Hike #232 8/13/6
Finding Catasaqua Tunnel
Hike 232; 8/13/6
My next hike would be yet another one ending at Musikfest and following railroad rights of way through Northampton County PA. We once again met at the Brodhead lot near Lehigh University. I was joined this time by Tea Biscuit, Bill "Guillermo" Fabel and Jason Itell. This would be Tea Biscuit's first time doing a whole hike in some time. He and Paige Foley had broken up and he was now ready to get out and do more hiking once again.
Along former LNE right of way south of Bath PA
Former LNE right of way south of Bath PA
We shuttled my car north to the town of Bath where we planned to start. I found a parking area at a little community park on the south side of town, and parked there. Guillermo surprisingly decided to wear sandals for the entire hike! We began walking down the street to look for the former Lehigh and New England Railroad system to follow once again. We reached a railroad crossing rather quickly, but there was a police officer parked on them, so we opted to walk the road which fortunitely ran parallel with where we wanted to be at this point. Soon after passing the grade crossing, we found some sort of a quarried area with lots of dirt and rock piles. We cut through here making our way out to the active tracks. We would come out on them just north of where we had joined the active tracks only a week earlier. It was not far before we reached where we had been the week before, and we soon crossed Jacksonville Road.
Former LNE right of way southwest of Bath PA
Following former LNE right of way across a corn field...with difficulty
Following LNE right of way toward Catasaqua
Following LNE right of way toward Catasaqua
We found Jason a toilet just east of Catasaqua
Along airport property looking for a rail bed
Catasaqua PA
searching a dry creek bed in Catasaqua for a railroad bed
Continueing south, our next task was to find another branch of the LNE that broke off to the west heading toward Catasaqua. I had originally thought it was an industrial spur we had seen the previous week, but Jason found otherwise. He went into the weeds to check out a level grade that seemed to break off to the right, and sure enough this was the right of way we wanted. We proceeded to follow. It was overgrown with weeds at first, and we opted to cut into a parallel corn field briefly. While there, we busted out some of Guillermo's beer he'd brought. We soon found that we could get back on the right of way along a field and came out from the corn. Jason had somehow disappeared in the field, so I called his cell phone and realized he was just a ways ahead of us. We caught up and headed out through an area barely visible from a house. We crossed a road and then continued on a secluded piece of right of way through woods. I was surprised this was so abandoned, as it was shown as still existing on some current maps. We were able to follow it easily for a while, and we had some beer so we were happy. Unfortunitely, what appeared would be an easy stretch ended when we came to the edge of a thick and high corn field. The railroad right of way was farmed completely out of existance. Jason had a compass, and we began fighting through the corn field trying to find the route the tracks once took. I thought the tilled up ground would show some sort of cinder dirt, but there was none. We continued until we reached an open dirt road and some storage sheds. We could not see any sign of any sign of the right of way. The best we could do was assume that it crossed the field where there seemed to be a bit of a disturbance in the contour of the land on the road. We went with this and started heading west through the rest of the field here. We continued until we reached a tree line and followed it. We fought through some weeds to get to another field, and broke open some more beers. I drank one that was kind of skunked that had been sitting on my mom's back yard table for a while, which was gross. I think Jason found the right of way, beyond in another line of trees across the field. We made our way to it and were able to walk it to Rt 987, which I beleive was Airport-Schoenersville Road at this point. We paralleled the right of way to the right for a bit on a road, near some sort of an industrial park, then got back on the clear right of way beyond, passing by a Posted sign. The right of way came out to an area just along the back end of a developement, and part of it was overtaken by fields again.
Finding Catasaqua Tunnel
Jumping off a Lehigh Trestle!
