a bit more toward the highway. I noted some more holes in the ground near it that I could have barely fit into if I really wanted, but it looked like a big drop down. There was also no really good way to reach these spots.
We pushed on ahead, and at some point reached a spot where the ATV path just seemed to end. The power line went back uphill a bit, and there was a bit of a knoll that one of the towers stood on. A side path went up to it and I figured that might take us further on.
Mine hole to heck
There was just no way to go further up, and no way to go from the bottom. It was still a bit too far of a drop to get right down to the edge of 81.
View at the mines
I decided to try to follow the vague trace of what was probably a road through teh woods, with a lot of trees and weeds through it. I hopped over logs and such and we gradually made our way downhill toward the edge of 81 again. After a bit of this, I started to finally see another clearing.
There was another sort of access roadway closer to 81 that would take us a little farther.
This was a somewhat mowed off route on one of the levels of rocks next to the highway, and I figured this would take us a while. Unfortunately, this road ended up dead ending at the edge of the highway soon.
Mine hole from heck
There is actually another access road a little further uphill from this point, but I didn’t see a good way over to it. I checked the aerial images and it looked like it really wasn’t all that much distance further to where Sugar Notch Run goes beneath the highway.
I really wanted to avoid doing any road walking along the interstate if at all possible, but this entire section of the trek was getting far tougher than anticipated. I decided we would just try to knock this section out quickly and hopefully get off of the road soon. There was a good enough shoulder, so we managed to push on through safely.
View on the access roads
The clouds above the highway facing to the east were absolutely amazing at this time. The sky at the highest appeard to be a very deep blue, with layers of stratus and cumulus below.
Cowabunga Heck Hole
The Sugar Notch Run, on the maps, looks like it would go under the highway sooner, but upon closer examination, it was a longer walk than we had expected.
There was a high rock wall to the left, but when we got toward the end of it, there was another service road going up. We just had not seen a way to get up to it.
Just beyond, there was a pull off and an old road going downhill toward the Sugar Notch Run when the highway started going onto the fill to cross over the creek valley. We ducked off into the much needed shade here and descended to the edge of the creek.
Awesome clouds
Just like we had done earlier with the Solomon Creek, my plan here was to pass beneath the highway using the Sugar Notch Run. The creek was however not nearly as large.
Interstate walkin'
We walked downstream on the creek, which had a good ATV path along it, and obviously ATVs use the culvert to get to the other side of the highway as well.
It was definitely narrower than the previous one, but it was still pretty shallow and very easy to walk through. We gave everyone the opportunity to take their shoes off if they wanted to keep their feet dry here.
Once we reached the other side, there was a steep climb to the left which led directly up to the old Wilkes Barre and Hazleton Railway right of way. It had switched sides of the highway at some point behind us.
Sugar Notch Run
This section of the railroad bed was also the route of the Sugar Notch Trail. Dr. Mike pointed out the familiar white blaze with the red slash through it like we’d seen previously.
The rail bed, WB&H
If we had turned to the right, it would have led us very shortly to the abandoned reservoir dam ruin, and the double culvert over the Sugar Notch Run we had seen on the previous hike out there.
We turned left, and the rail bed went through a rather deep cut, which is always impressive when we consider it was just a passenger line by intent.
We continued along this path for a while, which remained pleasant until it again reached the edge of Interstate 81. The trail and ATV path turned right sort of uphill.
Wilkes Barre and Hazleton Railway bed
We climbed up here, and the trail remained somewhat close to 81 for a time. We didn’t see any remnant of the rail bed coming out from under it any time yet.
WB&H rail bed
The trail continued to climb quite a lot, and then kept going up and over more little parallel ridges. We were heading north and west, but moving a bit more and more away rom the highway. The Wilkes Barre and Hazleton line remains along the edge of the highway until it makes its final turn to the south and leaves it, so we needed to stay close to there.
When we reached a point where an ATV path went further uphill to the right, Tom Huber opted to cut out a bit early. We were, as the bird flies, not far from the trail parking.
ATV path on a knoll above 81
He made it back relatively fast and with no problems.
The rest of us opted to follow a more faint ATV trail heading gradually downhill and closer to 81. A rather large valley was forming between us and the highway, and we’d have to cross. 81 was gradually gaining elevation. The Sugar Notch Trail might have gone the way that Tom went, but I honestly can’t be sure. I stopped seeing the white and red blazes we had initially seen a while before, so it might have taken another way through those woods.
