Hike #1037; Wind Gap to Easton

Hike #1037; Wind Gap to Easton

5/14/17 Wind Gap to Easton with Jason W. Briggs, Sarah Jones, Shane Blische, Daniel Trump, Rob Gearheardt, Scott "Tea Biscuit" Helbing, Amanda Lance, Dan Lurie, Brandan Jermyn, and Dan Asnis

Historic narrative by Shane Blische in italics, with some historic photos.
This next hike would be another turn of events that for me would define mortality, test my pain threshold, and test my determination.
This was really overall a GREAT hike with a lot of history, entertainment, and fun, as well as a relaxing dinner stop and engaging conversation. Until I injured myself, everything seemed good. Even then, I muscled through.

At Sober's Run

We met at the Giant food store on the north side of Easton, as we had on several previous hikes, and then shuttled to the north to our beginning point, which was I believe Ashely Home Store on Rt 512. We then walked the road the short distance to the west. We crossed over Sobers Run, which was good for a brief laugh and hamming things up a bit. Just beyond that was the trail head for the north end of the new section of trail built on the Lehigh and New England Railroad’s Nazareth Branch, which was active here only from 1898 until 1939.
The section we were walking was constructed apparently when the line was the Pennsylvania, Poughkeepsie, and Boston Railroad, which was reorganized as Lehigh and New England in 1885.

Lehigh and New England map

The Lehigh and New England had a pretty impressive system in Pennsylvania, particularly where we were. In Pen Argyl, just to the west of us, the line split where there was a northern, faster main line heading west, with the only spur line being the Saylorsburg Branch, and a southern main line where junctions were made to slate quarries and other spur lines.
The Nazareth Branch broke off of the main line in a place called Rismiller.

Historic postcard image of the Lehigh and New England in Pen Argyl PA

We were given a tour of the junction on that hike, and then hiked it southbound. At the time it was just a power line right of way where we had to fight through a good amount of brush. Today, it’s a very pleasant rail trail.

Hiking the nazareth Branch in 2005

We made our way to the south a bit, away from the road and parking area. The trail keeps to the right under the power line clearing , which offered us a bit more shade.
We paused when we got to a spot further away from patrons where Shane gave us a bit of an historic dissertation on the Nazareth Branch and the slate belt railroads.

Shane talks about the Nazareth Branch

The Nazareth Branch was chartered in 1898 originally as the Bushkill Branch. Track construction took place in 1900 and 1901. The line was nine miles coming off the Old Bender's Link at a point called Bushkill Junction near the village of Rismiller just west of Wind Gap, heading south through Jacobsburg and Aluta toward Nazareth.

Rod Dirkes photo of locomotive #113 switching cars on the Nazareth Branch near Nazareth in 1935.

The line's main commodities were slate, limestone and cement and was built to compete with the Lehigh & Lackawanna Railroad which was LNE's rival at the time.

A six wheeled camelback switcher at Tadmor Yard gets ready to head north on the Nazareth Branch in 1931. The Nazareth Branch's southern terminus was the east end of Tadmor Yard. Randoplh Kulp photo

The same year 1901, Northampton Railroad was incorporated to build a line from Bath where a connection would be made with the Lehigh & Lackawanna Railroad to Martins Creek, P.A.

Ruins of Nazareth Branch's bridge over Bushkill Creek at Aluta, P.A. Shane Blische photo

LNE quickly purchased the charter and built the line themselves, opening the line as the Martins Creek (sometimes also called Uhlers) Branch in 1904. A connection between the Martins Creek Branch and Nazareth Branch was made at Tadmor. The LNE not long after acquired the Lehigh & Lackawanna Railroad, renaming its Bender's Junction-Bethlehem portion their Bethlehem Branch, abandoning L&L's Old Bender's Link and soon began to favor their routing over the Nazareth Branch. A bit of Old Bender's Link, L&L's earlier routing to Wind Gap from Bender's Junction was kept in place between Wind Gap and Rismiller to reach the Nazareth Branch.

Shane's dissertation

The US Railroad Administration took over the nation's railroads during World War One and suspended all operations over the Nazareth Branch, rerouting usual Nazareth Branch traffic to the Bethlehem Branch.
After the Great Stock Market Crash of 1929, the LNE suffered significant woes, having to abandon several miles of trackage. During the 1930s, the Slatington Branch, Saylorsburg Branch, Glenwood Branch were abandoned. The Nazareth Branch too met its demise when abandonment was filed in 1939.

The trail plan started out some time in late 2008 as I recall, and was scheduled to be constructed soon after. I tried to lead the same hike again in 2009, and ended up bushwhacking yet again.

Nazareth Branch in 2009

We continued on the line south through woods and across Kromer Road where there is a lovely pond to the left of the trail.

The rail bed in Bushkill Twp.

I noted where there was a side trail going off to the right at some point, which I’ll have to go back and explore again in the future. I could not find any information on it when I looked it up.
We skirted some fields, passed through some woods, and eventually came out parallel with Keller Road at the intersection of Belfast Road. This is where the old railraod grade enters Jacobsburg Environmental Education Center and continues south. It’s been developed there for years, unlike the section we had just followed.

