RailTrailWxRailTrailWx
E-bikingBikingWalkingRunningHikingBirdingFishingCross-country skiingand more
The Ironton Rail Trail is a nine mile paved rail trail in Lehigh County, north of Allentown. It has two parts. A five mile loop circles Coplay and Hokendauqua, running south along the Lehigh River past the Saylor Park cement kilns and the old Thomas Iron Company grounds, then back along the edge of Whitehall. A four mile spur leaves the loop and follows Coplay Creek northwest through the 110 acre Whitehall Parkway, past the Troxell-Steckel House in Egypt, to the village of Ironton. The grade is rail flat, the trail is ten feet wide, and the loop lets you ride as far as you like without doubling back. Historical markers along the way tell the iron and cement story.
Ironton Rail Trail
Your comfort. Prognosticated.
-Cory
In a typical year the Ironton Rail Trail has about 115 to 159 days of excellent weather for popular activities such as hiking, dog walking, running, e-biking, birding, biking, and walking, with April, May, and October the best months.
Hourly comfort scores for the next 15 days of weather, tuned to your activity and your own thresholds.
Plan your visit to this trail. Get the best windows for a comfortable outing.
Enjoy the Ironton Rail Trail!
In half of past years, color along the Ironton Rail Trail peaks October 22 to November 10, typically around October 31. The trail has 20% deciduous coverage, with the majority being white ash, red maple, white oak, northern red oak, black cherry, and chestnut oak.
Iron ore was found around Ironton about 1800, and for half a century it left the valley on horse teams. Some went to Mauch Chunk to be traded for an equal weight of coal. In 1859 Tinsley Jeter laid out the village of Ironton in building lots, and the same year the Ironton Railroad was chartered to carry his ore to the river. Grading began at Ironton on August 2, 1859. The first train ran on May 24, 1860. The line hauled limonite ore from the Ironton mines down to the furnaces on the Lehigh, the Lehigh Valley Iron Company at Coplay, Thomas Iron at Hokendauqua, and Crane Iron at Catasauqua. On February 1, 1882, the Thomas Iron Company bought all of the railroad's stock. Cement plants then rose along the line, and the first shipment of Portland cement left in 1884. As the ore mines played out, cement, limestone, and coal became the traffic. The Reading and the Lehigh Valley took joint ownership in November 1923. Conrail absorbed the line in 1976 and abandoned the last of it in 1984. The rails came up in 1990. In 1996 Whitehall Township bought 9.2 miles of the right of way from Conrail for a greenway. Volunteers and the trail commissioners have kept it since, paving the loop and adding historical markers, a restored caboose, and native plantings.
Charles Nehf TrailD & L Trail: Lehigh Canal (South)