The group on Sugar Notch Trail area
We pushed through the woods, and the more faint ATV path eventually just disappeared altogether. We came to a spot where there were galvanized guard rails over the shelf area.
WB&H rail bed
We had come across something similar the last time we were out there, but further to the west. We figured this must have been the other side of the same piece of property we were on that time. We went around the fences, and pretty soon came to another more discernible ATV path.
The path went to the right and left, but we took the left fork. This took us over to a bit of an overlook where 81 was across a gully, and an American Flag and pole were erected for motorists to see. From there, an old road went downhill.
We started following this, but the ATV path did not. This route had not been cleared probably in years. It was clear at the beginning, but there were soon some pretty large trees blocking the way. I stepped to the left to try to get around one of the worst ones, and the slope was steep and rocky. I immediately fell into a slide and could barely stop myself. I cautioned everyone else not to do that, but Jen was behind me and already started sliding as well. We ended up going around the trees that way and the others climbed through.
Where the WB&H dips back under 81
The slope was awful to try to walk along, because it all gave way as we tried to walk, and we got all muddy.
When the woods road descended toward the bottom of the hill enough, and there was not swamp muck blocking us from crossing, I pushed ahead to the south, and then uphill a bit on the opposite to try to find the railway bed.
It really didn’t take too long. A short climb up the slope soon revealed a little cut. We probably could have gotten over to the rail bed a little earlier if we’d known or had a chance.
Where the rail bed comes back out from under the highway
I had figured that it would remain out from under the highway from this point to where it turns to the south and passes through the Penobscot Mountain Tunnel. We knew from the previous trip that the Lehigh Valley Railroad passenger line is totally clear and easy to walk, and I assumed that the ATVs would probably switch over to the old Wilkes Barre and Hazleton line where the Lehigh Valley line dips under the highway, because the two are so close together. That ended up not being the case at all.
WB&H rail bed
The old interurban line was pretty overgrown, but still walkable. We were able to follow it through the slight cut and then back to a shelf closer to the edge of I-81. It was obvious that no one was walking, riding, or anything on it for a very long time.
We continued along it until eventually the right of way disappeared beneath the interstate to the left. I had assumed that this was the buried north portal of the Penobscot Tunnel at first, but it was too soon to be to that spot.
WB&H rail bed
There were some strewn rocks, all dropped along the fill from the interstate, and soon the grade was entirely gone. I tried to descend somewhat and continue around the same elevation along the fill for the highway, but it was kind of tough.
Eventually, after a while of rough side hill walking, I spotted the right of way re-emerge ahead. I pushed over to it, and initially though this was the Lehigh Valley line. When I looked at my GPS, I soon realized that it was too soon for that, and we were still on the interurban.
Penobscot Mountain Tunnel site
I remembered that the Lehigh Valley line crossed to the north side of the highway at about where there is an official use only cut over between the north and southbound lanes.
Penobscot Tunnel site
We still had a while to go.
We moved on ahead, and the right of way was somewhat overgrown at times, but still overall passable.
Eventually, we came to the former site of the Penobscot Tunnel. Just like before, rocks were strewn over top of it and no sign of the former tunnel cut remains anymore.
The south portal is reportedly still accessible, but I have not been over there yet. That will have to be the subject of another future hike. This time, we had to get to the Lehigh Valley passenger main grade.
1907 view of the north portal
I pointed out to everyone what we were doing, and we headed down slightly from the grade and continued on the slope, looking for the Lehigh Valley grade. I wasn’t seeing anything.
We had had a rough time trying to find this grade from above the previous time, and scoured the hillsides looking for it. We eventually found it, but not the point where it came out from under the highway grade.
The workout walking along the slope again was rough. Most of the group went further down the slope than I did, because I wanted to be certain we found the route.
Eventually, I started seeing some sort of a shelf along the slope. It didn’t look like much from afar, but it was all we had to go on, and it had to appear sometime soon. As I climbed the slippery slope, I found a railroad tie laying in the debris. I felt pretty certain then I was finding the correct place. Pretty soon, I reached the grade without question.
Where the LV line comes from under 81
I called to the others that I had found it, threw my pack to the ground, and sat down to have a much needed drink.
