Hike #1483; Wind Gap to Phillipsburg

 

Hike #1483; 5/5/22 Wind Gap to Phillipsburg with Ken Zaruni and Everen

This next one would be a point to point again between Phillipsburg at the boat launch, where we would meet, and points farther away. 

My choice for the starting point this time would be Wind Gap, where I had not yet pushed Ev completely. I’d done some variations of stuff, but I’d heard or read somewhere that a new bridge in Tatamy helped to extend the trail through from there to Easton. The mostly rail trail route is designated as part of the 911 National Memorial Trail, and so I figured they’d be pumping more money into it since it had a federal designation.

We shuttled from the lot up to Wind Gap in my car, and parked at the northern terminus of the Plainfield Township Rail Trail on Buss Street. The first little bit of the trail follows what I think was part of either Lehigh and New England or Bangor and Portland Railroad. The Lehigh and New England main line was just within sight of where we started, north of Rt 512, but it did have some farther south branches through here.

The trail turns to the right and follows a gravel path that skirts sort of quarry company property lines, gently rolling up and down and past disturbed areas. I pointed out some of the big slabs of slate from the old slate quarries that served as a sort of counterweight or something as I was led to understand.

As we descended on the trail a bit more, and just before we reached the rail trail portion, I pointed out where the Lackawanna Railroad’s Wind Gap branch broke off and headed to the east. The ties are all still in place on that, and I’d followed it as part of a night hike before.

We turned right just ahead on the former Bangor and Portland Railroad, which later became part of the Lackawanna system. I noted at the start to watch the water as we continue. The area is full of all sorts of springs, and the grow to a stream that becomes the Little Bushkill Creek. The main Bushkill Creek is a bit further to the west and flows through Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center.

The rail bed crosses over the Little Bushkill Creek a few times and crosses over Grand Central Railroad. Beyond there, it starts to get a bit more developed. It continues through woods across Delabole Road, and then skirts some farm land.
We crossed Gum Road, then Merwarth Road where there is the little parking area and rest stop.
More nice sections of woods and farms led us across Getz Road. I texted my old buddy “Commando Tom” Petrucci, who is town manager now for Plainfield Township, and he planned to come out and meet up with us. He wanted to meet Ev, and so I kept letting him known about my location. I also took a photo of a spot where one of his town employees apparently got a mower badly stuck.

We crossed Jones Hill Road and more creek crossings where I cooled off a bit, and then came to the bridge that carries Rt 191 over the trail. 

There was originally a grade crossing in this area, but I couldn’t quite place where it was. I had an historic photo of what was said to be this site, and it shows a train going by, but I still have not been able to match it up right. Part of the original road and pavement still go up to the trail where the grade crossing was, but it doesn’t seem to look right in the photos.

Ken had his dog Scout with him for the third time with us. The dog pulled him along trying to run the show, and Ken was still trying to get the dog to learn some degree of obedience. It was quite comical hearing him talk to the dog, trying to reason.
“I told you this was going to happen, you didn’t listen, it’s your own
fault.” He would say.

I picked garlic mustard along the way, ate some myself, and let Ev eat some. He was at the point where everything went in his mouth no matter what, so in this case at least it was something edible. I was a little concerned at first, because we just never know what he might be allergic to, but he was fine with this.

We crossed Engler Road ahead and passed through woods and farm land again.

We paused along a farm on the left side of the property, which Commando Tom tells us is going to be the future site of the Gall Farm Preserve.
We crossed and paralleled Gall Road for a bit, and then were along a steep slope with the Little Bushkill Creek below us. The rail bed is situated on a very nice slope with some nice views of the creek below.

Ahead, we came out to the main trail head at Route 191, the former site of Belfast Junction. The Lackawanna Line went kind of straight into what is now weeds, and the tracks are still in place just ahead a bit, used as a siding, but to the left was the former Easton and Northern Railroad, owned by the Lehigh Valley Railroad, and now the route of the trail to the south.

Commando Tom met us at this lot and finally got to meet Ev, although he couldn’t hike with us at this moment.

I set up a then and now history post at this point using a 1970s image by D. E. Peters from the Chris Schmidt collection looking up 191 at the track crossing.

From here, we said goodbye to Tom and crossed the highway, then followed the rail bed south along industries and behind homes. It became a crushed stone surface here which was quite pleasant. We crossed Industrial Blvd, then came out to Sherman Metzgar Park in Stockertown. The trail segment ended at Bushkill Street.

