Lehigh Gorge Trail

On the trail near Jim Thorpe.

The Lehigh Gorge Trail is a 26-mile (42 km) multi-use rail trail that winds along the valley of the Lehigh River Gorge from White Haven, to Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. Much of the trail runs through the Lehigh Gorge State Park, and was originally developed into a railroad corridor after an extension of the Lehigh Canal was first built under the great push of Main Line of Public Works to connect the Delaware Valley to Pittsburgh.

Dating to 1837, the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company and its subsidiary Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad (LH&S RR) worked to tame the rough terrains of the gorge, initially for an northward extension of the Lehigh Canal, then for a railroad graded through passing the twists of the gorge after floods in the later-1840s wiped out the northward extension of the much older (lower) Lehigh Canal, extending down to the industries of Allentown and Philadelphia. LH&S became a holding company in the 1870s and to this day lease the trackage of this important rail corridor to several rail companies with track rights, including Canadian Pacific, Norfolk Southern and Reading Blue Mountain and Northern. Parts of the trail are rights of ways of the competing Lehigh Valley Railroad (LVRR), incorporated in the 1870s to bust the monopoly the LH&S had over transit between the Delaware Valley and Wilkes-Barre. Both rail systems were acquired during the Conrail mergers, with parts combined for today's Railbed.

The trail is located on the unused remnants, and today is part of the 165-mile (266 km) D & L Trail,^[1] which extends northwards along the other abandoned trackage beyond Mountain Top down into the Avoca and Moosic suburbs between Wilkes-Barre and Scranton.

Activities

The Lehigh Gorge Trail has a fine crushed stone surface suitable for hiking and cycling. The 25-mile (40 km) downhill grade from White Haven to Jim Thorpe makes the trail popular with cyclists who use various shuttle services from the Jim Thorpe area to reach the White Haven trail head, for an easy "downhill" pedal.^[2]

Trail access

The trail has three primary trailheads, the White Haven and Glen Onoko terminuses and a midway access point in Rockport.^[2] A recent 2.1 mile trail connection via the Nesquehoning Trestle between Glen Onoko and Jim Thorpe provides direct access to downtown Jim Thorpe.^[3]

History

The trail follows an abandoned railroad corridor along the Lehigh River. Prior to the railroad, the Lehigh Canal ran along much of the same route, and many of the original stone locks are still intact and visible from the trail.^[2]

External links

Official website

References

↑ "The D & L Trail". The Delaware & Lehigh National Heritage Corridor. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
1 2 3 "Lehigh George State Park". Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. February 22, 2011. Retrieved 2011-02-22.
↑ "Pedaling through history on the Delaware & Lehigh trail". The Sentinel. August 18, 2010. Retrieved 2011-02-22.

Rail trails in Pennsylvania

Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike Beaver River Chester Valley Conewago Recreation Trail Cumberland Valley D&L Trail East Coast Greenway Five Star Ghost Town Great Allegheny Passage Great Shamokin Greene River Indian Creek Valley Lackawanna River Heritage Lebanon Valley Lehigh Gorge Liberty Bell Lower Montour Ohio River Panhandle Pennypack Perkiomen Pine Creek Schuylkill River Stony Valley Struble Susquehanna Warrior Switchback Three Rivers Heritage Westmoreland Heritage West Penn York County Heritage Youghiogheny River

Protected areas of Pennsylvania

Federal

NPS National Historical Parks & National Historic Sites	Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS Edgar Allan Poe NHS Eisenhower NHS Friendship Hill NHS Gloria Dei (Old Swedes') Church NHS Hopewell Furnace NHS Independence NHP Steamtown NHS Valley Forge NHP

National Memorials	Benjamin Franklin Flight 93 Johnstown Flood Thaddeus Kosciuszko

National Battlefields and National Military Parks	Fort Necessity NB Gettysburg NMP

National Trails	Appalachian Trail

Other protected areas	Allegheny National Recreation Area Blue Marsh National Recreation Area Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area Lackawanna Heritage Valley National and State Heritage Area Middle Delaware National Scenic River Upper Delaware Scenic and Recreational River

