Hike #1044; Easton Area Loop

Hike #1044; Easton Area Loop

6/4/17 Easton Area Loop with Brian Coen, Robin Deitz, Anne, Shayna Michaels, Heather Ramagnoli, Jul ?, Jennifer Berndt, Gregg Hudis, Pete DeFillipo, Jim Mathews (Mr. Buckett), Dan Lurie, James Quinn, Kralc Leahcim (Lerch), and Brandan Jermyn

Out next hike would also be the next in the 911 Memorial Trail series, but one that I messed with a little bit to make it more interesting, and which might eventually become the main route. Additionally, I used the actual designated route as well, so we’d officially cover everything regardless of what happens.
Most of this route was on abandoned railroads and canals of the area, with a few other additional things here and there. We started in Upper Hackett Park, where we left off on the previous hike in this series.

Upper Hackett Park

The actually 911 National Memorial Trail route follows the bike path down across Rt 22 to Lower Hackett Park, then switches to the rail trail on the old Central Railroad of NJ right of way near William Penn Highway and follows it west to a former junction with the main line. The trail then continues to the west on the CNJ main line to the Lehigh Canal towpath through to Bethlehem. I made this the return route rather than start.
My route was to go back down the path through Upper Hackett, and return to the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s former Easton and Northern line.

Former Easton and Northern

When an industry at the bottom of the hill did not want pedestrians walking the right of way through their facility, they instead struck a deal where they agreed to pay for the bypass I understand, up through the two Hackett Parks.
Although the trail follows this route away from the railroad bed, the rail bed can still be followed as a side trail to a former industrial site that has been given new life as sort of apartments to the south, downstream on the Bushkill Creek. We went down hill on the trail, and turned right on this route heading to the south, and went around the apartments.

Former Easton and Northern

I do like the section of trail a bit better becuase it’s not paved like the rest of it. Much easier on the feet.
We made our way around the buildings, and then to the front, and across to Bushkill Drive. Although we cannot go along the railroad bed any further, the bridge has plenty of room for pedestrians, and Bushkill Drive gets pretty insanely wide, far wider than will ever be needed for road use. The entire route could easily be striped and made into part of the official trail route.

Former industry

As far as cyclists go, as well as walkers, it’s not really the BEST route in terms of treadway, but it’s by far the best route when we consider what would be missed if the route that is currently designated is used.
First, Lafayette College is right there, and offers outstanding views of the area. It’s an historic collage, and provides a great outlook on Easton. Second, we have the National Canal Museum, in Hugh Moore Park. As of now, I believe it’s the only place in America where you can take an authentic mule drawn canal boat ride. Finally, the current route misses Easton Circle. This was one of the historic sites of the public reading of the Declaration of Independence on July 8th 1776.

Definitely wide enough

My feeling was that each of these sites are far too worth it for the town to skip. Further, there are other spots of interest such as the connection of three canals, the Glendon Ironworks ruins, the George Taylor House (signer of the Declaration of Independence), Crayola Factory, among other things. There’s even the option of a side trip into Easton Cemetery to visit the grave of Declaration signer Taylor. I definitely had to showcase both routes.
We continued down Bushkill Drive to the intersection with 13th Street where we turned right and soon passed the former Simon Silk Mills buildings and property.

Historic simon silk image

R. and H. Simon Silk Mills of Easton were an extensive complex. These silk mills were the second such industries in the Lehigh Valley, established on the Bushkill Creek at this location in 1883. The property was purchased in 2010 to become part of a redevelopment project, turning the old mills into upscale apartments with some businesses below.

Historic silk mill postcard

I don’t remember the mill ever being active, but I’ve been walking by it forever. The route down 13th Street has been something I’ve followed so many times. On some occasions, the main front bay was wide open and we were able to just walk right in. I reminisced on a more recent one how it was wide open and we’d dash in, and all of a sudden it was open again.

Historic silk mill postcard

This time, the bay was closed when we went by, but we could see inside and how an old piece of equipment was put on display at the entrance for when it opens as apartments and stores and such. Actually, I hear some of it is already open at this time.

Simon Silk

The very old mill stands at the parking area for the Karl Stirmer Arts Trail just across the Bushkill Creek from the place. This was the bed of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad, a spur from he Easton and Northern line to the north. The Stirner Arts Trail follows both this as well as the old road below Rt 22 and the Easton Cemetery.
We turned left to follow the Arts Trail and the old railroad bed, with the old silk mill just across the creek from us. In a lot of ways, this part doesn’t look so much different as it used to, except it we used to be able to cross over to it by way of the many little pipes that spanned the creek, with wires to be used as a bridge.

