Description
If you feel like a stroll down the lazy river, then this is the trail for you. This peaceful trail follows the canal and Delaware River for almost its entire length. This trail offers a variety of path surfaces—wide paved asphalt, wide crushed stone and single-track packed dirt. And its meandering route through the trees makes it delightful. You'll likely see lots of geese and ducks, along with some canoes and kayaks, in the canal.
The 150-mile Delaware and Lehigh Canal Navigation System, built from 1817 to 1845, brought anthracite coal from the east central portion of Pennsylvania to various parts of the East Coast. With the building of the canal, several canal towns sprang up. There is interesting history along this trail: Easton hosted one of only three public readings of the Declaration of Independence, and during colonial times, the Liberty Bell rested secretly in Allentown. In the future, all 150 miles of the canal system, from Wilkes-Barre to Bristol, will be converted to trail.
Parking and Trail Access
To access the trail in Allentown, take U.S. 22 East and exit at Airport Road. Follow Airport Road south for about 2 miles, until it becomes Irving Street. Follow Irving Street 1.25 miles to Hanover Avenue. Go right on Hanover, which becomes Hamilton Street. Turn right onto Albert Street. At the stop sign, turn right, cross the railroad tracks, bear left and follow the canal through a small railroad underpass. Turn right at the fork then immediately left on the other side of the canal. Follow to a small parking area and entrance to the trail.
To access the trail from Easton, take U.S. 22 to the 25th Street South exit to Lehigh Drive, turn right and go 0.5 mile to the stop sign. Turn right and cross the old green Glendon Bridge. Then go right and follow the signs to the trailhead and picnic area.
Worth the ride
By
jpcvt135
in
May, 2013
I live in Allentown, just a few miles from the trailhead, and ride this trail often. It is a nice mix of surfaces and scenery, although sections of it can get washed out (and have downed trees across the path) after heavy storms. It's usually fixed/made ...
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The entire length and back
By
ccocco
in
June, 2012
The entire length and back is more like 30 miles as a previous reader stated, more like 15-16 one way. After a five hour ride I can attest to that one.
Two miles from Easton the trail leads onto a wooded stretch of mainly dirt/mud and rocks and then ...
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osborn2ride
By
laretha
in
April, 2012
First of all I did ride from Allentown to Easton and I can tell you it is more then 13 miles it is more like 16. This is a very nice ride, lots of shade and it is in very good shape with just a few areas that where not up to my high standards. I only ...
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