Hike #1120; Andover to Pequest

Hike #1120; Andover to Pequest Furnace

4/18/18 Andover to Pequest Furnace with Dan Asnis and Ken Zaruni

This next hike would be a point to point following almost only the former Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad between Andover and Pequest Furnace.

The LHR

This hike came about based on a conversation with Ken on one of the recent night hikes. He was asking me about the right of way parallel with Route 46, and said something about hiking it. I told him I’ve hiked it many times, and typically I try to do one of the night hikes on it every year, and we usually do Tranquility to Oxford, adding in a little bit of the Lackawanna old main line.
I had heard that a new section of it was developed as a trail, and more were coming, and so I wanted to see it, so I told Ken I would post it, and cut off the part with the Lackawanna, truncate the hike back to Pequest Furnace, and instead have it start in Andover. That would give me the opportunity to see a section I hadn’t seen in years.

Historic image of Andover Junction, looking north on the LHR; Robert B. Adams photo

When planning the hike, I only kind of “eyed it up” for difference in mileage. I looked at what I wanted to do out of Andover, and then subtracted from the end of how I usually go.

Andover Jct today

I ended up putting a lot more mileage on the start of it than I took off of the end of it, in excess of maybe about five miles. I should have looked at it more closely.

1966 scene at Andover Junction from Rich Taylor's collection

Regardless, it didn’t look like it was going to be that bad. I got out of work and headed directly to the former site of Pequest Furnace, where Pequest Furnace Rd hits Rt 46.

Andover Jct today

I was surprised that not more people wanted to come out on this one, but it was okay. We piled into my van and headed to the north. The drive seemed a bit far as well.

Sussex Branch

I wasn’t totally sure where we would be parking, but then I decided we would use the Sussex Branch Trail lot. It was a little further south, but it was an easy walk up to where Andover Junction used to be. We parked there and didn’t waste time heading up.
I pointed out where the spur line used to break off to the right to go to the Andover Mines as we walked to the north, and then continued to the site of Andover Junction, which is overgrown to the point you can’t even tell what it was.

Old collapsed signal

The old Sussex Branch was abandoned at least a decade or more before the Lehigh and Hudson line, but amazingly it’s in far worse condition.
I tried to get a couple of photos for more then/now compilations as we headed onto the Lehigh and Hudson line.
This section has always been bad to walk, ever since the first time I ever tried to pass through on it. It got overgrown shortly after abandonment, and apparently not many ATVs were ever using this particular stretch because it’s so bad.

The Sussex Branch at the former crossing

The biggest problem plants growing through them are the Autumn Olives. The invasive species from Russia overtakes all old fields and such and is impossible to get rid of. We have it overtaking everything at Spruce Run where I work.
We bullied on through the stuff, and Ken stayed pretty close to me. Dan was having some more trouble with it. This was his first time back out with us in a little bit, and it must have made it a lot more difficult, but he muscled on through it pretty well overall.

The LHR line

Some sections of it in the woods weren’t all that bad, but other parts got really tough. We passed an old signal tower to the left, apparently for the Andover crossing behind us.

Old signals

We passed some wide open fields parallel with us to the left of the rail bed, and it was rough getting through there. The rail bed was on a fill above a swamp, so there was no getting off of that and trying to find easier ground around the outside. We had to push on through.
We then entered the woods and were on a bit of a shelf. It cleared out slightly, but only for a short time before getting worse again.

Autumn Olives on the rail bed

The Autumn Olives soon got absolutely terrible. We ended up having to crawl on our hands and knees to get under some of the mess as it continued to get worse.

LHR line

Things got a little easier again when there was higher land to our left. We then got back on another fill where it got worse.
To the left of us, there was some sort of industry or farm or something coming into view. Machinery was being operated, but I couldn’t quite tell what until we got up close on it.
As we neared, I could see lots of debris, which appeared to possibly be natural stuff like dead leaves or sticks, but it was full of plastic bags. I can’t really be sure what the plastic material was.

Illegal dumping?

I pushed through the weeds to get a little close and see what they were doing. I figured I should try to have a picture of this and get it to my friend Justin who deals with this stuff.

