Hike #761; Harvey's Lake to Wilkes Barre

Hike #761; Harveys Lake to Wilkes Barre

4/6/14 Harveys Lake to Wilkes-Barre with Jillane Becker, Seth Gollhardt, Brandan Jermyn, Dan Lurie, Sue Olivar, Jenn Berndt, Erika Daniels, Chris "Cupcake" Kroschinski, Darlene Perez, Ariel, Stephen Argentina, Justin Gurbisz, Michael Clark (Lerch), Amanda Murphy, Jason Kumpas, Tom Vorrius, "Commando Tom" Petrucci, Laura Allen Cunningham, Pete G. Wilcox, Kenneth Lidman, Omri Afir, Michele Valerio, Brad Baesic, Allison, Mary Therese Biebel, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Eric Pace, Kimberly Kaleta, and Leo Letello.

The group on the abandoned Bowmans Creek Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad near Dallas

Our next trip would be an interesting point to point between Wilkes Barre and Harveys Lake PA. It had been a long time since I'd had a trip up in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area, and it was time to return to it.

Our meeting spot was at the McDonalds in Wilkes Barre where we'd finished a hike on November 26th, 2011. On that date, we pretty much finished hiking the old Wilkes Barre and Eastern line, the wholly owned subsidiary of the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad that connected it's main line in Stroudsburg with the Pennsylvania coal.

There was something very special to me about the WB&E line; it was something very substantial, the most direct route from the eastern ports to the PA coal, and yet it was abandoned so early on (1930s). Today, the long and winding route of this line is nearly forgotten, but much of the land through which it passed remains relatively undeveloped with the right of way preserved.

From that same spot where we had finished that previous hike, a tangled web of old rail lines criss cross between Wilkes Barre and Scranton, and branch out in all directions. I of course began studying these routes and planning future hikes.

The line that caught my attention the most was a solitary branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad that passed through a ravine heading north from Wilkes Barre, through Kingston and Luzerne to towns like Dallas and Trucksville. I traced it's route on to Harveys Lake much farther to the north. As I continued my research, I found it astonishing that this line continued all the way to the famous Rickett's Glen, Pennsylvania's premier waterfall park.

1895 map showing the Bowman's Creek Branch

I found that this was the former Bowman's Creek Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. As I looked at the maps, the degree of anonymity this line held fascinated me, and I wanted more and more to hike it. Furthermore, the line would give us a direct route to connect us to Ricketts Glen, and then beyond to the Loyalsock Trail and the northern Alleghenies.

I read further into it and discovered that the rail line was built predominantly for hauling timber. Previous rail lines remained in the Susquehanna Valley and did not reach the timber, which was in high demand at the coal region breakers. Col. C. Bruce Ricketts, for whom Ricketts Glen is named, owned large tracts of land and of course required rail service to fully utilize the properties. The Loyalsock Railroad made connection to the north into NY state to Bomans Creek, and the Wilkes Barre and Harveys Lake Railroad was completed in 1887 from the Susquehanna Valley. It was then sold to the Lehigh Valley Railroad.

Some of the right of way along Bowmans Creek would be easy for us to trace, but the southern portion of it would be difficult. I found that much of the right of way was now part of the Back Mountain Trail, but other sections appeared to be developed over or otherwise inaccessible. It was just too much of a drive for me to get up there to scout it myself.

I had met Seth a while back, and he'd hiked around the Delaware Water Gap north, as well as the Catskills with me. He's a strong and enthusiastic hiker, and so we struck up conversations about different places. Somehow we got onto the topic of the area of Wilkes Barre and wanting to connect to Ricketts Glen. Amazingly, Seth lives in Harveys Lake, very close to the route we would need to take in order to trace the former rail line. Seth offered to help do the reconnaissance work necessary to complete this hike, and I made him co leader when I was ready to post it.

We met in the morning at the McDonalds along River Street. We got a bit of a late start because of people running so far behind, and even then we had to stop along the way at a service station on the way to the beginning. We shuttled in six cars to our start point, Harveys Lake, one of the largest natural lakes in the state of Pennsylvania.

