Edward Ameika had a plan.
"I've been on all the trails up to New York state in this area and I had that vision," he said. "I thought, someday, I hope I don't have to get my bike on a rack and drive to this place and be able to do it in the hometown.”
Ameika is a former Duryea council president. He joined about 60 people for a first day of the year hike through the Duryea Wetlands in Luzerne County. The borough recently purchased the over 160-acre site and is working with the Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority (LHVA) to create a formal 2.5-mile loop trail. It will be a part of the larger Heritage Trail — which, for now, runs mostly through Lackawanna County.
Wednesday was a dreary start to 2025. Steady rain tapped the umbrellas and hoods of hikers bundled up for cold. They walked over the Lackawanna River across the Stephenson Bridge to Swamp Road, the future path's trailhead. The unkempt road is bumpy. The LHVA plans to repave it. On either side are tranquil ponds with islands.
Ameika spotted an osprey circling to land and a blue heron.
When the Susquehanna River rises it pushes the Lackawanna back and covers the area, creating the wetlands, he said. In that water is aquatic life.
"But that's a beautiful thing for natural habitat back there," said Ameika.
Borough manager Carolyn Santee, another proponent of the project, envisions Jim Thorpe in Carbon County.
"You go there, you whitewater raft, you bike, you shop, you eat, you know, you have stop and have a coffee. So maybe we can grow Duryea a bit and get back to where it used to be," she said after the under 2-mile hike.
Duryea as a destination
Above the wetlands and up a mountain is the iconic Campbell’s Ledge. The Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national private nonprofit conservation organization, received state and federal grants and has the option to purchase over 200 acres off Coxton Road.
TPL doesn't yet own the land that includes Campbell’s Ledge. It’s still private. But if you were to hike up to the top you’d see a sweeping 30-mile view of the region and the North Branch of the Susquehanna River.
It’s not just the views. The area is home to a dozen species of special concern, said Ellen Lott, TPL's Pennsylvania Land Protection Manager. There’s several Native American sites, a waterfall, a lake and streams. There's also a reservoir.
"There are archeological digs nearby at the base of the mountain and by the river, and where they found traces of Neolithic or early human habitation," she said, adding they know from records that indigenous peoples used Campbell’s Ledge as a signal rock and overlook.
Lott said Luzerne County identifies the land as one of the county’s most extraordinary natural places.
The overlook's name comes from the local legend about a man named Campbell who rode his horse off the ledge in settler times to avoid pursuit by Native American residents of the Wyoming Valley.
Future recreation
Both of the properties combined will create passive recreation in the borough: hiking, biking, kayaking and wildlife watching — and could boost economic development.
"It's really exciting to see that whole area being conserved so that people can enjoy it forever," said Lott.
Owen Worozbyt, Director of Operations for the LHVA, lead the hike on Wednesday. He urged patience.
"We're talking about what we want to see happen here. But again, nothing happens overnight," he said.
For Santee and Ameika seeing the plan come together is exciting.
“I couldn't be more happy. This guy and I have been working on this since the beginning of my start at the borough, and it's coming along, I think exactly how we envisioned it," Santee said.
The Lackawanna Heritage Valley Authority is planning a clean-up of the area in the spring, a 24-hour "bio blitz" — where people document the flora and fauna they observe in the area — and a planning meeting for community input.
