Summer is winding down and my schedule is about to get very busy due to football season, so adventure days will be limited for the next few months. That said, I was granted a beautiful and schedule-free Saturday yesterday, and I made the most of it by crossing a few more miles off the D&L Trail:
I parked my car at Canal Park in Allentown with the intent of riding the trail all the way east until I hit the Delaware River in Easton. Unlike most of my random adventures, there's a bit of backstory behind my location choice this time: Canal Park is, near as I can tell, the closest trail head south of Northampton, which is where the trail is cut off due to obstructions and the like. I've wanted to do the whole trail from Palmerton to the Delaware for some time, but until they decide to fix it, that's not possible. This'll do for now.
The D&L Trail, for those of you who are unaware, follows the remnants of the Lehigh Canal for a large portion of its length. The trails in this area are mostly old towpaths that were previously used by workers and/or horses to pull coal barges up and down the canal. Even though they're no longer used for that, they're still quite valuable for walkers, runners, and cyclists:
It's a little blurry because I didn't feel like stopping to take the picture. Case in point, this action shot too:
This area of the trail is an absolute joy to ride on even on my rigid commuter bike, because you can see how well it's been maintained. Even in areas where nature has been left to grow a little, it's still in pretty good shape:
This route was supposed to be easy - basically head east until you hit water! Ha...but there was another trail closure somewhere closer to Easton just after Hugh Moore Park, so I was forced to detour through the city. However, I spotted this neat little bike park before veering off to the left:
My 17-mile trek out eventually resulted in me reaching my destination. Of course, I rarely choose a destination without some sort of ulterior motive. In this case, it was yet another brewery (and one of my favorites beer-wise) that I've been wanting to visit for some time, Søle Artisan Ales:
I rode right past it due to the lack of signage. It's a beautiful old building, but honestly, not much to write home about other than that. The building itself sits very close to the Delaware River, and this cool old bridge to Philipsburg, NJ:
It's funny to see these signs when you haven't actually left PA before seeing them:
As for the place it self, the beer was great, as expected, but my experience wasn't all that great. They didn't appear to have a food menu, so I pulled out the sandwich I'd packed and started eating. A waitress came over and told me they don't allow outside food, and that they did offer snacks (listed on the reverse side of the menu - whoops). Snacks were croissants and soft pretzels - not really what I was looking for, but I was hungry from the ride so I had to eat something.
So, feeling a bit unsatisfied and also in a bit of a "When in Rome" kinda mood, I decided to make a small half mile detour to yet another brewery, Two Rivers Brewing:
I probably should have gone here first. They boast a full menu including vegan-friendly options, and their beer was more modestly priced (and they offer flights):
That was a good little detour. It also enabled me to find a better/faster way back to the trail by going through Wilson borough, which is notable as the former home of the Dixie Cup Factory:
You can sort of see the cup on top of the factory in the background. Anyway, I got back to the trail and experienced a hard-to-believe first on my trail rides, DEER!
I've seen plenty of deer in my life growing up in Northeast PA, but this is the first time that I can remember seeing one while riding my bike. Neat. She wasn't phased by me in the least.
Shortly after that, I got back into the most woodsy section of the trail, which was still in pretty great shape for riding:
I made one short stop for a water break on the ride home, ultimately resulting in an 18-mile trip back to the car. Overall I'd say this section of the trail is my favorite, other than that closure between Bethlehem and Easton. What's up with all these closures?
At any rate, the bike's finally gotten his break-in adventure post tune-up. Feels good, because I won't have many more days like these for a while...
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