We started our trip on the corner of Kunkle-Alderson Road and Lakeside Drive, where there was parking for a small church. There really is very little parking at the lake, and with a larger group than I had anticipated we would be taking up a lot of space. We parked in a section of grass directly across from the church that appeared to be where church people park anyway.

Along with us this time was Mary Therese Beibel, a reporter from the Times Leader, top newspaper for the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area, as well as Pete Wilcox, talented photographer for that periodicle, who had joined us already in the past. Along the way the group would be interviewed for use in an article that is to come out April 27th.

Old photo of Alderson Station.

The rail line used to go right down Lakeside Drive west of where we were standing, and then paralleled Kunkle-Alderson Road. The line had a station stop at Harveys Lake in the past, in a section of community called Alderson, named for William C. Alderson, treasurer of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. We didn't quite reach that point, but we were close. After putting everyone in a circle and talking about what we'd be doing, we set off walking Kunkle-Alderson Road to the east.

Stone wall off Kunkle-Alderson

I wasn't sure at the moment where exactly the railroad was that we were trying to walk. I knew that where we parked, it was directly on the road. Along Kunkle-Alderson to the east, it turns out it was directly to the north of the road. I noticed a grade there while walking, but wasn't sure of what it was until I got home to check it. To the left of the road we spotted a curious stone wall. I thought at first they would be lime kilns, but then upon further inspection there was no kilns in them at all. it was simply a wall.

The week before, my brother Tea Biscuit picked up a fantastic Thomas Tabor PA railroads book he'd found at a book store. I opened it up to find out info on the rail lines, and to my surprise I learned there was a small spur rail line that broke away from the Bowmans Creek Branch and headed north, then re-crossed it to the west near Alderson, used for logging. Perhaps that was what this stone wall was part of, maybe an unloading area from narrow gauge cars along the main tracks to larger cars along a spur!

We continued along the road and eventually came to where we assumed the tracks crossed the road (they did). There was a woods road up hill from here, which Seth had scouted before, and it led on down to the other section of the railroad bed. The maps on the website showed like this was the trail, and even Google Maps showed the light green trail lines for multi use trails up on this property. I assumed that the sign was similar to signs on some of the other obscure trails we follow, intended for all other than trail users.

We started heading up hill, and could see the old rail bed below us to the left. A field began to come into view to the left, which the woods road would parallel on the right. Just before reaching the field, an SUV came barreling toward us, then came to an abrupt stop! At the rate they arrived, as well as the obvious fact that vehicles do not drive this route at all on a regular basis, I assumed we were seen on a trail cam that must have sent a message to it's owner.

I must have looked somewhat professional, wearing my grey suit. Others had blazers too; Cupcake wore a baby blue one, Darlene and Ariel wore the tux jackets I passed out on the Buckettfest hike, Justin had the grey suit that I'd picked up for him at Family Thrift earlier in the week, and Guillermo had a brown blazer and had of his own.

I approached the guy's car, greeted him and said we were looking for the Back Mountain Trail. He told us that it was several miles on from there. I knew what he'd meant, but the maps were indeed misleading, especially those on Google. I showed him what we were doing, walking the rail line, and that the maps showed that we should be there. I even opened up my google maps on my phone to show him that it was under the public trail function. He agreed that it showed that, and it was indeed his private property. He was actually very cool about it, didn't lose his temper or anything. I thought he might give us permission to walk the right of way this once, but he didn't. What he did do, to his credit, was allow us to walk through his fields, rather than turn back, to a gravel road that led back out to Kunke-Alderson Road. He then asked "What's with the suits?". I explained that it was just something different, which he found mildly amusing. I thanked him for his help, and apologized for any inconvenience, and we all set out to cross the field. It offered us a really great view of the mountains to the east of us that we would not otherwise have had, so I was thankful to take this route. As the land owner backed up along the road and turned around, I heard a smash as he backed into a tree. I had to hold back a little laugh. We came to the gravel road, and he passed us again on that. He was surely just making sure we were leaving the property, not continuing along the rail bed against his wishes. We passed an old house, then turned right on the paved road again, and crossed where the rail bed turned south through the property near open fields. Barely onto the road, the land owner passed us once more, probably trying once more to be sure we weren't trespassing any more.