Guillermo jumping off the Lehigh Trestle
Lehigh Trestle
Along former LNE right of way, Allentown/Bethlehem PA
Former LNE railraod across Rt 378
An underpass along Rt 33
Abandoned LNE railroad near Martin Tower, Bethlehem PA
Pipe beneath the Hope Depot in Bethlehem
There was no sign at all that the railroad once was at this line of trees near the development. Somehow we soon got out of the area near the develpement and the right of way became more recognizeable again. The weeds got pretty bad, and Tea Biscuit decided to walk in a nearby field, only to have to come back up to the right of way in a few minutes. We came out behind a set of buildings, and the right of way was grassy and easy to walk. We continued past the buildings, and Jason found an old toilet. The right of way remained grassy until we got to a fence where we could not go on. There was a deer trying to get out of the fenced area and appeared to be hurting itself in the process. The fence was at the site of where a bridge crossed a road on a blind turn. Cars were passing around these corners, and it was tough to cross. We had to turn back and go around the fence to cross. We ascended the other side of the bridge site through weeds, and began following the right of way on a fill. We passed along the edge of another industrial park, where some of the right of way was cleared and mowed down, so we made excellent time through here. There was even a sign that there was once an industrial spur line breaking off at one point. Somewhere in here we came into the Schoenersville area, and reached part of the right of way that looked pretty inaccessable. We walked through grassy yards to businesses on Race Street, which put us right next to the railroad bed. We continued until we found a place we could get back into the right of way, and walked it for a bit, but we came to a sign that said it was Lehigh Valley Airport Property, so we opted to turn right heading toward a creek. We walked along the edge of a fence through a field, and there was so much brush we decided to walk back and follow Race Street to the next turn to take us to the right of way. We walked along the road, and I was very drunk from whatever I was drinking, I don't remember. I think it was probably Bacardi in a bottle of Coca Cola. Tea Biscuit said it was way too strong. We stopped in at a mini mart on the outskirts of Catasaqua, maybe still part of Hanover Township, and got some Lehigh Valley Farms Chocolate Milk. I started talking to the clerk about Chocolate Milk and how it's all terrible out west, and went on and on. Tea Biscuit finally got me to leave, and told me that I was screaming about Chocolate Milk without realizing it, and it was amazing the clerk did'nt call the cops! We walked a bit more and turned right on Brook Road I think it was. We walked down and across the creek, which I was pretty sure was too far. We could not see any sign of rail crossing, and I walked up the hill a bit while the others waited under a tree. When I could not find anything, we headed back and walked a power line right of way toward town. It was a bit overgrown at first, but soon joined an ATV trail. We turned right off the power line following a path down hill, which took us out to a road along the creek in Catasaqua's residential area. We found what we believed to be the right of way coming from the east, but where it continued to was obliterated. We walked some streets out to a bridge over the Catasaqua Creek, which was completely dry at this point for some reason. We figured it must have crossed the creek at some point. Jason jumped into the creek bed and started walking upsteam direction but did'nt find anything. All four of us got in the creek bed and started following it down stream, but again did not find anything of a railbed. I knew there was once a railroad tunnel this track used under Catasaqua, and I figured if it still existed it must have gone underground somewhere along the creek. We walked to an industrial area, and found no sign of rail activity so we turned back to the road we started on. We headed up the road passing a pharmacy, and then found a street called Tunnel Lane. I knew from here we must have been close. I stopped a young kid and asked him if he knew anythign of a tunnel, but he did not. He told us there was a small one, but I said this one would have to have been big enough for a train. Tea Biscuit said we should find some ridiculesly old guy, like 80 years old or something that's bleeding from his ears, joking from the time we found the old guy at the base of Jenny Jump Mountain of the same description who gave us directions over the mountain; this was hike #64 back in July of 2002. Ironically, we found an old guy, claiming to have lived in Catasaqua 80 some years, bleeding from his nose, who told us where the tunnel was! We had quite a laugh over this one! The man told us that when he was young, he used to sneak through that tunnel. As it turned out, it was covered over at both ends, and he told us how to get to either end. The Pharmacy we passed was built on the right of way. As we walked back toward the pharmacy, we passed the kid we talked to before, and we told him where we were going, and it turns out the tunnel he referred to was the same one! Dirt piled in front of it made the tunnel seem like a small opening, and he did not know if was for a railroad. He told us that it rained one time and the mouth of the tunnel was then exposed the top of the entrance. He went with us to the site of the tunnel, and pointed out where it went in. He also told us he had played in there too. We started rooting through the weeds on the embankment looking for a way in, but it was completely covered up. We finally gave up and walked the roads over the top looking for the west portal. There was a metal railing and a comcrete wall along the edge of a north-south road, which continued up the street a bit, but looked different at this one spot. I jumped over it and sure enough the mouth of the tunnel was there. Like the east portal, it had been covered almost completely. Only the very top of the tunnel arch and the date reading "1910" was visible. We could not crawl in because it had been cement blocked off inside. Still, it was incredible to find it. The right of way continued south and went into a piece of industrial property. It was filled in