Hike #1234; Lehigh Gap to Lehighton

Hike #1234; Lehigh Gap and Lehighton

7/7-7/8/19 Lehigh Gap and Lehighton Loop with Jillane Becker

This next one would be just Jillane and I on a mutual day off.
The reason I really wanted to do this one was more for her benefit than mine. I did have some stuff I wanted to have a look at again, but it was a missing trans-Pennsylvania piece for her.

Appalachian Trail view

On previous trips, we had hiked nearly the entire length of Pennsylvania together. When we first got together, she had hiked the Lehigh Canal with me from Phillipsburg to Bethlehem PA. In 2010, she did Lehigh Canal with me from Northampton to Bethlehem.
Back in 2010, we also hiked from Ashland PA over a period of a few days to Lehighton. On two other separate day hikes, we covered from Ashland to Shamokin Dam. Our series of other backpacking trips had taken us westward, with the most recent one ending in Saltsburg, just three days out of Pittsburg.

Lehigh Gap view

Earlier, we had done from Northampton to Lehigh Gap. I’d already connected everything there, but Jillane would need to walk from Lehigh Gap to Lehighton to connect as far as I’d done across the state.
So, we headed out to Lehigh Gap and parked at the Appalachian Trail lot, which is built on the Lehigh and New England Railroad bed that’s been abandoned since 1962. My plan was to head down to the D&L Trail from here, which at that point follows the former Lehigh Valley Railroad grade north, and then turn back when we got to Lehighton on the other side of the river.

Original Chain Bridge piers

We had a late start. We drove out there, but then Rt 248 was closed for bridge repairs, so I had to drive a little further out of the way to get to the trail.
We headed to Lehigh Gap eventually and used the AT lot on the old Lehigh and New England. There were a few people walking around when we got there, but we ended up not seeing many for the day.
We headed down the AT from the rail grade, and then crossed the bridge over the Lehigh on Rt 873. I pointed out where the original “Chain Bridge” was that predated the current highway bridge, burned in the thirties.

Original Chain Bridge site

Once on the far side of the bridge, rather than try to walk in any other way, we headed down right alongside the bridge because it was an easier descent.
We soon reached the former Lehigh Valley Railroad grade, now the D&L Trail, and turned to the let heading north.
The last time we were down this way, Jillane continued north on the trail while I ubered back to my car in Northampton and picked her up. I ended up driving a long stretch of the trail to get her because someone was behind her with a light. This time, we would double back on a little of that, and then continue.

East face of Lehigh Gap

We walked north and passed the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. The area was lush and pretty, which is really crazy considering how I remembered it from my first time out there.

Lehigh Gap east face

The above photo was taken on my hike on the Lehigh Valley bed in January of 2007, showing just how much the vegetation has grown in on the rocks.

LNE trestle site view

There were almost no leaves on any trees in the area from the zinc smelting contamination at nearby Palmerton. Now, the trees have come back amazingly large compared to before.

Lehigh Gap sign

We continued north on the grade, and in a short bit we came to where the Lehigh and New England used to cross over the Lehigh and the grade we were walking by way of a long trestle. The Lehigh and New England was abandoned in October of 1961, and the bridge was removed some time soon after that.
It used to be really easy to see the old bridge site, but it’s growing over pretty fast.
We continued along the trail to the north; one of the differences this time versus the previous time I was up there was the fact that the little runoff springs were now named as falls.

Donald W. Furler Collection image of Lehigh Gap trestle

The springs were much more lush with vegetation now than they ever were in the past. I could still see the Devil’s Pulpit, the rock outcropping above us to the left clearly.

LNE trestle site

As we walked, the house on the top of the mound in the distance could be seen, originally built by a Civil War veteran who was some sort of hermit up there.
We continued on, and eventually made our way out to the north side of the preserve. This time, there was a new dog park installed near the end.
From there, the trail continued alongside Riverview Road, which is built on the old railroad bed. Rather than walk the road, we took a side path to the right that took us down along the Lehigh, which was much nicer. I was surprised to see they had a couple camp sites.

A view alon the trail

I’ve been saying for a long time that if they want people to use these long distance trails, there needs to be some kind of overnight accommodations. This one was particularly nice because there was a rope swing into the Lehigh. I’m glad I didn’t just try it without testing the water though, because the swing went right out to a super shallow spot!
I still took a break and jumped into the river for a bit, which was great. We sat at one of the benches for a little while, then continued along the river.

Devil's Pulpit

There was a little outdoor classroom area that had been installed, which was nice, and then there was a frisbee golf course that continued along the river to the right of the road. This was great because we could just walk along on that rather than continue on the road for as long a distance. The terrain was a bit more undulating, but it went by fast.
We continued back up to the road, which was still on the railroad bed, and then passed Lizard Creek Junction. This was where the Lehigh Valley Railroad’s branch to the west broke off.