The plan for Simon Silk Mills

Thinking on it now, the route we used to follow on this was almost an “arts trail” even back in the day. We used to remain on the Lehigh Valley Railroad bed, and along it was art...

Pipe at Simon Silk, hiking 2002

My old friend Randy Melick worked in the area as a sort of apprentice for a man named Keifer and they made these fantastic steel sculptures over by the scrap yard. There was a giant rooster on top of one of the cranes or something, which could open it’s wings. There was another cage type of structure, and there was an abstract representation of Atlas holding the world, with two bicycles in the middle of it.
We walked the trail heading along the creek, and since the last time I had been there, new improvements had been made.
There was now this weird stone lined narrow pathway next to the main path we could wander through, which looked quite nice. There was more art on the walls to the inland side of the trail as well. It’ll be interesting to see what happens as time goes by at the site. This aesthetic made it more and more obvious to me that this is where the 911 Memorial Trail really should be routed, not on the bypass around the city altogether.

New trail improvement

We walked along a bit more, and I had everyone follow me down a side path to the edge of the Bushkill Creek, because I wanted everyone to see the nice little spots just off the beaten path.

Bushkill Creek

The old railroad bed turned off to the left from the Arts Trail. I pointed out to Pete, because he was most interested in that stuff, where it was.
We continued on the path to the underpass below Rt 22, which led into the north side of the Easton Cemetery. For this hike, I specifically planned that we would walk through the cemetery, because it’s paths directly connect and it’s a beautiful route. Of course, it is also historically significant.
The gate to the cemetery was even a piece of fabricated metal art with weird eyes.

Interesting statements were emblazoned on the walls of the underpass as we entered the cemetery. The cemetery was opened in 1849, and has architectural styles of Greco-Roman Revival, Gothic Victorian, and Art Deco in it’s gate house, chapel, and other structures.

Path in Easton Cemetery

We headed up hill through a much newer section of the cemetery, but still beautiful. To the left, there was a path that ascended next to a drainage flume to the older, upper end of the cemetery. All of us but Anne went up there, and she went to use facilities somewhere. She mistakenly assumed we were going to go back out of the cemetery the same way we went in, which ended up delaying us a little bit, but was a lesson never to assume what I might have planned on one of these hikes!

Gate

We of course had to walk up by the main gate to the cemetery. It’s a beautiful little spot. I looked around the graves for the Lloyd Grave, which must have been a deaf person’s grave, because it spells “LLOYD” on top with hand signs.

Lerch!

We also spotted a tomb stone with the name “Lerch” on it, and had to immediately send it to Lerch, who was coming to meet up with us on this hike late (he had done some sort of a Susquahanna river trip the night before and was at our friends Scott and Michele’s house I believe).
We continued around a corner and to the east side of the cemetery. On this route, we passed the monument and grave of George Taylor.
Taylor was one of the very significant signers of the Declaration of Independence; he was one of only eight on the Declaration not to have been born in North America.

Grave of George Taylor

Of course, Taylor died in 1781, long before Easton Cemetery was established. He was originally buried across the street from his residence in down town Easton, at another cemetery. When the land was sold, he was re-interred with the monument here.
Taylor’s home, which still stands, is now the oldest house in the entire city of Easton.
Of all of the signers, Taylor was the only one who had once been an indentured servant, and had served as an ironmaster.
We headed on to the ege of the cemetery and down the switch back paths to the Arts Trail at the Bushkill Creek bridge.

Arts Trail

Anne was not there, so she didn’t assume where we were going.
It was decided that she had probably gone back the way we came in, and we would go bakc and find her. I started walking toward her, but Robin took off running. Apparently she’s some kind of marathon runner, and was able to get there very quickly! When I was still walking and Robin was already making the corner out of sight ahead of me, I turned back! There was no sense in me going out there, she’d be there way before I could get there!
Robin returned with Anne, and we were all on our way. We crossed over the bridge, then turned right to resume walking the old Lehigh Valley Railroad bed.

Historic Lafayette College postcard

The rail bed was paved as part of the trail here, and we only followed it shortly under the Rt 22 bridge. There, everyone followed me across Bushkill Drive, up the slope beneath the bridge, and up the slope to the grassy corner of the Lafayette College Campus. We crossed the main road to the campus and then came in the back of the Fisher Campus. I always love to bring groups through this beautiful walking route. It won’t work as the 911 Trail for cyclists, but it would be a great walking route. Heading to the east, we reached teh beautiful overlook of the Easton Circle, with the monument facing it. Such a lovely sight, I never get tired of it.