The rail bed

When I looked closer, it seemed that there was a large size tractor trailer with the ability to dump out there. I could see the body of the truck up in the air dumping material.
Justin said he slaps people like this with over twenty thousand dollar fines, and that it gets tied up in court and these douchebags keep on dumping.
The section of the LHR rail bed in this area is all 100% state park land, but it’s too impassable really for most anyone to get back there and see what’s going on.

The rail bed at the dump area

The rail bed got even more impenetrable as we got closer to where the actual dumping was taking place. I tried to push on through, but even I gave up when there was a clear field that appeared to the right. Ken and I went through, and I sent a text message to Dan who was further back on what to do when he got to the field.
Ken and I followed the field out to the road access to the dump area. We could see into the area where there were trucks parked and some sorts of piles of debris.

The blocked rail bed

At this point, we could also see why the rail bed was so unclear further back.

Debris on the rail bed

Whoever runs this operation had bulldozed all sorts of dead trees, branches and debris onto the railroad bed making it completely impassable up to the point of the road crossing.
Even on the other side, we weren’t going to be getting into it very easy. Ken and I opted to remain in the field to the right and continue to the north for a bit until we could get to where we could get back to the grade. I wanted to hurry out of there because if they truly are illegally dumping, they certainly don’t want anyone to see it.

Old bridge site

While walking the field, the rail bed got pretty wet, and at one point a small stream flowed beneath it. There was once a small deck bridge, but it’s gone now. This is another reason it would not be a good through route, because there was no bridge to get anyone across the body of water. There was just an old railraod tie or something across it that walkers would have once used, but we could tell even they hadn’t been on it for a while.

Old signal in the brush

We continued on until there was a sort of farm cut through to the other side of the right of way. The right of way still wasn’t clear, but we could at least walk the field on the other side.

The rail bed overgrown

We walked along the field, and could barely see back to the dump area. They wouldn’t bother us from this point. After a bit, we could see an old signal in the brush to the right.

The rail bed

We were only able to follow the fields as far as where there was a sort of industry on the left. We then had to get back on the rail bed, which was again difficult.
It skirted a very lovely wetland on the left, which separated us from the driveway to the industry. In retrospect I think we probably should have tried to go out by way of that driveway.
We ended up crawling on our hands and knees yet again, probably worse the the previous.

Lovely wetlands

We moved on and passed by a farm house on the right, with their yard in plain view of the rail bed. If any of them saw us they must have thought we were crazy.

The rail bed

We soon reached Brighton Road, quite a relief. Brighton is the name of a little settlement to the west of the crossing just a bit. On the other side, the rail bed was a little clearer.
I wanted to wait for Dan, but I also didn’t want to hang out on the road in case someone called police about crazy people in the woods. There was a house on the right where there were people out in the yard, so we moved on ahead quickly.

The rail bed at Brighton

When we got further from the road, I called Dan up and let him know to just continue on the rail bed, and we’ll wait up for him up ahead where there was a better spot.
Ken and I moved ahead into a bit of a cut, where there used to be a farm overpass over the tracks with only abutments remaining. Dan kept pocket dialing me along the way, and when I’d answer I could hear grunts and all sorts of stuff from him crawling through the weeds. It took him quite a while to catch up with us.

The rail bed

We moved just a little further ahead, and I was surprised to find a telltale.
A telltale, in railroad terminology, is a series of ropes strung from a pole to alert the engineer of upcoming clearance obstacles such as culverts or tunnels. In this case, it referred to the underpass of the Lackawanna Cutoff just ahead.
There would have been a telltale at either end of this underpass, and I somehow missed this one the past few times I had been to the site.

I rarely see these anywhere on abandoned lines. In fact, I can only think of one more of them in place, and it’s also on the Lehigh and Hudson just west of Great Meadows.

Telltale on LHR

They blend in really well with the trees, especially when they start to grow in, and so they’re really easy to miss. I almost missed this one too, but we were waiting for Dan so I saw it.
When Dan was in sight, we moved ahead just a bit more. There was an access road going over the right of way, and someone working, I think log splitting, to the left.
I gave a friendly wave as we went by as not to look too suspicious. His work had been audible the entire time we were waiting for Dan.

