Staff members and volunteers of the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor will lead two guided “Preview the Trail” bicycle rides on new portions of the D&L Trail in Lehigh and Carbon counties on National Trails Day, June 4.

The ride of Cementon to Slatington will follow Lehigh County's newest section of trail.

Both rides begin at 10 a.m. and end at the Slatington Trailhead adjacent to the Main Street Bridge in Slatington (see note about detour below). Participants can join a six-mile ride beginning at the East Penn Township boat launch in Carbon County, or a nine-mile ride beginning at the Cementon Trailhead off Route 329 in Cementon. The ride south from East Penn Township follows the Lehigh River through the scenic Lehigh Gap. The ride north from Cementon follows a beautiful, shaded section of the D&L Trail along the Lehigh River. Once in Slatington, riders will receive refreshments and have an opportunity to talk with D&L staff members about the trail and other D&L projects. Giveaways and trail information will be available. Mulegellan, the D&L mascot mule, will be available for photos.

The ride from East Penn to Slatington to will follow both new and well-known sections of trail.

National Trails Day is an annual celebration of America’s trail systems held the first Saturday in June. This year’s theme, “Made With All Natural Ingredients,” encourages people to get outside to experience, appreciate and celebrate natural places that offer beautiful scenery, peace of mind, and a venue where health can be improved through recreation. For more information, visit www.AmericanHiking.org.

For more information about the D&L’s National Trails Day bicycle rides, contact loretta@delawareandlehigh.org , or call 610-923-3548 x221.

**Detour: The Lehigh River bridge at the junction of PA 248 and 873 will be closed from May 23 through September 1. To reach the Slatington Trail Head on Main Street, travel south on PA 145, turn right on Main Street in Walnutport (at McDonalds), follow Main Street to Slatington and turn left just after you cross the Lehigh River (before the first traffic light).

Traveling west on PA 248 from Bath, turn left at the light in Berlinsville and follow that road to Walnutport. Go straight at the traffic light (McDonalds on far right corner) and follow Main Street to Slatington.  Turn left just after you cross the Lehigh River (before the first traffic light).

Written by Dean Hower, Northern Lehigh Chapter Coordinator, D& Trail Tenders

Fellow Trail Tenders, it’s time to get trail tending!

This month we will be working on the Cementon Trail head.  We will be clearing for a picnic table and clearing vegetation from the median strip.  Please feel free to come and leave at any time between the scheduled work times.  It’s best to park across the street (across Rt. 329, Main Street Cementon) because there are only a few parking spaces at the trail head.
Weather permitting, this is the work times and days for the month of May at the Cementon trail head:

• Wednesday 11th 5:00 PM- 8:00 PM

• Sunday 15th 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM

• Wednesday 18th 5:00 PM – 8:00 PM

• Saturday 21st 7:00 AM- 11:00 AM

As always, bring work gloves, wear work shoes and it’s best to wear long pants and long sleeves.

Tools we will need: picks (to dig out bush), loppers, leaf and ground rakes,  pointed ground shovels, bow saws.    I will have a lot of extra tools, but it would be good if each person would bring one or two of the tools on the list.

Feel free to call me with questions or to check if I canceled because of the weather at 610-462-0617. I will try to send out an email when ever I cancel and reminders closer to the work day.

I hope to see you at some of the work days.

Lehigh Valley Chapter

Coordinator: Beth Masiado (masiadb@slhn.org); 610-554-9111

April 6 – clear honeysuckle along D&L Trail west of Minsi Trail Bridge. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 9 a.m. Work ‘til 12 noon.

April 13 – clear honeysuckle along D&L Trail west of Minsi Trail Bridge. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 9 a.m. Work ‘til 12 noon.

April 16 – Sand Island Native Plant Preserve, 9 a.m. Install split-rail fence, put wood chips on preserve trail, clean up winter’s debris. SINPP native plant supervisor, Ilse Stoll, will direct the morning’s plant maintenance. Lots to do. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 8:45 a.m.

April 20 – work with Lehigh County adjudicated youth to clear honeysuckle along D&L Trail west of Minsi Trail Bridge. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 9 a.m. Work ‘til 12 noon.

April 27 – work with Lehigh County adjudicated youth to clear honeysuckle along D&L Trail west of Minsi Trail Bridge. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 9 a.m. Work ‘til 12 noon.

May 4 – clear honeysuckle along D&L Trail west of Minsi Trail Bridge. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 9 a.m. Work ‘til 12 noon.

