Hike #246 10/29/6
10/29/6
Delaware Canal; Bristol-Washington's Crossing with Scott "Tea Biscuit" Helbing, Dave Finton, Joe Tag, Jason Itell, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Laurie Ellicott, Leanard Adam, and Katy Wich
Group shot along the canal.
Here's a link to all of the photos from this hike:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/sneezehorse/hike246%2010-29-6/
Unfortunitely, the original journal entry for this one was also lost in the fire. Anyone have it on disc with the pics I passed out?
Here's what I remember...it was a halloween theme the way past heavily used canal trail hikes have been...and it was exciting for me because I would be completing the entire Delaware Canal after this trip. Tea Biscuit and I wore our "Hans Mustard Boy" costumes, or as he calls them "pope" costumes, though they remotely resemble anything to do with the pope consisting of garbage bags with crap taped to them and grocery bags as hats. I even wore Taylor Rental's old "OPEN" banner as a cape!
After meeting in Washington's Crossing PA, we shuttled as few cars as possible south to Bristol.
Our costume hike 2006...lol
Where we started there was a large parking lot and we had no idea where the canal was supposed to be. We wandered around and I realized it had been filled in in this section. We could see signs showin where the original three locks were and where it let out into Delaware tide water next to a huge marsh. We were able to backtrack the canal route from here easily. There was still a bridge over the "canal" ahead even though there was no longer a canal. There was pretty much a path along the route to make for a trail, but there was no water until we got a little bit further north. From here there were large ponds with fountains in the former canal prism. Beyond here it started looking like the rest of the state park to the north.
In Bristol PA on Delaware canal
As we continued north the worst part we got to was an interruption where there was a heavily active railroad track. A train went by us and we could see sparks flying off the rails. It took a bit but we got back on the canal.
On the way north from here I remember we only stopped one more time in Morrisville PA. There was a food stop at a little convenience store and and Mr. Buckett, Tea Biscuit, and I went in on some Sam Adams Octoberfest which was really good. We then continued north and Mr. Buckett told us some fun stories about his adventures in Canada...lol
When we got to Washington's Crossing we overshot the end by quite a bit and ended up having to cut onto a dead end road and road walk back to the south again since we missed our turn off. It took Mr. Buckett, Tea Biscuit, and I a lot longer than the rest due to this set back, but we had a good time.
Marsh land at the southern terminus of the Delaware Canal
Memorial in Bristol PA
Bristol PA, at the southern terminus of the Delaware Canal
The Delaware River at the southern terminus of the Delaware Canal, Bristol PA
Delaware River, Bristol PA
Former Delaware Canal bridge in Bristol PA
Along former Delaware Canal in Bristol PA
Along former Delaware Canal, Bristol PA
Old Delaware Canal, Bristol PA
Former Delaware Canal, Bristol PA, in our Hans Mustard Boy Costumes.
Along Delaware Canal, Bristol PA
Old Delaware Canal, Bristol PA
Along old Delaware Canal, Bristol PA
Delaware Canal, Bristol PA
Delaware Canal heading north out of Bristol PA
Delaware Canal north of Bristol
Delaware Canal north of Bristol
Delaware Canal north of Bristol
Along the Delaware Canal north of Bristol
Delaware Canal, Levittown PA
Along Delaware Canal, Levittown PA
Crossing the tracks somewhere near Penn Valley
Along Delaware Canal somewhere near Penn Valley
Delaware Canal, Morrisville PA
Trenton-Morrisville Bridge
Delaware Canal, Morrisville PA
Wandering the Delaware Canal at Washington's Crossing area.
MIRACLES HAPPEN!!! I have the original journal entry! Someone gave me a disc I had given them with it!
Hike 246; 10/29/6
I decided to try to make this next hike the annual Halloween costume hike, and just as always hardly anyone wore anything crazy. The planned section would finish the Delaware Canal for me, covering the only part of it I had'nt walked from Bristol, where the tide locks existed into teh Delaware River, north to Washington's Crossing. The drive down was long; I even passed through detour areas rather than following the route shown because I did'nt want to waste time getting to Washington's Crossing, and we made it in time!
We met at the end point, a parking area in Washington's Crossing on the PA side. Joining me this time around were Tea Biscuit, Jason Itell, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Joe Tag, Laurie Ellicott, Dave Finton, Len Adam, and one newcomer, Katy Wich. Only Tea Biscuit, Laurie, and I wore anything out of the ordinary. Laurie was dresses sort of princessish, while Tea Biscuit and I wore garbage bags with ridicules pictures and words taped all over them, plastic bags on our heads, and I took the old Taylor Rental open sign out of the garbage and made it into a cape!
We shuttled the vehicles south to Bristol near where the canal let into the river. We parked along a street where there was a reasonable enough looking parking lot and began walking along the street asking for directions. There was an abandoned railroad grade directly across the street with a sign Joe pointed out telling of how Abraham Lincoln gave a speech just after winning the presidential election while stopped from his train ride.