We turned right onto Lake Street at the bottom of a hill, which then took us up hill further. The route of the roads led us parallel with the old Bowmans Creek Branch. Both 2nd Street and Carpenter Rd led off to the right and would have crossed the right of way, but I knew from aerial images that it wouldn't really be feasible to get through these sections, so the road walk would be necessary.

We re-grouped at the intersections of Lake Street, Carpenter Road, and Stredney Road. Stredney was a nice dirt road and a good place to sit for a bit. By the time I reached the intersection, Lerch was already at the top of a tall tree. I noticed as a car turned from Lake onto Stredney that the ground shifted in a strange way. Brandan and I went over, and as we jumped on it, the ground shifted around a lot. Could it have been the beginning of a sink hole? There was definitely something not right about the ground, some sort of very soft surface beneath. I took a video of the strangeness of it all.

We continued up Lake Street and I noticed where the rail bed used to cross. I found that we were able to briefly walk a section of it parallel with the road. Unfortunately, we had to get right back off of it to Lake Street again because there was a house and yard over the right of way ahead, as it turned slightly more to the east.

We turned left onto Spencer Street which paralleled very closely the old rail bed. I held everyone together before getting on to the next section.

The right of way, where it went away from the road had now had gravel over it as some sort of an access point. We walked along it for a bit, but then there was a "no trespassing" sign. The website seemed to show it as a trail, so we just walked on by. No one said anything to us, and there was a guy doing yard work right next to us. We hurried along and were soon out of sight of any buildings on a very nice section along a shelf. The rail bed went over a bit of a fill over a creek, and the shelf had mostly mixed hardwood forest to the left with Eastern Hemlock dominating to the right. We stopped briefly so Pete could get the excellent group shot that appears at the top here.

We continued on the railroad bed, which ended up in the driveway of a couple of houses. There was a truck parked there, someone doing landscaping, but there were no "no trespassing" signs on this side, and we were able to just wander out to Country Club Road. The rail bed on the other side was clear, but there were also very clear "no trespassing" signs. Fortunately, Seth did reconnaissance work prior to the trip, and was able to lead us on a good alternative route around. We turned left onto Country Club Road, then right on Wedgewood Way through a Masonic Village. We simply followed the street to it's end, and there was a pathway leading down hill to the old railroad bed. The pathway continued across the rail bed to the high school, but we were able to follow the rail bed clearly to the left.

The rail bed was very nice and clear, and there was a lovely little creek, part of the head waters to the Toby Creek that we followed for a bit. Jason and I waited as a lot of people were still behind. When everyone was within sight, we continued, but the rail bed got pretty overgrown. There were people watching from yards farther to the east of us, which was a little odd. There was a path to the right of the rail bed that we had just passed, which led up hill to a cemetery called Fern Knoll Burial Park. We followed that up hill, then continued along the hillside it occupied parallel with where the railroad would had been, assuming that was the way Seth would have led everyone. When we got to the end of the cemetery, I could see the rest of the group waiting. Justin and Lerch had already climbed far up a Norway Spruce tree while waiting. The others had again fallen behind, taking silly pictures of tomb stones and hiding letters to spell dirty words.

We followed a path from the Spruce tree Justin and Lerch were up, which remained a reasonably good path below the Misericordia College. The path soon returned to the railroad bed along a power line leading to MacAuley Drive. We followed this to Lake Street into Dallas. The rail bed was closely parallel with Lake Street to the right from here.

Historic photo of Dallas railroad station.

We followed Center Hill Road out to Rt 415 and followed it south. The rail line used to go parallel with this main road, in what is now parking areas behind the businesses to the left of us. We continued down the road to our lunch stop, the Dominoe's Pizza in Dallas which Seth owns. Seth is the owner of nine high quality Dominoe's Pizza establishments in the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area, and he graciously treated the entire group to pizza at this location! Unfortunately, Pete Wilcox had to leave us at this point because he got called off for another photo project for the paper.