The telltale

The rail bed was clear beyond this point. We walked on and soon reached the old Lackawanna Cutoff underpass.
The culvert bore the date of it’s construction, 1910, above the mouth of the portal.
The Lackawanna Cutoff was completed about that time as a cutoff for the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad between Slateford PA and Lake Hopatcong NJ. Prior to it’s completion, trains would have to travel the “old main” south to Washington, then head east.

Historic photo of the LHR looking south at the Cutoff, by Dick Loane

With the two tunnels on the old main, imposed slower speed limits and constant maintenance made it quite a burden. Several cutoffs on the old main began construction.

The same view today

The cutoff projects were done under William Truesdale when he was President of the Lackawanna, and the New Jersey Cutoff was the most ambitious of all of the projects.

Historic image of LHR under the cutoff by Ed Dorn

Four large scale viaducts, the Delaware, Paulins Kill, Martins Creek, and Tunkhannock, were the crown jewels of the construction projects, modeled after the aqueducts of Rome.

Looking down on the LHR from the Cutoff fill

While the majestic bridges got most of the attention, the cut and fill project on the rest of the line was the most considerable railroad construction to date.
Rocks were blasted through, and tunneled through in the case of Roseville, east of Andover, and fills were created across the wide valleys. The Pequest Fill, which the railroad passes over at the point we were approaching, is still the largest railroad fill in the entire world.

The Lackawanna Cutoff

The Cutoff was the last major railroad construction in northern New Jersey, but became an important artery for both coal and other products as well as passengers. They advertised that a dress would “stay white on the road to anthracite”.
The cutoff remained in service through the mergers with the Erie Railroad. I recall when I worked at A&P in Mansfield, my boss Al Warner was a former conductor, and he said they would try to run freight over passenger rail and it would break because the bosses were idiots.

On the cutoff fill

The Erie Lackawanna lost money until it went the way of Conrail with all the others in 1976.
It was amazing that they decided to let this line go. A perfectly built and graded line between Scranton and eastern New Jersey seemed an obvious benefit.
An Amtrack train was the last to pass over the rails in 1982 with interest of running service, but the rails were ripped up soon after. By the first time I walked it, the only place that still had rails was the section in Slateford PA near the bridge.
When I was hiking it with my grandfather in the late ‘80s, we met some NJ Transit guys who told us they were going to rebuild it, and I’ve been waiting to see it happen.
The line is constantly in the news with some thing or another holding up it’s redevelopment. New rails were laid between Landing and points in Byram Township, and a new station is to be developed in Andover.
Even since I started leading the hikes, the right of way of this line has substantially grown over, although ATVs tend to keep one track width wide enough to walk.

Historic image of the culvert with a telltale, south side

The first time I ran a hike through this culvert was in 2002. At that time, it was still rather easy to pass on through, but someone was already using it for storage for boats.

The culvert today

By the time we returned not that many months later, fences had been installed on the north side to keep people from walking through. I’ve heard it’s supposed to be state land.

Steamtown archive photo of the LHR underpass construction

NJ Geo Web doesn’t show it as being state land, but someone told me that the person who put the fence up would have to remove it, so time will tell what will happen.

The culvert today

After discovering the fence, we started climbing up the fill on the hikes and walking over on the Lackawanna Cutoff, and then down the other side to regain the LHR bed.

The rail bed

That would be my plan for this hike. Ken and I each went up on one side of the culvert mouth, and we both found the same deer path going at an angle to get us up easier.
I got directly above the culvert and imagined what it would have looked like with a train passing beneath. I was only six years old the last time this saw service.
When I saw Dan, I directed him to start climbing on the east side and up to the top.

The LHR line

Ken and I went up to the top on the cutoff and waited for Dan to make his way up.
Once he got to the top, we looked for a good way down. There really is no good way, but we managed to slide through an area with less undergrowth and came out on an access road that led shortly back over to the railroad bed, where they access the culvert for storage.
Dan ended up going a different way than we did and somehow got tangled in more weeds.

