Biking the Lehigh River Gorge

Hi Blog! Today we biked in the Lehigh Gorge State Park. The 6,107 acre park follows the Lehigh River from Francis E. Walter Dam in the north to Jim Thorpe in the south. We planned to bike a 10 mile stretch of the abandoned rail trail from White Haven to Buttermilk Falls, just north of Rockport. Here is Dave at the start of our adventure. Railroad buffs journey to White Haven to see the restored, 29-ton, yellow, Union Pacific caboose that sits along the trail where it coincides with Main Street.  The caboose houses railroad memorabilia.

White Haven was created in 1824 by industrialist Josiah White, an early pioneer in the advancement of anthracite coal for heating and manufacturing. He helped establish Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company, which built a series of dams and canal locks along the Lehigh River. Twenty dams and 29 locks were built between what was then known as Mauch Chunk (now Jim Thorpe) and White Haven. We'll get to see a number of the old locks as we bike along the trail.

Here we are at the trailhead:

There is still an active railroad which operates in the gorge. Here we rode under a trestle that carries the rail line to the opposite bank of the river.

We soon left the hustle and bustle of White Haven behind. Our first views came at the old Lehigh Tannery site. Lehigh Tannery boasted the second largest tannery in the United States.  During the period it was active, hides were tanned primarily with tannins from hemlock bark.  The bark was stripped from hemlock trees logged throughout Pennsylvania and the Northeast.  There is not much left of the old tannery. It was destroyed by a forest fire in 1875.

Here is the view upstream from the Tannery Bridge. As you can see, fall has pretty much fell around here.

We soon came upon the bench in the photo below. It was facing uphill -- not toward the river gorge.  "What'cha looking at?" we wondered. We could only surmise that there was once a waterfall here. Perhaps it will be back in the spring.

The Lehigh Valley Railroad once crossed the river here. This railroad was one of several Class I railroads located in Northeastern United States built for the purpose of transporting anthracite coal. It was sometimes known as the Route of the Black Diamond, named after the coal it transported. All that is left are the old piers and abutments.



Next we stopped at a little bridge that crossed over Sandy Run. You can still see the old railroad supports.

We made a little side trip down to the Lehigh River to see Mud Run. On October 10, 1888, 66 people died in a train wreck known as the Mud Run Disaster. Two passenger trails collided. The full length of the lead engine telescoped into the rear car and drove it two thirds of its length into the next car; which was in turn pushed into the third. No-one survived in the rear car 'on all sides hung mangled bodies and limbs' whilst the second was described as 'crowded with maimed and bleeding bodies'. An attempt was made to withdraw the engine from the third car but brought 'such awful cries of distress that it was abandoned'. In all, 66 were killed and 50 injured; 37 of the dead were from the small village of Pleasant Valley (later renamed Avoca), Pennsylvania.  Many were teenage members of the Drum and Bugle Corps of the Aloysius Society. Here you can see where Mud Run comes into the Lehigh River under the railroad trestle.

Of the 29 locks on the upper section of the Lehigh Gorge, the stone foundations of some remain visible along the trail today.  Since we were poking about, we decided to take a closer look at Lock #22, which has been preserved and explained by historical markers.  The amazing thing about these locks is that they are all constructed without any mortar or cement.  The stones are just cut and stacked on top of each other.

We made it to our turnaround point - Buttermilk Falls.

We found a nearby picnic table and tucked into our turkey sandwiches. Here is Dave studying our map with the falls just over his shoulder.

Before mounting the bikes for the 10 mile ride back, we decided to poke around the river one last time.

We did stop a few time to check out a couple things we missed on the way out, but the ride back is always shorter.

This will be our last bike ride for the next few weeks.  As soon as we get back to Hatfield, the bikes are going in for a complete overhaul. Happy Trails!