9/4/5
Wind Gap-Nazareth-Belfast Railroads hike with Fred Hafale, Jim "Mr Buckett" Mathews, Skyler Jermyn, and Scott Straub
The group in Wind Gap with our new friend
Scott was the only newcomer.
Here's a link to all of the pictures from this hike:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/sneezehorse/hike189%209-4-5/
I lost the original journal entry to this one in the fire as well...if any one has a copy let me know!
Lehigh and New England Railroad right of way in Pen Argyl PA
LNE right of way, Pen Argyl PA
LNE right of way approaching Wind Gap
LNE right of way approaching Wind Gap
LNE right of way in Wind Gap
LNE right of way, Wind Gap
LNE right of way in Wind Gap PA
LNE rail bed, Rismiller PA
awesome guard dog
Power line cut, Rismiller PA
LNE Nazareth Branch right of way heading south from Rismiller
LNE Nazareth Branch south of Rismiller
This was a pretty fun hike. We parked at a grocery store in Wind Gap and the plan of the entire hike was to trace some of the old Lehigh and New England Railroad. In Wind gap there were two lines, one slightly further north than the other. I'd followed the one on the north, but the one on the south had junctions that continued to other areas, and this time we wanted to follow the LNE Nazareth Branch from the southbound route.
We walked up the main street in Wind Gap, stopping by a yard sale along the way (whenever Skyler's around we find yard sales). We then found a yard with a garage in a weird cut and I think the cut was the rail bed. So we followed this parallel on some back streets for a bit heading east, then picked it up again somewhere. It was recognizeable where it crossed the road. We followed it westbound and met a guy who worked in Portland at a camp ground, but who was a rail buff. He gave us exactly how to follow it for some time. I wrote down his contact information on my Northampton County map but the map got destroyed from getting it wet, sadly.
LNE Nazareth Branch south of Rismiller
LNE Nazareth Branch south of Rismiller
Pond where we could no longer follow the Nazareth Branch
Northampton County farm view
Farm view
Farm view
LNE Nazareth Branch in Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center
Former LNE Nazareth Branch bridge site in Jacobsburg SP
Former LNE bridge site, Jacobsburg SP
Former LNE bridge site, Jacobsburg SP
Former LNE Nazareth Branch bridge site, Jacobsburg SP PA
Bushkill Creek, Jacobsburg SP
Bushkill Creek, Jacobsburg SP
Bushkill Creek, Jacobsburg SP
Bushkill Creek, Jacobsburg SP
Bushkill Creek, Jacobsburg SP
Bushkill Creek bridge site for the Nazareth Branch near Aluta PA
We continued across the main street in Wind Gap again, across some yards and then into a wooded area leading us out to a street that was built over it. When we got to Roosevelt Street a guy's house was built right over it. I went up and knocked on the door, let the guy know what we were doing and chatted for a while, and he let us go right through!
This was a nice section, only a little overgrown, but it took us to where we were skirting some back yards, then headed out to Center Street where it went under Rt 33. This big highway obscured where we were supposed to go to follow the railroad. We spent a while following some cleared areas near the edge of 33, and we had a hard time following it before we opted to head further down Center street, and then found what we were looking for. Scott was'nt feeling well, he'd just driven cross country with minimal stops which messed up his knees, so he decided to turn back to his car at this point. The rest of us continued on through a wooded but only slightly overgrown section.
We were soon skirting another back yard, and I told everyone to be quiet. Mr. Buckett was being pretty loud, and when I told him to quiet down, unable to hear me he said "WHAT??". We were caught by a big lumberjack looking guy who exclaimed "HEY BOY! YOU'RE TRESPASSIN'!". I turned back a bit and let him know what we were doing, and after a bit of a talk everything was fine and he let us know that there had been some problems with thefts and break ins in the area so he was just concerned. Ironically, Skyler was working at the youth correctional facility in Easton and it was likely some of these kids that got caught trespassing were ones he was now taking care of at night! It was a good thing we were stopped, because it turns out the junction with the Nazareth Branch was in this guys's yard! He had a line of fence along the top of the right of way which looked like the edge of a retention pond, and a utility right of way additionally obscured the site. He directed us on how we could get through while his "guard dog", not exactly the kind you'd expect a big lumberjack kind of guy to have, yapped at us.
I believe this area is known as Rismiller.
