Hike #491; Centralia/Ashland to Lehighton

 Hike #491 6/8 through 6/14/10 

6/8/10 to 6/14/10 Centralia/Ashland to Lehighton with Jillane Becker and Evan Van Rossum (first day only).

Jillane and I on top of Onoko Falls

This was definitely the most enjoyable backpacking trip I'd ever been on. It was exciting and diverse, and it lacked the obligation to stay on a defined trail or route. The happiest days of my life up to that point.

DAY 1

Joe Millionaire picked us up and drove us out to Centralia PA. We got a bit of a late start for the first day, and we stopped for food and such on the way driving. It was fine though. I was really anxious to get started, but I soon realized this was our vacation, and I was able to calm down and just enjoy the moment. This trip didn't have a big framework. We could go anywhere. The only rule I set up was for personal reasons, not to get in a car for the entire trip, a rule I only broke at the very beginning, but was well worth it.

When we reached Centralia, it of course did not live up to it's name meaning "Center of Commerce". Only a few people still lived in the town which is well known for having an underground coal fire burning in the mines. We later found out only five residents remained that the state of PA could not remove.

We parked on one of the many vacant streets and then walked toward the south side of town where we could see some of the steam coming from the ground. Since it was a Summer day, I'm sure it masked what would otherwise be a more impressive plume.

Jillane roasted a marshmallow or something over one of them, though she certainly had the sense not to eat it. I think she found it on the ground or something anyway. It was concentrated around a few piles of dirt that the smoke was coming out. Some junk was obviously put in and around the area by curious people trying to make it burn.

I ran down a side path for a bit that descended to a somewhat view out toward Ashland, but didn't find much of anything so I came back up. From there we walked out the old town road to Rt 61, the main artery into town. On the right was a sign from the residents of Centralia about how they should have the choice of where they lived. At this time I felt for these people, but later on we'd hear from miners in Ashland they they were inhibiting the opening of the mines and the possibility of putting the fire out. I guess there are two sides to every story.

We checked out the Centralia Cemetary briefly, and then headed down Rt 61. This highway had to be moved at one point because the underground mine fives were causing the road to crack and heave. The new road was now just east of where the old one was. We turned off and crossed a pile of stones and such to get onto the old highway.

Abandoned Rt 61, Centralia PA

The highway was full of all sorts of crazy graffiti which was really interesting. It at first was not heaved at all and pretty much just looked like a regular highway. Much of Rt 61 on the drive to Centralia had a little median in the middle, as did this section. The new reroute of the highway to the east had no such median.

Abandoned Rt 61 over mine fires, Centralia PA

We came to where the heaved section was pretty soon. The first cracks didn't look that bad, but as we continued on they were awful. There were a few kids that came out on the highway after us I believe, and we saw I think one other group of three or so guys as well, but that was it.

I told Joe Millionaire as we were walking that it would be really cool if he could get his car up onto the abandoned highway. He thought maybe he could. I recommended that when he was ready, he could turn back on old Rt 61 to his car, and if he could get on the old highway drive down it. He soon turned back and headed back up. The three guys we saw told him there was no way in hell he could get a regular car onto that highway.

Jillane and I continued on to the south over the heaved road way. The cracks and heaves soon started to be less frequent and the road seemed to be leveling off a bit.

On the right side of the road there was a sort of broken up rock looking slope. Someone had spray painted the word "fossils" onto the pavement so I figured I should at least go have a look. Sure enough, one of the first rocks I picked up had a beautiful fossil of a leaf on it! We picked we brought that one with us.

Fossil I found in Centralia

We continued walking until we got to the giant piles of dirt blocking the road on the south side. We stopped and sat down on the pavement for a break (which did seem a bit warmer than what it should on this somewhat cloudy day), and before long we heard an engine and beeping coming toward us! Joe Millionaire had gotten his Nissan out onto the highway! We couldn't believe it. I had to make an exception to my rule and get in the car with him. He whipped it around very fast, and once we were both in took off down old 61. He was moving so fast the bumps of the heaved road made the car bounce. He had to go back and forth between the north and south bound lanes because one or the other was always too rough shape to pass through with a vehicle. Along the way, we saw the kids who said it wold be impossible to get a vehicle in, and Joe Millionaire offered them a ride! Perfect! Once we were on the north side, it was even more unbelievable he'd gotten onto the highway. He had to cross an ATV hill to get over. Just as we went over the car bottomed out and we were a bit stuck. He fotunately got out. He spent a good deal of time trying to pull stones out of his heat shields!

Just down the hill from Centralia is the much larger coal mining town of Ashland. I'd been here many years before on the coal mine tour at Pioneer Coal Mine with my grandfather, and I knew this would be great to incorperate on our trip. I paid for Joe Millionaire's ticket to join us to help repay him for generously taking us to Centralia. While he was digging more stones out from the undercarriage of the Nissan, Jillane and I went and checked out their old style playground. We love the older, more dangerous playgrounds with the great little merry go rounds that are fast disappearing due to liability concerns.

Even teeter totters are disappearing from New Jersey, but in Ashland PA things were certainly different. Half of the buildings going through the main street in town were abandoned or at least looked abandoned. It was a sad reality that came about after the closing of most of the coal mines.

On the teeter totter. Adorable.

We were getting ready to go for our tour very shortly. We found out while waiting that the steam locomotive that pulled our little passenger car, was the oldest anthracite powered locomoive still in service. We climbed aboard and chatted for a while with some of the employees about the history of the place.

The only running Anthracite Locomotive in the world! Ashland PA.

The train started and we were on our way along a small track wrapping around the side of the mountain (which was called Ashland Ridge on the other side of the gap, not sure what it was here). The guy giving the tour sounded Canadian. Jillane always thought Canadians sounded like robots. The guy gave a great presentation, and he drew out his words in a strange way, unlike I'd ever heard anywhere including Canada.

View into the valley, Ashland PA

There was a terrific view into the valley below us to the left. The guide talked when we got here about the people remaining in Centralia and how their refusal to move inhibited the state from taking care of the problem.

He pointed out where the track ended the largest vein of Anthacite in the world, but it was no longer mined. I believe further to the west it still was.

 The track used to continue on into the mine area, but now ended with a little loop. On the downward slope below us was a reproduction of a "bootlegger's mine". The guide explained that when the mines were shut down "Bootleggers" would go out and mine on their own on private land, and that it looked like this.

Bootleggers Mine

We continued our ride back out to where we started and got off of the train. The tracks continued on into the mine itself, but we had to witch trains. We were told there was a bit of time in between so we waited around. Even in front of the mine it was very cold. The train started and soon pulled us into the mine. It shook a lot, and was pretty eerie. I remember it pretty well from when I was younger being there.

The train only took us in so far and we were then asked to walk for a bit. We walked up the mine for a ways out to an end point. The guide pointed down shafts to the left that led to the original main mine below. He told us the entrance used for tourism was not there, but bored out at a later date, and that the main entrance was below. After going to the one end of the level tunnel, which he referred to as a "Gangway", a term I understand is used pretty exclusively in coal mines, we turned back and then took a turn down a tunnel to the left.

