2/8/15 Pennsauken to Delanco with David "Captain Soup" Campbell, Jim "Uncle Soup" Campbell, Jen Berndt, Jack Lowry, Dan Lurie, Dan Lurie Jr., Sue Olivar, Serious Sean Dougherty, Lyz Hagenbuch, Ric Giantisco, John Huber, Betty ?, Nic Dejesus, Glenn ?, Michele Valerio, Omri Afir, Rob Creamer, Misha ?, Susie Duncan, and Lance Beden.
Group shot with view of Tacony Palmyra Bridge
Our next hike would be yet another in the NJ Perimeter Series, this time returning to where we left off on the previous one north of Camden and continuing the trek to the north. Previously, we made it to the Pennsauken Rt 73 River Line light rail station, walked to the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge, then headed on streets back to the rail line and walked to the station. This left off a lot of the true perimeter of the state, and so we had to pick back up where we'd left off, so our meeting point was the Pennsauken Rt 73 station.
Perimeter of NJ completed so far
It seems like there is always something more to these NJ Perimeter trips than we'd previously expected. Every one of them exceeds my expectations in terms of just how good they work out. This hike would be no exception. There was a lot to see and do, and we had a really great time. For me, it might have even been better than the glorious Camden trip we had done last month, which truly set the bar high.
The character of the southern Delaware River, above the bay but still within the tidal region, is an area with a good mix of development and parks. The land was always develop-able enough to support industries unlike the estuarine wetlands to the south, and so we find more ruins and more walkable ground. The thought that this was a continuation of the great time we had on the Camden North hike had me more excited for this one than I usually am.
It was surprising that I could not get anyone to carpool for this hike. Usually when I leave from Washington I have at least a couple people meeting up with me to go. This time no one. I wondered at first if this was a sign of low attendance again. It didn't worry me too much though; I knew there were people who just wouldn't miss this one.
When I arrived, I found only Captain Soup there waiting. We got together and he offered me an Oatmeal Breakfast Stout. Because I wasn't waiting on anyone, I arrived quite early, and the drive took me less time than usual as well. James was sitting in his car further back on the lot when we noticed him, and we strolled over to chat. While there, more people began to roll on in. The group grew pretty quickly. Dan, Dan Jr., and Sue were running a bit late, as was Jen, and they'd all meet along the way.
Just before pulling out of the lot, Captain Soup's keys had locked themselves in his car. He left the keys in the ignition, and that sort of thing is not supposed to happen, especially since he has a nice new 2014 car. His phone was also locked inside, so I let him use mine to call AAA for service. He'd meet up with us as soon as he could.
When most of us were together, we made our way out of the parking lot and onto Rt 543 north. We passed where Old River Road continued straight, which used to have it's own crossing over the Pennsauken Creek, and continued on the main road out to cross the same. Just before, there was a small rail yard to the left with a train parked out in it that seemed not to have been used in some time. About here, Dan, Dan Jr., and Sue pulled up to us to join. They were able to park their car along 73 and walk to us.
Historic view on Pennsauken Creek
We turned left on Rt 73 heading north, and crossed under the tracks where we'd crossed the Pennsauken Creek on the last section hike. We had now connected with that previous hike, and continued along 73 north. Captain Soup met up with us at a car dealership across the road. Once the Lurie Posse joined us, we were on our way further, and turned left onto the Palmyra Cove Nature Center entrance road and Tacony Palmyra Flea Market. I figured the market would be closed, but the weather was apparently good enough that it was open!
The flea market is set up in the lots for the former Drive In movie theater. The screens are still there, but that business has been closed. We headed along the road accessing the flea market, and a cop pulled up to us. This is of course a rather common thing for us, police always want to know what is going on because they're not used to seeing crowds of people walking the places we walk. I told him it was part of the Perimeter of NJ series, and he looked rather amused.
We moved on and entered the flea market, heading through a line to the left. Immediately, people were selling shit tons of socks for dirt cheap. I saw 12 pairs of socks for five bucks and had to jump right on that. Uncle Soup lent me the money for it initially because I had no cash, and Dan owed me for a tee shirt for Dan Jr. so I was able to quickly pay him back.
Serious Sean purchased a silly hat that read "OBEY" on it!
We then went by a line of mannequins with lovely female butts, and Serious Sean filmed going by them all. I started singing ZZ Top's "Tush". Jack joined right in on his carbon fiber guitar and we sang the song going on bay the rest of the vendors. It would have been nice to wander on through the rest of the flea market, but maybe we'll go back on another occasion. We kept to the left side, then cut through some weeds beyond a fence to get into some sort of disturbed area.
Hikers in the sand deposits
I remained ahead of the group walking along the roadway. There were no "no trespassing" signs but I'm sure it's not an area they wanted the general public. We made our way through and found a giant machine, some sort of rock crusher, along the left side of the path. I climbed up on top of the thing and looked on as everyone approached. Some of the others up closest to me at the front also climbed on it.
