As the title suggests, the central event of this weekend was the Tough Mudder race at Bear Creek Ski Center, just south of Allentown/Bethlehem in Pennsylvania. We wanted to take advantage of our presence in this neck of the woods and explore a bit. On our list were:
- Miller Trailer Sales in Perkasie (Friday)
- Lost River Cave in Hellertown (Friday)
- Slovak Cemetery in Bethlehem (Friday)
- Tough Mudder Race at Bear Creek (Saturday)
- Biking on the Lehigh Gorge Rail Trail (Sunday)
The drive was supposed to be slightly over three hours and with this kind of full plate we left Long Island on Friday just before lunch. The GPS trace of the entire weekend is right here:
Crossing the Verarzano Narrows bridge into New Jersey
Our first stop was the Miller Trailer Sales Dealership in Perkasie, PA. Weird, right? Why would we visit a trailer dealership. Well, some time our friend Andy sent me a link to a manufacturer of small, economical (and aerodynamic) trailers, called Little Guy. This concept appealed to us quite a bit (we wanted the R/T model), mostly because of the small size and low weight (and relatively low price). Also, this is the closest dealership to us and pretty much on the way to Allentown. We met with Patsy who was super nice and gave us a pretty in-depth tour of all models they had in stock – even though it was raining quite heavily at times. We have since abandoned the idea of buying a trailer (after a strings of unbeatable arguments made by my father over skype) – albeit a mini one but that is a topic for another day and another blog post. I was also hoping to spend the rest of the day geocaching in the nearby Peace Valley Nature Center but the heavy rain took care of that. Here are some pictures from the dealership:
Inside the Little Guy R/T
Queen size mattress in the Little Guy R/T
The rain showed no signs of stopping and we had some spare time, so we headed over to the Lost River Caverns in Hellertown, PA. We got there just in time for the 5PM tour. The cave was … well …. interesting. The entrance hall to the caverns is awesomely fascinating. Judge for yourself:
Outside the caverns. A+ awesome.
The cave itself … and this is a purely personal opinion – is very ordinary. Considering just the caves we have visited in the past two years: Skocjan and Postojna caves in Slovenia; Ochtina Aragonite Cave in Slovakia or Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico it is easy to see, this cave will objectively rank very low on the absolute scale. It was formed predominantly by a river and is geologically very young – both of these factors probably contributing to a very low occurrence of speleothems inside. That and the rampant vandalism before any protection of the cave was in place. Still it was nice to see an active river in the cave which the guide claimed disappears and they have no idea where it re-appears (even the tracer studies didn’t help). All in all though (or on a relative scale), the entire 45 minute tour was very pleasant and if you are ever in the area and have some time to burn (or have never been to a cave) do stop by and pay them a visit. Here are some pictures from the cave:
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Im really intrigued by those Litte Guy trailers. For a single person like myself they seem ideal. I missed the price tag on one. Have you any idea? Ive always been a tent camper but as I approach 40 I may be tempted to forgo roughing it in favor of a little more comfort.
Hi Ken, the littlw guy trailer manufacturer has a website (with a list of dealers) but if you really are considering one, I suggest visiting a dealer a crawling into one of them. They are really cool, I admit. The dealers will sometime sell used models, or showroom models for cheaper. Depending on the model they were about 7000 and up, if I remember correctly. The dealership owners in PA were super nice, I can recommend them personally. We decided not to buy one because it is still a trailer that needs to be towed. We instead to buy a van and convert it to camper type vehicle. You get the same benefits but no worries about parking with a trailer, etc.
Hi again. Ive always wanted to visit a limestone cave but do not have the financial wherewithal to afford to visit the good ones you mention overseas and in New Mexicio. Since this one ranked relatively low, can you recommend another one for me to see within driving distance ?
Hi Ken, if you have never been to a limestone cave before, you should give any of them a try. After visiting a few of them you will be able to find out what it is that you like to most about the caves – large caverns, underground rivers, lots of stalagmites and stalactites. We all differ in our tastes. There is plenty of them around, just check out this link: http://www.goodearthgraphics.com/showcave/menu.html
I can not really personally recommend one over the other because in the eastern US, I have only been to the this cave in PA and to Howe’s caverns in upstate(ish) New York.
Hope this helps,
Alex