four activist Irish coal miners accused of
murder were hanged in 1877 is reputed to
be haunted; nighttime walking ghost tours
of the town prominently feature this stop.
With parking scarce due to the festival,
I unloaded my bike about a mile from
the Lehigh Gorge trailhead and admired
the funky quirkiness of JimThorpe as I
coasted downhill through town. Built
along a mountainside, seemingly no two
buildings are at the same elevation. Among
the residences and museums are book-
stores, antique shops and eateries, as well
as businesses that cater to outdoor enthu-
siasts. Nikki Hurley of Pocono Biking, one
of two bike rental shops within a hundred
paces of the town square, says the shop
sees increasing numbers of riders on the
trail each year, something she attributes in
part to the rail-with-trail’s dramatic scen-
ery. “We rent bicycles and provide shuttle
services, but our product really is a pictur-
esque, enjoyable historic ride on the trail
with family and friends.”
Near the town square is a visitors
center that was once the town’s railroad
depot. Tracks running beside it carry the
trains of the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railway,
which has been voted—and this becomes
a running theme around JimThorpe—the
Best Scenic Railroad in the United States.
The railway has several seasonal sightsee-
ing options, but I was most interested in
taking the bike train, an hour-long trip to
White Haven, the northern terminus of
the trail, followed by a 26-mile bike ride
back to JimThorpe.
While the White Haven-to-JimThorpe
route is nominally downhill, regular riders
of rail-trails will recognize that that means
it’s nearly flat. The grade is so slight that
the flow of the nearby Lehigh River is the
only reliable indicator of which way the
trail slopes. The minimal grade combined
with the crushed gravel surface robs riders
of momentum, so coasting isn’t an option.
I managed around 12 mph downhill and
about 10 mph when I turned around and
tested my speed uphill. The Lehigh Gorge
Trail is immaculately maintained, so tack-
ling it with a road bike is doable in good
weather but, as with any crushed gravel
trail, not really advisable after heavy rain or
snowstorms.
With the Appalachians surrounding
the trail, the scenic beauty of the Lehigh
Gorge is everywhere you look. The Lehigh
River, full of whitewater adventurers dur-
ing warmer months, varies between a
placid burble and turbulence sufficient to
drown out the hum of your rolling tires.
The trail twists and turns enough that it’s
easy to lose sight of other trail users on all
but the busiest days and feel that you have
the place to yourself.
It was a bit outside of the access point
at Rockport that I met Amie Cornelius,
her mother and two uncles making a one-
way trip down to JimThorpe. Her uncle
Ed Bolish is a local and says the trail is “a
great way to introduce this scenic area to
others—especially my family.”
With just four family members along
for this particular ride, it was one of the
smaller groups Bolish has led. “Only this
past summer we had a group of 11 family
members plus my niece pulling her 2-year-
old son in a caboose.”
For the first 16 miles out of White
Haven, freight trains can be spotted on
the other side of the river, but at Penn
Haven Junction, the tracks cross over an
iron trestle to join you on the trail side of
the river. Here, trail users have to navigate
an at-grade crossing, but good sightlines
and a complete lack of urban noise pollu-
tion mean that trains aren’t going to sneak
up on you. As you ride the final 8 miles
to JimThorpe, a twin set of tracks slowly
rise up along an embankment of rough-
hewn stones until they tower some 18 feet
overhead.
Picnic tables found here and there
along the trail make for great places to
rest and recharge, but you’ll need to bring
along—and pack out—your own food
and drinks.
Just outside of JimThorpe is Glen
Onoko, an area full of hiking opportuni-
ties and the picturesque Glen Onoko Falls,
cascading some 900 feet down Broad
Mountain. The falls require a two-hour
hike to reach and are not visible from the
trail, but what is readily accessible turned
out to be my favorite sight here: the Turn
Hole Tunnel. Cutting 500 feet through a
mountainside, this long-abandoned rail-
way tunnel looks like a cave entrance from
the outside, having been nearly sealed on
one end by rock falls—but the railroad ties
still in place inside make clear what it once
was. The other end of the tunnel opens to
the mountainside and has a safety railing
to keep visitors from plummeting 50 feet
into the river below.
Rolling back into JimThorpe, a bit
saddle sore and mighty hungry, I stopped
at Molly Maguires Pub & Steakhouse—
named for an Irish miner rebellion of the
late 1870s—for a burger. I enjoyed listen-
ing to some live music at the Broadway
Grille & Pub adjacent to the Inn at Jim
Thorpe before calling it a day and resting
my weary bones.
My first glimpse of JimThorpe took
my breath away, and getting to know the
town and trail better over a couple of days
only strengthened that first impression.
JimThorpe and the Lehigh Gorge Trail
truly deserve every accolade they get.
Born and raised in Colorado, Scott Stark
enjoys the great outdoors and the wealth
of trail options near his home outside of
Washington, D.C.
Danielle Marks
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