The others carefully climbed up, and all needed the break at least as badly as I did. From this point, the rest of the hike, as long as there were no other surprises, should be pretty easy I told them all. This area was formerly the site of a station that was known as Slocum Station, but not sure where the exact spot was.
Dan Trump was on his way to find us, and Mike was sending him text messages updating our locations. I think he parked at the Sugar Notch Trail or something, but had a ways to go.
The Lehigh Valley RR grade
We soon started moving on our way down the trail to the west. It was somewhere in this area we had found the rail bed the last time we came out.
LVRR grade
This was a wonderful, relaxing section to walk. The first bit of this we had done previously, but when we got to an ATV path leading to the right, everything beyond was totally new to me.
As we walked, we soon found Dan standing in the middle of the right of way. He had parked down below somewhere, cut through the yard of some cabin, and then climbed the insane slope up to the railroad bed. We all pushed on ahead from here, and the sounds of the interstate highway started to fade away until they were gone.
LVRR grade
This secluded section was only us and the occasional ATV rider.
The next stop along the way, as I had planned, was going to be the Hanover Reservoir at Epsy Gap.
I checked with the others to help with the gps use because mine wasn’t catching up well.
We were approaching the site soon, and I was thinking this would be our next swimming spot.
The body of water appeared to be relatively clean from what I could see in the aerial images, and it was in the middle of nowhere, so we’d do a little side trip.
LVRR grade
The ATV path split off a couple of ways, but we continued around the east side of the body of water. There were some people on the west side with some ATVs parked.
LVRR above Hanover Reservoir
There was a little spot where people had obviously been going in once we got to a low spot. There were plants and such growing up to the shore line, but a definite path in. Someone had also placed rocks in this path to make for a better approach to the water. Some of us went in, and some waited on the shore, because it wasn’t as nice a swimming spot as what we had had before, but it was definitely refreshing, and much needed on my part. When everyone was ready, we headed back on the path we’d taken, back up to the rail bed.
Lowell and his ever present cereal box
A short distance after turning right back on the rail bed, Hanover Reservoir was in view through the trees to the right. There was one slightly wider area that might have been the former site of the Lake Station, a stop on the railroad.
I’m not sure if it was a flag stop or a regular station stop (a flag stop was only a stop if the flag was up, which potential passengers would place to signal engineers). I also can’t find any photos of this or some of the other stations on this line anywhere.
At this point, we were getting closer to the giant bend where the Lehigh Valley line switched from going west to east. We skirted a hillside to the right after a long section of having been on an opposite shelf, and then Alden Mountain Road came into view down to our left.
The main ATV path on the right of way also descended to this road here, but there was still a bit of a path on the right of way. We continued ahead for a little bit until it got too close to someone’s back yard.
LVRR grade, maybe Lake Station site
We turned left from the right of way and headed down to Alden Mountain Road through the brush. There was a shit ton of Poison Ivy when we approached the edge of the road, which I don’t get, but when I saw it all around my ankles I decided I’d find a better route out for everyone else’s sake.
I found a spot to the left, and we were soon all out on the road heading west. The road passes by Fairchild Pond and then turns to the north. The rail bed continues through the backs of several yards in this area.
Hanover Reservoir from the rail grade
As we reached the northern leg of the turn, somewhere uphill was the former site of the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s Newport Depot. I suppose this community must have once been known as Newport, or maybe it still is.
We headed north for a bit, and the road started going downhill. In order to continue on the rail grade, we had to turn to the right, east, soon. There was definitely a house above, and I thought that was whre the railroad bed must have been, but it’s possible that some of the road covered it.
Along the rail bed
The area was so disturbed, it’s hard to tell where anything was.
There was definitely some kind of a level grade just off the road to the right in this area, and that was the way we needed to go. We picked up an ATV path there pretty much right away, and then were out across wide open fields on a black cinder path. If we were not on it immediately, this route soon picked up the path of the Lehigh Valley line we wanted.
The clearing ahead and to the right was the historic location of the Ridgewood Breaker.
The group by Ridgewood Breaker site
Downhill from this site, there were several other anthracite facilities including the Bliss Breaker of the Lehigh and Wilkes Barre Coal Company as well as the Lackawanna.
