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Anyone want to meet in Centralia PA?

myright

myright

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Jan 31, 2008
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What's up fellas - I know there are a few guys here in the PA area or not too far from it. Just wondering if any of you want to put in a few miles around/through Centralia. I've only ever stuck to the streets there. I haven't been there in quite a number of years and am interested to see what it looks like now. I hear the Gov't is going to get more agressive in trying to get the few last residents out.

Anyone interested? I've really got no date in mind, I wanted to see who would go first.
 
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No sweat, man. Let's see if we can get some more people up for this one! From what I've seen it looks like there are some decent off road trails too.
 
I live about an hour away from Centralia near Hershey. I've never been to Centralia but its always looked interesting and a place I'd enjoy seeing. Maybe we could have a meetup sometime I'm home over a break
 
Hey myright, I'd be interested to meet with you there, but don't know anything about the area. What does the area offer as far as our collective interests...hiking, off-roading, photo-ops, whatever?
 
Take a look at some of those links. It's a pretty cool area - there is a coal vein far below the surface that is on fire and has been for years and years. The government decided it was much to costly to try and put the fire out so they are forcing people out of their homes little by little.

The close sections of highways because they are litteraly split in half. There is smoke coming out of the ground from everywhere.

I've never been hiking there other than the closed roads and such. I thought it would be cool to go explore the town a bit and take some pics. I'm going to do a bit more research and see what kind of trails are around. There is a lot of country around there so I'm sure there are plenty of hiking trails around.
 
I might be interested... I think I'm about 2.5 hours away, so it could be doable. Let me know what you all come up with and when...
 
Myright, I just drove thru there yesterday. I only saw two houses and the fire station left on the on strip of road(From Ashland to Aristes). The good news is heating the houses is cheap and hot water is free:). No seriously, I knew a guy that said his water from the street was always warm.
There is an author who did a book on Centralia, and just released an updated version. I do not have the info but you might beable to find out about it by checking out www.republicanherald.com or www.schuylkill.com.
Be careful hiking up there, alot of no trespassing signs, but people are always stopped there and there is a sign pointing to the fire. A long time ago a child fell into a hole, he got out but was hurt.If you are going to go I would recomend waiting till there is snow on the ground, it looks alot neater.
I have never walked around there, nor do i care to, but have driven thru alot. Mostly it is just some bare Earth with smoke coming out of the ground. You don't actually see the fire.
Years ago when there were more house it was neat to see the brick columns they built to shore up the houses.Supposedly a guy had a way to put the fire out but wanted mineral rights to the coal vein in payment and that was a no go.
Good luck if you go and be careful.
 
spike116 said:
Myright, I just drove thru there yesterday. I only saw two houses and the fire station left on the on strip of road(From Ashland to Aristes). The good news is heating the houses is cheap and hot water is free:). No seriously, I knew a guy that said his water from the street was always warm.
There is an author who did a book on Centralia, and just released an updated version. I do not have the info but you might beable to find out about it by checking out www.republicanherald.com or www.schuylkill.com.
Be careful hiking up there, alot of no trespassing signs, but people are always stopped there and there is a sign pointing to the fire. A long time ago a child fell into a hole, he got out but was hurt.If you are going to go I would recomend waiting till there is snow on the ground, it looks alot neater.
I have never walked around there, nor do i care to, but have driven thru alot. Mostly it is just some bare Earth with smoke coming out of the ground. You don't actually see the fire.
Years ago when there were more house it was neat to see the brick columns they built to shore up the houses.Supposedly a guy had a way to put the fire out but wanted mineral rights to the coal vein in payment and that was a no go.
Good luck if you go and be careful.
Click to expand...

I used to go up that way more when I was younger. My mother's family is from McAdoo so we were up there quite a bit. I'm not sure I'd want to do a bunch of hiking through the woods there as I know there are a lot of holes that can not be seen due to over growth. Funny that you say you don't care to walk through there - I'm sure a lot of the locals feels the same way as well. I just kind of think it's a neat story and a good piece of history.

Rumor has it that the gov't wanted the mineral rights so they wouldn't pay to put out the fires. Then their plan kind of backfired since the residents wouldn't sell out to them.

I've heard a lot of different rumors througout the years about that place. That's probably all they are though, rumors.

Thanks for the info - I'll be checking out those sites. We'll probably be up there in the spring as well to do some camping at Knoebles (sp?). We haven't been there in a while either.

I've never been there in the snow - you're right that probably would be a good site.

Thanks again.
 
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