The guide would stop periodically and talk to us, drawing out his last syllable, then from a calm relaxed stance turn abruptly and power walk to the next point like he was on a mission. At the end of the next section, he turned down the lights to illustrate how it would have been for the miners working in the area. There were also occasional tunnels going up to the surface from the inside, used as escape routes. The mines were carefully inspected annually, and the timbers used to reinforce the mine were replaced on a regular basis he told us, but escape routes were kept open regardless. The vertical shaft was the only exit from this side tunnel, unlike the other one which went to another exit as I recall him telling us.

Once we were out, we chatted with our guide a bit. He was a real miner, and he told us he had to be one in order to have this job. I recall my previous visit being given tours by old miners, though this guy was quite young.

We left Ashland on the southeast end of town. We thanked Joe Millionaire for all of his generous help, and we were on our way following a railroad track from Rt 61 headed east. The plan was to get away from civilization as best we could for the first day. There were of course a few options, but this would be the easiest looking at th emaps to go to to set up tent for the night.

We walked the tracks for a while with some old coal mining area to the right of us on the north face of Ashland Ridge. We continued along the railroad tracks with some of town visible to the left until we saw a path go in to the right. We found an abandoned railroad bed parallel with the active one and so decided to follow that.

There were giant coal piles with trees growing through them to our right, and we knew this coal strip mine was defunct for quite some time. There was also a little pond and tons of ATV trails everywhere. I was a little worried we'd get caught there already, a terrible way to start out our backpack, but when we did hear an ATV it went by and did some crazy hill cllimb up one of the coal piles.

Long abandoned coal strip mine, north side of Ashland Ridge

The railroad right of way in the area wasn't too obvious to me at first. It was level, but so were many roads. It had black cinder dirt on the grade, but everywhere we went here was black cinder dirt.

We followed the right of way out of the open and into a wooded section for a while. I was still not convinced it was a rail bed yet because I could see no ties or other rail remnants. Then, to my great surprise we came across intact rails protruding from the dirt below us. Apparently the tracks, ties and all, had been buried under a thick layer, at least several inches of black cinder dirt and were just barely showing from the top.

Although I wanted to save as much of my cell phone power as possible, I felt we needed my gps to get us through this next section so I turned it on. I could see a woods road turning right from the rail bed heading up hill, and I figured this would be the best way to get up the ridge since it passed between the heavily mined and disturbed areas. We began to ascend up on the old road, and switched back up to what appeared to be another railroad bed. I think we turned right on this one to another woods road on the left leading up to yet another old rail grade, or what looked like one. This one might have actually been just a woods road. We turned left and followed it along the ridge, almost to the top, looking for a way to make it those final feet to the crest. We continued to a utility line crossing where there was a great view into Ashland below.

The sun was going down, and it was beautiful, but there was no path connectiong to the top of the ridge. It had all been mined out with dramatic cliff faces standing between us and where we wanted to be. I studied the areal images and decided one tiny green swath between mined areas was our only chance. We found this area and bushwhacked through. There was a bit of a deer path heading up on the route which we lost as soon as we were clear of the mines. We headed through the woods to the left staying far enough back from the huge drop off, and there wasn't too much undergrowth to make it too tough. As we headed southeast we came to a ridge top trail which was really quite nice, and we followed that to the east until we reached the power lines we stopped on below. Up here there was a clear path on them.

We followed the path over the top of the ridge with giant green plants towering above us on either side. We were for a moment concerned we would not find a suitable place to set up tent for the night. It was of great concern because heavy rain was in the forecast. We continued just a bit further and came to an outstanding viewpoint over the valley below, with Northern Schuykill High School in view. We hurried to set up the tent at the overlook and admired the fantastic view as the sun went down.

The only problem with this site was that it was on an obvious ATV trail. I was worried that ATV riders might come through at night or early morning. Such was not the case and we were alright. Before going to sleep, I checked the forecast and the rain was not to happen till later in the morning, which gave me the peace of mind that we could possibly get the tent packed up before the rain hit.

Camp site #1, Ashland Mountain

DAY 2

I woke up earlier than Jillane, but I always do, and admired the view yet again. I ate a little, and then packed up as much of my stuff as I could. Once I had everything in order I could take care of on my own I woke Jillane up and and helped her with the tent and her stuff. She had had an allergic reaction to something, because hey face had gotten swollen. She told me it usually happened when she was backpacking, but I'd never seen it even though we'd camped in the Hunterdon Highlands, Thunder Swamp, and St. Anthony's Wilderness. Still, she managed to get up quickly and we were soon on our way.

It was Jillane's 23rd birthday, and I felt bad that she wasn't feeling well and had to get up and hike into imminent rain, but she was very good about it.

We followed the utility right of way and ATV path heading gradually down hill into the valley. This section was far longer than it looked both on the map and from the viewpoint. The giant leafed plants started back up as we descended which made it feel like some sort of jungle. It didn't take long and it started raining lightly. We put our ponchos on and continued out to Rt 61; a path turned right to the road just before the power lines crossed it.

My plan was to cross Rt 61 dirctly on the power line and descend to the creek below, then head along Ashland Resevoir toward the town of Frackville. Unfortunitely, when we reached the road a crew of men were working on cutting trees along the power line just below. We instead had to walk Rt 61 northeast toward Frackville. Jillane wasn't feeling well, and was telling me to go on and she'd meet me later. This of course wouldn't work out when we were doing a hike that was on no particular route and it was raining. I decided to head down hill from Rt 61 to the right in hopes of finding something worth walking. This was the only time we had a spat during the entire course of the trip, and from this point on it was absolutely wonderful, and even when situations were not convenient we treated each other perfectly.

It didn't take long heading down hill till we came to a woods road. We could still hear the chain saws of the workers behind us, but I felt that the road we were on was not likely to be travelled. This was proven as we continued because the road just continued to get more rough.

We continued down the woods road as it turned away a bit from rt 61 (it may have been an earlier route of this highway at one time) and descended gradually to the Ashland Resevoir. There was a large dam with a woods road over it, but the side we were already on looked far more attractive as it entered the woods. The road still looked passable for a bit as we continued along the shore, but it was soon obvious that no vehicle would ever folow us and we were both more calm.

The old woods road weaved back and forth around a couple of inlets to the resevoir, and the rain let up as we walked through some nice woods. I was happy we'd made it this far already so early in the day, and were now in what felt like a real hiking experiance. We headed up hill away from the resevoir on the road soon, and came to where there were roads going left, right, and straight. We opted to continue straight.

Soon, we came out at the end of a dead end road. It was obvious a house once stood here, and there were plants that were certainly ornamentals for it's front. We walked out this road past the house site and it began to look a bit more like a real road. We then passed a very old sign that noted this as resevoir property or something. It was certainly old and left over from a time when this little road was a main thoroughfare.

We continued onto Rt 61 again where this old road ended. The rain was still only drizzle so we continued on to the east into town. Soon enough, we came to the Frackville market, a little grocery store set back off of the road where we could get some food. We dropped our packs out front and I went in first. I don't remember what I got to eat; I probably had some chocolate milk. Jillane didn't want to go in, but I think she went in after I came out so I could watch over our packs.