On the rail bed
As we walked across the wider center of the open section, I spotted a pickup truck going steeply uphill to the right on another path. I had everyone hold up for a few moments.
Once it was gone, we continued ahead through the open area, and then headed directly into the woods.
I had photographed my computer screen with the Anthracite Railroads KMZ files in order to compare where exactly the rail bed should be, and it was a good thing here. I thought we were supposed to be higher up.
Along the grade near Newport Depot site
We soon reached the woods, and the right of way was excellent for walking from there. I was worried that it would be too beat up or mined away to follow much of the way, but this was quite great.
We headed through the woods for a while, and eventually came to the point where the Epsy Run, the stream that flowed out of the Hanover Reservoir we had stopped at earlier, flowed down an beneath the railroad bed. In this area, there was a path going to the right we decided to check out. There was water in view.
The rail bed at breaker site
This turned out to be yet another reservoir, although much smaller. It had a little waterfall at the end of it that spilled down into this water body, and an old stone dam.
I thought it looked to be a pretty good swimming spot, so I decided to head over and try it out.
I walked to the far side of the dam, and there was a deep spot to go in.
Most of the group stayed out, but a few came in and didn’t regret it. The Hanover Reservoir was much warer and kind of gross overall, and it left a film of mucky stuff in the hair on our arms and legs.
At the breaker site
This was so relaxing I didn’t want to get out. It was much cooler, and cleaner. The water coming over the little falls wasn’t much, but it was picturesque anyway.
LV grade
After a little while, we headed out of the water and toward the rail bed again. Just then, a guy came up on a utility ATV. We told him we would be right out of his way, and he said “No worries, I’m just here to drink beer!”. I said “ME TOO!” as I held up a Weyerbacher.
He asked where we were going and where we came from, and we gave him the run down. He asked how much we knew about the area, and then told us about an old mine tunnel nearby that’s really very cool. He recommended not going in however.
The pond in Epsy Gap
He also told us to go and check out the Concrete City, which was somewhat near by. That was part of my plan actually. He told us there were plans to tear it down, and to be sure to go.
On the rail grade
We pushed ahead, and the rail bed went into a very nice cut. This was a stretch of land between Epsy Gap and Weller Gap, where the Nanticoke Creek flows down the mountain. We didn’t stop here as I recall, and instead continued walking on the grade to the east.
Down below, there is a large clearing that was once the site of the Truesdale Breaker, which was I believe named for the President of the Lackawanna Railroad, William Truesdale. It was served by the Lackawanna Railroad Auchincloss Branch, from what I see.
The rail bed
The branch line served the different breakers and such and stretched further to the north and east, and it went by the edge of the Concrete City we were planning to visit.
The Concrete City was built by the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad in 1911 for select employees of its coal division near Nanticoke Pennsylvania.
The homes were problematic, lacking in indoor plumbing, and froze too easily in the Winter. The site was eventually taken over by the Glen Alden Coal Company.
Pond in Epsy Gap
Glen Alden eventually abandoned the place about 1924. There were supposedly some big problems with it, in that they arrived just before indoor plumbing, they were hard to heat, among other things.
They decided to let it go, and at some point they tried demolishing some of the buildings using dynamite, but failed miserably. They busted holes through floors and such, but the buildings remained far too unscathed for them to continue with the attempts. Now, they’re just a strange section of houses in an open area near Nanticoke.
LV rail bed
We were a little ways from the place, and it really is not that far in terms of distance, but we soon realized that it was quite a ways down hill to the left.
At about this time, it started raining. It began light and easy, but then turned into a torrential downpour! I hurriedly put my phone into one of my waterproof bags, and we kept on moving.
Many of us were absolutely loving every bit of this, but not everyone enjoyed it so much. I found it to be quite refreshing with all of the heat. Justin in particular hated it.
The LV rail bed
The rain was the final factor that kept us from going to the concrete city as a side trip on this hike. We instead opted to take a drove over to it when we reached the end of the hike.
We continued on, and I sang BJ Thomas’s “Raindrops Keep Fallin’” while we got drenched.
Pretty soon, it all let up, and much of the railroad bed was flowing like a stream, with the dark cinder picking up and making it a coffee like flow.
We continued on toward the town of Warrior Run ahead, and the ground got more disturbed.
