A Couple Of Memorial Day Weekend Hikes On The Greater Hazleton Rails To Trails

Memorial Day was always one of my  favorite holidays as a child. It was celebrated on the  30th of May when I was young. My birthday was on June 1.    Everything was green and alive. School was  ending and the warm. long days of June and Summer were here. It was a magical time of year.   Memorial day meant  visiting the cemeteries, attending Memorial parades and celebrating my  birthday.  Wonderful memories I have from those years. This year it was  a cool  and rainy May But this   weekend  we finally saw some sunshine on Sunday morning.  My niece Kelly was having a picnic in the afternoon so I decided to stay close to home and take advantage of the sunshine  hiking  on our local Rails to Trails. As I  usually do, I  began my 5 1/2 mile  hike on the eastern end of the trail near the small town of Hazle Brook.

I arrived early at the trail  and the brilliant May sun filtered  through the lush new green leaves on the mostly oak and maple tree woodland at the  start of the trail. It was a beautiful  morning.  The parking area was empty so I knew I’d have the trail to myself.

As soon as I left my Jeep the sound of  bird songs  echoed down from the tree tops. I heard,  to name a few, ,   ovenbirds, American restarts, red-eyed vireos. eastern towhees, and even a Blackburnian warbler.  I usually see these birds in older and more remote forests. The stay high in the treetops and are usually only seen near the ground during migration. And they do migrate all the way to the forest of South America. I saw   it’s bright orange plumage in the green leaves but it was too high to get a good photo.  I continued on the trail and near an abandoned mine pond I was able to photograph a few of the birds on the smaller trees around the pond  including this red-eyed vireo,

this female American redstart,

this gray catbird,

and this colorful scarlet tanager.

I walked  past a utility right of way.    I often hiked utility lines  when I was younger  to explore our woodlands here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.  I continued on my hike along the well maintained trail.  The Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails follows the abandoned Delaware, Susquehanna & Schuylkill, the D S &S  a spur railroad, built  by the Coxe Brothers  in  1891 to complete with the Lehigh Valley Railroad.  If you hit the link I provide you will see a video with some more history and photos from another part of this historic railroad.

I saw  yellow star flowers,

wild strawberries ,and

Philadelphia fleabane blooming along the trail.

There were also clusters of these mushrooms growing  in the leaf litter under the oak trees. I believe they are oak collybia.

The trail continues through this mature woodland and then, after about a 3/4   mile comes to the border of an abandoned anthracite strip mining area. Here, along the border of the old strip mines and the older woodlands many pitch pines grow.

I love these native pine trees  that were common in the woods were I grew up.

They don’t lose their needles in the Fall like deciduous trees but they do  sprout  new needles in the Spring.

Here I saw this pretty magnolia warbler in the pine trees,

and another one of the many ovenbirds I would hear and see along the trail.

A freshwater spring runs along this section of the trail, Native trout live here and  native pink azaleas were blooming along the stream.

The trail  passes through a small culvert under a haul road for a nearby still active anthracite coal mining operation and continues through a large reclamation area.   Once  coal was first mined here in deep underground mines. Later the coal was removed in  large strip mines. These strip mines were filled in and the land reclaimed.  

White birch , white pine, aspen, alder, locust and many other species of trees now grow in the reclamation area.

The bristly  locust and

 black locust trees  were   in full bloom.

These  young trees are becoming a great habitat for migratory birds. However I only  saw this brown thrasher perched on a tree top singing in the morning sunshine,

and this turkey vulture soaring overhead.

The trail continues through the reclamation area and comes to a bridge crossing the still active railroad right of way.

This railroad has been  for almost 200 years. My great-grandparents and grandparents would have travled under the older previous  bridge when they arrrived in  the Hazleton area from Poland, Slovakia and the Ukraine.  There is a lot of history on this trail and you can search my pervious blogs for more information on the trail and the anthracite  mining history using the search tool.

After crossing the bridge the trail continues through an abandoned stip mine area. It’s more difficult to see the strip mines and slag hills in the Summer with the leaves on the trees,  but hiking  on ther trail in the Winter months reveals what strip mining did to the once unspoiled woodlands in the anthracite coal region.

A little further on the trail one of the strip mines filled with water creating a small lake along the trail. There is a bench here to allow hikers enjoy this scenic man made lake.

After passing through another older woodlands, the trail comes to the now  abandoned Beryllium/Ashmore Road. This road once led to the Ashmore Yards, a large railroad facility for the Lehigh Valley railroad and later to  a beryllium processing plant.  The trail follows the abandoned road a short distance before returning to the  old D S & S railroad right of way.

Here I saw a few more migraroty birds, the first was this beautiful male red breasted grosbeak that  just flew to the branch of a tree over my head and started singing.  It’s like he wanted to sing for me.