We continued walking through town along Rt 61. There weren't many businesses until we got to the center of town, but even then it wasn't anything too special. Like Ashland the day before, this town too had it's days of prosperity behind it. On the right we soon went by an abandoned building before reaching where the railroad once went through town. When we were to this point it started raining much harder.

There would have been no way of telling a rail line ever came through here if it weren't for my mapping on my gps and the contours followed by the streets disturbed by the right of way. It was filled in here, with a parking lot below. We opted to follow it south for a bit. We walked parallel with the right of way since it was all developed over for about four blocks. It was here that we found a motel right next to where the railroad used to go. I went in and got a price quote, which I don't remember how much it was, but it was around 40 per night. We both decided to look up area motels and see what the cheapest was. In the meantime, we wandered through what looked like an abandoned yard to the end of another street I think it was. Then we walked out across Rt 61 yet again to a Rite Aid on the other side. I don't remember what snacks or anything we got, but we stopped here for a bit. While I was in the store a lady stopped to talk to Jillane, a very religious woman. After I came back out and we were both sitting (I was trying to coerce a delivery guy to give us free chips) the lady came back out to talk to us again. We told her we were backpacking, and she was very overly friendly saying "I'll pray for you! I'm going to pray for you! I will!". She walked off smiling ear to ear blessing us profously.

I called a place down the road which was offering us a room for under forty a night, and I think I called a couple others (not like there was much to pick from there) and the cheapest was by far Granny's Hotel and Restaurant. We decided to walk north to that point.

As we were walking, right after crossing the traffic on Rt 61 in the pouring rain, she realized she'd forgot her trekking poles. I ran all the way back to get them, and fortunately no one had taken them.

We soon reached Granny's, a motel that not only had a strange laid out shape, it had a giant freaky looking statue of a woman with a granddaughter clinging to it's leg, with the face of Eric Idle from Monty Python. The place looked like a dive judging by the room where we checked in, and the Indian propietor tried charging me more than the price quoted on the phone. I had to remind him what he said on the phone and he adjusted it.

When we got to our room, it was full of portraits of child angels with bold pastel colors everywhere. It was definitely a very retro establishment. It was great to be able to shower and clean up, as well as get warm out of the rain.

Me in Granny's Motel....WEIRD place...

We relaxed for a couple hours at the motel and decided that we'd soon go for a walk when the rain let up a bit. There was an inclined plane the railroad used to the north of Frackville to ascend the slope from the river valley I had wanted to visit, but then we decided we didn't want to head back the way we came.

At Granny's Motel

When we were ready to go, we walked out of Granny's southbound along Altemond Blvd which was built apparently on the rail bed we'd been following. We then crossed over Rt 61 and headed up onto a hill to the Schuykill Mall. It was nice to be able to wander around without our packs for a while, having them in a safe place. The mall was a very 80s type of mall. Most of the stores were all closed and gated off. Not many retail places survived. We went from one end of the mall to the other checking out the decor, and found one interesting antique shop within the mall. We spent most of our time here sifting through all sorts of interesting things. We wandered the mall looking for food as well, but everything was pretty much closing up by the time we were ready to eat.

In the Schuykill Mall...where real hikers visit

When we exited the mall, we were both very hungry and didn't know where to go. The only place we could see anywhere was a Cracker Barrel near the entrance to the mall. I really didn't want Cracker Barrel because my ex Cathy loved it so much, and always wanted to eat there for her crazy heart attack breakfast. I thought about though, and we were both hungry, so I realized I needed to create a better experience to associate with the place.

We walked directly toward the towering Cracker Barrel lighted sign, but when we got just a tree line away from it realized there was no way down the hill through the thick weeds to it. I would've bet there would have been a way people would use to walk down from the upper lot, but we could find no such path anywhere and ended up walking all the way back out to the access road, down hill toward 61 and then up to the Cracker Barrel.

Jillane's B Day dinner at Cracker Barrel

We went in, and I don't remember what we ordered, but we had great meals of food that was not too heavy that we'd be able to still feel great after eating.

We walked back out of the place satisfied, and the rain had let up quite a bit. We got back to the road and made it back to Granny's where we had a great night's sleep, and were able to sleep in the next day a bit.

DAY 3

When we got up, we went into the front lobby to check out and the proprietor told us there was coffee in the other room, and I was happy to see a little continental breakfast in an old restaurant setting.

In Schuykill Mall....what kind of tree is this, anybody?

There was a lot of dust all over everything, but the restaurant was actually really cool. I could see the original owners must have operated a restaurant out of here, but when the current owners took it over they opted not to keep that part of the business going.

I got Jillane in there to show her the cool restaurant and get some coffee and food, but my first bite into one of the little muffins was disgusting. The thing crumbled into a billion dry pieces in my mouth and I was barely able to swallow it. Similarly, themini donettes that were set out were hard as a rock. The food must have been sitting there opened for a week! Jillane had the coffee and said it was disgusting as well. The owner's wife came into the room at one point wondering what we were doing in there. I twice had to tell her which room we had stayed in because she thought we were trying to steal their disgusting food.

When we walked out of the place, the Granny and child statue was even more disturbing now that we were able to see them more clearly. They had sort of blueish faces and the head of the doll held by the "daughter" was missing!

Granny's Motel...weird...

We walked from Granny's back onto that Altamont Blvd and past a jail. We then walked around a big wide jughandle loop of an off ramp from Rt 61 to the highway itself. We walked along the highway briefly and then climbed up to our left onto the old railroad bed again. This section of it was at first not very well used, but it was walkable. It came to a bit of a clearing and then turned out and away from 61 in a very nice section, then swung back close again. We were high above the highway below us now on a big shelf, on the outside of a gap in Broad Mountain. The right of way was very nice to walk. We soon crossed over the Mill Creek on a giant fill and then hugged the side of the mountain on the south side. High above us was another abandoned rail line that ascended into the Mill Creek gorge, and this looked like a good route to try to follow. We ascended to the left steeply to the rail grade and then turned left following it into the Mill Creek Gorge. The water was rushing below us loudly, so there was probably a nice waterfall in there though we didn't try to find it.

Abandoned Pennsylvania Railroad in a gorge south of Frackville

We crossed over the creek on a bridge part way up, and a utility line joined the right of way taking away our shade. The vegetation was so thick there really wasn't any good place to go down to the water. We kept going along the rail bed until we could clearly hear the sounds of Rt 84 up ahead. We then turned right off of the rail bed onto a woods road. This took us to an intersection immediately, and we turned left onto another.

The woods road ascended gradually and soon we were seeing signs saying "No trespassing" everywhere. We ignored them and continued on to Eisenhuth Reservoir.

We turned right and followed a dirt road along the south side of the resevoir. As we were walking, I spotted a jeep of some sort ahead. We dashed off into the weeds up hill to the south as quickly as we could. I think the vehicle was turning around, but I wouldn't know, we didn't hang around. I pulled out my phone and found another woods road hat went pretty much south to a power line I was expecting to get to anyway, so we took it up Locust Ridge gradually.

