You’ve got to hand it to Carbon County Commissioner Charlie Getz for designing a well thought out kayak and raft launch at the Carbon County Parking Lot in Jim Thorpe. 

Faced with a deteriorating and dangerous existing private boat launch at the Carbon County Parking Lot, the Commissioners decided that rather than repair it, it was better to replace it. 

“The boards are rotted, the beach was washed out,” said Getz. It’s almost impossible to get up and down there. So we figured, we could do it better.” 

Getz knew something about boat launches. Between 1985 and 1996, he owned and operated Whitewater Rafting Adventures in Albrightsville. After he sold the operation, it relocated to Nesquehoning. 

“I haven’t been on the river much since leaving the business—maybe three times in the last ten years. I do miss it,” said Getz. “It was a lot of fun. Met a lot of nice people. I still marvel at coming down from Rockport to Jim Thorpe and its scenery. When you come down the river so many times, even the first time, I marveled at the scenic mountains. They are just beautiful.” 

In those days of operating the rafting company, Getz learned first-hand the right ways and wrong ways to design a river access. “Steps are  dangerous,” he said, “especially when you are carrying a raft. It’s really not safe.” 

That’s why the new Lehigh River Access has no steps. Working with Ron Terpack of Carbon Engineering, they designed a ramped access—a design that Getz feels is safer and more attractive and will cost the county less to build and maintain. It may also serve to open the waterfront to a walking trail. 

Construction began on the river access around the beginning of July and proceeded on a time-available basis. Getz estimates that about a week of actual grading will go into the project and its costs will be about $9,500. The Commissioners funded the project from County funds because of the safety nature of the project and because it had been delayed too long already, and waiting for external funding would delay the project for another year or two. Also by funding it through the County, the Commissioners were able to use resources at less cost and more efficiently. 

The access ramp is in place and the site is waiting for rubber matting to be installed to allow boats to slide down the slope to minimize the need for carrying. Also, an area covered with brush will be graded and mulched with shale to reduce the need for periodic clearing of shrubs. After the ground settles, posts and rails will be installed to prevent accidental falls from the ramp. 

The site of the new private boater’s river access is adjacent to an existing commercial boater’s access. Both accesses are from the Carbon County Parking Lot. 

The parking lot was formerly the wharf where the canal boats of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company tied their coal boats after being filled from the nearby coal schutes that were in turn supplied with anthracite coal by the Switchback Gravity Railroad. 

This correspondence suggested to Commissioner Getz that this might be a perfect place to honor the founder of the town, Josiah White, the man, who with his partner, Erskine Hazard, created the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company and turned Carbon County into a major source of power for the American Industrial Revolution. The Borough of Jim Thorpe, which White in the early 1800s founded as Mauch Chunk, bears no buildings or monuments to remember him, and is all but unknown to visitors and many residents. 

The new boat ramp will serve as a take-out for trips from Glen Onoko, or as a put-in for trips to Weissport or Bowmanstown. Conversations have begun, talking about creating kayaking youth programs on the Lehigh River led by Jerry McAward of the Northeast PA Kayaking School in Weissport. This new river access would make that safer and easier. 

“It’s a great idea,” said Getz. “Look at the four local rafting companies, they are always looking for guides. Over the summer they must employ over 150 people.” 

A summer kayaking program would help to get kids off the streets, give them something challenging to do, get them in the water, learn skills, meet people, is a gateway to learning about safety, the environment and local history and has the potential of turning the Carbon County into a source of competitive whitewater kayakers—and the new boat ramp is a great place to begin.