We went into the Rite Aid nearby and asked inside how we should get to the canal outlet. A couple people told us how, and one lady in particular gave us good directions. While we were walking in, two little kids looked at Tea Biscuit and I and asked "What are you guys supposed to be" to which we replied "Hans Mustard Boy" (this is the name I gave this particular costume years back. I had been making these bag suits for a while and made my frieds wear them from time to time.).
We made our way down the road to the right of the cars, which turned out to be south, and turned left at a fork, taking us down into what looked like a parking lot, with nothing particularly special in sight. There was one small sign I saw, so I went to inspect it. Surprisingly, it was the site of former locks 1, 2, and 3. We now knew we were in the right spot. It appeared that the water was to the left, and we figured that that must be north, though we were wrong. We walked along a paved path, part of the canal trail, which led us to the site of the tide lock, the end of the canal. It did'nt make sense to us at first that we could be going the wrong way. We were looking at the compass trying to find north, when at this point the canal must have gone a bit more east. We turned back back along the path, and there was a marshy inlet to our left, which must have been part of the canal as well. When we reached the sign for locks 1, 2, and 3 again, we had to look around to find the former canal site. There was an historical picture on a sign showing the canal passing under a bridge, and we could see that bridge ahead, minus the canal, so we knew that was the way. We walked up and over a road to where the canal was a recognizeable prism, though there was stil no water in it. This led us through a little greenway, and it appeared the canal used to go through a school yard. We walked along the north edge of the fields, then out a gate and around the school. We reached a road and turned right, and knew we were in the right place when we saw a sign reading "Canal Works". I believe this was along Beaverdam Road. There was still no water, but the towpath was improved as a trail. As we continued north, the canal came into a what looked like a little town park, and there was a lake. We headed out along the edge of the lake part and reached a bridge underpass of a railroad.
The towpath continued ahead and was easy to follow. There were a bunch of weird looking little brain like fruits along the towpath from the trees above, and we began kicking them and throwing them at each other, playing "bowling for hikers". We reached another road crossing soon where a store was visible. Katy and Tea Biscuit decided to go in while the rest of us waited behind. Katy came back pretty quick, while Tea Biscuit was apparently waiting to have his food prepared. There was a homeless guy laying behind a sign at an intersection near us, and some guy stopped and gave him a coat or something, which he put on. I remember thinking this was quite nice. I called Tea Biscuit on his phone to let him know we were taking off without him, and he could catch up. Along the way, we found an old shopping cart, and Jason got in it. I pushed him for a while in it, but it was hard because one of the wheels was bent funny. The canal itself soon ended as we reached the underpass of the PA Turnpike/Rt 276. We walked under and just ahead the canal crossed what is now Rt 13. I waited for Tea Biscuit to come to sight before crossing. It was a big four lane highway so we had to hurry to get across. The next section was quite nice once again, and one would never know we had just crossed a big highway.
We passed through an area called Edgely and paralleled the highway very closely before the canal abruptly ended at a grassy area in front of a mall. Dave Finton was far ahead of us, and I worried that he would find the correct route. We continued along the highway in front of this mall area, and soon reached another road, the Levitttown Parkway. This was apparently the southeastern end of Levittown. We turned left on the road briefly and were able to pick up the canal once more. We continued for a bit, and soon came to another crossing of Rt 13. We did'nt have to dash very far across, as their was a median in the highway. It was a weird crossing because the canal ended, resumed in the median, ended, and resumed again. On the other side, there was an abandoned road along us to the right, and Jason and Mr. Buckett decided to check it out. They ended up having to fight through weeds to get back to where we were, as the road did not take them back to anywhere accessable. Dave soon was in sight behind us, having made a pit stop at one of the malls.
We continued north crossing the Bristol Pike, and soon came to another dead end on the canal. There was a high fill above us where another road, it must have been, passed over and severred the canal. We turned right and followed a woods road, leading out to heavily active railroad tracks. We crossed and looked all over for canal remnants. While we were out there, a train came by, incredibly fast. We were about to cross, but I decided to have a look on the side of the tracks we came from, following a path into the woods. Sure enough, it led us to the next section of the canal. We continued north.
We came into the town of Morrisville along the way, and it must have been here that we left the towpath briefly to visit a store. Mr. Buckett, Tea Biscuit, and I split a pack of Sam Adam's Octoberfest beer from here. Mr. Buckett was telling Tea Biscuit and I funny stories about his recent adventures, including one about a crucifix which I won't elaborate on.
North of Morrisville, there was a section of the canal that was marked as closed, but we walked through anyway. We continued north through Yardley; it did not seem like we could be along the Delaware River because throughout the hike the canal seemed to be so often out of sight from the river. We passed under Rt 95, and eventually made our way to Washington's Crossing. Tea Biscuit, Mr. Buckett, and I were behind everyone else and we overshot Rt 532 where we were supposed to turn to get to the cars! We continued north and had to turn right on a side road to get back. We had asked a guy earlier how much further to Washington's Crossing, at the road we should have turned on, ironically, and he gave us the wrong directions!
Still, we made it back to the parking area okay. Joe Tag drove Tea Biscuit, Laurie, Jason and I back to our cars.
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