Lizard Creek Junction station on the LVRR

We crossed the Lizard Creek on the road, still on the railroad bed, and then continued to Rt 895 and it’s bridge across the Lehigh. We continued across on the trail, which left the rail bed to gradually descend to the left. We cut through grass which was easier.

The Lehigh

We then got to where there used to be a bridge to get back on clear trail on the railroad bed. Just before going up, there was a cool looking but run down old house blasting rap music from inside. I wonder how long that building will still stand. I felt like the bass of the music would shake it apart.
We continued on good trail with some steep cliffs to both our left and out over the river. One overlook in particular was very nice.

Turnpike bridges

The trail followed the cliffs for a while, and then came really close to the PA Turnpike. I think some of the rail bed might have been obliterated by the wall of rock from the highway fill, and the trail built along side of it, but I’m not sure. It was still flat and seamless out to where the turnpike crossed over the Lehigh on giant twin bridges.
We passed beneath here and had another pleasant section of woods heading north, and then passed a sewage treatment plant. Lehigh Drive, which accesses the plant, is the route of the trail from this point to the north into Lehighton.

Former rail bridge

We crossed over the Mahoning Creek on the former railroad bridge, now used by the road, and soon reached Lehighton. The D&L Trail turns left after passing beneath East Bridge Street, and climbs to the older Bridge Street over the Lehigh.
A path ascended to the left from the Lehigh Valley Railroad bed, which continued ahead as the paved road, and we headed to the top of the bridge.
This was where we finished our first good backpacking trip between the Centralia/Ashland area the Lehigh Valley back in 2010. So, at this point, Jillane has connected all of her Pennsylvania hiking from Easton all the way out to Saltsburg.

Fort Allen monument

I pointed out how the bridge we were crossing utilized some of the old abutments and pier from the original covered bridge I think it was.
We continued across the bridge and into Weissport. This area was originally near the site of Benjamin Franklin’s Fort Allen, settlemed pretty early on.
The town is named for Colonel Jacob Weiss, who was the first to try to sell the PA anthracite coal when it was brought to him by hunter Philip Ginder in 1791. Weiss settled in this community that took his name after coming up from Philadelphia.
Weiss tried and failed to sell the coal in Philly, and never gave a piece of land promised to Ginder in return for taking him to the source of the coal.
It wasn’t until the early 1800s that a market had been established for the coal, and Josiah White, Erskine Hazard, and Philip Hauto started the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company.

Lehigh Canal in Weissport

The remainder of our journey this time would be pretty much following the Lehigh Canal where possible. There is a really great section of it from Weissport to Parryville, which I hadn’t followed since 2008, so I figured it would be a good walk.
We turned to the right when we got to the canal, where the towpath went parallel with the former Central Railroad of New Jersey tracks heading south. It doesn’t really look like a trail continues, in fact there is a sign saying “no trespassing” that really is intended for the railroad side of things. There are trail signs and such further.

Lehigh Canal at Lock 9

You would never know we were following a canal at first, or that Lock #9 from the canal’s lower division was just into the weeds to the left of the trail as we walked by. I couldn’t see any of it.
We continued ahead, and it started to open up around the towpath again to where we could see the lovely watered section of the old canal.
We continued ahead as the prism of the canal got to about basin width, and then reached Lock #10. The lock was in pretty good shape with no collapse to the walls. There was a foot bridge over the top of the lock, which led to where the lock house used to stand, and to a cellar built into the hillside that can be entered.

Cellar hole at Lock 10

The sun was slowly going down, which shone a good light over the canal. I came back across the bridge after checking out the cellar hole, and we continued along the canal down stream.
The next section remained watered and quite wide. It was basically basin width this entire section until we got to Lock #11. The sun was going down by the time we got there, and it shone beautifully on the watered canal.
We passed the lock and continued down stream along more watered canal. We then passed beneath the former CNJ tracks, and continued up to an abandoned bit of road.

Lock 10

The concrete highway is probably the previous alignment of Rt 248 before they made it larger. The canal was still watered and below it to the left, but the towpath itself was impassable. It was getting dark, so the old road through some sort of industrial site was much easier for walking.
We continued out along this to the entrance road, crossed beneath the double PA Turnpike bridge again, and then continued into a grassy path to the towpath of the canal once more. The sun was almost down, and quite beautiful through this area. We pushed on to the last foot bridge over the guard lock, Lock #13. There actually is no Lock #12. Lock 13 at 12.5 feet life was designed to replace the original Locks 12 and 13 with lower lifts.

Lehigh Canal above Lock #11.

There’s a swath of land parallel with the concrete highway bit that I think might have been the location of Lock #12, but I’m not really sure. I haven’t gotten down to look at the site.

Old highway

We next dashed quickly across Rt 248 to head over to Riverwalck Saloon on the other side, in Parryville. The saloon is a really nice place with outdoor seating right where the Pohopoco Creek flows into the Lehigh coming from Beltzville Lake.

