Hike #148
Hike 148
Gary and Tea Biscuit at Celtic Fest
9/26/4
My next new scouting hike I posted as a high speed hike through the AMC, a 5 rating.
AMC uses a rating system when we post our trips which I found to be very practical. For
example, this hike’s rating I believe I posted as 5B15. In reality, it was a 3B18! The ratings
work as follows: The first number represents the pace, a #1 would be very slow nature
walk, liesurely. A #2 is a steady pace but not too tough. A #3 is a brisk, firm pace. A #4 is
a fast pace, and #5 is very fast. I was originally planning on moving fast for this one, but
that changed.
Lehigh Canal lock in Allentown
Railroad trestle across the Lehigh at Canal Park
Lehigh Canal on the west side of Bethlehem PA
Celtic Fest, Bethlehem
For this trip, I planned on doing the southernmost section of the Lehigh Canal towpath from
Bethlehem/Allentown area out to Easton. I believe we left Tea Biscuit’s car in Easton and
took mine to Bethlehem. Joining us this time was Gary Kuipers, who I met working at
Wally Mart. Gary worked in the McDonalds, and I found him to be an interesting character,
always wearing a shirt and tie, and listening to Beach Boys and other harmonious music. I
bonded with him over this, as most people are not into the Beach Boys as much as I am.
Surprisingly, I found also that he had somewhat of an interest in railroads, as his father
worked for NJ Transit. Gary blew off work for the day (he was now working at Shop Rite)
to come hiking.
Where we started, the canal towpath was obliterated to the north. We were very close to
the former Jersey Central Railroad, and there was a large dam over the Lehigh. We
immediately were able to get on the towpath, which was narrow with weeds growing in
closely. This opened up quite a bit, and the towpath became quite nice. There were some
other people down along the canal, as it is part of a community park along the Lehigh. We
also paralleled the old Jersey Central at a very large railroad yard, some of which has
overtaken much of the canal. It was at one point narrow enough that I could almost jump
across it. The railroad soon moved away and the towpath became more open, the canal
still water filled. We passed under a railroad bridge and watched as a Norfolk Southern
engine passed over. We also climbed to the top to check out the trestle. As we neared
downtown Bethlehem, we began to hear the sound of bagpipes! As we neared, a scotting
bagpipe group walked by us playing to pipes to our utter amazement! We realized by the
time we reached the bridge over the canal in town that this was Celtic Fest, a yearly event
in Bethlehem! It was here that my fast paced plans died. We of course had to wander into
Celtic Fest. Tea Biscuit and I each got a couple beers, and we wandered around for a bit.
Tea Biscuit ate some kind of weird but tasty steak thing. Gary got some fries or something.
Tea Biscuit was getting a kick out of walking by so many cops drinking beer while he was
still only 18! After we’d had enough putzing about, we headed back to the canal and started
walking east toward Easton. We began by heading through another city park. There were
two trenches, and I was unsure which one was the canal. The one we followed this time
was deep with running water in it. I would later find that the other one just on the other side
inland would have been the canal, with an acqueduct over the Monocacy Creek. While in
the park, two girls walked along with us for a bit trying to convince Tea Biscuit that he had
had sex with them at a party the night before! They were cute, so he egged them on to talk
more as much as he could, but they finally turned away from us after he invited them to join
the hike to Easton.
Foot bridge over Monocacy Creek at Island Park, Bethlehem
Bethlehem Steel from the Lehigh Canal
Lehigh Canal lock at Freemansburg PA
Old Lehigh Canal locktender's house east of Freemansburg
Old Lehigh Canal loctender's house east of Freemansburg
On the next section of the towpath, we had a couple nice views of Bethlehem Steel’s old
coke furnaces. There remained water in the canal for some time, though at times it became
shallow and ran like a stream alongside us. It remained more or less watered until we
reached Freemansburg Lock, where it was dry. Everything looked pretty much the same as
it had on our last visit here, when we hiked the old Jersey Central railroad through on hike
#95 in June of 2003. Despite recent flooding where the Delaware Canal suffered
tremendous damage, the Lehigh Canal remained intact.
After Freemansburg, the canal was dry, but the towpath was clear. We were pretty close
to the Lehigh the entire way. On this route, we took a break at the ruins of an old
Locktenders house, with two walls still standing. Part of the lock was still in place, just
rotting away.
Lehigh Canal towpath near Rt 33
Washed out boat access under the former CNJ tracks.
Lehigh Canal towpath washout at a river access west of Easton
Rt 33 bridge from the Lehigh Canal
Old canal lock at Hugh Moore Park, Easton
At the site of what was probably the next lock, we reached what appeared to have been an
access road, completely washed away. The road looked more like a streambed where it
came from under the old Jersey Central culvert underpass. The Hugh Moore Park sign, the
only thing revealing that this was ever a parking area, stood lopsided in the piles of rock
and mud. We looked around for a minute, but we found the next section of the towpath.
This next part was not as clear as what we had been on, and the canal was muddy with
some water in it. As we walked under the new bridge for Rt 33, we noticed there was a
long walkway under the bridge, which we talked about climbing into for the view, but we
never did it.
We soon came out to a boat launch of some sort. We tried to continue along the towpath,
which used the slack water from the river at this point, but it soon became too weeded
over, so we had to climb up to the former CNJ railroad right of way, now a paved trail, to
get to the next section. There was once a bridge where the canal and towpath used to pass
along an island in the Lehigh River that had an amusement park on it. Before that, though
not generally known, the canal continued on the north side of the river until the Chain Dam,
where boats were brought across the river directly to a towpath on the other side. We of
course had no choice but to follow this route unless we were willing to swim the Lehigh.
We continued along the railroad bed to Chain Dam, then to another town park. The rail trail
was fenced off on the east side, and I climbed over it. I believe Tea Biscuit and Gary found
a way to go around it! We got Gary some more water at the tow park, where a ball game
was going on. He had run out a while before.
We continued out along the road to the road bridge to Hugh Moore Park, then began hiking
the next section of the canal. Canal boat rides are still offered in Hugh Moore Park, but we
did’nt see any boats. We could have walked the canal towpath a bit west from here and
turned back, but we kept going east to get done sooner. At the end of Hugh Moore Park, we
crossed the old lock site, and the canal spilled off into the Lehigh. The remainder of the
canal from here to the Delaware relied on slack water in the Lehigh, and the towpath is a
paved trail alongside the river. We continued on this interesting section through the urban
part of Easton, right on the river, until reaching the end of the canal. I don’t remember for
sure, but I think we parked the car in Union Square, Phillipsburg, and we crossed back
over on one of the railroad bridges, but I can’t totally remember.
Lehigh Canal towpath at Easton slack water
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