Day Trip to D&L Trail - Lehigh Gap to Jim Thorpe, Lehigh & Carbon Counties, Pennsylvania

 April 10, 2023

With clear, sunny skies forecast for the day, we loaded up our bicycles and headed to the Lehigh Gap, north of Slatington, Pennsylvania for the trailhead to the D&L Trail. The Delaware & Lehigh National Corridor was established to preserve the historic pathway that was used to carry coal and iron from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia. The D&L Trail is a 165-mile long multi-use path stretching between Wilkes-Barre and Bristol, near Philadelphia. It passes through 5 counties and is nationally recognized for its scenic landscapes and waterways, picturesque towns and remnants of historic canals.

Buttermilk Falls in the Lehigh Gorge, September 2017

Our first ride on the trail was back in September 2017 through the Lehigh Gorge State Park portion of the trail. We started in White Haven and finishing in Rockport, a total of about 10 miles. It was our first long bike ride and we didn't want to push ourselves too hard our first time out. In July of last year we returned to the Gorge to ride from Jim Thorpe north to Rockport and back again for a roundtrip total of just under 31 miles. It was our 12th bike ride of the year and we clearly had a lot more stamina that time around!

Lehigh Gorge
July 2022

Bridge across the Lehigh at Jim Thorpe
July 2022

Jim Thorpe
July 2022

We have long wanted to continue our ride on the D&L, but because we hadn't been on our bikes since our last ride in January of this year, we decided not to push ourselves too hard. The round trip ride from the Lehigh Gap Nature Center in Slatington to Jim Thorpe and back again totaled 23.25 miles. It was a perfect day for riding, and the trail was in great condition. It wasn't overcrowded. In fact, we mostly had the trail to ourselves except for the section in Weissport where there were a lot of walkers and people fishing in the canal. 

The Lehigh Canal at Weissport

We didn't see a lot of wildlife, but we passed by the remnants of seven locks on our journey.

The most intact lock of the seven we passed on the trail, at Weissport

The trees were just beginning to bud, so we had great views of the Lehigh River on one side and the Lehigh Canal on the other.  

Another lock with the Lehigh
River on the other side

The trail north toward Jim Thorpe

We had a picnic lunch in the town square in Jim Thorpe before heading back to Slatington. We've been to Jim Thorpe a few times when it was bustling with tourists, but this time we were treated to a much quieter town and had the square to ourselves.

The trail & bridge leading into Jim Thorpe

Lehigh River, south of Jim Thorpe

Rafting on the Lehigh River

Trail (on the left) and the hills north of Slatington

Smith Falls, along the trail north 
of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center

After returning to the start of our ride we took a quick look at the Nature Center where we picked up a leaflet describing everything the Center had to offer. There are a lot of great hiking trails there, and the Appalachian Trail passes on the ridge above the center. We'll have to return again sometime to explore the trails. We're already looking forward to doing the next section of the bike trail and hope we can return sometime in the not-so-distant future.

Note: This section of this multi-use trail seemed to have even less of an uphill grade heading north toward Jim Thorpe than we experienced heading north from Jim Thorpe to Rockport. Either that or we were in much better shape than we thought! We give two thumbs up to the trail and recommend it to all ages and abilities. The D&L definitely ranks as one of our favorite trails to ride.

* All Photos are the property of the authors except where otherwise noted. *