I also saw this pine warbler singing in  a nearby tree.

The trail cnext  took me past the pine and heath barrens.

Pine and heath barrens in Pennsylvania are natural habitats of low growing shrubs including blueberris, huckleberries, and sheep laurel with stunted fire adaptd trees including pitch pines and scub oaks.  These barrens are often found on ridgetops.

 The trail continued through a more mature pitch pine and oak woodland.

Here I found many  of our State Flowers,  mountian laurel,  just about to bloom.

 I had hiked  over 2 1/2 miles when I came to another utility right of way.  I had hiked this right of way down to the Pennrose reseervoir many times over the years.

In the trees near the right of way I found another concentration of migratory song birds including, prairie warblers,

 a chestnut sided warbler,

a  black throated blue warblers,

 a common yellowthroat, 

a eastern towhee,

and a pair of brown headed cowbirds. I was really surprised with all of the song birds I was hearing and seeing on my hike.

In addition to the birds I also saw some of my favorite Spring flowers, lady slipper orchids, or, as my dad called them duck flowers.  My dad would take us into the woodlands near our home to look for this beautiful native flowers.

I wish I could have walked more, but I had  to get  back to my niece  Kelly’s picnic ( there would be hardshell crabs) so I began my hike back to my Jeep.

I saw a few folks on my return hike, some on bikes, some walking their dogs and others jogging. Clouds formed in the skies as the sun warmed up the cool air.

It was now after 11 a.m. and the woodlands were much more quiet. Birds really are active in the early morning and most rest during mid day.

I did see one new bird this eastern wood peewee.

I finished my five mile hike under the now gray skies that  contrasted with the lush green leaves on the trees. I had a nice afternoon with family at my nieces house.  My great nephews and nieces are absolutely wonderful,  a  tribute to their great parents.

I was up early the next morning.  However, I wasn’t able to get an early start on my hiking. It was Memorial Day and, as I have   for the past 35 years, I was going to participate in the West Hazleton Memorial Day Parade which began at 9 a.m.  I did take a walk through my neighborhood  where I observed a Memorial Day service at the Green Ridge Honor Roll. The Honor  Roll was moved to a new location this year  but I watched this moving tribute to our local  young men who  made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom.

I returned home and participated in the  Memorial Day parade and services.  It was another moving tribute  the fallen soldiers. I have participated in the parade since I was Mayor of West Hazleton 35 years ago. After the service I drove home and changed. It was already 10:30 a.m. and I decided to return to the Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails.  It was a mostly sunny morning when I arrived at the east side parking lot. This time there it was filled with cars. I wouldn’t be hiking alone on this  visit. I was only going to hike 3 miles this time and, since it was later I wasn’t expecting to see  much bird activity.

I was surprised.  The lush green canopy of leaves was again filled with bird song. I saw and heard many of the birds I observed on my hike on Sunday. I wasn’t going to try and take photos again, it takes time. On Sunday my five mile hike took five miles. So I looked for new birds, and only took a few photos of the ones I didn’t photograph the day before. The first was this field sparrow,

and then this American robin.

I walked through the more mature woodlands at the start of the trail  meeting a few couples walking their dogs. It was a beautiful late morning with fair weather cumulus clouds forming in the deep blue skies.

I walked into the mine reclamation areas of the trail and here I saw a beautiful indigo bunting,

an American goldfinch ,

and  the brown thrasher I saw the day before It is a beautiful bird so I took another photo.

Near the bridge over the railroad tracks I saw this black and white warbler.  I love seeing these long distance migrants. I have seen them in the rain forests of Central America and along the shores of St. James Bay in Canada.

Near the abandoned strip mine “lake” I saw this scarlet tanager perched on a branch above the trail, singing loudly, and almost asking to get it’s picture taken. So I did. They are beautiful birds.   Here is a link to a gallery with some more photos of the  many birds I saw on my Memorial Weekend  hikes on trail. Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails birds May 25-26  2025.

I walked out to the old Ashmore and Beryllium road again  before turning back. On my return hike I  met a few more folks on the trail and engaged  in some pleasant conversations.  I finished my 3 1/2 mile hike on the trail. I didn’t see and deer or bear but I was satisfied with the many differnt species of birds I saw on the trail. It seems every Spring  there are more species of migratory birds along the trail. In addition to a great nature hike, with so much history I believe the trail will become a great birding destination in Northeastern Pennsylvania. It was a wonderful asset for our town and I encourage folks to see for themselves and take a hike.  Here is a link to a gallery with some more photos  from  my Memorial Weekend  hikes on trail. Greater Hazleton Rails to Trails  May 25-26  2025.

“One day, you could go across this entire country … on flat, wide, off-road paths. I want rail-trails to be ‘America’s Main Street.’”—David Burwell,