We turned left on the power line and descended a bit, but then ATVs were coming fast. We went and hid in the weeds to the left for a while to avoid them. They stopped just ahead where the road from Eisenhuth Resevoir crossed the power line, and so we were stuck waiting for a long time in those weeds. When they finally moved on we came back out and hurried down hill across the woods road and back up the other side. The woods road ran parallel with the power line for a bit, but at this point I didn't want to chance walking it.

We came out to Burma Road and crossed. On the other side we were now in part of Locust Lake State Park. We followed the power line with no worries through here and came to an outstanding view into the valley with Locust Lake within sight.

We descended the steep hillside on the ATV pathway. This particular section of the power line was marked on the Locust Lake park map as a trail to a viewpoint, so now we were on official trail for pretty much the first time on our trip.

When we reached the bottom of the hill and crossed a tributary, we turned left on the trail out to the campgrounds at Locust Lake. As we walked down to the main road in the park, there were a bunch of older guys camping over to our left. We said hello to them, and they were very friendly in their reply, asking what we were up to and such.

We ended up sitting and talking to these guys, and they gave us a couple of beers. It's amazing how one beer can go to your head after hiking for so long. I was feeling pretty tipsy.

The guys told us the one member of their party was banned from the park so they just put it in another's name. They really weren't causing any trouble, and they were in the farthest site area in the entire park. After having out nice chat, we continued on.

Locust Lake

We cut through the camp ground and then found our way somehow to the Beach Trail, which had puncheons and everything, so it felt even more like a traditional hiking experiance. The beach trail took us to the paved bicycle trail and the beach. I had to take a swim, but Jillane didn't feel like it at this point. The water was a bit cold, but not a problem. PA State Parks are different than NJ because it's all swim at your own risk. No life guards.

Jillane took a nice rest along the lake while I ran along the bicycle trail on out to the main entrance to the park. There I got some new updated maps of Locust Lake and somewhat nearby Tuscarora State Parks. I then turned back and headed to the camp store concession place on the lake. I recall getting a hot dog, I think a hamburger, maybe a pizza, I can't remember exactly. I got a bunch of stuff and brought Jillane back something, but I can't remember what. I'm sure there was a soda...not sure what else.

We continued from the beach on the bicycle trail to the Beach Trail again heading back toward the camp grounds.

When we got to the camp grounds we made a stop at their showering facilities, which we were both impressed with due to their cleanliness. We both took much needed showers and were feeling much better. We walked back up along the camp grounds, and Jillane found her cigarettes she'd dropped on the way down.

We continued back to the power line, then turned right and left onto a woods road ascending the mountain again. It was rather steep at first, and there was another woods road that broke off to the left, called Fireline Trail. We turned here, then came to another woods road trail on the right. This took us to Plantation Trail, another woods road I think in Weiser State Forest, and turned left once more.

I knew there was a fire tower in the area, and so we tried to check it out. This trail took us out at Fire Tower Road where I believe it was gated, and we could see the tower, called Spring Creek Fire Tower, from the intersection.

We walked out to it and realized we could get through the fence at the base of it and climb it's stairs safely to the top!

The views were spectacular in all directions.

Abandoned Spring Creek Fire Tower

We saw one guy walking on the road before we went to the tower, but other than that no one was nearby to give us a hard time.

Once we'd explored the fire tower, we moved on along Fire Tower Road heading east. There were quite a few cars parked along this stretch of road, probably hunters of some kind. This led us out to state rt 1011. We turned right and followed this road south for a little ways, then turned left onto another power line right of way along the south side of Lucust Ridge.

We began following the power line up and down over lots of hills and valleys. All the time we were looking for good places to camp, but all the woods around us just seemed too dense to set up in.

We crossed one power line, and we talked about setting up at the intersection but we knew we were far too exposed there. We continued on and soon crossed over Catawissa Road. After this point I knew we were close to Tuscarora State Park. We had to cross a couple of streams on the utility line before the road, and large puddles.

Jillane and her Doppleganger

On Locust Ridge

Once we were at the height of the land, it was getting far too dark to wait any longer. Jillane said we needed to set up camp now, and she was right, we didn't have enough time to keep going. I ran ahead a bit and found a nice spot at another power line crossing just barely out of sight to the right of the utility line.

Jillane went to the left into woods and found an even better area under a great canopy.

Along Locust Ridge

While she was in the woods a bird was harrassing us to stay away, flying right up in front of our faces. There must have been a nest nearby. We set up the tent just off of a small single track unmarked trail. It was a beautiful little site in the woods. We'd put in a really long day and were glad to be getting to sleep. We were a little nervous at this spot, but it was okay.

DAY 4

The next morning I woke up first. I got my stuff all together as best I could and then Jillane asked me if I would go and pick her some blueberries. We'd found a few the night before growing along the power line, so during the day we were sure there'd be more.

Camping on Locust Mountain

There was a small ATV trail that was above the main roadway on the power line that we had to go across before getting down. I started picking my berries there, and then a vehicle came driving up the line. It was a maintenance vehicle and I just ducked down. They drove ahead and I stayed out of sight. I used a lot more caution and listened for sounds of vehicles from this point forward.

I found a good amount of blueberries even though it was early in the season. Even though I ate quite a few I still had a pretty decent sized bag to bring back to Jillane for breakfast. We packed the tent up pretty easily and were on our way along the power line again. There was a nice view from another utility line crossing Locust Mountain toward the south.

We continued and a woods road soon broke off of the power line to the left. We followed this one. We continued on and soon came to a radio tower or something on the right hand side. I remember thinking if only we'd walked another ten minutes we could have camped up here further from the openness of the power line.

Beyond this point, we desended into Tuscarora State Park. The woods road was soon an official trail known as Locust Mountain Trail. It descended gradually and there would have been seasonal views to the left. It switched back a few times and then descended to a somewhat open field. A mowed path went both left and right from here. I at first assumed this was the Crow Trail, a supposedly yellow blazed trail from the west, but it was not. We then came across a plantation along the edge of one of the fields. There was a large tree sorrounded by a lot of smaller ones. Upon closer inspection I realized these looked like American Chestnuts, nearly extinct. These trees were killed off by a disease and grow to a certain height before dieing. The larger tree appeared to be an adult American Chestnut, but I may very well have been Chinese Chestnut, I couldn't tell the difference from there.

After checking out the trees we went around the field to the left. This took us to a woods road trail which we knew must have been the Crow Trail. We turned right and followed it.

As we walked, another trail broke off to the right, but we ignored it and continued straight. The straight route on the road took us directly to the water of Tuscarora Lake. The road must have preceded the resevoir. I realized the side trail must have been the next one we wanted, Lake View Trail. We went all the way back up hill and made the turn, first through the mowed field and then into some beautiful woods above the resevoir.

The next section of trail was the best section of traditional trail we were on yet. We went up and down over inlets and through some very nice woods on foot paths. I recall there were a few blow downs in there, and it was obvious that not many ventured out along this more remote route of the park. As we walked we could see the beach across the lake and boaters out on the water.

The trail became a bit more worn as we reached the east end. It was a little obscure where the trail came up onto the dam of the lake, but we found it. We then crossed the lake on the large dam. There was a great view down stream from the dam into the Locust Valley.