Former LHR line

Once he was down, we turned left and resumed walking the rail bed. It passed by some greenhouse buildings and was pretty clear. It then passed through a large parking area associated with businesses there. The right of way is pretty unrecognizable at that point. This is reportedly some sort of pharmaceutical company.
We soon reached Whitehall Road at a little settlement known as Huntsville. The rail bed was pretty overgrown beyond here too, so we turned to the left and walked parallel with it in another field.

Old whistle marker

I’m pretty sure this section is more state park land again, although it’s not signed.

Windmill

We got to where there was a line of trees and a sort of vernal pool with an old car down in it straight ahead. From there, the rail bed was looking a bit clearer, so we were able to get back on it. There was an old whistle marker for engineers to sound whistles approaching the road crossing ahead.
We continued walking from there, and there was a lovely farm scene to the left with an old looking wind mill out in the field.

Wind mill in 2002

I had hiked this section of right of way in January of 2002 and got a photo of it at this spot.

The wind mill today

The wind mill is the same, but the area does look quite a bit different. Farming and land turnover does this, and the trees around the right of way are all bigger.

Potential wider bridge

We moved on ahead, and soon got to a bridge overpass. I pointed out to Ken that it was wider than it needed to be, which we speculate was because the LHR might have one day wanted to widen to double track, but it never got busy enough to do so.
We next made our way out to Airport Road and crossed directly. On the other side, the rail bed was a bit clearer at first, in a line of trees heading toward the Trinca Airport.

The rail bed

When I first walked through this section, the trees were not nearly as high, but the rail bed was still all pretty clear and easy enough to walk.

Old battery boxes

We passed some old battery boxes for probably signals off of Airport Road. Dan had gotten behind us a bit more, and so we held up for him for a little bit in the cover of woods. When he came into sight, we moved on a bit, and soon the rail bed became entangled with Autumn Olives again. This time, we decided to cut to the right into the fields approaching the Trinca Airport’s runway area. This area was far different than it was my last few trips.

The rail bed

There had been a really nice double signal tower set along this stretch approaching the road access into the airport, but by the time I went through in 2009, it had been completely removed. I later found out through a facebook post that the signals are sitting at Green Township municipal building’s back lot.
We continued along the field, and as we reached the entrance road, we found it to be completely landscaped, so much that it had pretty much completely eliminated the railroad bed altogether.

The rail bed in Jan 2002

Where the signal towers had been was now completely obliterated and there were small evergreens planted on a remnant of a berm that might have been the rail bed.

The same scene today

Ken and I walked the berm out to cross the access road, and then continued on the grass on the other side as the landscaping continued along more runway.

Rail bed

Dan made his way out of the woods, and we could see him coming to cross the access road. Ken and I continued on ahead a little bit there, and then came to an old farm underpass below the railroad bed. I have a photo from 2002 of this site as well, but now it was much dug out and more visible, as well as more deteriorated than it was 16 years ago. We continued on from here along the edge of the field heading south.

At Trinca Airport

Soon, we came to the former crossing of Creek Road. We waited for Dan to catch up here.
On the opposite side of the road, it was cool to see the new section of official rail trail, owned by Green Township. In the past, this had been really overgrown, to the point where we would follow parallel fields. I had only walked through on this section continuously once before, my first time in 2002 when we bullied through it.

Creek Road crossing, 2002

It’s amazing to see how much different this site looks as well. The trees are all so much larger, even along side the roads. It looks like a totally different place.

The crossing today

Once Dan was with us, we continued on along the rail trail headed south. This was a really relaxing secton where we could make much better time.

Mile marker

It was disheartening to see that apparently while clearing, whoever was operating the machine doing the work had knocked down the old concrete mile marker.
This was the first mile marker we noticed on this hike. They’re more prominent from here all the way down to Belvidere, but I didn’t notice any prior to this.
Each mile marker has a “BD” for Belvidere and the mileage to that point, and an “MB” for Maybrook, giving it’s mileage. This was 20 from Belvidere, 52 from Maybrook.

Old battery thing

There was also another old battery site and some other sort of switch box or something in a heap along the rail bed, obviously also hit. They must have been indiscriminately pushing through to get it cleared.
Ken and I powered ahead and checked out anotehr old battery box site. We pushed on until we got to a point where a new kiosk had been installed along the trail and decided to wait up for Dan again. It was a nice spot with some good work, including history of the railroad and historic and new maps.

