Susquehanna Warrior Trail

Route description

The southern section of the Susquehanna Warrior Trail begins on a side road off U.S. Route 11 two or three miles upstream along the Susquehanna River from Wapwallopen. It parallels U.S. Route 11 for 1.4 miles before joining the main section.

The main section of the Susquehanna Warrior Trail begins on U.S. Route 11, about two miles (3.2 km) south of Shickshinny and 0.2 miles north of the southern section of the trail. The trail parallels US 11 for most of the way. After about 1.7 miles (2.7 km), it goes briefly through the streets of Shickshinny before crossing over Shickshinny Creek and exiting Shickshinny. At roughly the 7.9-mile (12.7 km) mark, the Susquehanna Warrior Trail crosses over Hunlock Creek. The trail’s north end is in the Garden Drive-In, about two miles (3.2 km) northwest of Nanticoke.

The Susquehanna Warrior Trail is between 8 feet (2.4 m) and 10 feet (3.0 m) wide.

History

Historically, there was a Native American footpath where the Susquehanna Warrior Trail is. It was likely part of the Susquehanna & Tioga Turnpike running from the westward-crossing at ‹See Tfd›Berwick and the connection at ‹See Tfd›Nescopeck with the older Lehigh & Susquehanna Turnpike from Lausanne Landing. In the past, the Susquehanna Indians, or Susquehannock peoples settled in the area of the Susquehanna Warrior Trail by 1500 AD or so. A militarily dominant confederation that ruled Pennsylvania and more from their center along the Susquehanna River and tributaries (which held rich Beaver sources; a key trade good which could fetch rifles and powder) when European captains and traders first entered the New World in 1600. They were described as running everywhere with casual disdain and to be very fierce and deadly in battle as they were in superb physical shape. Relatives of the Iroquois, Erie, Tuscarora, Cherokee, Tobacco, Neutral, Wenro and Huron, tradition of these Iroquoian tribes and that of the Algonquian Delaware people (along with the Nanticoke people who inhabited lower Delaware, the Delaware range was upper Delaware, all of New Jersey, the Poconos and Delaware Basin, and parts of Connecticut and Long Island.) and some of their related tribes was they had banded together against a great adversary and fought a great campaign to push east past the river also barring their way. Scholars are unsure how to treat this tale, since it involve two people normally at odds and rivals when not out and out enemies, but both peoples acknowledge allying with the other, and the river may have been the Mississippi, the great people, the great mound builders culture that disappeared mysteriously, so might well have succumbed to this double attack, and the timing is about correct. Regardless, the Susquehanna were a force to be reckoned with in early colonial times, especially during the Beaver Wars. So for example, the Delaware who were respected well enough by the colonists, were tributary to the Susquehannock by 1650, having lost a war over fur hunting grounds with the Susquehannock. Subsequently, afterwards, they could not make a bargain with whites without Susquehannock approval— then of the Iroquois. Earlier, the Susquehannocks had fought a decades long declared war against the Province of Maryland and allied themselves with New Sweden until the British conquest. About the time William Penn was getting land grant for the monies Charles II owed him, the Susquehannocks suffered a succession of plagues in the late 1660s lasting or recurring at least three years which broke their strength within a year or two of a great victory over the Iroquois, weakened from their war with the Erie. At that juncture, they'd lost an estimated 90% of their populations and when word trickled out how weakened they'd become, they became beset from all sides, settlers, Iroquois, Potomac tribes — so decimated, the Governor of New York arranged as a treaty clause that their survivors were to be adopted by the Iroquois, who ironically had done their population the most war damage. A remnant refused accommodation with the Iroquois and relocated to the foot of the Allegheny, and William Penns followers named them the Conestoga.

Their original territory ranged along the left bank Ohio River to Kentucky, and from Eastern Ohio north of the River eastwards through the gaps of the Allegheny across all of central Pennsylvania to the Delaware west to east, and extended over 1,000 miles (1,600 km) from the highlands (drainage divide) overlooking the country of the related Iroquois Confederacy — the Mohawk River valley and the Finger Lakes in New York State down to and along the head end of the Chesapeake Bay and along its right bank (from ‹See Tfd›Aberdeen) to the Potomac River. Like the 'People of the Panther', the cat people, the Erie Confederation along the south shores of Lake Erie and right bank Allegheny River, the Erie were respected and feared by their fellow Iroquoian nations, the Huron, and Iroquois.

From abandoned railway to trail

The Susquehanna Warrior Trail began as the old Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western railroad bed. In 1995, the Pennsylvania Environmental Counsel received grants from the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Luzerne County to begin planning to convert the old railroad bed into a trail. Three years later, in 1998, the plan was completed and the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation of Natural Resources, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and the Berwick HWF funded the project. Construction of the trail began in 2005. The trail was opened to the public in 2007. The trail was damaged by Tropical Storm Lee in 2011. However, numerous volunteers repaired the damage.

The Pennsylvania Society for Ornithology visited the Susquehanna Warrior Trail on June 2, 2013, as part of their annual meeting. As of December 2013, the president of the Susquehanna Warrior Trail is Lance Kittelson.

Possible expansion

It has been proposed that the Susquehanna Warrior Trail could be extended three miles (4.8 km) north, as far as Plymouth Township. According to an April 2012 article in the Wilkes-Barre newspaper, The Times Leader, if "everything goes well and funding is available, the trail should be extended sometime in the next year." The trail would continue to follow the old railroad bed past the site of the Avondale Mine Disaster.

The trail may even be extended as far north as the intersection of US 11 and the South Cross Valley Expressway, where it will connect with the numerous trails near Wilkes-Barre. Additionally, in some years the Susquehanna Warrior Trail may be extended as far south as Berwick. Also, there is the possibility of gates being installed to prevent illegal dumping on the Susquehanna Warrior Trail. It was originally intended that the gates would be installed in April 2013, but they have not been installed as of May 6, 2013. The length of the finished trail is expected to be 18.5 miles one way.

Biology

Eagles, egrets, and herons have been observed on the Susquehanna Warrior Trail, as have other animals, such as otters. Riparian forests and meadows are located near the Susquehanna Warrior Trail.

Activities

The Susquehanna Warrior Trail supports multiple uses: bicycling, running, and hiking. During the winter, the trail is used for cross-country skiing. Since 2008 there has been a 3.1-mile (5.0 km) footrace on the Susquehanna Warrior Trail. The course record for it is 16 minutes and 46 seconds.