I recall the next section of the trail being unblazed and rustic alon the north side of the lake. It went through a swath of woods and then crossed a giant opened area where all the trees seemed to have been cut for unknown reasons. Maybe an underground pipe line or some sort of conduit. The trail crossed this barren area and was then on a nice shelved footpath along the shore of te resevoir.

In the next section, we were in a bit of a cove where we couldn't be seen from the beach area, so we stopped to take a nice swim in the lake. The water felt perfect, but it was really rocky where we had to go in. I swam out a bit till I could see people, then came back. It was such a relief taking that dip.

When we'd had enough, we continued along the trail to the west staying on the shore of the lake. The trail made a corner with the edge of the lake toward the boat launch, and Jillane just hiked in the water.

We passed the boat launch and continued west. As we continued walking we could see large Yurts above us to the right. We talked about possibly renting one, but decided to keep moving along. There was also a kid at a little cabin in the middle of nowhere renting out boats.

We continued a bit more and reached the beach. Since I'd already just swam at a better spot I didn't go in at the beach, no did Jillane. We headed up hill to a large decked building with a concession stand. Unfortunately, the concession was closed and someone had changed the signage to read other odd things.

WTF kind of menu is this?

A shower house was only one building over to the west of us so I wandered in to use it. It took a bit to get the water hot, but I finally got it and had a refreshing shower. Once I was back Jillane went in for hers, but I believe she said the ladies' room was not nearly as pleasant an experiance as the I'd had. This spot was definitely not as nice as the one at Locust Lake, but I was happy to have it there.

In Tuscarora State Park

We walked the park entrance road out to the side road that went up to the park office itself. We were originally trying to take the trail that went directly to it but we couldn't find out where it was based on what was on the map. I went up to the visitor center while Jillane waited behind for a break, and I got some maps. I was surprised to see the same lady working the county at this office as the one I met at Locust Lake. I suppose they ship their workers around a lot.

We came to an intersection where we could go straight or right, and so we went right. This road went onto private land and was a dead end, but it came closer to Tuscarora Park Road where we were heading than going out and around on the main access road. We were able to cut along the edge of a field and quickly get to the road and turn right.

After turning right on the road we passed a State Fire station on the right with a line of nice big trees and a stone wall. Directly across the street was a seemingly abandoned building. I wandered across and tried to see if I could find a way in, but could not. All the land on the north side of the road now was State Game Lands 227 and the south side went from Tuscarora State Park to part of Weiser State Forest again. We continued down the road a bit more and cut into the woods to the left bushwhacking.

Early season blueberries are so sweet...

We found a whole lot more blueberries in this section. Jillane was doing a better job seeing them than I was. It was surprising to see them in this undeveloped area with such a thick canopy, but they were there.

We were trying to find an old woods road I could see on the areal images that descended to the railroad tracks, I think formerly Pennsylvania Railroad. We couldn't find the road at all at first, we just bushwhacked down hill as best we could into what was becoming a creek valley.

We soon were able to see the old woods road, but it was not nearly as recognizeable as it was on the air images. It was badly grown over in places, and though deer paths and such followed some of it they often diverted because what used to be the road was so badly washed out. We were able to get on a good portion of it for a bit, but then it seemed to just disappear altogether, and sadly so did the blueberries.

Bushwhacking a gorge in State Game Lands 227

We soon came to the railroad tracks and turned right. It was a single track line and looked like it would be great to follow, but a short distance along we heard a loud noise. We ran into the weeds tot he east of the tracks, and it was rail workers riding on a small machine. We hid out in the weeds until they went by. The one guy was so close to us but I don't even think he noticed we were there. Once he was gone we continued back onto the tracks. It appeared these guys were burying cables along the left side of the tracks. The work site ended as we crossed over part of the Little Schuykill River. It was amazing seeing this mountain stream that we'd experianced all the way down to where it's a major navigation waterway in Philadelphia.

Just ahead the river made a dramatic bend to the north then back to the south, and the railroad entered the Tamaqua Tunnel. The choice to go through was simple; it wasn't a long tunnel and the way around would be long and difficult. I was a bit concerned because the workers hurried away to the south. Maybe there was a freight train coming?

We entered the tunnel and hurried through as quickly as we could. We didn't get in too far before we both started running.

Running through Tamaqua Tunnel

After passing through the tunnel, there was another bridge over the Schuykill which we also crossed, then took a much needed break.

Tamaqua Tunnel

We planned out our route ahead a bit, and then I went down to the river to take a nice refreshing dip. The water was really cold, but I welcomed it. I also walked down the tracks a short distance to an abandoned building there. Nothing of particular interest was in it.

HOT

I think Jillane came down to the water finally too. After we were done with our break we headed up hill to the left out of the river gorge. We crossed a power line, but we were sick of those, so we continued to the north along the rim of the gorge. There was a great view across the gorge from the power line.

Bit of a view near the end of Locust Ridge

We eventually found a somewhat official looking path to the north along a tributary to the little Schuykill. We descended into this little creek valley, but were disappointed to find that it wasn't the easy route we thought it'd be. The entire thing was overrun by pricker bushes like crazy. There was supposed to be a woods road that dead ended in this little gorge, but even when we got to that, it too was overgrown badly. I was stubborn and tried to follow it while Jillane ascended to the left, and then I soon joined her.

We came out at a fenced in area of some corperation and couldn't get in really, so we had to go back to our woods road, then skirt the edge of the fence to where we could come out north of it. Also at the site was a farmer's market that was only active one day a week I believe. I had thought we'd find it and it would be a great stop, but it wasn't meant to be.

We came out to Mahonoy Ave and turned right, entering the town of Hometown PA.

wow...Hometown, PA

Along the way we passed an interesting church...

Also along Mahonoy was a guy out working in his yard. I asked him if he knew where the nearest motel was. Pretty much he and anyone we saw pointed us in the direction of Tamaqua to the south, which we considered, but our other option was to get onto Broad Mountain to the north which looked even from a distance like a very attractive expanse.

The guy didn't have our answer, but he grabbed his phone book for us and gave us the number of places. The guy I talked to was north of Hometown, a bit out of the way from where we'd originally have gone to get on Broad Mountain, but we told him we'd be there anyway.

Mahonoy Ave took us out to Rt 309 in the middle of Hometown. There was a Dunkin Donuts and several mini marts and such. I remember going into a few of the places looking for something in particular...I think it was Arizona Ice Tea's RX Energy drink. Can't remember for sure. After stopping in a couple of places we started walking north along Rt 309.

We headed north out of town and crossed over an abandoned railroad right of way. I had originally wanted to try to follow a bit of it because it supposedly went to an incredible abandoned trestle, but it was already getting dark so we wanted to get to a motel.

Jeremy Fisher...? I'd thought you were out fighting the great war....

We continued walking and there was a Wal Mart up on an embankment above 309. I was really tempted to stop for some snacks and such, but Jillane didn't want to go. I'm glad we ddin't because it would not only have taken a while, we didn't need anything really.

We came over the crest of a hill looking toward the north and where there was more industry.

As we walked we could see there was an older highway route in the woods to the right of us. We got on and followed that for a bit, and we also came across an abandoned house. This one was a disappointment though, compared to a lot that we find because we couldn't even really go into it.