View of the circle

From the overlook, and because there would be less people around, I recited the beginning of the Declaration of Indepence, because Easton Circle is one of the few public reading locations from July 8th, 1776. Washington had it read to his army in NY City, it was read in Trenton, and Philadelphia that day as well.

Historic postcard image from Easton Circle

We headed down the long steps to the corner of Bushkill Drive and headed into town directly. As it turns out, Heather lives right in town just before the circle, and the shoes she’d worn had broken! She was fortunately able to go up and get other boots, but unfortunately the only other boots she had were ridiculous snow boots!

Easton Circle

We walked around the circle in the middle of the town; it’s one of those great historic circles because it’s been the “center circle” ever since Easton has been a town or city. Few towns keep their centers of commerce in the same spot for so many generations, which makes this spot in Easton so special.
I also mentioned to everyone that the old pop band “The Cyrcle” was from Easton, and was so named for the famous city circle.
The band was managed by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, and John Lennon suggested the name by spelled with the “y” instead of the “i”.
The pretty much had two hits, “Turn Down Day” and “Red Rubber Ball”, which was written by Paul Simon and Bruce Wooley (from The Seekers).

https://www.youtube.com/embed/M0vQcA7m57M

From here, we continued north to the tobacco shop and gas station off of Larry Holmes Drive. It was the only spot we’d have to get food and drinks and such for a while, and to use a restroom. I recall I got a terrific Clover Farms chocolate milk too.

We walked on across the Lehigh River along Rt 611, and then turned left to continue on 611 just a bit more. We walked along a fence, and when it ended we could turn to the left to get on the former Lehigh Canal towpath.
At this point, the Lehigh Canal is actually the canalized Lehigh River. Boats used the slack water of the river behind the dam at the forks rather than have it’s own trench dug out. We followed this path back beneath Rt 611 and under the former Central Railroad of New Jersey bridge overhead.
We came to the first lock on the canal soon, and then passed the ruins of the vault.

Old vault

I think this was a toll place on the canal, but I can’t remember at the moment.
We continued along the trail to the north of here, past the first lock section, then under the very long Easton and Northern Railroad trestle over the Lehigh and the canal. We then passed the second set of locks, which was reconstructed and in pretty good shape. It was at this point we would have to leave the canal towpath for one of the two versions of the hike I had put together.
It was kind of disheartening that not more people showed up for this one, because I felt it a real winner of a hike with all there was to see and do along the way.

The group at the Lehigh Canal lock

I posted to the group that there was a 15.3 mile version of the hike, and a 17.8 mile version. The first one would involve just following the canal and D&L Trail to the west near Rt 33, and then taking the former CNJ rail bed up hill to where we started. The longer version entailed following some back roads and weird routes to the Weyerbacher Brewery, then return to the canal maybe a mile to the west after doing a tasting and such.
We took a path out to the tracks of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad.

Then and now Easton from Mt. Ida above the canal and 611

The tracks are very active, but the path is obvious and people cross it all the time to get to this otherwise rather inaccessible section of the canal.
We crossed over Canal Street to Brother Thomas Bright Avenue, and turned left very briefly. We then turned right and followed sidewalks through an apartment complex development. We went left heading to the south through some of the complex, and when we got to Centre Street, we went up hill a block or so more. We then turned to the left on yet another sidewalk thing through a development of apartments, and continued ahead. We came out to the corner of Iron Street and Cooper Street, where we went right on Cooper for a bit.
We cut past Condram Park to McKean Street, then turned left to follow it up hill.

Another then and now on Mt. Ida

We continued up hill a bit further until we came to the South Easton Cemetery. Here, we cut directly in and continued to follow the grave yard up hill. Before getting across, I could see the Weyerbacher signs across and to the right. We walked right out to it.

We went in and had a seat for a bit. Lerch was almost there to join us, and Mr. Buckett was already there! It was great to see him, and I gave him a big hug.
We ordered some drinks to try, and chatted for a while waiting for Lerch to show up, and for the next tour to go on. I had wanted to make sure we did their tour as part of the hike. James met up with us at the brewery very shortly after we arrived there.
Heather got a flight of stuff she brought with her on the tour, which looked totally funny.
This was the second time we did this tour as a part of one of our hikes, and it was quite excellent. They showed us the whole process, then continued back to our seats for a bit.

