Hike #1276; Morgan Hill/Easton to Riegelsville

Hike #1276; Morgan Hill/Easton to Riegelsville

11/27/19 Morgan Hill/Easton to Riegelsville with Shane Blische, David Goldberg, Kirk Rohn, Brittany Audrey, Mackenzie Wieder, Dan Asnis, and Celeste Fondaco Martin

This next hike would be another point to point, this time a sort of rehash of a couple of past night hikes we did, and put together in a sort of odd way.

Easton area from Morgan Hill

It’s a lot easier doing the multi use paths and suburban and urban areas on the Winter hikes, and so I am back in that gear fully again. The last night hike in Easton went so well that I figured another one back to back would be okay, because they’re different areas of it.

I had wanted to do some stuff on the Delaware Canal again as well, and it had been a few years since I had walked the bit between Easton and Riegelsville. The last time we did it, it was just Shane, Dan, and I.
We went for it again, but this time I took a part of another previous night hike, which started at my brothers house and went down the golf course at Morgan Hill, and tacked that onto the front of it.
It was kind of a funny thing; both Mackenzie and Kirk had only done one hike with me before, and it was on the night before Thanksgiving exactly one year prior, and on partially the same route we were doing this time!
The day started off very normal for me, and ended up being quite strange.
I had work as usual, and it was just Pirate John and I doing this and that around the park.
We decided to go out and do some chipping of brush and such, and I was just dragging brush toward the chipper when I started having a problem.
It wasn’t anything quite new; I’ve been getting explainable dizzy spells.
The first dizzy spell, something I’d never had before in my life, happened when my cousins Mandie and Tom were visiting from Idaho, and I was driving them down toward southern Hunterdon County. It wouldn't let up, and I had to pull over and have Tom drive.

Weyerbacher!

I tried to write it off as an isolated occurrence. I felt sick, and a headache and shakes followed it, but I didn’t want to cause any drama, so I played it off quickly.
The next time it happened, I was winterizing buildings at the Spruce Run beach complex. I had to sit and allow it to pass.
The third time, I was driving my van in Mansfield Townshp near the State Police barracks when it came on. It was the worst yet. I lost all control, had to pull over, and lay on the ground. That time I was honestly frightened. I didn’t know if it would stop or if I could get out of there, and I couldn’t get anyone to help me.
I made my way home, and it slowly got better, but it was very very bad.
Nothing happened for a while again until this day.
I feel it come on slowly, so it’s fortunate that I have the ability to pull over before having trouble. This time John was operating the chainsaw, and I hollered to him when I collapsed. I fell and hit my shin badly. I can still see when all of this happens, but everything spins like crazy.
I lifted my pant leg and saw a giant knob from where I’d hit it. This was no good.
I tried to keep going and chip the brush that I’d started with, but I was feeling very sick. I couldn’t throw up, and I couldn’t walk straight. A bad headache was coming on, as well as shaking.
When I thought it was about over with, after we returned to the shop, it started again.
It was getting so bad that I had to tell John I needed to get to a doctor right away.

At Weyerbacher

I went to Urgent Care and they tested my blood sugar, my blood pressure, checked my ears, checked cognitive skills.
Everything was normal except my short term memory, which anyone who knows me knows it’s crap since the fire and the brain damage I got from it.
I scheduled blood work to be done. I’m afraid I could be becoming diabetic like my grandfather, because he had something like that at times. It was getting better after arriving at the doctor’s office, so they couldn’t check statistics when it was happening.
They released me to go, and just as I was driving through Clinton, it hit me again. At this point I was getting really upset about it.
I figured it could have been my poor diet, so I got myself two slices of pizza loaded with vegetables with hopes that it would help with that a bit.
These episodes were a really big deal. I’ve been trying not to worry anyone about it so I haven’t been bringing it up, but at this point I had to let everyone know in case I had a problem and collapsed.