In the abandoned house

We came to an intersection at the bottom of the hill. The motel could be seen a short distance ahead, called The Pines. There was a convenience store on the right, still open to our delight, so we stopped for drinks and snacks. This area was supposedly known as Spring Creek, one of those forgotten little Hamlets who's town name was lost to large municipalities governing them.

The guy who owned The Pines was pretty overly friendly. We wanted a private room away from everyone else staying at the motel, and he put us right next to some lady telling us she was there alone and wouldn't make any noise, not to worry. He just didn't get it that we didn't want to be around other people. He also walked us through the room with more complete description than we'd ever want, then took us to the laundry room and gave us all sorts of specific directions. We were starting to think he wanted to hang around and be our buddy or something. It was convenient to be able to do our laundry there, and I was able to charge my phone to use the GPS the next day.

DAY 5

We slept very comfortably, and I got up first and started packing stuff up. It was great to be able to camp out in a tent when we needed to, but still take advantage of motels along the way as well to freshen up and relax. This was the perfect vacation. It was also really cool that we were in places where no one was accustomed to seeing backpackers or even hikers. If we were on the Appalachian Trail it's a big community, and it's understood that people will be backpacking through trailhead towns. We were doing something totally different.

Badass by the motel, mofo

Jillane got up and got ready, and we hung out around the motel area for a little bit. No big hurry to get moving. I returned our key and we were on our way.

adorable

We stopped by the convenience store again, and checked out a historic marker or something for the village of Spring Creek in the back of it. We then continued back south along rt 309. I went across to get something, probably chocolate milk or something, from another place across the street and a bit south of the convenience store.

On the left side of the highway was a little piece of state game lands with a road going down into it but it didn't look like it really went anywhere, and it was quicker to just stay on 309

We stayed on 309 to the Ye Old Dam Road and went left. This road coontinued out to the dam at the base of a resevoir, but we turned off of the road very soon.

There was a woods road going off to the right and ascending the north side of Broad Mountain. It was heavily posted with no trespassing signs, but we ignored it and moved on. Once we were out of sight from the road I wasn't too concerned.

It seemed like we were gradually going up hill forever. While we were going, we could hear Rt 309 for a while, but that soon disappeared. What troubled us was that we could hear an engine behind us. It sounded like someone was coming up the hill on this path, so we were ready to run off into the woods if they got close.

After the woods road got to the top of Broad Mountain, it flattened out quite a bit and was actually very pleasant walking. The section was looking rather impassable to larger vehicles so I felt better, but soon we came to an intersection with another woods road, now very accessable, with a gate on it. I pulled the gate shut to make it just slightly more difficult to get to us.

We went left following the more obscure fork of the old road. This took us through very deep woods and across some wet areas of swamps where the road became briefly indiscernible. After a couple of dramatic bends in the road I was unsure we were on the right route and kept checking my phone GPS. I was worried because I wanted to save power but couldn't figure where we were. I wanted to get out of this private land and onto some state game lands, but the distance across this part of Broad Mountain was much further than anticipated. It would certainly end up being our highest mileage day.

We eventually came to another woods road, a more prominant one and I wasn't sure where we were. Nothing matched up on my area imagest. The woods road opened up to become about a hundred feet wide, completely clear cut with the road in the dead center. When I finally got a GPS reading I was surprised to see we were on Fire Tower Road, the route I was planning on taking. Since the photos were taken a lot of clear cutting had gone on.

After a break here we headed out along the giant cut on the road, which would prove to be brutal in the heat without shade.

Most brutal part of the hike....logged area on Broad Mountain

We crossed another utility right of way along the road, and then turned north followed by a sharp turn east. At this point the road followed the southern end of the giant cut allowing for a bit of shade for us which was great.

Buttlerflies on crap

I was hoping that by the time we got to Dennison Road, a dirt cross mountain road, we could get back into some full shade and be done with this open area. I still don't know what it was for, maybe a new utility line? To the right, south on Dennison dirt road there was more clear cutting but it was probably a while ago since trees were growing back in. Just beyond that point we reentered the deeper woods on fire tower road, a welcome change.

The road section seemed to go on forever, but as we walked we found a really cool little camp site on the right. We stopped for a break here.

Really nice camp site we found. It's private land, but the owners allow anyone to camp!

Resting at the camp site...

As we continued to walk, we came across another camp site on the same side, well maintained with a good fire ring and such. This was followed I believe by a couple more similar sites. I was a little nervous about where we were, and who's camp sites these were. We moved along until finally we came across a sign. It identified the property as private land that alowed for public use of all kinds including hiking, hunting, and camping, and that they had allowed it for years. The only thing outlawed on this property was motorized vehicles (which was certainly not obeyed judging by the tire tracks we'd seen). People even shot up the sign that told of this generous gesture. Some people are just idiots.

You can do anything except ride ATVs! I guess that also includes blasting the hell out of the signage...

We continued along the woods road, now within or on the border of State Game Lands 141. We continued to walk Fire Tower Road until a gate and a rather new looking large parking lot on the left. No one was parked there, and we continued on the road ahead. We were excited to check out the Broad Mountain Fire Tower ahead, marked on my Game Lands map. It was just up a side road to the right from Fire Tower Road. We made our way up the road but were really disappointed to find the fire tower was fenced off, and had been converted to a microwave tower.

We continued out to where the road hit Rt 93, first turning sharp right and then paralleling it before coming out. There was a parking area for the game lands across 93 from us, and there were actually people there using it, the first people we'd seen since leaving Spring Creek in the morning.

It was getting late, and we needed to get to where we could camp. We decided to go in as far on the opposite side of 93 we could and set up when we found a good place. I wanted to set up near water so we could clean off.

We followed the woods road directly across, and into the woods. We passed a couple of fields and then made the first right we could make onto another woods road. The woods road took us south, and along the edge of an area that looked as though it had been quarried.

We continued south on the woods road, and then soon came to Jeans Run, a little creek here in the state game lands.

We didn't see a really practical place to camp at this site, so we continued on across the stream and up to the next intersection where we turned left. We passed two cyclists on this road and then no one else for the rest of the day. The road descended gradually back towards Jeans Run which had gained much volume since where we'd crossed it before. There was a great hemlock ravine with no visibility from the old woods road above, so I figured it would be the perfect place to camp. It was going to rain really hard that night and so we wanted to get the tent set up right away. I suppose it wasn't a good idea in case of a flash flood, but we set up in the flood plane anyway and had no problem.

Backpacker's bath

Jillane and I both bathed ourselves in the cold creek; although it was freezing it was great to get clean after hiking so far and so hard all day.

yeah yeah I'm naked so what

Once we were both cleaned all up we secured all of our stuff in such a way that they would not get wet when the rain hit. It didn't take long and there was thunder and lightning, and it certainly did pour....hard. But we were safe in our tent after our tough day.

xoxoxo

We woke up  in the morning to lots of fog filling the gorge of Jean's Run on the east rim of Broad Mountain. I got up and was concerned about someone finding us stealth camping. I had heart two male voices walking the woods road trail above us, but the canopy of leaves kept us pretty well hidden. Even though we'd covered everything up pretty well some of our stuff got wet in the downpour the night before.