New information spot along the rail trail

It was this spot that the railroad bed used to get really bad. Originally none of it was trail and all of it was tough to bully through, but in more recent years up to here was clear.

On the rail bed in 2002

Green Township had cleared the right of way from their park area near the post office on to where the kiosk is, at which point another trail had been developed to their Twin Pines Park.

The rail bed

I think it’s called Twin Pines Park anyway. I’d still never incorporated it into one of my big hikes. My ex, Cathy and I walked through and explored it one time a while back.

At Trinca Airport, the rail bed.

When Dan caught up, we continued ahead, and the rail bed became grassier. A side path led into the recreation fields to the left, but we continued ahead as we entered a rather shallow cut. This was the area of where the station used to be in Tranquility.
I’ve done tons of hikes out of Tranquility. I usually start my varioution of this one at this point. Everything we had done so far was just the start to this. It was at this point that I realized it was going to be a rather long night. We had a long way to go.

Historic image of Tranquility Station

We passed by the parking lot for the post office and soon reached the crossing of Kennedy Road. We passed through a mowed area on the other side and then entered trees.

The station site today

The rail bed passes through an area with an old cemetery to the right and farm fields to the left. The signage further back made it look like this would be developed as trail.

The underpass near Trinca

This section was the one I really wanted to get done before dark. I knew we could handle everything else ahead of here if we moved along, but this spot had some weeds that would not be good to try to mess around with in the dark. It wasn’t as tough as what we’d done, but it would have sucked if we couldn’t see.
We made our way through this section without too much problem, although the rail bed was holding water rather more than it usually does. Eventually, we came out to Tranquility Farm Lane.

Fields above Tranquility

Beyond this, the rail bed is totally clear and I believe county property. We continued walking through the woods, which has lots of foreboding signage to stay out, but I know these are false.
The wooded section gave way to fields on teh right, and it didn't’ take long before we reached the old Allamuchy freight station.
There was once a passenger and freight depot at this point, but the passenger station was abandoned much earlier.

Historic image of Allamuchy stations

The station was in a bad state of disrepair the first time I’d seen it. Apparently local farmers were using it as a supplementary barn for storing hay from what I saw.

Allamuchy Station today

Using funds including Warren County Municipal and Charitable Conservancy Trust, the station was restored and looks great today.

The rail bed in Green Township

We continued across Johnsonburg Road on the clear right of way, surrounded by fields. Itw as starting to get dark at this point, but at least we were in the clear.
After passing through an area with some fields, we came to some wetland areas where the Trout Brook flows around the south side of the rail bed, and the Pequest River begins to come in from the north. We had our first crossing of the Pequest River in this area. It was on a concrete bridge with wide stanchion piers.

The rail bed in Green twp.

It wasn’t long after this point we reached Long Bridge Road. There’s a parking area that’s not allowed to be used any more there, because the fire department picks up water from the Pequest from it. We let Dan catch up again here, and we crossed the Pequest yet again on another concrete bridge.
After the bridge crossing, we had to turn right away from the rail bed briefly because it becomes too overgrown. We skirted fields to the right for a bit, then regained the rail bed at the Interstate 80 underpass.

The trail in Green Twp.

We walked beneath 80 and passed another farm. We then continued through woods and farm lands toward the Allamuchy Township new development area close to the municipal building. We passed the new connector trail built to be part of the Warren Highlands Trail, and then passed through the parking lot of the ball fields and such.
Just beyond the ball fields, it looked like they had done some work to make it into a “real” trail. It had signage and bollards or a gate or something. We passed on through.

The rail bed in Tranquility

The next bit is among my favorite parts. It’s wide open across the sod farm, and the stars can be seen very brightly. It’s not usually dark when we get to this point, so it was really somethin different.
The best bit of it is between Freeborn Lane and Young’s Island Road.
When we reached Young’s Island Road, there was a state park gate we walked around, and the rail bed got a bit more overgrown again. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad that we weren’t able to walk it easily. It did get a tiny bit overgrown, but not bad.