LNE Nazareth Branch rail bed near Aluta PA
Nazareth Branch near Aluta PA
View of the LNE Nazareth Branch right of way crossing this farm road left to right in Aluta PA
Near Aluta PA
We followed the right of way south to the nearest road, but a house was built on it on the other side so we had to turn right, then left on I guess it was Katellen Road to get back to it. Still, another house was too close to the right of way so we headed into the woods and weeds directly to the east of it and bushwhacked out to it. It was only a narrow strip of woods but we managed.
We continued south, crossed another utility right of way, and crossed a couple of old i beam bridges till we reached Rt 512. The guy we'd met in Wind Gap described this to us. We could see the right of way skirting a field directly across from us with limited cover from a small island of trees, and there was a farmer on a tractor out in the field. When he was facing away from us and somewhat out of sight we crossed over and hurried into the next wooded section away from the fields.
Next, we got to Kromer Road. From here, the right of way went along the side of a pond and was clearly signed "no trespassing" within obvious sight of a house. We did'nt know if the next crossing would be an iffy spot or not, so we opted to turn left on Kromer and try to go around. This really sucked.
We followed Kromer out to the next main southbound road and continued until we got to a right turn on Gold Mine Road, then another right on Belfast. This led us to Jacobsburg State Park's north end where the rail bed was part of the Sober's Run Loop Trail and we could follow it. The road was was terrible and went on forever so this was great.
When we got to where the trail turned right, we could see the rail bed go straight ahead so we continued to where it crossed over Bushkill Creek. Only the abutments remained, and so Skyler and I waded across while Fred and Mr. Buckett stayed on the north side following an abandoned road out to Douglasville Road. I took ended up there because the rail bed was completely obliterated on the south side. I'd looked for it before and could never find where it once crossed this road anyway.
We went left on Douglasville to a right on Fehr Road. We tried a right turn to re access the rail bed but it turned out to be a cul de sac, and then made another left on Aluta Mill Road. From the bridge crossing on this road, to the north we could see more LNE rail line abutments from another crossing, and beyond barely recognize the former rail crossing of this road.
Mr Buckett "WTF?"
Gomer Road, along the former Nazareth Branch
Gomer Road
Farms near Nazareth PA
Near Nazareth PA
Near Nazareth Pa
Near Nazareth PA
Near Nazareth PA
Near Nazareth PA
Near Nazareth PA
Near Nazareth PA
Belfast Junction PA
Belfast Junction PA
Near Nazareth PA
Nazareth PA
Tracks in Nazareth PA
Nazareth PA
Nazareth PA
Bushkill Creek near Stockertown PA
Bushkill Creek Bridge near Stockertown PA
Rt 33 underpass near Belfast Junction
We made a sharp left, then continued across the creek once again, which the rail line must have also done again, though we did'nt see where, then made our way down Bushkill Center Road to the former rail crossing only to realize we could'nt follow it here and turned back up hill to go onto Aluta Road in what I think was the village of Aluta. All I remember is it had a really crazy intersection marking...yellow line going right into the weeds at the end.
We soon came to a turn in the road and another obvious rail crossing with a cleared section to the southeast of us, so we walked it, only to find after a short distance it hit a back yard and we had to turn back again to the road. We continued to parallel it from here.
The route was obvious through the fields at the next intersection, so we turned right, crossed it, then left back to it once again along High Street, then onto Gower Road which at first paralleled, then was built at least partially on the right of way.
We could'nt for the life of us figure out where it went from here so we opted to make a left turn onto Levis Road and cut a corner. We turned right from there onto High Street and walked right into Nazareth, then roads through town. We stopped in a store and got some bananas and some drink. I just bought what Skyler got because I did'nt feel like being creative, and I ended up feeling sick after a while. We continued on the main east west street until we crossed railroad tracks, then just followed them left toward Belfast Junction where we had the rest of our cars parked. We crosses a bridge over Bushkill Creek along the way, and just after passing beneath 33 and a junction site, the end of the tracks almost to Belfast came into sight.
Approaching Belfast Junction site
Belfast Junction site
Belfast Junction, now a Plainfield Township trail parking lot
We fought through a few weeds and were soon at the cars. Skyler, Mr. Buckett, and I drove around for a while looking for strip clubs before calling it quits and heading home.
Belfast Junction
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