4/5/17 Phillipsburg/Easton Loop with James Quinn!
This would be a loop night hike with just James and I. Others were talking about coming out, but no one showed. Still, we made the best of it and it was a really nice night. I had originally planned to do Warren Highlands Trail between Merrill Creek and areas west, but I changed it when no one else showed up.
Marble Hill
We met up at Stryker’s Road, and rather than do the loop as I had planned, I figured we would walk from there to Marble Hill and check out issues on the first section, and then head over to Easton for a loop back. I wasn’t totally sure which way we’d go, but had plenty of options.
I think we walked Strykers to Powder Horn to Stonehenge, then out to Belvidere Road by Buckley Hill Drive. We then turned right and headed to where Warren Highlands Trail goes on it’s westbound route up hill.
The carsonite post that shows the trail is knocked down, and someone always parks a VW bug directly across the road, which obscured to onlookers where the trail goes.
Gun shot blaze
We headed up, and the trail is fine once it’s in the open fields. Once we got back in the woods again though, there are blow downs, and the newest problem was that someone had been using the paint blazes for target practice. We were to have a meeting about the trail with the state pretty soon, and I wanted to be up to date on what all the problems were, but I had no idea it would get worse, and continue to get worse even after this run through hike. We made our way through the fields and then through the woods out to the county property, and then cut down hill through to the dry washes in the park.
One of the next major issues with the property is the fact that the new high school has caused major washouts that effect not only the trail, but River Road below.
I was summoned to the Warren County Administration Building recently because I happen to have photos of the site dating back to probably 2006, showing how the land was managed while development stagnated. I showed how the place was plowed under on two occasions and demonstrated that the new development had in fact changed how the area drains. There were two deep washes in the side of the hill which were from farm runoff. Today, the first field directly above those original washes has reforested to scrubby succession and small trees, while the area above the high school is getting new washout.
Warren Highlands washout
When I first put the trail in, I intentionally routed it up hill from the deep part of the washout, just so no one would have as much a trip hazard. This washout continues to migrate up the hill and undermine the trail further. No one really cared about this until the road had problems before, which meant a lot of money. Because of that, my evidence all of a sudden became that much more important. On this occasion, I found the trail to be washed out even more than before, as the erosion is working it’s way up well past the trail. The county is seeking compensation from developers who have not finished signing off on the school development as of yet.
Weygadt Gap view in Marble Hill
We continued on from here through the Rhododendrons and to the junction with the Iron Mine Trail. We checked out the overlook to the right first, then went on Iron Mine Trail to the old Fulmer Mines. We took a little break at the adit, always a really nice spot.
From here, we took Iron Mine Trail back down to Warren Highlands Trail, and headed to River Road. We turned right here, then crossed the old Bel Del Railroad tracks . We went down hill to alongside the Delaware River and wandered to the north for a bit. I showed James the giant hollow Silver Maple that we could get inside along the way.
We continued to the giant long pipe and walked that through the industrial site, then came out on North Main Street. From there we followed the Warren Highlands route and such over to the boat launch and Union Square.
1898 view of the Lee House and Northampton Street Free Bridge
We went past Jimmy’s Hot Dogs, and I recall they were closed by the time we got there, so we didn’t get anything. We did however go into Free Bridge Wine and Spirits. We had had some Weyerbacher Insanity which is quite good and wanted that or something similar.
View across the Delaware
Unfortunately, the only other Weyerbacher stuff that they had was pretty much weak. I think they had Last Chance IPA or something. James doesn’t like IPA, and that stuff is kind of weak anyway, so we looked for other stuff.
There was a beer at the Warren County Liquors I was recommended by a buddy there, made by Dogfish Head called Palo Santo Marron. It was aged in a special wood, and I just kept putting off trying it because there was other Weyerbacher items. We decided to try that this time. It turned out actually to be quite great!