We made our way further along the road, and I missed where I had intended to turn off to the left. We passed an abandoned truck, then entered an open field area with another broken down old breaker machine to the right, and an enormous hollowed out log a few of us could fit inside of.
Hollow tree
Everyone else began climbing around and goofing off, so I took the time to go ahead and see if I could find where we'd need to turn next. I made my way out onto a narrow causeway with water on both sides. I figured it was the way and called everyone to join me, but not too far in I realized it was the wrong way as per my GPS, and we turned back.
These berms were all former dredge spoils, only they were abandoned a long long time ago. Many of the ones in this part of NJ dated back to the 1920s. I realize more all the time that dredge spoils themselves are also historic, and that they are a rather untapped historic resource. They are as much a piece of our industrial history as our roads and such, because they were necessary disposal places for the dredged material out of the Delaware River.
We headed back to the first open area we had gotten to, and started to cut along the edge of the field with views out over the dredge harbor to the right of us. We could see there was a line of trees that would have been the edge of the former dredge spoil, which we could follow. I could also see the foot bridges out there that we would be able to cross in order to continue around.
We reached the south side of the upper field area, then turned right, down to the narrow berm that headed to the west. I didn't know for sure if we'd be able to get out on this, but it was obviously used as an informal trail. We began to follow it through a wider area, and came across some nice wooden benches in a cleared area to the right. We were certainly now on the official trail.
We continued on the path, and while waiting up for the others, Jack and I sang a couple of songs. Making our way along the trail from here, we passed an upside down abandoned car, and then saw a really nice outlook of the Pennsauken River on a side path. I had to walk out to have a look. Tide was low and the shore was open enough for me to walk out and take some photos up and down stream.
Soon, we came to the first viewing platform, out onto the Pennsauken River at it's confluence with the Delaware. We walked on from here, and Jack and I started singing the Beatles song "Every Little Thing". This was a very lovely spot, and the Betsy Ross Bridge was just within view to the south. It helped to put it in perspective for me where we had been the previous time. While here, Jack and I sang some more songs, and I forgot when led to it, but somehow we broke into the rather obscure song "Chains", a Goffin/King number the Beatles covered on their first album in 1963. We walked on down the trail and continued the song until we reached the next overlook area, a dead end trail to the right to the interior of Palmyra Cove.
Songs at the cove
I don't recall what we sang next, but I'm sure it continued. We made our way further along the trail as it headed more to the north, to the confluence with the Delaware River, and a more unobscured view of the Betsy Ross Bridge, as well as the Delair Bridge beyond. The trail turned more to the east and we continued, now following the up stream Delaware River. The tide was low enough that we were able to walk along the shore of the river rather than on the trail for a closer perimeter walk!
Along the Delaware at Palmyra Cove Nature Center
While on this section, Susie and Lance joined us with Flip Flop (Zip Line). We continued to walk along the shore heading north, and the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge came well into view. Jen joined us along the river just ahead of here as well.
Dan pointed out at some point that the bridge looked like a Taco. After doing that, I cannot UN see a taco when looking at the bridge. He had been talking about burritos all day as well. It's as if he only comes on hikes in this area in hopes that he'll get burritos. Anyway, when the hike was posted, he created an epic image of the TACOny Palmyra Bridge.
TACOny Palmyra Bridge
We walked on toward the bridge, and then cut to the right to visit the Palmyra Cove Nature Center building, but it was closed. The building, probably to be 'cute', had Palmettos planted along it's walls. Of course, they are non native plants, growing in southern climates, but they probably thought it would be funny to have Palmettos in Palmyra.
We made our way back out to the shore of the Delaware, which at low tide was very easy to walk. We headed underneath the bridge and up stream with some more great views. There was a small stream flowing into the river we had to cross on the mud, but we did alright. A few other people strolled along the waterfront as we walked on by to the north. The area beyond the stream was called Eightmile Point.
Along the Delaware
We came to a point where there was an apartment complex with a swimming pool near to the water. We had to climb up here, and then walk inland along a paved pathway for a little bit, then turned to the left again on a section of grassy shore. We took a little break to let people catch up, and Flip Flop/Zip Line ran around, while Jon Wilson's dog Rigley was ready to bite anyone that pet it (Lance was walking Jon's dog, Jon wasn't with us this time).
We made our way from Palmyra to the area of Riverton. The shore was line with gorgeous old stone houses. It was quite a site to see. Omri ended up with Jack's guitar next, and was playing some REM tunes as we walked. "Losing My Religion" he broke into.
Nic plays some music for us!
As we walked along the low tide beach of the river heading sort of northeast, we were surprised with newcomer Nic, who ended up with Jack's guitar next and started playing another whole repertoire of music! I especially recall him playing a rendition of "More Than Words". I wish I'd remembered the words to those songs!