My understanding was that Bushkill Street, which becomes the Tatamy Trail (road name), had a repaired bridge and that we could walk through on it again, but I was mistaken.
We walked all the way to the right, across the former Lehigh and New England Uhler Branch, and then to where the bridge was supposed to be, and there was nothing there.

I thought for sure that the bridge would be there, but it didn’t even look like the site had been prepped in the least bit.
It would be a very long way to try to go across the Bushkill Creek to the east of Stockertown, and to go across on the railroad bridge and through the weeds of the abandoned Easton and Northern (washed out in 2004) would be horrible with the stroller. The only really viable solution was that we would have to wade the stream.

I had to take Ev out of the stroller and get him across in his carrier seat, set him a little up from the creek for a few moments, then run back across the creek to grab the stroller and bring that over as well. Ken helped me to get the stuff up when we got to the other side.

It was a bit weedy on the other side, but we were able to get back up to the road and continue to the south on Tatamy Road.

A little ways ahead on the road, there was some sort of construction going on through the fields to the left. This could easily be more home development adjacent to the already existing new development, but it looked to be a new road of sorts, and it went down closer to the Bushkill Creek. It seems that they wouldn’t allow so much development that close to the stream. There should be some sort of riparian buffer. It might well be that this new construction is some sort of new trail construction going in with a higher bridge at a narrower spot in the creek. I guess I won’t know until I try to walk it again.

We continued to the north on the road, which felt weird because it’s actually a pretty big road, but there is no traffic on it except to local homes.

We continued south until we reached the intersection with Main Street.
I had a few then and now shots to get at this location which prominently featured the junction between two branches of trolley lines that used to be at this intersection, as well as a beautiful old stone farm house on the northeast corner. The home is still there, and according to the 1874 atlas maps of Northampton County, it was then owned by the Brown family.

We turned down Main Street through Tatamy, which I’d never walked before, and descended to the former railroad crossing before reaching the Bushkill Creek.

There used to be a pizza place on the right side of the intersection with Bushkill Street, and I was shocked to see that it was closed. We had eaten here along so many hikes before.

The place was completely empty, and it was an historic building. Eventually, something else would come in and take over the spot, but it was shocking to see the pizza place go out.

We turned right onto the railroad bed to the south, and went around some of the former industrial mill buildings on the trail.
We got back to the rail bed after the deviation, and then passed by the old grist mill. It was at this point adorned with lots of art that had never been there that I’ve noticed on previous trips. It looked really nice. Two people I assume to be the owners were walking along outside and I complimented them on their fine décor, for which they were grateful.

We crossed Bushkill Street to the south, and then came to the somewhat new development at Water Wheel Way. I remember hiking through on this section of the railroad bed when this development was under construction. It’s so much different now.
We continued to the pavilion there, and I think this might have been one of the spots I stopped to give Ev a diaper change.

We continued from there across the current alignment of Newlins Mill Road. I pointed out to Ken on the other side the previous alignment of Newlins Mill Road from before the development. Now that’s known as Dakota Drive or something.

The rail bed is paved through this entire stretch south toward Easton, and next follows a really nice slope along the Bushkill Creek. 

There’s an old quarry on the right side in this section, and an abandoned bridge that was used to access it, no longer with a deck, to the left. It was one of those odd bridges that looks like it could have been an old railroad turntable that was flipped upside down for bridge use.

We leveled off to more woods, always with Bushkill Drive sort of parallel with us off to the left on the other side of the creek parallel with us, and we crossed Penn’s Grant Path, a nice little path that goes between a development and Bushkill Drive, then makes connection to other development paths beyond.

We crossed Stocker Mill Road with a beautiful piece of property and a pond on the right, then a little further south across Northwood Ave and along Penn Pump Park.
We skirted the edge of the park and continued south to cross over the Bushkill Creek on an old deck girder bridge rehabilitated for pedestrian use. I used one of the photos my friend Henry (Matt Fenimore) took hiking with me back in 2003 for a comparison here.

Ahead, we crossed Bushkill Park Drive, then immediately crossed the creek again on another former rail bridge. A section passed through a somewhat new conservancy property, and then reached the former Binney and Smith Plant where some rails were still visible in the lots around it. We continued through this site, and the trail continued on the other side of Edgewood Ave.

On the other side of this road, the former railroad continues as a sort of unsurfaced informal trail, but the official trail goes up the hill to the right to Upper Hackett Park, then down over Rt 22 to Lower Hackett Park, then back to the railroad bed.

The actual rail bed was kept form officially becoming the trail because of the pigment plant that was standing directly on the line. That plant was recently closed and demolished in short order, so maybe that will happen in the near future at this point, but who knows.