Canal reflections

Riverwalck occupies the site of a historic iron furnace that was in service during canal days.
The inside of the place was pretty interesting, with dollars wallpapering all of the walls.
We stayed here for a while and ordered some dinner. It was really a nice break, although it meant that the remainder of the hike was going to be in the dark.

Photo from Barry and Brad Haupt Collection; Carbon Iron WOrks

When it came time to leave, we had no trouble crossing back over Rt 248. We turned to the left and continued on the former Jersey Central railroad over the bridge over the Pohopoco Creek. It looks nothing like what once was at the site.
The tracks were really the only good way to go about walking for a while there. Rt 248 was too busy above. The towpath apparently exists below the tracks heading down stream, but we couldn’t see it.
Soon, we came to where Rt 248 crosses the tracks. This is the former site of Dam #2 across the Lehigh, which is still somewhat intact on the far side, but breached, and Guard Lock #2. The guard lock is buried under the highway bridge over the tracks.
Beyond this point, the Lehigh Canal was built two times. First, it followed the river closely. This was probably destroyed during the flood of 1862 like the Upper Division, and then it was moved further inland and Rt 248 occupies the site.

Lock 13

We went a little bit further beyond the underpass, and then there was a yard above the tracks to the left. Neither of the canal routes were really attractive to us at this point, so we headed up through the yard and out to Mauch Chunk Road.
It went up and down hill a little bit, but it wasn’t too bad. We walked on into the town of Palmerton, and there was barely anyone around. It was quite late. After 10 pm by this time. Jillane saw an abandoned house she wanted to go in, but at this point I did want to get finished too.

Riverwalck Saloon

When Franklin Avenue continued up slope, we continued down along Mauch Chunk Road beneath the former Chestnut Ridge Railroad bridge, and then under Delaware Avenue.
The road changed names to Red Hill Drive on google maps. I had walked this a bit before, and the tracks, but the tracks were down lower at this point and we needed to get up to the old Lehigh and New England if we wanted to get to the cars quickest. I’d done this starting in 2001 with Rich Pace. It was epretty easy to walk right on through, and the access from the property on the Aquashicola Creek was easy.

Lehigh Canal towpath

We continued to where the homes ended, and it was just a vacant road. Kind of creepy even. As we got toward where it enters the Horshead Corporation I think it is, there were tractor trailers standing there idling. We walked by them, and then were stopped in our tracks.
There were now fences across the road. The trucks were sitting there idling, waiting to get in whenever they open the gates up, probably the morning. Even then, we probably couldn’t sneak through. I had to come up with a different way around. I’d been through the area enough, but it had been a decade now.
We headed back the way we came to the first opening out to Rt 248. We headed down to the former Jersey Central tracks and used it’s bridge to get us across the Aquashicola Creek. Then, we headed down the right side to pass beneath the bridge, then to head back up the other side beyond the fence.
This was not as easy as I was planning. The weeds were thick. There was a ton of Japanese Knotweed. This wasn’t going to work the way I wanted. We could have followed the tracks and then just gone up, but that was a lot further. We couldn’t walk direct back up to 248 here, so we had to head back a bit, then climb up to 248 and walk back over the Aquashicola there.
We tried to go down into the woods from the edge of that, but the weeds were too thick there as well. When I’d done this in the past, it was totally clear and easy to pass through. Now, with all of the vegetation, there was no getting over the rocks safely. I ended up climbing back up. There was tons of poison ivy I pushed through, and if Jillane got it, she’d have it bad there. I didn’t want to chance it.
We instead headed up the road just a bit, and then started climbing directly up along the rocks. There was a chain link fence, but it ended just a bit up there. We could get up beyond it. We had to be careful because it was a lot of loose rock, but we got on through.
I watched the aerials on my phone for when we got to the spur of the Lehigh and New England, which once connected with the Chestnut Ridge Railroad. I was actually on it before I realized I was on it. It was purged at some point to allow for an access down to the creek and the bridge we had intended to use, and we ended up on that first. We walked ahead a bit, and at first I couldn’t tell if it was actually the rail grade.
They had added some sort of large barrier to keep rocks from falling down into the highway below, so we walked along a lot of that. It ended up getting pretty wet back there, where the springs flowed down. At some point, Winter Trail joins the railroad bed, but I did not notice the spot. It’s used as an alternate to the Appalachian Trail when there’s too much ice to go up the rough and rocky normal route.
That used to be really exposed at the lower end as well, but I believe even that has grown in with trees now.
We continued on the rail bed, and it started to get quite a lot easier. By the time we got to the east end of the old trestle site, it was totally clear walking.
We managed to get back to the cars without having any tickets or towings. It was well after midnight, but overall a pretty good hike. I was happy we had done it, though I wish we would have been through the Lehigh Gap stuff there earlier. I will have to go back and have closer looks at it in the future and maybe do some more exploring.