Seth brought out something we'd never heard of yet, square shaped Artisan Pies, which have different toppings on a thin crust. Spinach with a white sauce, or various vegetables. There was also a new Cali Vegetable pie that was excellent. I've enjoyed Dominoe's in the past, but I'd never had it taste quite THIS good, and I think everyone agreed.

Seth at his Dallas Dominoe's establishment

Justin, Lerch, and Brandan climbed up on the roof while the pies were being made and sat on the sign. I couldn't believe they actually did that at that place. They really know how to push it! Mr. Buckett and Eric joined us at this point.

We continued from here into town to where Lake Street and Church Street intersect with 415. The railroad used to come to along the left side of 415 here. We did not continue to follow 415, but rather parallel streets. We walked up to Laing Street, where Seth used to live on the corner, one of the oldest houses in Dallas, formerly the home of a doctor with the same name as the street. We turned left at the end of Laing onto Church Street, then turned right on Lakeside Drive. At the corner in the road, there was a ball field with a stream just beyond, and a beat up old playground.

We got across the little stream and I immediately went head first down the metal sliding board. I love those old playgrounds with the good old metal equipment. After me, pretty much everyone went down the slide. There was also a springy thing and one of those man powered merry go rounds which I spun a few people on. After goofing off for a bit, we made our way up hill to Southside Avenue. This road led to Rt 309, Tunkhannock Highway. I believe we crossed to Grandview Ave, then turned right on Dorchester Drive. We cut through a section of cemetery near the end of Dorchester, which was just up hill from the former railroad bed.

We reached Rt 309 at a gas station at the bottom of the hill, and we waited there for a few minutes. While re-grouping, someone, probably Stephen, had the great idea that we should walk through the car wash. Stephen actually paid for the car wash, and Justin, Lerch, Brandan, and I went in. I think Brandan left. I got soaked, and Lerch said the soap stuff burned his arms. Before we could run the full cycle, the proprietor of the place came in and hollered at us, asked what we thought we were doing!

Two newcomers opted to leave at this point and head directly back toward the cars. After the car wash, we turned directly to the left onto the old railroad bed again. This section was nice and clear, and skirted a bit of swamp land off to the left. The rail bed came to a spot where the Trout Creek had eroded away much of the right of way. There were logs and such to get over, so it wasn't too much a problem. The rail bed emerged at a storage unit place, and the rail bed went across Lower Demonds Road.

Shavertown Station when the rail line was active.

Somewhere just beyond this point, or maybe the same point, I don't know, was the site of the Shavertown Station. We took Terrace Street slightly up hill, and Justin, Lerch, Brandan, and Erika went up on the roof of a building that was easy to hop to from the edge of the road. The Back Mountain Trail officially began at that intersection, and we turned right down hill, past some houses to regain the rail bed. The guy who owned the building who's roof they were on came out of his house across the way and asked started yelling at them. We all just kept walking and let them deal with the guy on their own.

The trail from here was very nice, following a shelf above the Toby Creek. It led us out to East Franklin Street where the official route goes off to the right, but we were able to stay on the rail bed a little longer. The path narrowed, and the black cinder dirt was prevalent, but it was still clear. We followed it a short distance further and came out behind a building just off of North Main Street. From there, we had to head up hill to Lehigh Street, parallel with the rail bed for a while. Soon, the trail had a path to the right which took us back to the rail bed, and through a narrow section where the railroad was on a shelf that had eroded somewhat into Toby Creek. It now had guard rails and such.

Pete re-joined us again at the beginning of this section, having finished with a theater thing he had to photograph, but then he almost immediately got called out to a structure fire, and he was off to take pictures once more.