LV grade
We tried finding where it used to go at this point, and ended up going uphill a bit more, and then onto some other likely former grades that might have had to do with mining or something of that sort.
There was a junction in this area ahead, where a branch of the Lehigh Valley line went to the southern section of the town of Warrior Run, to the Warrior Run Colliery. The exact junction spot was not quite clear, but we did have to go up and downhill a bit onto an area where the grades were wrecked.
Along the LV grade
We eventually reached the main route again without question, and then found where the Warrior Run Branch went off to the right. This was apparently a roundabout route where there were two junctions to this point, and the old passenger main turns rather hard to the left, and heads north, parallel with the town of Warrior Run.
We turned to the left there and that main right of way entered a rather dramatic cut. Houses were just up slope to the right from us for much of this time.
The LV line
While we were in the cut, we noted that there were bridge abutments on either side. At first we thought it might have een a road, but it was too narrow. We then thought it might have been a narrow gauge rail grade that served a breaker or colliery to the west.
As it turns out, this was a Lackawanna line that broke off of the Auchincloss Branch by the Truesdale Breaker and headed to the east. It skirted much of the south side of the settlement of Warrior Run and then went to Hadley Breaker.
Auchincloss Branch of the Lackawanna abutment
This was the right of way we had followed near the end of the last hike up this way, out past the breaker site before coming back to the Sugar Notch Trail.
The other bridge abutment
We continued under the former bridge site, and then out of the deep cut. We were soon on a shelf, and parallel with Beaumont Street. A path went downhill to a lower end of the road.
We continued through a more weedy overgrown route ahead, and I went further than everyone else to see if it was passable.
I was able to get to the crossing of Beaumont just a head without any real problem. The road had a hairpin turn right next to the former crossing site, but beyond this road it was more badly overgrown and in back yards.
Former bridge site
We turned right up Beaumont briefly, and then turned left on Chestnut. This road closely paralleled the old Lehigh Valley line just barely to the south, behind the houses.
We followed the road out to Academy Street where we turned left. The clouds above us were amazing looking during the road walk.
Shortly, we came to where the railroad used to cross. There were houses close by, so we didn’t go directly into the woods onto the rail bed yet.
The LV rail bed
I figured it was so clear at the start that we would find an easy walking route from this direction to get us back to where we first joined the right of way.
There was a little park near the corner on Hanover Street, a right turn from Academy, so we headed that way.
The former Central Railroad of NJ branch to Nanticoke area started to come in at this area roughly, and I figure some, if not all, of Hanover Street must be built on it at this point. At the end of the park, Mike, Dan, Jen, and I went up into the weeds.
Clouds over Warrior Run
I don’t recall if anyone else followed us there. Most of the rest of the group decided they were close enough and that they would just follow the road back to Sugar Notch Trail.
This is the junction at Warrior Run
We headed uphill and found the railroad bed, but it was overgrown, and then just went into someone’s back yard. We had to head back downhill again, around that property, then climb back up to get to where the rail bed was far enough away.
I was surprised that there was still no ATV path to get to any of this. It was so nice where we first got on it, it just made sense that it must go through to somewhere.
We walked through the weeds on the grade, and all of a sudden an ATV path started.
The weeds near the end
Amazingly, the ATV path didn’t go anywhere after all. Where we had climbed down to it was literally the start of it. The rest of it was crap up to that point.
Overgrown rail bed
We turned to the right shortly and climbed up the slope to where we had climbed down in the morning and reached the parking lot.
From there, most of us headed in our cars down the road to the west to visit the Concrete City. Amazingly, Justin decided to back out of that one because he hates being wet so much!
We walked up into the Concrete City and toured pretty much every one of the buildings, which was pretty cool. I’ll have to return to this area in order to incorporate it into one of my hikes, but this was a good introduction to it anyway.
Concrete City
I was pretty happy to finally see it. We wandered our way back downhill to the cars, and then headed to the Taco Bell over in Wilkes Barre area where we had stopped at the end of a hike for Taco Bell Parking Lot Parties in the past.
Even though we can’t eat at regular restaurants much, I very much enjoy these trips to Taco Bell and laying in the parking lot talking with friends at the end. It’s great keeping some aspects of normalcy around, even if it isn’t as ideal as a table. We’ve done pretty well holding things together, and I think we’ll continue to do so.
HAM
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