A Christmas ride out to Centralia, PA

[Soggy Biscuit]

I'll be making my way out there tomorrow. If ya see me, flip the bird, wave, whatever. You can join if you want. Yes, I know what day it is and there is a solid chance I'll be one of the few on the roadways the entire day. I plan on doing some exploring on foot. I might cap the day off with a ride along US209 into Jim Thorpe and take 476 back home. I'll see how tomorrow pans out.

 

[blue72beetle]

I rode there once awhile back. I saw that they closed off the abandoned road even more, dumped piles of dirt all along it or something.

 

[Soggy Biscuit]

Yeah, they've been dumping piles upon piles of dirt and rocks on some of the graffiti roads over the years.

 

[Soggy Biscuit]

Just got back home. I left my place a little after 0715 and got there around 0900. Left there around 1000, stopped at a car wash before coming home, and walked through my door 20mins ago. As expected, there isn't much to see but it is nice having an item checked off my "Places in PA to See" list.

 

[Soggy Biscuit]

And if anybody is wondering why this former town has become infamous, here is an old PBS story on it. Highway 61/Locust St used to be lined with stores. Word on the street is the mine fire is moving east toward Girardville. It's only a matter of time before that place becomes another Centralia.

 

[DJ_MI]

Very cool!

 

[Tim C]

Very cool!

No, hot. Very hot.

 

[Soggy Biscuit]

Centralia's underground mine fire isn't sending fumes through the soil anymore. The fumes can be found east and south-east of where the place used to be. Another place where a mine fire has been going for over a hundred years is in the Wilkes-Barre area. Laurel Run was leveled and if you look closely on the satellite view on Google Maps, you can see where the buildings used to be.​