We started walking back up to the woods road and turned left. This took us slightly down hill and over Jean's Run, then ascended the other side. We gradually made our way up onto the east rim of the Broad Mountain with the Jeans Run gorge far down below us to the right. Where the road bent to the left I followed a little side trail which led to a great view over the gorge.

We continued walking with some young growth forest to the left and lots of blueberry bushes everywhere. We stopped and ate a lot of them. Just like when we were on Bearfort Ridge, Jillane again happened upon a rattle snake. This was another big one, though not as big and old as the one on Bearfort. They hide in the blueberries waiting for the rodents that come for the berries.

Jillane almost stepped on this Rattler too! It was hiding in the blueberries of course

This section was really slow going because we stopped so much to pick berries. Jillane has an eye for them; she was getting mountains of berries and I couldn't see them in front of my face. It's amazing that I can see something like a four leaf clover in a bed of a thousand but can't pick out a blueberry sticking out like a sore blue thumb in a sea of green

I love this girl SO much

We followed the woods road to the north through State Game Lands 141 and soon came to the top of Glen Onoko, where the creek crossed the woods road calmly and then began to dramatically drop off to the Lehigh to the right. I'd first visited Glen Onoko in 1997 with my friend Conrad Blease, but I don't think then or subsequent trips ever took me this far up to the woods road. I'd also never incorperated Glen Onoko into any of my long hikes.

We crossed the creek and descended to the left of it into the gorge.

Glen Onoko was a very old tourist destination, and there was once a huge hotel along the shore of the Lehigh River with a trail going up the gorge. Boardwalks once graced the viewing areas around the falls, but they've long since rotted away or been removed.

One of many waterfalls...Glen Onoko

We descended along the gorge along some of the original stone steps from the old trails that are all that remain today of what was once a developed park.

These steps were once part of a resort trail...Glen Onoko

We descended for a bit and our first stop was at the famous "Cave Falls". This falls drops off over a rock outcropping with a natural cave behind it's left side. We put our packs down and walked out under the water into the cave from the left side.

Cave Falls...yes, that is a cave behind it to the left! Glen Onoko

View from the cave behind the falls, Glen Onoko

Jillane at Cave Falls; Glen Onoko

In the cave behind the falls, Glen Onoko

It was amazing to sit behind the water fall and see the woods with water flowing in front of our faces. We both took turns standing under the falls.

Me under Cave Falls

Although Glen Onoko is a really popular, not all who venture there make it to this upper falls area, opting instead to turn back earlier, so we were lucky to have this spot during a really secluded time.

Cave Falls; Glen Onoko

We continued down through the gorge passing by more beautiful cascakes, many of which at one time had names, but now hardly anyone remembers.

More cascades off of Broad Mountain....

Glen Onoko

As we walked down hill, we were passed by a huge group of hikers. We knew this must be some sort of organized group. As we walked, I noticed two old friends in the group, George DeLarche and Marge Brennan who hadn't hiked with me in a long time. I think the last time I saw George was the Summer of 2007. We chatted for a bit, and they took a picture of Jillane and I for us since we didn't have nearly enough of the two of us together on this trip.

In Glen Onoko

Jillane commented as we walked away that I know everyone, but I wasn't all that surprised that a hiker would know someone else at such a popular place on a weekend. We soon came to a large flat rock the creek spilled over on the right. This was the top of Onoko Falls, the highest in the gorge. There was a guy with his kids playing along the top, which was a bit unnerving how close they were getting to the edge, where it must have been a sixty foot dropoff. We chatted with the guy for a little bit. He, along with so many other people we met on this trip, was interested in how we wold camp and backpack the area since it's not normal to see backpackers at this site. He also took another picture of the two of us at the top of the falls.

The view was amazing at the top, looking out into the Lehigh Gorge.

We soon made our way out and around along the trail to the base of Onoko Falls where we took a nice break.

Glen Onoko, Onoko Falls

We had a lot of cheese sticks and small single serve packs of Cracker Barrel that we had been holding onto for a while, but now we were getting so close to civilization we knew we could buy more, so we enjoyed it. We didn't hang around here for too long because at this point there were more and more people showing up. They were all day trippers, characterized by their big bellies and single Poland Spring bottles instead of a pack of any kind. After what we'd been through it took away from the experiance I think.

We didn't hang around for too long, and descended over the rocks and past more cascades. The rocks could be very slippery, and it was much tougher navigating the gorge than if we'd had no packs. In the past, I never brought a pack at all into the gorge (I was one of the day trippers with the poland spring bottle).

Chameleon Falls

As we were walking we came across yet another large group of hikers. I seem to recall Jillane sarcastically asking who I would know in this group. As it turned out, we both had a good friend in the group; Jason Kumpas! He looked as shocked to see us there as we were to see him, and he told us this was his meetup group he'd been attending I think. He was going to head up and find a swimming spot on the upper end of the creek, and we talked about meeting up a little later in Jim Thorpe.

We continued to descend through the gorge over slippery rocks and past more waterfalls. Eventually the trail turned left away from the creek a little bit while the gorge continued to drop in elevation.

Steep descent on Glen Onoko Trail

We continued on a more cut path, the remains of the original trail that would have been here when the hotels were in business. We even went thorugh one dramatic cut that seemed more consistant with rail grades than trails.

We continued and the trail descended back down to the creek level. We were approaching the former Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks, still active. When I first came here in 1997 the trail used to just cross the tracks, but now it was routed along the Lehigh River and under the trestles. We walked over to the Lehigh and then down stream for a bit to a really nice little spot where I took a dip. It was raining slightly, a sun shower, and there were people doing paddling training next to the trestles. I remember looking at the rock faces and thinking of how the Lehigh Canal once passed through this rocky section.

We walked back out and under the railroad bridges, then up to the Glen Onoko parking area.

Such a romantic trip...even the sign says so

Classic signage

There was foreboding signage there about the gorge trail, and some history markers as well. We had now connected this long hike with every other big hike I'd done over the past 13 plus years, which was really cool.

This spot used to be the southern end of the Lehigh Gorge Trail, but it was now extended.

I love butterflies

We walked south on the Lehigh Gorge Trail along the old Central Railroad of NJ trestle. The original CNJ line through the area went through the Glen Onoko Tunnel, and then crossed a trestle immediately on it's north side. The bridge offered a great view of the tunnel.

After crossing the trestle, we turned left at another parking area and over a giant mound of dirt blocking the north portal of the Glen Onoko Tunnel. We went in and through the tunnel with the ties of it's double tracks still in place. There was an eerie fog looming along the floor from the recent rain that had just stopped, which added to the ambiance of it all.

While we were in there, most of the fog lifted. My camera was just about dead, which was amazing considering I used it constantly for five days. Fortunately, Jillane had her camera, and it got better pictures inside the tunnel anyway. We continued back out of the tunnel and onto the Lehigh Gorge Trail parallel with the access road to the south.

The path along the road with it's improved surface soon took us to the trestle over the active Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks and then across the Lehigh River. I was there both before, during, and after the redecking of the second track of this trestle (one track was still used for excursion trains), and on my previous visit in late Summer of 2008 we walked across it, but the trail ended at the other side. The trail now continued on through to Jim Thorpe, but we decided not to take that route since it was overrun with people.