The Nazareth Branch before it was a trail, seen in 2009

We crossed over Belfast Road directly and remained on the railroad bed heading south, now part of the Sober’s Run Loop Trail. When the main trails turned away, we remained on the rail bed heading to the south.

Same view of the Nazareth Branch shortly after trail completion, 2012

Soon, we reached where the railroad used to cross the Bushkill Creek, which had only the abutments remaining. On the other side, it’s very hard to trace, but we managed to do so pretty well in 2005.

Nazareth Branch bridge site on Bushkill Creek

This time, after a little break, we’d turn left to follow the up stream Bushkill Creek for a bit. There was a really nice section with deep water holes and a nice little cliff drop off. I’d have to note this for future hikes in the area.
As I recall, we came out to Jacobsburg and State Park Road, and went straight until the trail to the former site of Jacobsburg went off to the right. Jacobsburg was once a village that no longer exists. It dated back to the 1700s, and was the location that William Henry II established his gun manufacturing facility in 1792. A forge was constructed at the site for this purpose.

Bushkill Creek

Henry Rifles were once a huge deal. They played major roles in the French and Indian War, followed by the American Revolution, and the War of 1812. The needs for guns grew with the Civil War, and three generations of the Henry family operated the business at Jacobsburg.
We followed the trail past the main site of Jacobsburg, and then continued on the wider former roadway to the south. There are several other little trails that weave through the area, but we kept to the right. We also continued to the right on one that was not an official trail, because it provides a view of the old slate quarry.

Old quarry

We checked the thing out, and then continued along the old road to where there is a bit of a seasonal overlook down into the valley of the Bushkill Creek. From there, we continued to the left a bit and resumed the regular official trail system.
This took us down to a parking area off of another part of Belfast Road. We crossed the creek at the lot, and then continued to the south along the Henry’s Woods Trail, which follows the Bushkill Creek. There are two legs of this trail, a lower one on the east side and upper one on the west side. I opted to follow the upper one this time.

Henry's Woods

The upper trail has some great topography. It goes high above Bushkill Creek and actually has some very dangerous cliffs along it for those who are not watching their footing. This particular trail is closed during Winter months due to high danger.
We made our way down hill and joined with the Homestead Trail which takes us to the barns and such at the former Henry Family Homestead. We walked through the site and past the old house heading to the south a bit, and then emerged onto Henry Road.

Henry homestead

We crossed directly, crossed the Boulton Gun Factory area where Jacobsburg Historical Society is headquartered, and continued south on Schoeneck Road.
The road took us out to Filetown Roadh, which we followed to the left. We soon crossed over Rt 33 and ascended slightly to Sullivan Trail.
I had wanted to stop for food at Devery’s Pub just to the south at Belfast Junction, but it turned out to be closing. Fortunately, Tea Biscuit mentioned something about Pennsylvania Road House, just up the road and slightly closer! We could get there for a break easily, so we turned left through downtown Belfast.

Pennsylvania Road House

We headed on in, and the grill was still open. I forget exactly what I had, I think quasadillas or a burger or something. Tea Biscuit and Amanda cut out and decided not to eat because they had the dog to worry about.
Dan and I think Rob got the “Monkey Butt Nachos”, which looked quite splendid.
This was a really nice, relaxing stop for a night hike. I was feeling really good as we left about just about everything. I’d been really stressed out with my crazy work situation, and had been trying to just ignore whatever ridiculous crap was happening regardless of how bad.
Dan A. joined us in Belfast, and used on street parking in the area, just before we stopped.

Monkey Butt Nachos

I was pretty full, but content heading out. Jason treated us all to our food, which was very much appreciated.
We then headed back south through Belfast toward the left turn onto Clyde Street where we’d head to the Plainfield Township Rail Trail. It was getting pretty dark, and when we got to the end of Clyde, Dan and Brandan opted to cut out early and use an Uber. The rest of us continued on to the intersection with Belfast Road, then turned right to Gall Road, where a right turn leads down to the rail trail with no problem.

My bloody shin

While headed onto Gall, I cut onto the grass to make the corner from Belfast Road, but in the dark did not see the steep drop off into the concrete lined catch basin.
I tripped and fell in when I completely lost my balance, and the front of my shin dragged over the rough concrete like a cheese grater. I felt a big pinch, but more so the blunt pain in my shin bothered me. It always hurts to whack yourself in the shin, but I had skinned it pretty deep.
At first, a panic came over me.
Had I broken my leg? How bad did I really cut it? I was half expecting to see my bone exposed again like I did to the other leg years before. It felt so similar.

My leg

Once I saw it, I actually stopped panicking some, gritted my teeth, and tried to move on. It was agonizing trying to walk at first, but we made it down hill to the rail trail pretty easily.
I was already frustrated with myself for having fallen in such a silly way, but then I realized I dropped my camera in the ditch when I fell. I had to walk all the way back up the hill on Gall Road to retrieve it. Fortunately, it was right there at the catch basin where I’d fallen.
Dan Trump went with me to make sure I was alright. He flashed his light around, and I could see a big wad of my flesh stuck to the top of the drainage basin.
My camera was right where I fell. We headed from there back down to the others and turned right on the rail bed, former Bangor and Portland Railroad that led us to Belfast Junction. We continued across Sullivan Trail there, at a point I had first hiked also on that same hike we covered the Nazareth Branch on.
There are still tracks on the junction heading toward Nazareth, but they are obscured behind a wall of vegetation. We continued straight on the former Easton and Northern line, formerly part of the Lehigh Valley Railroad system.