Waterfall nearing Trucksville

The trail emerged on Harris Hill Road, and ahead it must have eroded away almost completely because there was nothing to see of it save for maybe a little disturbance in the hill side that might have been the rail line's shelf. The official trail route took us across the Heller Hill Road bridge, a giant culvert, and then followed the other side of the Toby Creek parallel with 309. Once were were along the road, a path led down hill to a lovely waterfall. It was a long slide down into a pool below. I had to go check it out. Of course, Lerch saw this and bellowed out "There's NO WAY I'm NOT doing this!". He sad down on the falls and slid all the way to the bottom! It looked amazing! He went again, and so did Brandan. After that, I knew I had to try it. It looked awesome. So I took my jacket off and went down the thing in the rest of my suit and tie. It was every bit as awesome as it looked, and I'm glad those guys got me to do it.

A little further back, Michele told me she had talked to the President of the Back Mountain Trail who was driving by, totally happy to see so many people using the trail. I got a call from Jason while at the waterfall that he had again intercepted us and wanted to talk to us. I was slightly concerned at first that we had gone and gotten ourselves in trouble!

The trail took us parallel with the highway to Carverton Road, where it crossed and went up a long flight of stairs that led back to the railroad bed. Historically, there was a tall trestle here that carried the railroad over an intersection creek and Carvertown Road.

Historic view of Trucksville trestle

At the wooden steps, we met with the President of Back Mountain Trail, very happy to meet all of us using the trail. He explained that he saw us hiking through his back yard earlier and was wondering what we were all doing. I wondered if it had been the guy watching us just before we came into Dallas. He told us about how they'd just put in a new railing for walking bikes up the stairs at this point, which made cyclists happy. He had us pose for a photo at this point. This could be a great piece of promotional value for us as well, because the the President, Mark Albrecht, works for Eyewitness News!

The group at Trucksville, stairs where the trestle used to be.

We continued along the trail from here, which took us on a high shelf above the Toby Creek. The trail led away from the town, and despite the highway not to far across the creek and below us, it felt like it was somewhat secluded. We continued out across a lovely creek with some nice little waterfall cascades along them from here. A lot more people were using this section of the trail too. There were a few railroad ties still in place, but overall it was very easy walking. People were even pushing strollers.

When we got to above a big water tank, Justin and Lerch had to go and climb up it. Unfortunately, Brandan left his bag and Lerch left his camera. I sent a message to the president of the trail with hopes that it might be found by some miracle.

We continued on the trail ahead, and a stone wall lined the left side. This could be remnants of the Mill Hollow Drifts 1 through 4, which were left above the rail bed here, serviced by the Mill Hollow Narrow Gauge Railroad. We continued on the trail out to the end of Parry Street where there were benches and a kiosk. We waited for everyon to catch up here. Lerch and Brandan realized at this point they left their stuff, and ran back to get it. The rest of us continued on. The Bowman's Creek Branch went off to the left from here, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad's Mill Hollow Branch continued along and across the creek down stream. We stayed on Parry St. to Main Street, then ahead on Kelley Street. The trail started back up again here in the town of Luzerne, as a walkway along the Toby Creek.

The walkway had fences on the sides, and some of the group missed the turn onto it. I had to call them over from the street. We continued on this until we got to Buckingham Street where we crossed the creek to Union St.

We re-grouped again here while people went to use the restroom at McDonalds, and Justin went out on a pipe that went across the creek. The LV Mill Hollow Branch followed directly along Union Street from this next intersection.. Once everyone was together, we cut across a grocery parking lot to Evans Street which went under Rt 309. The Mill Hollow Branch went just to the east of this route. On the other side of the underpass, we cut along an industrial property to the edge of the Toby's Creek at flood protection berms.

The far side of the creek had a berm on it on the former site of the former rail line. We followed the close berm down stream and across a spillway dam. The creek went under ground, and the path joined the former rail bed slightly down hill to it's former junction with the Lackawanna Railroad's Bloomsburg Branch. We turned left here to follow the former Lackawanna line tracks to Union Street. We then followed Railroad Avenue to Vaughn Street, then zig zagged along back streets to the beginning of the paved pathway on the flood berm for the Susquehanna River. A branch of the Lackawanna Railroad had it's Pettibone Branch to the Pettibone Shaft head south from the line we'd previously been walking, and the Wilkes Barre and Eastern also had it's Pettibone Branch to the same shaft just parallel with us. The Pettibone Breaker also used to be here.