May 7 – cleanup at Lock 43 east of the Minsi Trail Bridge

May 11 – clear honeysuckle along D&L Trail west of Minsi Trail Bridge. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 9 a.m. Work ‘til 12 noon.

May 18 – clear honeysuckle along D&L Trail west of Minsi Trail Bridge. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 9 a.m. Work ‘til 12 noon.

May 21 – cleanup at Lock 42; paint over graffiti under Philip Fahy Bridge

May 25 – clear honeysuckle along D&L Trail west of Minsi Trail Bridge. Meet at Sand Island tennis courts at 9 a.m. Work ‘til 12 noon.

June 4 – site to be determined

June 18 – site to be determined

Hugh Moore Park

Coordinator: Dennis Scholl (dennis@delawareandlehigh.org); 610-923-3548 x225

April 9 – chapter orientation, 10-11 a.m. Meet at main picnic pavilion in Hugh Moore Park

April 16 – large cleanup of pavilion and store areas, 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Meet at main picnic pavilion in Hugh Moore Park.

Carbon County

Coordinator: Doug Makofka (doug@makofka.org); (215)828-4974

April 23 – cleanup of Lock 6, 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Meet at Weissport Trailhead. Drive or bike to cleanup site.

May 28 – continue cleanup of Lock 6, begin Lock 5 if time available, 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Meet at Weissport Trailhead. Drive or bike to cleanup site.

June 25 –  cleanup of Lock 5, 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Meet at Weissport Trailhead. Drive or bike to cleanup site.

Northern Lehigh

Coordinator: Dean Hower (deanthebikeman@gmail.com); 610-462-0617

April 23 – Lock 25 grounds cleanup, 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Meet at the Walnutport Canal Association pavilion at 8:45 a.m. Drive to the lock.

April 30 – annual Walnutport Canal Cleanup. Meet at Walnutport Canal Pavilion at 8 a.m. for coffee and doughnuts, cleanup from 9 a.m. – 12 noon. Lunch served following cleanup.

May – dates will be announced for cleanup and landscaping work at the Cementon Trailhead off Route 329

Written by Silas Chamberlin

Those of you who frequent the Freemansburg section of the D&L Trail have probably noticed the new observation deck, constructed as part of Jonathan Yu’s Eagle Scout project. The new deck is located along the canal towpath and offers scenic views of the Lehigh River, as well as the remains of a historic structure in the river. These remains—what little is left of an old “bear trap” dam—are the subject of a new interpretive sign recently installed at the deck. The sign was designed and written by D&L Outreach Coordinator Dennis Scholl and installed as part of a November 20 Trail Tenders outing.

Jonathan’s observation deck and the new sign are nice additions to a section that will also see improvements to the trail surface in the next year or so.

A “bear trap” dam? For anyone unfamiliar with the term, the text of the sign is posted below.

Trail Tenders Jerry Weiner and Gary Ritter install the new sign.

The discovery of anthracite coal in the mountains of Carbon County in 1791 ignited a new age in American industry. Anthracite burned hot, long and clean and, by the 1820s, replaced charcoal and wood as the fuel of choice to heat homes and manufacture iron.

Transporting anthracite proved troublesome; adequate roads did not exist. The only suitable “highways” were rivers that tumbled swiftly from the mountainous mining regions to markets in and near Philadelphia. The worst river to navigate was the Lehigh. Attempts were made as early as 1806 to float box-like wooden rafts, called arks, through its treacherous, rocky currents. More coal wound up lost in the Lehigh’s cold water than in Philadelphia stoves and furnaces.

In 1818 two Philadelphia businessmen – Josiah White and Erskine Hazard – bought a large tract of land near Summit Hill and opened the Lehigh Coal Company. In 1819 they designed and constructed an ingenious system of twelve “bear trap” dams from Mauch Chunk to Easton. Remains of one of the dams are visible in the river below this observation deck built by Eagle Scout Jonathan Yu of Bethlehem Township.

White and Hazard’s bear trap dams were wing dams with a sluice gate in the middle that could be closed by raising and opened by lowering. When the gate was closed, river water backed up behind the dam and formed a temporary pond. Coal-filled arks eighteen feet wide and twenty-five feet long were linked together in a line upstream of the dam. When the pond was full, the sluice gate was lowered, creating an artificial “freshet,” or flood, that swept through the sluice opening and carried the arks downstream. The process was repeated at dams downriver until the arks finally reached the deeper, wider, Delaware River in Easton.

White and Hazard’s one-way bear trap system operated until 1826, when 31,280 tons of coal floated down the Lehigh River. In 1827, the two men began constructing the Lehigh Canal, a two-way transportation system that opened in 1829.