National Forests	Allegheny

USFS National Historic Sites	Grey Towers

National Wildlife Refuges	Cherry Valley Erie John Heinz Ohio River Islands

State

State Parks	Allegheny Islands Archbald Pothole Bald Eagle Beltzville Bendigo Benjamin Rush Big Pocono Big Spring Black Moshannon Blue Knob Boyd Big Tree Buchanan's Birthplace Bucktail Caledonia Canoe Creek Chapman Cherry Springs Clear Creek Codorus Colonel Denning Colton Point Cook Forest Cowans Gap Delaware Canal Denton Hill Elk Erie Bluffs Evansburg Fort Washington Fowlers Hollow Frances Slocum French Creek Gifford Pinchot Gouldsboro Greenwood Furnace Hickory Run Hillman Hills Creek Hyner Run Hyner View Jacobsburg Jennings Joseph E. Ibberson Kettle Creek Keystone Kings Gap Kinzua Bridge Kooser Lackawanna Laurel Hill Laurel Mountain Laurel Ridge Laurel Summit Lehigh Gorge Leonard Harrison Linn Run Little Buffalo Little Pine Locust Lake Lyman Run Marsh Creek Maurice K. Goddard McCalls Dam McConnells Mill Memorial Lake Milton Mont Alto Moraine Mt. Pisgah Nescopeck Neshaminy Nockamixon Nolde Forest Norristown Farm Ohiopyle Oil Creek Ole Bull Parker Dam Patterson Penn-Roosevelt Pine Grove Furnace Poe Paddy Poe Valley Point Presque Isle Prince Gallitzin Promised Land Prompton Prouty Place Pymatuning R. B. Winter Raccoon Creek Ralph Stover Ravensburg Reeds Gap Ricketts Glen Ridley Creek Ryerson Station S. B. Elliott Salt Springs Samuel S. Lewis Sand Bridge Shawnee Shikellamy Sinnemahoning Sizerville Susquehanna Susquehannock Swatara Tobyhanna Trough Creek Tuscarora Tyler Upper Pine Bottom Varden Warriors Path Washington Crossing Whipple Dam White Clay Creek Worlds End Yellow Creek

State Forests	Bald Eagle Buchanan Clear Creek Cornplanter Delaware Elk Forbes Gallitzin Loyalsock Michaux Moshannon Pinchot Rothrock Sproul Susquehannock Tiadaghton Tioga Tuscarora Weiser William Penn (Wild areas)

Scenic Rivers	Bear Run French Creek Lehigh River LeTort Spring Run Lick Run Lower Brandywine Octoraro Creek Pine Creek Schuylkill River Stony Creek Tucquan Creek Tulpehocken Creek Yellow Breeches Creek

Other

Other	Anders Run Natural Area Forrest H. Duttlinger Natural Area Hawk Mountain Sanctuary Hoverter and Sholl Box Huckleberry Natural Area Johnson Run Natural Area Stone Valley Recreation Area Trexler Nature Preserve Wykoff Run Natural Area

Hiking trails	Appalachian Baker Black Forest Central Mountains Shared Use Darlington Eastern Continental Five Star Glacier Ridge Great Eastern Greene River Horse-Shoe Indian Creek Valley Loyalsock Mid State Standing Stone Mason-Dixon North Country Ohio River Old Loggers Path Pinchot Potomac Heritage Quehanna Rachel Carson Sheepskin Susquehannock Thunder Swamp Tuscarora Valley Forge Historical West Rim Wissahickon Youghiogheny River

Rail trails	Abandoned Pennsylvania Turnpike Beaver River East Coast Greenway Five Star Ghost Town Great Allegheny Passage Great Shamokin Path Greene River Indian Creek Valley Lebanon Valley Lehigh Gorge Liberty Bell Lower Montour Ohio River Palmer Bikeway Panhandle Perkiomen Pine Creek Plainfield Township Schuylkill River Sheepskin Struble Susquehanna Warrior Switchback Three Rivers Heritage York Country Heritage Youghiogheny River

Nature centers	List of nature centers in Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

Coordinates: 40°52′52″N 75°45′46″W / 40.8812°N 75.7629°W / 40.8812; -75.7629

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