Hike #54
An abandoned building in Bangor PA
Hike 54
4/28/2
It was now time for me to explore a new area, and this time it would be the old railroads
of Upper Mount Bethel, PA area between Bangor and Portland. The forecast called for
rain most of the day; still, Tea Biscuit and Peeps were happy to join. Somehow, Peeps was
already at my house earlier in the day, and for kicks, he and Tea Biscuit and I all wore
long white meat coats to and pants to look like scientists. I even put on a tie.
At my house getting ready to go
We headed off to the NJ side of the Portland-Colombia Footbridge we had met at so
many times before, but this after stopping in Port Mart, we made our way up the old Rt of
highway 611 to what was once the Pennsylvania side of the Lehigh and New England
Railroad’s bridge over the Delaware. The LNE line was built in about 1886 and
abandoned in 1961; reportedly the bulk of the rail line was abandoned on Oct 31 of that
year. The bridge had been dismantled and all that remains of it are abutments and a couple
piers on the NJ side. As we started walking, it was raining pretty steadily.
On former Lehigh and New England Railroad bed in Portland PA
Jacoby Creek crossing on former LNE railroad, Portland PA vicinity
Along former LNE railroad in Upper Mt. Bethel twp PA
We headed west along the right of way on a fill, and shortly had to come out onto a
street, then follow it shortly uphill to the old Portland LNE station, now a garage. The rail
bed took us below an old school house across a field and through a cut, then out to
another road where there appeared to be the foundation of a house on the hill to the north
of where the tracks were.
Directly across the road was an old through style girder bridge over the Jacoby Creek.
We could not follow the right of way across the bridge because someone had been using it
for access to a private residence, though only for junk vehicles, not a driveway.
Fortunitely, I was familiar with this section as I had hiked it with my grandfather years
before. We continued on a road parallel to the right of way, which once crossed the creek
soon after, but the bridge had been replaced and moved upstream a bit since my last visit.
After crossing Jacoby Creek, we could see the former Bangor and Portland (DL&W) line
just a few yards from us to the south; then we followed the LNE right of way into the
woods and across an I-Beam bridge again over the Jacoby Creek tributary. This entire
time on the roads and through Portland we were stared at by locals due to our odd
appearance, not to mention the fact that we were walking in steady rain. It must have
certainly looked suspicious.
As we made our way west, the right of way opened into a larger ATV path, then soon
passed a quarry area on the right. On the way, I also spotted what I believed to be the site
of a junction with a spur line which connected with the DL&W Bangor and Portland line
nearby. I had never walked further than this point with my grandfather; we were now on
new ground to me. At the next road, I knew it would get tougher as the right of way was
badly overgrown. Still, we made our way along part of it but soon decided to follow the
road parallel for a bit. This road soon moved off to the north from the rail line, but
fortunitely another road took us to the left and back across the railbed in a short distance.
We had to search for a while to figure out which exact point was the rail crossing. Unlike
the DL&W lines, the L&NE was only single tracked most of the time, whereas the DL&W
we were used to following was doubled, making finding it’s remnants easier. Still, we
made our way into the woods on an access road of some sort, and were able to follow the
right of way closely into a field area past what I believe was Lake Poco (two lakes, Echo
Lake, and Lake Poco both are near the right of way). The rail bed soon became more
overgrown as we made our way through the overgrown field area. This soon became
easier as we came to the shelter of a forest canopy. Along the way, we crossed through
some areas close to residences, but far enough away that we were not bothered. At some
points, there were even fences over the way, but that did not stop us from crossing.
As we continued, there was one point where there appeared to be two right of ways, one
lower and one higher, the lower one of which was quite muddy and wet. We were already
quite wet anyway, due to the rainfall on the bushes we were constantly fighting through.
Next, we came out to a road, built on the railroad right of way, with signs pointing to Tee
Ball fields. This was part of the Minsi Lake park area. Continueing on the road, I saw a
bridge to the south over a creek, which I originally thought to be the right of way, but the
I-beams are far too small to have supported a train. I soon realized the right of way was
now the road.
At the next intersection, the right of way continued straight along what is now used as a
driveway, so we took a right turn to Minsi Lake, part of Northampton County’s Parks
system. We made a pit stop at a store on the south side of the lake for refreshments.
As we continued on, the right of way emerged from behind the buildings, and we were
soon on a clear right of way again. This led us past the Bear Swamp Archery Complex and
beyond through woodlands and behind some houses, across another I-beam bridge with
missing ties, and out someone’s driveway to another road in North Bangor. We were
faced with a dilemma, as a new house had been built on the right of way straight across,
but fortunitely there was a corn field to the south of the house, which we crossed to access
the right of way beyond the property of the house. We had a clear shot from here for some
distance, though the railbed was badly eroded at one point.
After another section of woods, we crossed another little tie bridge, then emerged in a
field. Completely farmed out of recognition, the right of way was nowhere to be seen.