The hue in the sky from Easton bonfire

I was planning to go back in to work, but I ended up sitting in my car for a bit to just get rid of the bad feeling. When it started improving, I started slowly heading toward the hike meeting point in Riegelsville.
I of course arrived early, so I had a bunch of historic photos I wanted to make comparisons with, and I started working on that until the meeting time.
I went over to the boat launch area I’d chosen for meet spot, and much of the group was already there.
Celeste had mistakenly gone to the boat launch down in Frenchtown somehow, so she was going to try to meet us up near the starting point. John and Kirk were also meeting there.

Easton along the Lehigh Canal towpath

We piled into my van, and then started heading north toward Morgan Hill and my brother’s house. John was dropped off by his son, and Kirk parked in my brother yard as well.
We started walking right there, north on Morgan Hill Road.
I remembered doing this last year and saying we were never going to walk this stretch of road again because it sucked so bad, and here we were doing it again. There’s literally no shoulder in some areas, and it has a lot of traffic when most people get out of work.
We continued to the north until we came to the intersection with Moyers Lane and turned right.
Dan was already really behind at this point, but my plan was to get to the Weyerbacher Brewery before they closed at 7 pm, so I texted him where to go to catch us.

Lehigh Canal towpath and the Lehigh River

We continued slightly to the right through the golf course, and then went back to the left over Moyers Lane to follow the golf course to the north.
We continued along the paved path for a little bit, and then turned up hill across the green. We reached another bit of the paved paths, turned to the right, and then cut to the left again off of it and through more of the green up hill. We eventually reached the top most path, which we followed to the left a bit behind the club house building. we turned hard to the right after this and paralleled the netting for the driving range, and then sat there for a break while we waited for Dan to come toward us from the south, and Celeste join us from the west.
Things weren’t going quite as planned. Dan did finally catch us after having crossed the course, but Celeste was heading away form the intersection she needed to meet us at, down hill instead of up hill.

Dam 9 and outlet of Lehigh Canal in the past. Now view below.

We had to start heading down hill through the course, and so we turned onto the cart path after admiring the outstanding view of the lights down in Easton for a bit.

Forks and the Delaware and Lehigh, which used to be Dam #9 on the Lehigh Canal. View now.

I was looking over my phone trying to figure out a way for Celeste to intercept us. After all that driving it would suck to not meet up with us.
I realized her proximity to Congressional Drive, and that it would work, so I called her back and told her to head down that way. We would be coming out to that at the bottom of the hill.
We followed the cart path as it switched back to the right, and then climbed a slope slightly more. I cut off of the path to follow the contour of the land without more up hill, and then we cut down through a grassy swath between a line of trees to reach the next bit of cart path below. From there, there wasn’t really any more climbing.
We continued out to Congressional Drive where Celeste and Benny were waiting for us. We then turned right briefly on Congressional, and then left along the north side of Cedarville Road. This road took us past some businesses and out toward Morgan Hill Road where it crosses over Rt 78. We turned right and crossed it there.
There are crosswalks at this point, but there is no sidewalk, and no barriers like most bridges that have dedicated pedestrian lanes.
I directed Dan, who fell behind again, on how to catch up with us, just saying to meet us at Weyerbacher. Unfortunately, he decided to follow what Google Maps recommends to do to walk between these points...and that is something you NEVER do.
Google Maps often tells you to do very long out of the way routes on roads because there are no sidewalks. Its not that pedestrians aren’t allowed, it’s just what they deem to be “safer”.

Rt 78 bridge

We got to Weyerbacher at about 6:30, and they close at 7, so that worked out well.
I found out that Dan had taken the wrong way when he said it was going to be impossible to get to Weyerbacher in time. I told him wed already been there about twenty minutes at that time. I put it in on my google maps and saw exactly what he had done.