Looking to Belfast jct. in 2005

I limped along as best I could, and drank a bunch of straight vodka to deal with the pain. In retrospect, I should have poured the stuff on it instead, because it would get VERY infected.

1916 map with Belfast to Stockertown

We continued to the south from this point, and I honestly don’t remember going through the rail yards or anything to the south of Belfast Junction at Stockertown. The trail ends at Stockertown, and there was a junction with the Lehigh and New England there. The Easton and Northern was washed out in the flood of 2004 there and has been abandoned ever since, but it grew in pretty badly. Still, we must have walked through this section because a missing bridge would be the route if we went to the west to get to Tatamy. I have a vague memory of going through the weeds and brush going up against my cut open leg, but it’s pretty spotty.
I’m rather certain we headed through Tatamy and from there made our way on the trail heading directly to the south. My memory gets clearer after that.

More modern map of Belfast/Stockertown

Dan Trump walked with me and seemed to try to get my mind off of the messed up leg a bit.
We passed the site of the Tatamy Station, and continued on the rail bed, now a paved trail from this point around an industrial site to the south of town, and then through light residential, across the lower end of a new development a Newlins Mill Road, and then on a high shelf above the Bushkill Creek. It wasn’t long after that when we got to the intersection with Penn’s Grant Path.
The side trail leads up to developments to the right, and terminates at Bushkill Drive just to the left. We turned left here, left again on Bushkill Drive, then to the right up to Kesslerville Road. Just up the road, a paved path turns right heading away on the south side.

Historic image of Tatamy Station, part of Shane's collection

The path followed along the edge of the development, but behind the houses, with the tree line and fields to the south of us. We continued on this trail out to an intersection where we turned right.
The trail follows the abandoned former connection of Ben Jon Road. We went south only as far as a power line crossing where another paved path broke off and went to the left. We turned here to follow it. We took the trail out across Wagon Wheel Drive, and continued to a hard right turn.

Some remaining rails near Tatamy

We crossed Meco Road heading south, and skirted more homes, more closely this time.
I was feeling quite a lot better after continuing movement. We soon crossed Zucksville Road and entered along the roadways into Forks Township Community Park, and passed the Community Center.
The path split in two in this area, and we took to the left fork of it, because it was the most direct back to the cars. Another paved pathway broke off to the left parallel with the main road parallel with the Forks fire department. We followed this one to the east.

Scabbed.

This last paved path goes around the back of the Giant food store and emerges on the east side of the parking lot.
I was very grateful to be done with this one. My leg was not feeling so bad now, and it was already starting to scab over pretty well. I actually didn’t think much of it at the time.
Where I fell really wasn’t that dirty, and it seemed like I’d done far worse in the past.
However, in the dark I did not realize how deep it really was.
I managed to drive home, but getting out of the car it was move painful than when I’d gotten in. I took a good shower, which did probably a mediocre job of cleaning it out.
I texted a friend from work that I’d had this accident, and that I would still be in at 7am, and if that “any one who says I’m not dedicated be damned”. Of course, I made it in to work with time to spare. I was feeling a lot of resentment about this entire issue at the time.
I thought to myself how this was a Sunday, and if I hadn’t been screwed into working this awful schedule, this would not have been a night hike and I wouldn’t have taken such a bad fall into a place where I could not see.

My infected leg

I usually wear shorts to work in warm weather, but to keep from making it worse, I wore long khaki pants. The pain was so much worse that next day, and I spent the entire day driving a zero turn mower to avoid having it get worse. I didn’t think I’d need to go to the hospital, but it had swollen up a bit. I just figured I’d let it go and it would improve.
I had a combination of horrible deep, blunt pain, and an often equally as horrible stinging sensation. I figure one was from hitting the bone so hard, and the other was from the cut.
By Wednesday of the coming week, I could no longer handle the pain and finally went to an urgent care doctor. The infection had gotten so bad that I could see the swelling around the lines of my socks. In the morning, as soon as I put my foot down off of my bed, my leg would throb horribly. The would was cleaned out, bandaged, and I was given antibiotics. It would have needed stitches if there was anything left there to stitch, and we were even talking about skin grafts. The seriousness of this injury, and where on my body I had gotten it was far worse than I’d ever have expected. I was told to stay off of it for a week, and given a note to remain home from work.
As always, I pushed a bit too hard. I went home early from work Wednesday to give it some time to rest, on doctor’s orders, but Thursday I had scheduled my next hike. Every other week I was scheduled off Thursday through Sunday, because we worked ten day stints.
Walking was very painful, and I had only recently started trying to run to get in shape for Summer again. It became so much more frustrating when I could notice my temporary disability. Still, I managed to push on through this adversity as I do everything else.