We continued on along the waterfront a bit further, and soon an interesting light house type building came into view to the left, at a long pier out onto the river. It turned out to be the Riverton Yacht Club building built in the late 1800s. At first I thought it might have been an historic looking reproduction, but such was not the case. In fact, this interesting and historic structure probably is considered a sort of light house, but it is not on any of the NJ light house tour guides.
Columbia leaving the Riverton Boat Club, 1898
It didn't look all that well used today, but it's apparently still operational. I'm sure it didn't look like much of anything with the tide so low. This was apparently once a very happening location.
Riverton Boat Club today
We walked on past it and were able to walk beneath the dock for it with the water so low. We continued on past the structure to where I got a good view of it, where I got my best comparisons with historical photos.
Riverton Yacht Club 1909
The access points to this club appeared even to be private. The back yards of houses came right up to the river, and if the tide had been at it's highest we'd have had to walk the nearest streets inland because we'd have been in the water.
Yacht Club
We continued past the last house, which had a gorgeous giant tree in the yard facing the river. Beyond that, there was a forest with ivies almost completely covering many of the trees. Somewhere along the way here, Omri found a snow shovel and started carrying it. He didn't carry it for long and Serious Sean picked it up. He ended up carrying the shovel for the entire remainder of the hike!
We soon reached the confluence of the Delaware and Pompeston Creek. The creek posed an obstacle for us, but since it was a warm day I wanted to see how deep it was to walk through. The others could go out to the nearest road bridge, Rt 543/River Road, and anyone that wanted to wade it with me could do so.
Shoveler Sean
Much of the group opted to wade. It wasn't so bad. Sean crossed soon behind me with his shovel. I said "He was a normal hiker until he discovered King Arthur's Magic Shovel, as an homage thing to The Flaming Carrot comics.
We hung out for a while for people to take their shoes off to cross, or to ring them out after they'd crossed. After everyone was about ready to go, we moved on along the waterfront. The others hadn't showed up yet, but I called Michele who told me that they'd had to continue on the road because there was too much private land to get back to us. They reached us by walking down the end of Randolph Ave.
Old pier
Lyz and Ric had gone ahead out onto an old pier that was partially still standing in the river. We all got back together there, and climbed around on the old pier. From this point, we continued on down along the riverfront heading northeast.
We continued on the waterfront until we reached Riverton Cove. The cove appeared to possibly have been a former dredge spoil as well, a much older one. There was some wooden dock work or crib work on the interior side that we passed, and we picked up a pretty good path. The path led parallel to the edge of the cover, then back out toward the river side on the other side with more wooden ruins of possibly docks below us. There was also some sort of beacon out on the water.
Taylor Farm Preserve Trails
We continued along the river side, and then reached a woods road, heading inland again around Wright's Cove, another possible former dredge area. The road had rather fresh tire tracks and was obviously driven rather often. Then, we came across a truck with two guys standing with it. At first I thought we were trespassing or something, but then they told us they were doing trail work for the Taylor Farm Preserve! They were cool guys, with cases of beer in the back, and very laid back. I told them what we were doing, and they said we wouldn't have any trouble walking on through.
We passed likely another dredge spoil site, off to the right of us as we came around the other end of Wrights Cove. There was a lot of junk out in those cove, old wood and other random stuff that had floated up during some storm. The wetland that was probably a former dredge spoil had a footbridge at it's outlet to the river and more trails headed off to the right parallel with us. We kept to the river front this time, and I figured we could come back another time to follow the other ones. We passed a large beacon on the left side at the end of the cove as we began to follow the river up stream once more.
View of Philly
The trail along the river probably wasn't one of the official trails. It sort of petered out, and there was a large field to the right. We made our way on a narrow berm that really wasn't fit for walking, and eventually had to step off of it. We made our way through the fields, and a few people out walking in it looked at us like we were nuts. We made our way past what might have been a vacant house on the left, then got back out to the river side. There were a few houses along Taylor lane, the access road to this area, but we kept to the shore line and stayed away from them.
We walked soon past a house right along the waterfront, and Captain Soup stopped to pee on a wall facing right toward the house. After he left, a couple of people with the look of dismay looked out the front door at us!
We continued along the shore, with all sorts of junk washed up. It got really bad when we reached Plum Point, at the southwest end of Dredge Harbor, another spoil area. The woods were full of all sorts of junk through this area.
Some sort of ruin heading out into Dredge Harbor
At the tip of Plum Point, a peninsula shot out with some old masonry ruins on it. The stones are sometimes under water, but it's obvious that they were laid out quite perfectly and must have been a part of an old wall of sorts. When these sort of masonry foundations go under water, the mortar does not last, but the stones often will remain in some sort of order, or they'll fall into piles of rubble but in an order as such that they are still recognizable as a ruin. I had grown used to seeing things like this from walking around Spruce Run Reservoir at work.
