Today's run wasn't totally remote, but it definitely wasn't a common running place either. The D&L from Cementon to Lehighton is well groomed and at least fairly well used. The section from Allentown to Easton is the same. I've never run on the section south of Easton, so I decided to run there. It was definitely a different experience from the other parts of the trail.
I knew directly below Easton, the trail had washed out during flooding. I figured that I could go a little farther south though and actually wouldn't be all that far from home. It took be about 20 minutes to get to the Theodore Roosevelt Recreation Area. This is an old lock house on the canal. There was only one other car in the parking lot when I began the run (late in the evening).
I wanted to run the trail south. I had driven by some of this section and I was wondering if it was even runnable. I thought some of it would be washed out and maybe overgrown. I was looking for more of a rocky nature trail type run than a typical smooth canal path.
The run started off with a lot of smooth running and fairly well maintained trail. Still, it was a far cry from the nice stone paths on the Lehigh River section. This Delaware River portion had high grass in between the doubletrack. Some of the doubletrack had stone, other parts were dirt and rocky. I cruised along and was enjoying myself. Every now and then there were views of the water.
The farther out I got, the rougher the terrain was. I suspected that I wouldn't be able to ride my bike through this section and that was definitely the case. There was still a path the whole way though. At times, it was a singletrack and occasionally it went by muddy sections.
I was enjoying the run so much largely because of the weather. It was a perfect, cool fall day. I could not have asked for better weather. This area is exposed to the sun, so it is probably brutal in the summer.
Somewhere around 1.5 miles was the section that I was most looking forward to. On the road, there is a clear view of the river, with a mountain on the other side of the road. The wall on the mountain side is made of stone. From the map, it appears that this would be the Kleinhans Creek Aqueduct.
I knew the canal was very narrow here. I was hoping this section would be passable. It was, but barely. At one point, I was running on a ledge and if I fell to the left, I would've fallen into the river. I could've fell the other direction and it would've been into high grass, so I just slanted myself in that direction. The view was definitely worth the trip and running in and out of this section was fun. I took my GoPro and got some pictures too.
After this section, the trail was back to being more of a normal canal towpath. There wasn't much going on. I had passed a guy walking his dog in the aqueduct section and another guy earlier, but few people use this section. Just what I like.
I ended up running behind a restuarant that was on the other side of the canal. The plan was to run out about 3 miles. I was hoping by then I could get to Riegelsville. I had to be careful because it was getting dark quickly.At around 3 miles, I arrived at Riegelsville. This is a cool small little town along the river. There was a neat bridge that ran overhead. I passed a restuarant that had tables outside right next to the path. That would've been an awesome place to get a drink if I had time. Maybe next time around.
I went out just past the bridge. There were some cool houses with their backyards right up against the canal on the other side of it. My side had a some houses with barking dogs. I didn't go far out and then I turned around. One of the dogs came to the edge of the yard and barked at me. I stopped running briefly and he went away.
I figured that I had to at least cross the bridge over the Delaware River. It was an awesome little bridge. I ran over and had a great view of the river on both sides. I saw a runner on the opposite side. When I got to New Jersey, I realized that there wasn't much over there. There wasn't a point to running there, so I turned around and headed back. By now, I was at about 3.5 miles. I figured 7 miles would be a perfect run.
I headed back as it got darker and darker. When I was back on the canal, I noticed the runner up ahead. He was the only runner (and one of the few people) that I saw the whole time. I was gradually catching him, but he was pretty far ahead. At one point he stopped and was walking. He turned around and saw me and began running again. He crossed the canal to the restuarant and I never did see him again.
I was happy that I made it to the difficult section before it was dark. That might've been tough to navigate in the dark. The only other interesting thing was the next section. I was nearly finished when a deer ran up the canal and onto the towpath in front of me. It didn't really have anywhere to go, so it ran on the path in front of me for some time. That was pretty cool, although it was getting so dark that I couldn't see it well. Eventually I guess it ran down to the river.
I arrived back at my car at 6.3 miles. I can't just stop there, I always have to get to the next mile. I was curious about the canal in the other direction, so I decided on a short out and back. This part was interesting because just north of the park, the towpath goes directly behind houses. It is like you are in people's backyards, except you can see the trail. There were some nice houses too.
I didn't go very far. I turned around at 6.7 miles. I finished up at mile 7 and it was getting very dark. It was perfect timing. This was an excellent run and exactly what I was hoping for. I will certainly be back there to run again and hopefully farther. It will probably be sooner rather than later too!
I ended up biking in the dark later on. I'm hoping to ride some tomorrow and I'd like to try to get in a run before I attend a cross country meet. I really do need to explore the AT not too far from my house sometime. If I have the time and energy to climb, I'll do that. This is supposed to be a taper week. Since I'm camping at a race over the weekend, my training will probably be slacking at the end of the week. I don't mind working hard now.
7 miles - 1:00:25 (8:38 pace)
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