#72 in Allamuchy, January 1946

We continued parallel with the woods, with the sod farm lands to our right. We then passed by the fenced area to the right where there is some EPA test going on.

Poizin drink

I really don’t know what the business was that used to ber in this place.
The first time I did a hike through this area, it wasn't state park land yet. We followed the right of way, which was kind of tough to get through, and we had to knock weeds down with sticks. There was a guard on duty at the place, and so we skirted the chain link fence off of the railroad bed below, and then ran when we got to the clearing as not to be caught. A couple of years later the place was closed down, and we could walk right on by. There is something there now that makes compressor noise.

Near Tranquility

In the years to follow, EPA cleanup signs were posted around the area. The chain link fence remains, a building might have been removed, and we never see anyone there.
This time, things were a bit different. We had some down trees we had to get around, but ATVs have been keeping the right of way clearer. It's not getting a ton of traffic, and so we had a tougher time here than previous section, but not nearly as bad as up by Brighton. The other major difference was that they had put EPA test wells directly in the middle of the railroad bed rather than off to the side.

Old rail box thingy

This is state park land, and if they ever decided to make it a trail, that will make things kind of tough.
After passing over Industrial Lane, the access road, we could see over to the trailers and such where workers stay that at the sod farm at Alphano. We could hear music or something, and some lights were on. We continued across the old wooden bridge over the irrigation ditch that goes out into the sod farm. It had had planks put on it which makes walking it much easier. It's just a wooden tie bridge one could slip through if not careful, and by this point it was pretty dark.

Near Tranquility

I had never walked the sod farm section in the dark, and it was quite beautiful with the stars, so I was thankful for that anyway.
We had talked about stopping at Nykun's Store in Great Meadows, but they closed at 9 pm or something. It was closing just about the point when we got to the bridge as I recall.
We made our way beyond and into the wooded section ahead. This area used to be frightening back in the day too, because there was someone who lived "off the grid" in a trailer to the left of the right of way. We always hurried by, because the place had a driveway to it from Alphano Road lined with all sorts of "no trespassing" signs, and the guy had fake animal targets and such scattered out around the house.

The new kiosk in Tranquility

Today, that trailer is gone, and the road that went to it is pretty overgrown. You'd never have known anyone was ever living there so recently.

The rail bed in Tranquility

The rail bed emerged form the wooded section and was again in a swath of trees surrounded by fields again as we approached Nykun Lane. We crossed over and continued through another section of fields with trees lining the railroad bed.
Soon, houses started appearing to the left as we neared Great Meadows.
This was one of the last sections I was kind of worried about. People are starting to encroach on the state land by extending their yards onto the railroad bed.

In Tranquility

One family had put a horse shoe pit right into the middle of the rail bed. They've opened up the trees onto it, and so we were at a couple of points walking right onto the sod of their back yards. We hurried along, and when we got to the state access road to the Pequest Properties to the north, we turned to the left and headed out to Alphano Road. As not to be right along someone's yard, we walked just away from the intersection to the west. Dan was pretty far behind, so we decided to wait for him here.

Dan made his way behind the houses, and I directed him on how to get to where we would be. Somehow, he ended up stopping and started to go the wrong way along a back yard. Ken and I held back and called to him from the proper road so he'd know where to come up.
Ahead, the rail bed continues as state land I understand only to the middle of the bridge over the Pequest, a concrete structure like the previous ones, just ahead. Beyond that, it goes into some sort of private land I think and skirts the Island Draway drag race strip. It then passes under Rt 46 to reach the old Great Meadows Station.
We had to follow Aphano Road out across the Pequest River, then continue to the intersection with Rt 46. We crossed almost directly onto Cemetery Road and passed an old barn and silo we had climbed years ago, and then soon reached the old station. It is now home to Pequest Engineering, and well restored.

Historic image of Great Meadows Station

The owners of Pequest Engineering vied for Conrail to leave the rails in place at the station for ambiance when the rest were torn up in 1986, and they amazingly complied.

Great Meadows Station today

After getting a bit past the station, we headed over to walk the tracks. These were overgrown the first few times I went to walk them, but were cleared again in the years later.