I talked to the reporter as we walked the berm for quite some time. It was a nice relaxing section to walk, and we soon passed beneath the old railroad bridge, still in service, that carried the Wilkes Barre and Eastern across the Susquehanna. This was called the Mill Creek Bridge. We continued along the berm from here heading west. When we got to North Street/Pierce Street, we crossed the bridge over the Susquehanna. It was a nice view coming through there, with the city hall visible.

We had to re group again, and Darlene had hurt her leg and would need to get picked up. Cupcake and Ariel stayed with her. Also, Guillermo had been hurting badly, so he also waited here to be picked up. The rest of us got across the bridge, which was under construction on the north bound lane, and then turned left along the river heading up stream. We followed Water Street for a bit, but then cut to the left along old rail lines including I believe Pennsylvania and Lehigh Valley both. The right of way took us below the Hollenback Cemetery, where there were some interesting abandoned buildings. My facebook friend Sarah Mascara said the abandoned buildings there were part of a fan system for the nearby mines. The nearest one I can find I believe was Dorrance Shaft.

We reached the Mill Creek, and the south side of the Mill Creek trestle over the Susquehanna. There were also a couple of rail bridges over the creek itself. Justin of course went up on to an abandoned one with no decking to cross. To the right of us was an I-beam one with only one of two spans in place. Justin also climbed to the top of the trestle over the Susquehanna from the outside.

From here, it was easy to simply walk beneath the trestle and to the right, and we were back in the parking lot of the McDonalds where we'd met.

Pete came back to help with car shuttles. Others went back to shuttle people to their cars, and pick up Guillermo, Cupcake, Darlene, and Ariel. We otherwise tried to figure out where to go to eat. There was a nearby Mexican place, but it was closed. We finally settled on the River Grill, right where we were parked.

Some of the group out to dinner

While we were sitting and eating, and for a while before that, we were wondering what became of Brandan and Lerch. Lerch texted me earlier not to wait up for us, and I know he's resourceful enough to find the way back. Still, at this point his phone was dead and we didn't know where they could be. Neither were answering. Eventually, they came wandering through the door of the River Grill. Brandan had his maniacal smile that he gets when he's really drunk. Apparently, they had called for a taxi and it never came. They resorted to walking the superhighway that is closed to pedestrians across the Susquehanna in the pitch black, with Brandan flipping off everyone who honked at them. Lerch never fails to end up in strange situations like this, one thing after another, with an amazing story to tell in the end.

It had been a tiring day. I was glad that Jillane and I would be getting a room locally rather than driving all the way back home. It's so nice when I don't have to drive and can relax immediately afterwards.

It was great to explore this area. The hike extended the reaches of my world of hiking far into an area that would connect us to the northern Alleghenies.

The old Lehigh Valley Railroad's Bowman's Creek Branch where we had hiked was abandoned in December of 1963, just over fifty years before our hike. It's amazing to think of this being the only real way to the north, to at least two resorts, amusement park, ice houses, logging operations, and tanneries, all of which have since vanished and given way to interspersed residential land, state game lands and forests. All of the rich history of coal mining in the area has today eclipsed the stories of ice houses and logging. Once important commodities became the relics of a bygone era, and the stories of these places that were full of life for half a century are fading into obscurity like the scars of the railroads that brought everyone there. A few like those spearheading the Back Mountain Trail have kept some of the history alive, but kiosks and interpretive signs, and journal entries on line can only say so much.

I wonder how many of my comrades walking that route with me envision as I do the roar of a whistle on a steam locomotive blasting through Dallas and Trucksville, over trestles and along those steep slopes. As Justin's website forcefully insists: "Stay curious", because when we understand why a place retains a certain look, understand it's history, we become more intimate with it, like we know it's secret. Just as a paint blaze on a formalized trail route often feels like a secret code, the grade of a railroad, or the masonry of an abutment can stir the imagination. It can lead us to even more amazing places if the mind is open to it. And it will, because that's my mission.