Rails to Trails - Lehigh Gorge part 2
The trail in Lehigh Gorge is an easy one, wide and flat. That makes it great for my in-laws to be able to walk it.
My in-laws walk the trail, a former railroad route, through Lehigh Gorge
The trail's not built wide and level for the purpose of accesibility, though. Many years ago it was a railbed. And even before rail was brought through here around the 1830s, it was a tow path for barges traversing the Lehigh River as far back as the late 1700s. The gorge was an important route for transporting lumber and coal from the mountainous regions near Scranton, PA to the major industrial city of Philadelphia.
We spotted one of the signs of the area's railroad past just beyond Luke's Falls.
Forest overgrows the base of an old watering tower for steam locomotives
Being slowly eaten up by the forest was the remnant of this old watering tower. The stone walls nearly 18 inches thick show it was built to hold enormous weight. Notches in the roof show where the support beams would have been for a wooden tank overhead. The location near a side creek- the one that falls over Luke's Falls- allowed water to feed the raised tank from above so that no pumping was required.
My in-laws walk the trail, a former railroad route, through Lehigh Gorge
The trail's not built wide and level for the purpose of accesibility, though. Many years ago it was a railbed. And even before rail was brought through here around the 1830s, it was a tow path for barges traversing the Lehigh River as far back as the late 1700s. The gorge was an important route for transporting lumber and coal from the mountainous regions near Scranton, PA to the major industrial city of Philadelphia.
We spotted one of the signs of the area's railroad past just beyond Luke's Falls.
Forest overgrows the base of an old watering tower for steam locomotives
Being slowly eaten up by the forest was the remnant of this old watering tower. The stone walls nearly 18 inches thick show it was built to hold enormous weight. Notches in the roof show where the support beams would have been for a wooden tank overhead. The location near a side creek- the one that falls over Luke's Falls- allowed water to feed the raised tank from above so that no pumping was required.