Still, the field was beautiful with rolling hills, and a nice view of the Kittatinny Ridge
beyond. I looked at the field and the most probably route of least resistance, and we bagan
walking. Soon, we discovered a line of trees near a road which was the obvious railroad
route. A faint ATV trail kept it clear enough to walk. We continued on until we reached
PA Rt 191 south of Fox Gap. I did not have a map with me, and the plan was to find the
route of a rail line that connected the LNE with the Bangor and Portland DL&W branch in
Bangor. Because I did not see any sign of junction thus far, I decided it would be best if
we followed PA Rt 191 to Bangor, hoping that we would find the right of way eventually.
Later, I would discover that if we had walked a couple more miles west, we would have
had clear walking and found the obvious site of junction beyond. Consequently, Rt 191
was built on the right of way from the town of Roseto south to Bangor, so we did end up
in the right place though I would not discover this until I led the hike again. One would
not think Rt 191 could have been a right of way due to it’s extremely steep grade
uncharacteristic of a railroad.
Laying down in PA Rt 191
As we walked south on 191, Tea Biscuit and Peeps thought it would be funny (and it
was) to lay down in the middle of the highway. They jumped up before any car had the
chance to hit them, but they were met with strange looks by passers by. When we reached
Bangor, Tea Biscuit was totally enthralled with looking for hot girls. There were several
as I recall, but Peeps knew them all and apparently did’nt like them, as he denounced each
one to Tea Biscuit as they came into sight. On the way through town, there was a really
cool tall white building, an abandoned piece of Bangor’s industrial past, which we of
course needed to go over and check out. We went under an underhanging piece of the
place, then moved on. We stopped at the 7-11 in Bangor to take a break and get some
food.
under the building
Along former Bangor and Portland Railroad, East Bangor PA
Former Bangor and Portland Railroad, East Bangor PA
Next, we began to head back east towards Portland via the active tracks that were once
DL&W owned. On the way, we passed by a junkyard area, a cut, and then on a low fill
across an East Bangor lake which was very interesting in appearance.
Railroad on a causeway, East Bangor Lake
Former Bangor and Portland Railroad in Johnsonville I think.
Climbing on rail cars, Upper Mt Bethel PA
Next, we came to an industrial site where we felt the need to climb upon parked rail cars.
Probably a bad idea as we were within site of a road, but we were not stopped at this time.
Also of interest, we were stopped by a man where a road closely parallels the tracks, and
he asked us if we were hunting, telling us it was illegal to hunt there. We found this to be
particularly humorous as we had about the farthest thing from camoflauge on, not to
mention no guns!
Mt Bethel area PA on rail cars
Getting closer to Portland, we passed the old Mt Bethel Station, now a private residence,
then I seem to remember a police car going over a bridge near us. Coming back into
Portland, we passed the Jacoby Creek bridge where we could see our route from earlier in
the day, then a spur which ascends to the south into industrial areas. Just beyond here and
where we crossed a bridge over Rt 611, we reached the fork in the tracks used to connect
with north and southbound Lackawanna main line. We took the north fork which was to
lead us back toward the footbridge.
Upper Mt. Bethel Railroad station
Upon our arrival at Portland Junction, a police car pulled up on the tracks, giving me
flashbacks of the two day hike I did with Bill Bill years before. The officer inquired us on
what we were doing, to which we answered honestly that we’d been hiking. We told a
white lie that the coats were to keep us warm due to the rain. To our surprise, the officer
told us “Well, we’ve been getting complaints about you all day!”! He proceeded to read
his records to us saying in the AM hourse “Three men entered woods near Jacoby Creek
wearing Lab Coats”! Apparently, citizens thought we were EPA or something,
investigating some chemical spill or who knows what. The officer let us go without giving
us a hard time, but we had quite a laugh regarding our disturbing of the peace!
We crossed the footbridge and returned to the Camaro. Starving, we consulted Peeps on
where we should eat, to which he replied the Mt Bethel Diner was good. We stopped in
and had a meal. I ordered a Lasagna which was probably the most disgusting, shitty
lasagna I have ever had, and I don’t recall T Biscuit and Peeps being incredibly happy with
their food either. To top it off, our service was terrible. The girl who was waiting on us
was a friend of Peeps’ sister, Rachael, and she probably gave us bad service to spite Peeps.
She gave us an attitude especially at dessert time. I was being goofy, but to every happy
go lucky remark I made, she had something smartass to say. When I decided on a dessert
commenting “I LOVE apple pie!!!”, she sarcastically said “Well, why don’t I go get you
some???”. Peeps, having picked the place, was particularly unhappy and announced that
he was not tipping. We opted to leave her some loose change we had in our pockets, and
made ridicules towers out of our cups and such. As Tea Biscuit tried to exit the booth, he
caught himself on some of the stuff, dropping a huge mess onto the floor, shreiking like a
school girl. Barely able to contain our laughter, we stumbled into the parking lot, and
burst. What a perfect way to leave a bad meal with crappy service! As we headed back to
Peeps’ house, we laughed histerically and must have commented “What a Bitch!” a dozen
times in the short ride. Quite a day to remember!
On Colombia Portland foot bridge
Here's where you can see all of the pictures from this one:
Laying down in PA Rt 191
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