Historic postcard image of Union Square, Phillipsburg
We walked from here across the Northampton Street Free Bridge, the lovely Roebling-style bridge built to replace the original covered bridge when it washed out in the Pumpkin Flood of 1903. We got to the Easton side and turned to the right.
Sunset at the Free Bridge
From this point, we headed to the east to the Karl Stirner Arts Trail. I don’t think we actually went up College Hill this time, which is what I usually do for the view of the city. I think this time I instead opted to take Bushkill Drive and wrap around College Hill instead.
The Free Bridge
The Stirner Arts Trail at first follows the old Lehigh Valley Railroad alignment, but then goes to another road sandwiched between Rt 22 and the old Easton Cemetery.
Historic Simon Silk Mill scene
Lafayette College campus is great to walk through, and we usually do that because it’s so pedestrian friendly, but I think this time I figured we’d take a slightly different way.
The Stirner Arts Trail soon picked up the old Lehigh Valley Railroad bed again, and we continued on to 13th Street by the old R.H. Simon Silk Mills.
These silk mills were the second such industries in the Lehigh Valley, established on the Bushkill Creek at this location in 1883. The property was purchased in 2010 to become part of a redevelopment project, turning the old mills into upscale apartments with some businesses below. We had explored in them in the past, so it’s really interesting to see what it’s turned into over the past several years. It was only a year prior we would go by and the gutted buildings could be seen right through via the windows. Many were now filled with new windows.
Simon Silk plan
The long term plan calls for a pedestrian bridge over the Bushkill Creek, judging by the plan where there used to be a pipe crossing we used to use years ago.
Once we got to 13th Street, we turned left to head up toward Spring Garden Street.
On the way, we stopped and saw Stefanie Statlerr and Scott Slingerland who live along our route, and chatted for a little bit. They didn’t feel like doing the rest of the hike however, and so we made our way onward.
Simon Silk historic postcard
As I recally, we pretty much walked Northampton Street after connecting with that to the north. It’s a really nice street to walk, and we were talking about Tacos for the longest time. I think what happened was that we were too late for the Taco Bell drive thru, so we opted to go find a Mexican restaurant in town.
Pretty much everything was closed as we went by. We walked to two different locations, heading all the way back down to Union Square. We found out about one that was open maybe another fifteen minutes, which we’d have to hurry to get to, so we decided not to. It would have been a jerk move to head over to a restaurant just as it was closing anyway.
Historic Easton postcard
I think we went into a couple of other places as well, or checked out the fronts of them for hours anyway, and just about everywhere was closing. We wanted food, so we could no longer be too picky about whether it was tacos or burritos or not.
Historic hotel postcard in Easton
We headed around the historic Easton Circle, tried one more bar and grill there which was closing when I finally saw Mother’s down the alley.
My brother Alex used to be a bouncer between Mothers and Drinky Drinkerson’s when they were the same owner. I hadn’t gone in in years, so I suggested we try. Fortunately for us, bar food was available till late, so we went in. Both of us decided on cheeseburgers, which was a very good decision because it was awesome.
Eating made me really tired. I recall barely sitting at the bar and I don’t think I had anything else to drink there. Maybe I did. I just don’t recall.
Historic postcard view from Easton Circle down Northampton Street to NJ
I believe from here we walked onward across the Northampton Street Bridge again. I think we went up Morris Street toward Rt 22 and used the pedestrian bridge at the top. I seem to recall talking to James about how I used to walk it when I lived in Phillipsburg, and how I used to live a few blocks up Fillmore Street from Morris, on the corner of Summit Filmore, and Green Alley. James also used to live locally, and delivered Dominoes Pizza for a time. It’s how he knows all of the crazy back roads and streets so well.
Once we got across by the old high school, we headed simply up Rt 22, and turned away a bit when we got to the strip malls. It’s kind of a blur to me making it back along this route to Stryker’s Crossing, but I guess I was awake enough by the time we finished.
As always, it was just good to be out with good company making some nice memories.
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