Tour!

Ellie Zabeth ended up being right across the bar from me; I didn’t know she would be there, but she had to meet Lerch for some reason! She was not able to do the hike this time, but she hung out and chatted with us for a while.
After Lerch showed up, we got ready to head out toward the trail again.
Dan and Brandan both showed up as we were walking the road shortly past the brewery, on Crescent Street. There was a good spot to leave Dan’s car, so we were set.
We got to High Street and took it down hill to Canal. Just to the right of that was the Old Glendon Bridge, which is now cut off even to pedestrian trafic.

Old Glendon

Crossing this bridge by swinging around the chain link fences is really only slightly sketchy, so almost all of us did it. Brian didn’t want to, so he went over to the NEW Glendon Bridge, and then descended to meet back up with us again when we got there.
This section of the road had been closed for quite some time now. I remember driving across it many years ago, but it was closed within the past five or more years do to structural deficiency or something. We hurried across it and then headed down the grassed over forme roadway.

Old road

The “one way” sign was left in where it joins the existing road, which was rather funny since no one can drive that way anyway.
We soon crossed over the old Glendon Bridge over Lehigh River. We got across, and the trail switched back on the other side, then went west on the paved abandoned rail grade.
We followed this all the way out to Riverview Park. Here, we turned to the left, away from the regular rail trail, to an older path which follows the route of an old trolley right of way closer to the Lehigh River.

On the trail

This came to a culvert under the former Central Railroad of NJ at the Chain Dam, a large dam across the Lehigh originally built for the Lehigh Canal, which utilized another slack water pool above this point. The original canal was a ferry across the river at this point, and it later had a towpath bridge and utilized an island in the river to get across.
We made our way up to the old Central Railroad of NJ grade after watching Lerch climb around on the fish ladder a bit. There is canal towpath below, but this time I figured we would follow the paved path and I’d focus more directly on the canal in the next hike in this series.
Much of the group was quite inebriated following our Weyerbacher Brewery tour.

Pete's Duct Tape Fiasco

After the brewery stop, I had only one more beer and decided not to drink anything for the remainder of the day.
The section on the railroad bed was getting to be pretty slow going. We reached the junction where to the right, another branch of the CNJ used to gradually ascend away from the river to join the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s Easton and Northern line just west of 25th Street. We didn’t need to keep the group too close together at this point, and so Gregg, Brian, and Robin went on ahead of the rest of us. I hung back for a bit and tried to help.
We passed beneath the Rt 33 bridge, which we used to be able to climb, but new fences were put up to keep people out. The trail weaved around a corner and passed beneath 33 a second time heading east. Pete was having some shoe trouble; his good boots had the soles come right off of them. Fortunately, I had duct tape in my bag, and we were able to salvage them at least for the remainder of the hike.
The group was also getting obnoxious to the point that I didn’t even want to deal with them any more. Every time I turned around, someone was messing with my pack, trying to stuff something into it. I told them to cut it out, things were going to fall out. By the time we got to the neighborhoods nearing the end point, Heather was in too much pain with her crummy snow boots she’d worn. Fortunately her boyfriend was able to come and pick her up, and Mr. Buckett was a hero once again, and stayed with her so she’d be safe until he got there. When we stopped so I could look for my spare phone battery, I found the back of my pack half way open with necks of beer bottles sticking out of it. The pocket that had my car keys, batteries, and a Start Trek communicator badge Lerch had given me was now emptied and instead full of beer bottles. I found eight of them all in my pack, but none of my important stuff.

On the trail

It was a miracle my wallet didn’t fall out along with everything else.
I had had enough of all of this, and so I just walked ahead and said forget the rest of the group. Those who could continue did, and Lerch managed to get everyone else out with an Uber ride or something.
Dan had been up in front of me, still managing to keep his Norse stride, but when we go to one of the parks near a school, he had cut off to the right to sit under a pavilion or something. I figured he’d make his way back to the rail trail and he’d be alright.

Whaaa? Near Wallgreens

I continued ahead with Pete and Anne. Anne had lent her shoes to Heather so she could make it a bit further I believe, and was able to continue on. Pete was also alright to go ahead. We walked to the former junction site, which is just to the east of where the trail joins the former Easton and Northern line today, and turned left. The trail is obliterated as we came to William Penn Highway and Wallgreens. It now goes around it to the left.
This was another weird spot where the through public trail had a “no trespassing” sign directed right at it. I don’t know what that’s about, but this is the route that’s officially the 911 Memorial Trail, so they had better figure that one out.

