Hike #181
Skyler and I in Freemansburg
7/24/5
Bethlehem/Allentown Railroads loop with Skyler Jermyn
I lost the original journal to this one in the fire as well but it was certainly memorable.
Train in Bethlehem PA
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Bethlehem Steel
Only Skyler and I were on this one. We headed to Freemansburg to a Lehigh Canal parking lot. I'd had these beige jumpsuits that were given to me by my Uncle Don Eichlin and I got some 97 cent clip boards from Mansfield Wal Mart so if we sneaked into Bethlehem Steel we'd look official!
We headed up the canal and crossed the Freemansburg Bridge. I'd found on a previous trip with Skyler and Tea Biscuit that there was a drainage chute leading down to the tracks. We'd used it to access them before, and this time we did the same, only we walked to the west toward the steel facility. There were a few small buildings on the way, and the railroad (former Lehigh Valley line) went to a double level. We stayed below as not to be seen because I recall at rain going by when we were there.
Soon, the giant furnaces came into view and so we made our way across the tracks and onto Bethlehem Steel property to approach them. We could see them from far away, and being right below them made us realized how big they really were.
We continued below them and then up to other adjacent buildings. It was amazing how much was just left abandoned. I remembered when my dad used to live in Bethlehem he brought me to see this facility working. I remember small rail cars going by full of dripping molten steel like something out of a movie. It was incredible. Now paved areas had healthy grass growing out of it, windows were all broken, fences had been erected around many of the buildings, and there was no one in site. Dead silence except for nearby highways.
Train on former LV tracks
Along the Lehigh...um...counting geese
Below the Hill to Hill Bridge
Below the Hill to Hill Bridge, Bethlehem
Bethlehem Steel
Lehigh River at Bethlehem Steel
Hill to Hill Bridge, Bethlehem
Bridge in Allentown area
Allentown PA, former Lehigh Valley Railroad
Leaning on the wall...
Shopping in Allentown
Chocolate Milk in Allentown
Tilghman Street bridge, Allentown
Former CNJ tracks, Allentown
Skyler on a train, Bethlehem
Allentown PA
Bethlehem rail yard
Bethlehem rail yard
Bethlehem rail yard
Multiple tracks in Bethlehem rail yard
Martin Tower in the distance
Above Bethlehem rail yard
Former CNJ tracks, Bethlehem PA
As we got toward the end of the largest buildings, we saw some guys standing around a car within the steel property. I don't think they saw us, but we saw them for sure. We ducked behind an old stone building to the east of the stacks and tried to figure out what to do. We could see the tracks to the south of us and beyond it the Lehigh River and figured if we crossed and descended to the riverside that we could probably stay out of sight from them, so that's what we did. We walked along and sometimes partly in the shallow part of the river and neared the Fahy Bridge. There were a bunch of people up walking across the Fahy Bridge and they were looking right at us. I'm sure out matching jump suits and clip boards made us look somewhat official, but when a flock of geese took off from the river Skyler and I both had the same idea and started counting them and then jotting things down on our clip boards! He then began making baseball signal motions to me with his fingers and tipping his hat, to which I replied in the same fashion. The people on the bridge moved on and we had big laughs later!
Next, we walked under the walkway below the Hill to Hill Bridge before heading up into South Bethlehem. We had succeeded in our quest of infiltrating Bethlehem Steel and were quite happy. We walked up into town and stopped in CVS I think it was, and we even got a picture printed out right there because we thought it was so funny. We chatted with the girl behind the county for a bit and got some iced tea in like a half gallon jug to mix with the alchahol Skyler had brought to make his "long island iced teas".
We started drinking a bit and descended to the railroad tracks again, continueing on them to the west. We passed some railroad workers but they did'nt give us a hard time. We got pretty drunk fast, and we heard some sounds below a berm of the side of the tracks and had to run like crazy to see what exactly it was. I don't think we would have done that sober.
We continued into Allentown and passed under several trestles. Once we got to the Tilghman Street Bridge I guess it was we headed up hill on a narrow walkway that led to the street. We walked a couple blocks and went into a market that was predominantly hispanic, but had some good cheap food. I don't remember what we got other than chocolate milk, but I think Skyler might have gotten something to mix the remainder of his happy drink.
Once on the other side we descended to the railroad tracks, i think by going left then left onto them again. We followed them to one of the Lehigh Canal locks near the dam at Allentown and I believe we took a swim below the fish ladder. We then continued on the tracks. Soon, a slow moving train came along. We thought, in our enebriated state that it might be fun to try to jump it, and so we did! We rode the train for a while hanging off the side until it started to speed up! We had to jump off and roll a bit.
Looking down from the Hill to Hill Bridge
Looking down from Hill to Hill Bridge
We continued and soon walked into a railroad yard, a huge one. After walking for a little bit we were stopped by an employee who told us we were'nt allowed to be walking there and that the big bosses were visiting or he otherwise would'nt mind. He had us go out to a railroad access road along the tracks on the north side, which was fine with us. He also told us this was the only gravity rail yard remaining east of the Mississippi! We walked the road and it ascended above the tracks high. We could see that the rail yard must have gotten thirty tracks wide! When we were far clear of anyone in the yard we descended back to the tracks to walk them further back into Bethlehem. We ended up under the Hill to Hill Bridge, and Skyler was quite dead. I climbed onto the bridge to look around.
Along former CNJ right of way in Bethlehem
Ending our hike along Lehigh Canal, Freemansburg
We then continued on along the former CNJ tracks east of Bethlehem. There were still rails, but they got quite overgrown fast. We continued on them as best we could for as long as we could but it became far too difficult as we neared Freemansburg so we crossed the canal which ran along side of it to walk the towpath instead. We continued on this back into Freemansburg to complete a great hike.
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