Hike #1019; Flanders to High Bridge

Hike #1019; Flanders to High Bridge

3/9/17 Flanders to High Bridge with Kralc Leahcim (Lerch), Cupcake (Chris Kroschinski), Neil George, Brittany Audrey, Sandy Westermann, Sue Bennett, Russell Lord Byron Rapp, Dan Asnis, and Shayna Michaels.

In Flanders

Our next hike would be another night hike, a point to point I’ve been doing pretty much every year tracing the former High Bridge Branch of the Central Railroad of NJ. It’s one of those lines I’ve been using for hikes in this group since 1997, and so it’s always a comfort to return to these things.
I really needed to get a hike in, but I didn’t know what to post, and by the time I got home from work I was so stressed that I couldn’t think of anything I really wanted to do. I knew I needed to, but I was too much a mess to even think to post anything. I tried opening up the maps and writing stuff a few times, but then couldn’t function to finish anything I was doing.
I’d gotten to work and was being ignored, and told outright it wasn’t good to see me. The adversity I was dealing with was just too much for me to function well. I finally realized I could go into my meetup.com account, pick a previous hike I’d done, and then just hit “copy this meetup”, and all I had to change was the dates. I did just that, and posted this hike.

Bartley Road crossing

I met the group, who were mostly running behind, at the lot in High Bridge, and then we headed to the start point at Flanders Shop Rite. Cupcake was working nearby, which helped him to come out.
We started walking from the Shop Rite and headed down the access road, and through an industrial site that had a spur track to get to the former High Bridge Branch. This section is still used to access the Toys R Us and I think a couple other places. The tracked section didn’t last very long, and we soon reached Bartley Road crossing, where it becomes the Columbia Trail (that name I hate for the trail because it’s a damn gas line name).

The group at the end of the trackage

From here, it was nice and easy, relaxing walking. We moved along pretty quickly along the South Branch of the Raritan River after it made it’s way down Mount Olive from Budd Lake. The sun was setting beautifully, and it was just simple one foot in front of the other.

Sunset over South Branch wetlands

We crossed Naughright, and then continued on toward Long Valley. We regrouped when we got to where the old Chester Branch used to break off to the south. I wanted to make sure the group didn’t get too split up until about that point because it’s one of the only questionable spots.
The trail went around the metal fabrication place, then turned right to cross the Electric Brook on a bridge. We then went left on the old Chester Branch briefly, and right onto a new path that skirts the developments heading into Long Valley. We crossed one more decked bridge before reaching Schooleys Mountain Road.

On the trail in Long Valley

We opted to take side trip for some food here. There were a few businesses in town we could use. Shayna was in a hurry to get back to the cars, so she went off on the trail without us while the rest of us went down Schooleys Mountain Road to Rt 513, turned right, and went into I think it was Long Valley Bagel for sandwiches.
The grill was already shut down, but the guy who ran the place was really cool, and despite being close to closing made us some excellent Italian sub sandwiches and such. We hung out and ate for a bit, then continued on our way, back up Schoolesys Mountain Road to the rail bed.

food stop

The stretch between Long Valley and Middle Valley is the longest with no points of interest along the way. That’s why it’s so good to do at night. There’s not much to see other than woods, and in the dark it adds another layer of sensory stuff to it.
We eventually came to Middle Valley and crossed the road, followed by the trestle over the South Branch of the Raritan just beyond. Not long after that we crossed over the Jenkinson tree nursery before crossing the Hunterdon County Line.
Ahead, we entered the hamlet of Vernoy. There is an abandoned stone cottage on the left that’s been there for years. We used to go into it. This time, some of the group went in and had a look around. I remember it had a Jersey winder staircase, but apparently it is no longer safe to go through the way we used to.

I chose the green ensamble for this hike

We continued on along the trail east of Vernoy, and then into Califon. No one wanted to stop for any further refreshments there, so we walked further over Hoffmans Crossing and then into Ken Lockwood Gorge and the trestle.
Everything was pretty quiet. I think the quiet only made me feel crazier.
We continued out of the gorge, into High Bridge, and split again when we got to the Taylor Steelworkers Historic Greenway, with the huge wooden sign that I had built. It felt like a reminder of how unappreciative the park system had been for all the work I did. I blazed the entire trail in my free time, after doing the sign work on the clock, and then coordinated more volunteers do do the bridge work below with Bill Honachefsky and Mike Gronsky. Those guys are still doing great things, but I feel like any involvement I have will jeapordize what they’re doing because of all that’s happened in the past several months. A large grant for a new trail section that would hugely improve some nearby areas was quickly turned down in the way it was presented, which is an enormous frustration.
We walked down hill to cross the historic Carnegie truss bridge, with the plaque that bears the names of the volunteers who made it happen...Bill, Mike, Matt, Kyle, Shelly, and I among them. We then continued on to my friend Kyle’s memorial. I brought back a surge of emotion. I personally carried the grave stone to the site, shortly after he passed. The next day my house burned down, and in the coming months I lost my job. My hiking friends offered overwhelming support, which is one of the reasons I will never give up doing the hikes for free.
We walked back up hill, this time on the road out by way of the huskies fields, and then into town. The feeling of contentment and relaxation I would normally have after a hike was not really there this time. I’d have to do something more to fix the mess I was expriencing.