78 bridge

Dan decided to Urber to meet back up with us at the brewery.
When we were walking across the golf course, I felt another dizzy episode come on. It happened when we stopped by the driving ranges, but I didn’t really say anything about it. I’m really worried it might be a blood surgar, diabetic, or hypoglycemic thing. I drank a beer, and it seemed to go away a bit.
I had a glass of Finally Legal at the brewery, and felt a bit better afterwards.
I suppose what I’m dealing with could be some sort of virus or something, I’ve just never had anything like it before.
Celeste decided to cut out just before we got to the brewery and headed back to her car, but the rest of us continued on through the parking lot, and then out to the South Easton Cemetery. There was a good view from the top, and we could see an odd orange hue over the clouds because of the Easton high school bonfire going on.
We continued down hill to the northeast corner of the cemetery, and then walked north on Iron Street to Mauch Chunk Park. There is a paved trail through that which continues to the east to apartments between Canal and Center Streets. We stopped on the way at the playground where Brittany went down the slide. Shane went down dragging his feet, and Brittany criticized him for his poor sliding technique.
When we got into the apartment complex, we headed east to a spot where there were pedestrian sidewalks between sets of buildings in a sort of common green. We kept to the north side, and then cut out to Canal Street between two of the buildings.

Historic canal society image of the reconstruction of one of the locks.

We turned right on Canal Street briefly, and then there is an opening in the stone wall to the north side of the road, leading to the former Lehigh valley Railroad tracks on the other side. We dropped down through here, crossed the tracks, and then took to an opening to Hugh Moore Park, the site of a “change bridge” where the towpath switched sides of the canal, as does the modern trail, at Lock #47 on the Lehigh Canal.
We stopped here so I could share some of the history.
Lock #47 today is the last numbered lock on the downstream Lehigh Canal. The next two original locks were eliminated when the Lehigh Valley Railroad and its Easton and Northern line were created through this section. The original lock sites are under railroad fill.
Rather than two locks, they were combined into a single higher lock that was simply named the Outlet Lock.
Lock #47 was a double lock for opposing traffic, but only one of the locks has the upper drop gate and miter gate in place.
We turned to the right, and when I finished talking about Lehigh Canal history, Shane took over with some Lehigh Valley Railroad and Easton and Northern stuff. We passed by the vault for the Lehigh Canal, and I pointed out the depth of the adacent Outlet Lock.

Historic Dallin Aerial Survey photo of the Easton forks area, showing the Delaware Canal when in use, taken 8/16/1931

We continued along the towpath, which is beautiful in the section where boats were pulled in the slack water canalized Lehigh River. We eventually came to the Rt 611 bridge, which had some bright new lights. Kirk told us that those lights were only just installed this week

Forks of the Lehigh with the earlier dam seen from Phillipsburg

We continued around the other side, and soon came to the dam at the Lehigh River, which gave us excellent views to Easton and Phillipsburg. I explained that the dam was actually created for the canal and its lock connection to the Delaware Canal, originally Pennsylvania Canal Delaware Division. It’s designation was Dam #9.

Under 78

The Lehigh Canal basically took over the Delaware at some point when the state gave up on the canals.
I went over a bit more history, and I pointed out about where the outlet lock would have been to the Delaware River, where there was a wooden dam and boats could be ferried across and then carried into the Morris Canal arch and its Inclined Plane #11 West.
Dan had fallen behind again at this point, and I called him to see what was up. He had dropped his head phones, and he went back to look for them.
We couldn’t be waiting around there, so we continued down along the towpath to the south.

Delaware Canal south of Easton

This was a beautiful little stretch. It was also pretty warm out at this point. It was definitely too hot for the coat I had worn. Mackenzie showed me how to tie a jacket up like a skater or something I think she said it was, rather than the over the shoulder preppy thing.

Historic dredging image of the Delaware Canal in Easton at the trestles. Fred Walck is standing, and Clayton Dotter at the window.