We continued straight on the railroad bed, which really a nice section and accessible down to a former industry that is now apartments. 

We walked to the far side of the apartments, and then around them to the left and across the Bushkill Creek on the access road to the buildings.
The entire stretch of Bushkill Drive on the other side heading south toward 13^th Street in Easton is really about the safest road in Easton to walk. The edge of the road was made far larger than was necessary for the area. There’s easily tons of room for pedestrian lanes.

We continued down the road to 13^th Street and turned right down by the Simon Silk Mills, which had been rehabilitated into upscale housing and store fronts.
I usually continue along 13^th Street from here to the old railroad bed, which is now the Karl Stirner Arts Trail, but this time we walked through the Simon Silk Mill property because there was recently a new foot bridge built over Bushkill Creek from the far end of it I wanted to go across.

We also tried to go to the brewery there along the way to see if they had anything new, but they seemed to be closed when we went by.

We crossed over the new foot bridge and turned left on the railroad bed again. The trail only follows the rail bed for a bit, because that turns off to the left and crosses the Bushkill Creek yet again on another undecked girder bridge. The trail follows a frontage road parallel with Rt 22 to along the creek down to the Easton Cemetery east entrance.

There are all sorts of art displays and a labyrinth, and then a little garden area with different chimes that can be rung. Every time I walk this section of trail it seems like some new piece of art has been added along the way.

The landscaping and gardening along this was also above and beyond what I’d seen in the past along the route. 

We pushed ahead to the cemetery, crossed over the Bushkill Creek on the bridge there, and the trail continued to the railroad bed again, but only briefly. The tracks ended at a spot along the creek with a little station just ahead, after passing beneath Rt 22.

We turned to the left form here onto more of Bushkill Drive parallel with the creek, and it had recently been closed to all traffic at the far end. It was crazy because we used to be able to drive right through, with opposing traffic. Then over the years, they switched it to one way traffic only, and now no traffic at all except for to one private residence on the west side of it.

At the end, we turned right and headed into town. I think we went around the circle and I wanted to try to get some sort of then and now compilations but there was some construction going on making it not possible.
We headed from there toward the Northampton Street Free Bridge, where I had several more I wanted to set up.

The site has been a historic crossing probably since aboriginal days, but David Martin opened the first colonial ferry on the site in 1739.

The original covered bridge here was the second bridge over the Delaware to be completed (first to begin construction), in 1806 by renowned bridge builder Timothy Palmer.

The new three lane, 560 foot cantilevered eyebar through truss opened in 1896, and is one of few extant examples of such a bridge in America. It was designed by James Madison Porter III, who was Professor of Engineering at Lafayette College.

Although the old bridge survived floods that destroyed other bridges, it could not hold up to the growing traffic demands that included trolley traffic.

The Northampton Street Bridge had tolls until 1921, and today is a toll-supported bridge (meaning tolls on other bridges maintain this free bridge).

The bridge sustained damage in the Flood of 1955, but was repaired and reopened in 1957.

We crossed over the bridge, and I carefully made my way over traffic getting the shots I wanted, then we headed through Union Square in Phillipsburg to the old Bel Del Railroad tracks. We actually had to cross South Main Street, turn left, and then turn left again to get safely over Northampton Street because the traffic was so bad. It didn’t matter because there were more shots I wanted to get over there.

I set up another one looking back over the Bel Del Railroad and south on South Main Street, and we walked back through Union Square and around to the boat launch lot to finish the hike.

I had one more compilation to set up before reaching the cars at the historic hot dog stand site.
Jim’s Doggie Stand is a Phillipsburg staple going back for forever it seems.
Named for James Makris, who started selling hot dogs in Easton’s Center Square in 1908. He opened Jim’s Doggie Stand in Union Square Phillipsburg in 1910.

The original stand location was to the left of the bridge entrance. By the 1940s, he moved to the right side of the bridge and named the stand “Original Frankfurter”. This stand was destroyed by a truck in 1966, and Jimmy’s Hot Dogs opened up in another nearby store.
Today, they’ve moved to 25^th Street Easton, but that business is still open. A different Jimmy’s Doggie Stand now operates in the nearest building to the bridge in Phillipsburg.
The bridge opened in 1896 to replace the original covered bridge on the same location. 

We did pretty well on time and I had plenty of day light left, so rather than do the normal thing and head right home, I decided to drive from our start point near Wind Gap out through Pen Argyl and set up some more then and now compilations, as well as across the river into Warren County.
It was a really great day, and I made sure to get as much out of it as I could.