The rail bed south of Tranquility

The swath of land is between Cemetery Road and Rt 46 closely at one point.
We continued walking until the tracks stopped, then continued through a bit of a cut, and reached the access road between Cemetery Road and Rt 46. Here, the railroad bed gets pretty overgrown.
There is a newer tract of land parallel with the rail bed, owned by the cemetery, just to the south, and I found a way of passing through there without having to bully through the weeds.

We walked down hill and into the grassy swath, where no bodies are yet interred.
We followed this to the end, and then cut up hill slightly and under a tree. From there, we turned to the right, a bit off trail but without a lot of undergrowth, and reached the somewhat clear LHR grade. We turned left on that, and followed it out to a private access road known as Hudson Lane.
This is an access to a sort of quarry area. The rail bed ahead is again totally overgrown, so we went through the gate to the left, and then turned right into a field. There are two abandoned campers out there at the end of the field section, which always make me nervous approaching because I forget all about them until I get there.

Dan south of Tranquility

At the end of teh field, there is another grade crossing of sorts, and we are able to step over a bit of a dirt pile to continue on the rail grade to the west. Just after this access, there are abutments of a former bridge overpass. Another cool thing in this area is yet another telltale. The only underpass to the east is Rt 46, and that's pretty high, so I'm assuming it's for that.
We passed into a little cut ahead, and we could see lights from businesses to the right. Some Autumn Olives and a few other weeds were along the edge, but none were really growing in all that bad that we couldn't make good time hiking through.

Historic image of Great Meadows Station during a steam excursion. Postcard I've had since I was little.

Dan fell behind a bit again, and so we waited up once more because we had a dangerous bridge crossing.

Great Meadows Station now

The bridge was a deck girder with rotten ties, spaced so that we could see down to the river. I've crossed this countless times, but I not very many times in the dark. It's always a bit of a challenge. Because there is no guide rail or girders to the right, moving too fast or tripping could mean falling to your death in the Pequest farther below.

Another historic scene of Great Meadows Station

Ken and I got across first, and then Dan followed. I was a bit nervous about balance so I walked back onto the bridge, but Dan handled it alright and we were off.

Great Meadows Station today

Just ahead of here, the rail bed becomes much clearer, and continues to get better as we approach the crossing at Townsbury. It enters state land again in this section.
I pointed out where we used to live on the Agape Farm with the Megaro Family up the hill from the right of way, and then we crossed the road to continue.

Great Meadows Station

Dan fell behind again here; he must have been tuckered out from the mess we went through earlier.
Ken and I powered ahead and crossed the driveway with the "100 mph" sign a mile from Townsbury, then continued west. We crossed over the Pequest again, this time on a decked through style girder bridge, and soon after crossed over the entrance road to the Pequest Trout Hatchery. From there, the right of way remains closer to Rt 46 for most of the way, and the ambient light form the highway is almost always present.

Historic image of Lackawanna Cutoff fill

We continued out to Pequest Furnace, where it ran along the back yards of a few homes before coming to the old furnace site where we were parked.

Pequest Furnace

The mileage came up to probably be more like 21 rather than 16 or 17.
After waiting a few moments, we realized we must have gotten really far ahead of Dan. His phone had died, and so we couldn't call to check his location.

Ken and I got into his car and slowly drove back and forth, east and west along Rt 46 from which we could see into the woods on the old rail bed, and we weren't seeing him. We went to the entrance to Pequest Trout Hatchery and waited there when we didn't see him before that, to see if we could see a light or anything down the tracks. I couldn't see anything. My phone was about to die, and I left him a message to get back to me to let me know he's okay. Ken then drove me to my car, and I turned back to look for Dan again on my own.
Fortunately, I got a text message that he made it back and was alright. I wasn't really that worried.

ham

It was overall a good hike, just quite a lot more tiring than any of us were counting on. Still, I'm glad that I was able to get back and see all of the changes from when I was there last so many years ago. I suspect that everywhere I revisit after a long time will give me similar feelings, and in a lot of ways I look forward to it. I mourn the loss of some places, and just find interest in the growth or decay, whatever it may be, of everything else around. I just hope my own body continues to feel 17 for a lot longer so this can go on into old age.

HAM