D&L Trail - Cementon to Lehigh Gap, & the Slatington Heritage Trail (Northampton and Lehigh Counties) - Day Trip

 July 31, 2023

Cyclists see considerably more of this beautiful world than any other class of citizens. A good bicycle, well applied, will cure most ills this flesh is heir to. 

– Dr. K.K. Doty

Monday, July 31 was the start of some cooler weather here in Pennsylvania and we were determined to take advantage of it, so we got up early, packed a lunch and loaded up the bikes to ride another portion of 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. We've been riding portions of the trail since 2019, slowly working our way south. So far we've covered the trail from White Haven in the north down to the Lehigh Gap Nature Center, a total of 47 miles one way. Only 118 more miles until we complete the trail! We rode another portion of the trail earlier this year. Take a look at the April 10, 2023 post to read about the section from the Lehigh Gap to Jim Thorpe.

On this trip we started at the trailhead in Cementon, Pennsylvania. Cementon is a small hamlet near Allentown. We had planned to start our ride at the North Catasaqua trail, further south, but the trail crosses over the Lehigh River at Cementon on a bridge, and the bridge was under construction. We'll have to go back and ride that portion of the trail after the bridge work is completed.

The trail heading north was heavily shaded and cool with views on the right of the river through the trees. Our first interesting stop along the way was at the Three Mile Dam, also called Treichler's Dam, or Dam #4. The dam made a three mile pool deep enough for canal boats to float down the river and also to divert water into the canal at the locks. It was a crib dam, made of wood timbers and filled with rocks, stones and silt. A layer of concrete was later added to the top to stabilize it, but in 1980s the dam was breached by an ice flow and was never repaired.

D&L Trail

Three Mile/Treichler's Dam

Three Mile/Treichler's Dam

View downstream from the top of the dam	View back toward the trail
Some of the damaged cribbing

We continued north on the trail past a stream flowing down a gap in the forest, past the ruins of an old building and stopped to take a photo of an amusing sculpture.

Trailside view	Building ruins
Amusing sight along the trail

Our next stop was at the Lehigh Gap Nature Center. The grounds of the center is said to be the only Superfund site in the U.S. to be converted into an environmental education center. Located at the foot of the Kittatiny Ridge, the Center includes the Osprey House visitor center, a 756 acre wildlife refuge with approximately 13 miles of trails, including a portion of the Appalachian Trail. It also has a wildflower garden which wasn't in bloom the last time we visited. The garden spanned both sides of the trail and we only explored one side during this visit. We definitely want to return to the LGNC again sometime to explore some of the trails.

Lehigh Gap Nature Center

After enjoying the wildflowers we turned around and headed back south to the Slatington trailhead where we stopped to have some lunch. The trailhead had nice restrooms and a pavilion with picnic tables next to it. There is also the "Diggity Dogs & More" food truck parked there. The menu items looked good, but we had brought our own lunch.

After eating our lunch we drove a little further back south on the trail to the intersection with the Slate Heritage Trail. The 3.3 mile trail uses the right-of-way from the former Lehigh Valley Railroad. We passed ruins of an old hotel alongside a stream and crossed over 4 bridges including the Trout Run Covered Bridge on our way to the trail's end in Washington Township. We almost had the trail to ourselves and it was very quiet and peaceful riding out and back.

Slate Heritage Trail Sign Hotel Ruins View from the covered bridge Trout Run

View from the trail Trout Run Covered Bridge View from the covered bridge View from the trail

After rejoining the D&L Trail we made a couple of other stops on our way back to Cementon.

View of the Lehigh from the trail View from the trail

View from the trail D&L Trailside Kindness Garden

We had a great time riding the trails for a total of 27.03 miles. The weather was perfect. The trails were mostly level, making for an easy ride. We're already looking forward to our next ride on the D&L sometime in the future.

Wildflowers from the Trail and Nature Center Wildflower Garden

Northern Bush Honeysuckle Fleabane   Waxberry Beebalm

Brown Eyed Susan Wild Carrot   Phlox Golden Aster

Trumpet Honeysuckle

Rattlesnake Master

Butterfly Bush

Tick-Trefoil

Soapwort

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