Destination:
Pennsylvania
The Beautiful LehighGorge Trail
Story and photos By Scott Stark
JimThorpe isn’t the only award win-
ner in the area; it anchors the southern
end of the Lehigh Gorge Trail, a 26-mile
rail-with-trail through the Appalachians
that
Outside
magazine named one of
America’s 50 Sweetest Rides. “There are
bike trails, and then there are
bike trails
,”
says Amie Cornelius, who rides the trail
whenever she’s in the area visiting her
uncles. “It offers such a beautiful and
unique experience that you can’t help but
want to return again and again to experi-
ence it in a new way.”
Plenty of other users might agree with
this sentiment: The Lehigh Gorge Trail is
far and away the most viewed trail on the
entire
TrailLink.com
network and sports
a perfect five-star rating from users. It is
A
s I rounded a final corner and caught sight of the aptly
nicknamed “Switzerland of America,” nestled among the
Appalachian Mountains, I could tell that the town’s accolades
were no mere hype. Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania, has been deemed one
of the Top 50 Places to Live and Play, one of the Most Beautiful Small
Towns in America, a Top 100 Adventure Town and one of the
country’s Most Fun Small Towns in various publications,
including those sponsored by Rand McNally and
National
Geographic
. “Like driving into a postcard” is how one
promotional video describes the town.
part of the larger
D&L Trail (named
for the Delaware and
Lehigh rivers that it
parallels), the 165-mile
canal and rail route that
once carried anthracite coal
from mine to market.
On a beautiful fall weekend, I’d loaded
my bike onto the roof rack for a road trip
to see what makes this trail and town so
beloved. Plenty of places are named for a
notable person, but JimThorpe is one of
only a few in the country to have a first
name to go along with its last. This town
in east-central Pennsylvania was formed
in 1953 by the merger of Mauch Chunk
and East Mauch Chunk when they agreed
to host the remains of JimThorpe, the
legendary Native American Olympian
(and professional football, basketball and
baseball player) and build a monument to
him. Further honoring his legacy, the new
town adopted his name, too.
Over the next two decades, the two
dying coal towns were trans-
formed into what is today
considered the gateway to
the Poconos, a world-
class tourist destination
offering beautiful
scenery and access to
outdoor activities like
mountain and trail
biking, hiking, white-
water rafting and cross-
country skiing.
JimThorpe was in the
midst of its popular autumn har-
vest festival when I visited, and the Hallo-
weenie in me was delighted to see that the
town also embraces the harvest festival’s
spooky cousin; not only were Halloween
decorations abundant throughout town,
but overlooking the historic downtown is
the Harry Packer Mansion, the inspiration
for Disney World’s haunted mansion. And
if that’s not enough to spook anyone, the
historic jail at the end of town where
27
destination
rails
to
trails
u
fall.15