for about fifty feet or more and now part of some yards. We walked the main street toward the Lehigh River and turned left onto the former Central Railroad of NJ and following it south. Along the way, there was an abandoned through style truss bridge over the Lehigh River breaking off to the right. There were several people sitting out on it, so we decided to go and check it out. There were several kids jumping off the bridge from not only the deck but from the top of the truss! There was a girl who went by the name "L. Roe" who climbed to the top of the truss and jumped off into the Lehigh. We were blown away by this. A couple more people jumped off the bridge, so Guillermo said "Well, I have to try this". He took his shoes and shirt off and just casually jumped off the bridge; it must have been fifty feet above the water! I had a look at what he'd done, and felt I had to go next. I jumped off, and it felt like I was falling forever! When I hit the water, I went very deep. I looked up and could see the light, so I kicked as hard as I could to get back to the surface. There was a lot of pressure on my ears, but otherwise it was quite incredible. Tea Biscuit jumped last. I saw him hit the water. I could tell he was apprehensive, but really enjoyed it. I gave my myspace profile to the group (and was later contacted by L. Roe) and we were on our way along the CNJ tracks south. We soon reached where I had last walked this track with Skyler, just across the Hanover Street Bridge (at this point, I had now walked the entire CNJ from Bound Brook to Catasaqua). We headed up hill from the tracks here toward another branch of the LNE. We found the LNE right of way in a cut, and descended. Under the bridge was a large group of homeless people, whom we startled badly. Tea Biscuit and Guillermo came down from one side while Jason and I came from the other. They were drinking beer and cooking on a grill. Their house was a shack made of plywood. They had clothes hanging from lines all over the place. They told us we were crazy for having jumped off the bridge, and for walking so much. We continued on the right of way north, which took us into another industrial park of some sort. We had to walk along a road because we could'nt figure out where the tracks went from here. We walked along a road to Irving Street and Airport Road, and found that it seemed the road had been built over the tracks after I checked it on a map in a gas station. When I left the station, the others went to an Arby's along Airport Road. I ran to join them, and Tea Biscuit had gotten a Chicken Cordon Bleu sandwich which looked rather good, so I bought one as well. It was terrific. We continued on the road to where we could get back on the obvious right of way. It was a bit overgrown passing through lumber areas and other industrial places, and soon the tracks resumed though they were quite overgrown. We walked them as best we could, and I the others decided to try to parallel them through the industrial site. I stayed on the tracks and got separated from them. As I left the industrial area for a residential one, I fought through some crazy weeds and opted to try to get back to the road. I talked to a home owner who told me they had abandoned that track a few years before. It had gotten overgrown pretty fast in a short period of time. I called Tea Biscuit on his cell phone and found that he was on the road parallel to the tracks just ahead of where I was, so I caught up. Next, we climbed back onto the tracks on a bridge overpass and headed toward the middle of Bethlehem. It was heavily overgrown and hard to walk. We could'nt stay on the tracks the entire time it got so bad, so we left them once more cutting through yards between two lots. We went back up to the tracks again when we got to the trestle over Rt 378. We crossed the trestle and decided to walk along a part of 378 where it paralleled the right of way. We climbed down and walked in a dry drainage basin along the highway for a while, then ended up walking along the highway itself. I was worried that we'd get in trouble, so the first chance we go we climbed up the hill to the east of the highway. We came out in some sort of an industrial spot again. I started feeling the results of my dinner, and had to make an extended separation break. I decided in my drunken state it would be funny go go on one of the recieving bays of the building. I did, and then headed out to catch up with the guys. The tracks were heading through a bit of a cut along the industrial area, and paralelled the outside of the Home Depot I think it was. The guys were out of sight, and I tried contacting with my cell phone. I paralleled the tracks just above through the parking area to avoid the weeds. We finally regrouped at a huge drainage pipe outlet. Jason was way back in the pipe looking up through a grate. We goofed off here a bit and soon crossed a road and walked through the yard of the Martin Tower. We were soon able to descend to the tracks and walk them a bit easier. There was a path in the center of the tracks on the ties where the weeds had been beaten down. We continued on the tracks toward the junction with the other line we had walked on the week before. I took a dip in the Monocacy Creek because I was so grossly sweaty. I called my friend Katie Smith as we walked to come and join us. She said she would, and we headed to Guillermo's house again to hang out. We had some beer and waited a while for Katie to come up the road. I walked up and down a bit and then met up with her. Guillermo stayed home and the other four of us walked down the hill from Guillermo's house into Musikfest, and followed a few roads down into the main area near the river, then back up to the Hill to Hill Bridge. We crossed the bridge and walked the streets on the south side back to the Brodhead lot. Jason drove us back to Bath where we picked up my car, and I drove Katie and Tea Biscuit home. As we drove back toward Bethlehem, the fireworks were going off, as this was the last day of Musikfest, and it was incredible. I was surprised to see when I scaled off the distance we did, that it was 26.5 miles!
Photos:
Since my camera was busted on my previous hike, I once again brought out my trusty old Canon Sure Shot Owl that served me well for so many years.
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