Instead, we descended after crossing the active tracks to the former Lehigh Canal towpath. This section was part of the "upper division". The Lehigh Canal once extended from Easton to Port Jenkins over 25 miles to the north of Jim Thorpe, and further navigation in the river was available by means of Bear Trap Locks in the river beyond, but the entire upper division was pretty much destroyed during a flood in the 19th century. Since railroads already were in the area the canal was deemed inefficiant and not worth rebuilding, so only the Lower Division was used to Jim Thorpe, save for a few locks or so of the Upper Division. I believe this was part of it, in an area called Coal Port where trains and boats exchanged goods.

We soon came to an incredible old lock site.

We contnued along the river and there was a second lock site. All of the stone work was incredible, and it was amazing that in such a close flood plain that more of the masonry work was not destroyed. We stopped and took a dip in the river at this nice secluded location. The canal towpath in the area was just a narrow single track trail and we saw no one else on it.

Old Lehigh Canal upper division lock

We continued south and I think we came across one more old lock deep in the woods, but after that the canal seemed to disappear. We walked in the prism for a bit, but not much was left. Years of flooding had taken it all away. We ended up climbing through the weeds onto the active LV railroad tracks south into Jim Thorpe.

We came off of the tracks at the Jim Thorpe Market where we stopped for a break. I went in and got myself a snack and drink, but even I didn't want to get too much because we planned on having a nice dinner in Jim Thorpe, and were going to walk around and explore.

We crossed over the bridge into the main part of town, and there were nice views from the bridge north into the Lehigh Gorge.

We headed south along Rt 209 to the old train station in town, now being used as a visitor's center. We went in and picked up some maps, and there was an old fellow outside who talked to Jillane and I for a while about our hike and the town. We then walked from the station south a bit with the beautiful view of Flagstaff Mountain in the background. We turned right on Race Street, a tiny narrow street with all sorts of interesting shops.

We followed the street to the end and then turned right on Broadway back into town. It was such a neat little town, and I believe it started raining a bit again, so we sought shelter under an overhang. We contnued through town looking at all of the different shops, and while we were walking got a call from Jason Kumpas trying to meet up. We soon saw him drive by in his car.

We kept it simple and just walked back a bit of Rt 209 to Subway, and Jason treated us both to subs! We hung out and chatted for a while, and made plans to eventually come back and explore the Jeans Run Gorge, Switchback Railroad, Asa Packer Mansion, and more. Jason offered to drive us back to the trailhead, but we said no thanks, we kept with the plan to not get into a car.

Hanging with Jason K at Subway in Jim Thorpe

We walked back across the bridge and past Jim Thorpe Market on the railroad tracks. We continued south to near the sewage treatment plant where we could get down on the Lehigh Canal next to an old lock site. I didn't know it before, but more of the canal north of here had been cleared since my last visit. I made a mental note to come back and explore it. Had I known we wouldn't have had to walk the tracks.

We walked around the fence that went around the treatment plant and on the other side the towpath opened up to become a nice wide path.

Jillane on the Lehigh Canal trail in lower Lehigh Gorge

We continued south on the towpath and passed underneath the former LV railroad where it crossed the Lehigh. From here we were on one of the most secluded sections of the Lehigh Canal trail. It was a beautiful section and soon had an improved surface, different from the last time I was there. Also different was the existance of this weird parallel trail that was inside the canal prism with yellow blazes I think. It came back out to the canal and went back into the woods often over the next few miles.

We came to the observation platform at one of the old lock sites soon, and took a little break. The view down the Lehigh Gorge from here was great.

The canal below this point soon had water in it. Maybe because of the water, I don't know, but we started finding lots of rasberries. In particular, there were a lot of black rasberries. Not just here, but where I work in Hunterdon Parks and other places, Black Rasberries were more prevailant this year than in previous years because they were pushed out by the japanese wine berries. We ate a ton of these.

mmmm black rasberries

Black Rasberries!

We continued walking and looked for a good place to set up camp for the night. Nothing looked too good because we were in a narrow area between the Lehigh River and the steep mountainside to the left. We kept moving on and looking at potential sites. Along the way we came across another footbridge to the left. It crossed the canal and led to an interesting little garden maintained by a church. The trail kept going, I'm assuming to that church, but we didn't try to follow it. The bridge read "Bridge to Nowhere" on it.

Bridge to nowhere...? Interesting.

This section of the canal seemed so much longer than the previous time I'd hiked it, but it was beautiful and very secluded. We only passed one kid using the trail for jogging during our entire time on the section. We also kept seeing that weird side trail turn on and off from the canal. It started looking like a mountain bike trail.

Along abandoned Lehigh Canal

The canal got much wider, and the woods on the right looked very wide. I'd been talking on the phone with our friend Jim Delotto, and he said he wanted to offer us a night in his girlfriend's bed and breakfast in Jim Thorpe as an engagement present. I didn't have to think long on this. We weren't finding a good camp site and it was getting late. We were both tired and sore from our long trip, and I was happy to have connected this with everything I'd done. It would have been nice to continue another day, but I figured "we're on vacation, we can do this". We agreed that we'd meet DeLotto somewhere to the south.

When we saw the larger swath of woods to the right we realized we could have camped there, but by then it didn't matter, we were looking forward to a nice comfortable night.

To our right in the woods we spotted a wooden bridge structure. It looked all too odd not to go and check out. When we got there, we found it was on this weird side trail we'd been seeing. It was a giant wooden bridge made of sticks, a little wobbly but very impressive and sturdy! One of the most impressive pedestrian structures I'd seen.

Insane bridge just north of Weissport

Totally insane pedestrian bridge just north of Weissport

We walked south a bit further and were now coming into the town of Weissport. On our right we could see an open area with a berm across the Lehigh. We spotted a cat walking along the rocks on the opposite shore and commented on how we wanted to go pet it. We had our cats boarded at Jillane's work and we missed them a lot.

We passed the site of Lock 7 on the Lehigh Canal and then began to see the more developed part of the town. Stonework lined the edge of the canal as we reached Bridge Street.

Me along the canal in Weissport

I'd been on the phone with Delotto, and he parked across the Lehigh in the town of Lehighton. We turned left on bridge street as the sun was setting, through the town of Weissport.

Me, Weissport PA

As we came to a berm near the river, not part of the canal but probably a flood control device, we saw Delotto walking up the road toward us. We greeted him with happy big hugs, then turned around and walked across the bridge into Lehighton.

End of the trip, Lehighton PA

Delotto was parked near the corner of East Bridge Street. There was a Dunkin Donuts and a couple other businesses where he was parked. We were extremely happy to have gone six days with very little planning, feeling totally free. Easily the best backpack of my life, and among the happiest times overall.

Delotto took us back to Jim Thorpe where he and his lady prepared us some wonderful foods and made us feel welcome and relaxed. The next day we were treated to a nice driving tour of the entire vicinity and we talked about all the fun we were going to have exploring all over the area. Life couldn't have been better at this time of our lives.

Jillane and I at the end of our backpacking vacation in Jim Thorpe PA Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®