Yesterday it poured nearly all day. The sun finally appeared around 5:30pm, while we were sitting in Angie’s Pizza enjoying our “pizzaroni.” Fortunately, the clear weather held overnight, and today dawned sunny and warm, just perfect for a ride. Rich and I decided to try riding part of the old Wilkes-Barre & Eastern railroad bed going north from State Gamelands #135 in Clinton Township up to where the huge steel trestle used to cross Panther Creek—just past the feature hilariously labeled “Boar Hole” (instead of “Bore Hole”) on the topo map.

We got turned back about halfway by an impassable section of mud and water-filled ruts made by 4x4s. It used to be a really pleasant ride of about 16 miles there and back, and then you could ride south into the gamelands for a few more miles. It’s wet and mucky just about everywhere now.

See The Foundations of the Panther Creek Viaduct, Pa., U.S. (source: Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Volume 118, 1894) for more information about the viaduct.