We continued along the canal parallel with Rt 611, and some sort of cop car went by and put their buzzer horn on a bit again. They certainly saw us there, but didn’t end up coming back to intercept that I saw.
We hurried along, and soon the towpath and canal moved off away from the road slightly.

Delaware Canal nearing Riegelsville

We soon approached the Interstate 78 underpass, which looks particularly interesting at night. It’s modern V shaped piers and ambient light from above look almost abstract.

View of a gap in the mountains below Pinchers Point

We got some photos of that, and then continued to the south.
The canal and highway came back closer together at times, but it was never a problem with anyone else driving by.
I stopped off at one point to fix my backpack, and others got ahead of me quite a bit. Brittany and Mackenzie were ahead with Kirk, and I didn’t see them again for the rest of the hike.
We made our way through Raubsville, where Locks #22 and 23 were located. There was a lot of work that appeared to be going on in the area, but we couldn't see much of it in the dark.

North of Riegelsville

The lock at Raubsville, with it’s reconstruction, was a double lock, and had a lift of just over 17 feet, making it the highest lock on the entire Delaware Canal.
Through this area, there were a lot of little improvements. At one point, the canal was about half filled to the right of us, and the towpath was now a huge concrete sheet. This must have been a more recent washout that was repaired in this way.
It’s usually about this time I tell the story of when I visited the state park office at the time the “improvements” were made to the canal.
They had ground down the surface of it several inches and eliminated all of the tree roots, then filled over with a crushed stone aggregate. The removal of these roots undermined the towpath because they were holding it together and protecting it from washouts.

The canal coming into Riegelsville

The lady working the desk at the state park office told me they “had to” make the repairs because too many cyclists were complaining that the route was too bumpy.
This was in early 2004. I ran a hike on the canal between Uhlerstown and Easton that Summer, and the canal was destroyed by flooding that September.

The canal in Riegelsville

The state park after that denied that the improvements had anything to do with complaining cyclists, and also claimed that it had nothing to do with the canal washing out.
Remember, the canal survived the worse Flood of ‘55. I credit the tree root system with holding it all together, and they screwed it all up. And I even warned them ahead of time.

The canal in Riegelsville

The others got ahead of me again at some point when I was messing with my pack, and I walked alone for a bit of the time in to Riegelsville. I was concerned that some of the group would not know where to go, aside from Shane. Still, they figured it out without problem.

Roebling Riegelsville Bridge

I reached the rear of the Riegelsville Inn, where partying was still going on. Just past it, the foot bridge for the Highlands Trail crossed the canal.
I turned left and made my way to the Roebling Riegelsville Bridge over the Delaware River.
This bridge replaced the original covered bridge that washed away in the Pumkin Flood of 1903, built by John Roebling’s Sons Company, opened in 1904.
I turned right on the other side, and when the road turned hard to the left after the old railroad station site (which is planned to be rebuilt), I continued on the tracks over the Musconetcong River.
I could see police lights up the road a bit, and I figured it was someone in our group. I wasn’t too worried because no one that was driving had been drinking, but figured it could be somewhat problematic. Kirk called me to let me know what had been going on.

The group at the brewery

When I got to slope at the end of the bridge, Shane was standing there. We went out through the lot over to Dave’s car, and two cop cars came into the lot. They parked side by side to talk to one another, but never really approached us.

Historic Riegelsville NJ scene by the station

I put my pack into the back, and sort of just waited for them to come over to us. It was a sort of awkward moment, and then they never came over. They pulled out, and so did we.
Dan was another hour to the north of us at this point, and so we would go back to pick him up. I instructed him to use the next foot bridge over the canal to get across to where we could get him. We ended up picking him up in Raubsville.
Dave got me back to my car, and I dropped John off at his house to close out the day.
Fortunately I didn’t have any further incidents, and I scheduled blood work for Friday morning. Hopefully it’s nothing major, maybe just diet. Maybe I just need to walk more.

HAM