Historic postcard of Dixie Cup Factory

We crossed 25th Street and then passed by the old Dixie Cup Factory. This has been abandoned for many years, except some of the south side of it is used for storage or something.
I had gone in it on past hikes as early as 2007, but not any more. They are planning on turning it into some sort of upscale apartment complex now, but not sure if any of the work has started.
The trail continues from here across Northampton Street. It’s still strange seeing it today compared with how it used to look.

January 2002 before the 25th Street Bridge was removed

There used to be a bridge that carried the railroad over 25th Street the first few times we had hiked this. It was first removed I believe when we walked through in late 2004. Prior to that, ATVs still made their way this far into Easton. The trail section was there only as far north as William Penn Highway, and the rest was just tracing the path.
I had been looking forward to stopping at Taco Bell or some kind of Mexican place, but when we got to it we just continued on. I just wanted to be done with this one by that time.
We crossed over Northampton Street, which still had rails across it when we first started hiking here, and then continued on the rail bed wrapping around the hill above Wood Avenue. The trail turned left away from the railroad bed to cross Wood Avenue a bit early, and then continued on the nroth side of the road just barely into the woods. This was the section the industrial site had constructed in lieu of the railroad bed across their facility property. The trail continues along Wood Ave to Lower Hackett Park before going left.

The rail bed in 2002 at Dixie Cup

The trail wend down hill, over a little bridge, then turned left to head up hill a bit by way of a switch back, and it crossed over Route 22 via a nice foot bridge.

Northampton Street crossing in Jan 2002

I moved up the hill pretty fast, and soon arrived at the parking area at Upper Hackett Park to find some of the group there.
By phone, I talked to Lerch, who had gotten picked up by my brother Tea Biscuit, and they went to get dinner at Tacos y Tequilas just up the street. When I asked them if they had gotten Dan, they said no.
I was worried about what problem he might have gotten into, if he wandered into a wrong neighborhood or something. He wasn’t answering his phone, or it was dead I guess. Everyone else went to dinner and didn’t seem to worry about it, so I went out looking for him.

My leg the day before

My leg was only hurting a little bit during the entire course of this hike, which was good.
The day before was National Trails Day, which turned out really nice.
I had gone to work on the Morris Canal Greenway in Hackettstown, where I had opened a new section of trail almost a year prior but hadn’t gotten around to finishing it. Corey from Land Preservation arranged for a trail work day up there, and so I showed up for it, and I was very glad I did. Usually I work by myself on these things, but there were seven of us including the Youth Corps and Mike Muckle, Corey T, and a couple of Hackettstown residents. I did however cut my leg back open on the Japanese Barberry, which I figured would cause me problems on this hike. Fortunately I had no such problems and everything was smooth as far as that was concerned.
It was just over two weeks since I had gotten the injury.

My leg as of the time of this hike, doing pretty well compared to two weeks prior.

Even though I’d had stronger antibiotics, the doctor was surprised at how fast I was healing up.
I drove the streets parallel with the trail as far back as where I had last seen Dan at the little park area. I went to the far side to the west, then back to the front and asked some kids playing basketball if they had seen him.
When no one had, I went to the rail trail intersection. Dan could have gone either of two ways, so I went to a spot with an overpass that had recently been replaced. I knew that from there I could see both ways on the trail a good distance. Nothing.
I went to other crossings, and when he wasn’t around, I headed back down 25th Street, across the Glendon bridge, and back to Weyerbacher. He was nowhere to be found, and he did not get back to his car. I was getting seriously worried at this point.
I headed back down and checked the same places I’d already looked again. When I couldn’t find him, I went to Tacos y Taquilas to see if anyone else had heard anything. They hadn’t.
Brandan left and came out with me to see if we could find Dan. We went back around toward the trail to check everywhere again when Brandan actually spotted him walking down the road near the Wallgreens. I whipped around and we got him in the car, then brought him back to Tacos y Taquilas. I finally got myself a bite to eat, but it was still too annoying a situation and I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Fortunately, Dan was alright, and despite bets that he could not consume two giant burritos, he was able to put them both away with relative ease.
For the most part, I had a pretty good hike, but I hate having them turn into something unmanageable and detract from the fun. Of course, Lerch pointed out, this was a hike with a brewery visit along the way, which made things worse.
Perhaps it was a good thing that so fewer people attended this particular hike than the other recent ones in the series, because if they had they might have been more turned off by it. We have a long list of outstanding hikes coming up for this series, and I want them all to be great.