Hookery? NO Rookery!
At the end of the thing was a small island out in the Dredge Harbor. The harbor was farm fields as late as 1920s, and quarrying was done here in 1928. In 1930, the Army Corps of Engineers started dredge work on the ship channel in the Delaware River, and this area was apparently used as a dredge spoil area. We could still see some of the berms along the way that held back the sludge they dredged off the river.
The island before us, Lyz referred to as a "rookery", and I mistakenly through she said "hookery", much to her amusement. The island had tons of nests on it. These are nests for Great Blue Herons and Black Crowned Night Herons. We continued on along the shore here. The group split in two, with some of us going to the right on a woods road, and some going to the left. Lyz and Ric took the lead through the messy way to the left, which involved a muddier mess with tires and such, and even an abandoned boat. We made our way out of the woods and to a parking lot, then turned left on River Road through an area north of Cinnaminson, south of Riverside. Captain Soup tried three times to give Jen a piggyback ride, and failed each time with them humorously disheveled on the grass.
Dan had left us a bit earlier because he'd had enough of walking along the Delaware, but he was at the Bella Pizza cafe when we arrived! This was good timing for a lunch stop for sure, and even better deals.
Jen showcases Captain Soup's dimples at Bell Pizza Cafe
One of the best deals we've ever come across on a Metrotrails hike: $5 for two slices of pizza with any toppings, a large bowl of soup, and a drink! I could hardly believe it was true. I got two really good quality slices and some tasty soup. I also ended up finishing the pizza of others and I had someone's soup too. I left feeling totally stuffed and unable to move properly.
While there, I pestered poor Captain Soup probably worse than ever. When Jen was next to him I would put my arm around him so that he'd think it was her. I also started pole dancing with one of the support poles in the restaurant, and the girl behind the counter even wanted to get pictures.
We made our way out from here, and turned left on Norman Ave after crossing Swede's Run. This road took us to River Drive, where to the left was Amico Island Park, one of the side trips we'd need to take.
We turned left and headed into the parking lot for the preserve. The first trail went in to the left, and we kept to that to follow the perimeter of the island.
The last view of Philly on our hike
Some of this island appeared to have been dredge spoil as well, with it's high berms along the way. When we got to the western facing end of the island on Dredge Harbor, we got the last view of Philadelphia we'd likely see on our northbound perimeter hikes. We continued along the shore line on different colored trails, and got off of officially colored trails to get a little closer on tops of berms. There was a pond in the middle that was probably a dredge spoil, then a trail that went far out onto an east facing peninsula. This looked over the confluence of the Delaware River and the Rancocas Creek. The Rancocas looked to be as large as the Delaware at this point, which rather surprised me. We continued on the trails which led us back to the parking area where we'd first got on them.
We headed out and followed River Drive upstream along the Rancocas Creek. There was a grassy swath along the left side of the road which provided for a good greenway. When River Drive turned hard right at a ball field, we opted to split the group. We'd already covered the planned fifteen miles, but I wanted to see if we could get a few more in before dark. There was one more island section to the north that would take a while if we could get onto it, and so I wanted to see if we could work it out. It's called Hawk Island.
Much of the group continued on the roads while the rest of us followed the perimeter of the Whomsley ball fields, then headed through some sort of municipal road department lands or something. On the other side, we realized we were stuck inside a fenced area. We had to go to around and over the fence next to a gross waterway. I helped Jen over, and when Misha was climbing over I wasn't ready for her and she fell. I felt awful for not catching her! Fortunately she was okay, we we continued on along Monroe Street, joined once again by the rest of the group we'd left behind just before! We said goodbye yet again when we turned left on Fairview Street. We followed this to Polk Street and turned right, after several "FUCKIN A RIGHT JAMES K POLK" comments (see previous hike journals).
We followed Polk Street to Burlington Ave in Riverside, and passed a liquor store on the way where Captain Soup and maybe someone else made a stop. I didn't want anything but to continue and get as much of this perimeter section done as we could before dark. The road crossed over the Rancocas Creek on a lift bridge that had sort of a Pratt Pony Truss look to it, and then we turned left onto Rancocas Ave in Delanco. We followed this to a right turn at a boat marina place to a right on Orchard Ave. We went a block to Walter Ave and turned left, then right onto Delaware Ave. I thought maybe we'd access Hawk Island from here, but it was gated off and heavily posted. There were people's houses everywhere and really only a narrow area with which to access so we'd have to come back out the same way if we went in. We opted not to even try it, because neighbors were already noticing us going by and probably called the police all scared anyway (I had a cop catch up with me thinking I'd robbed someplace south of Camden last year). We turned right on Vine Street, left on 2nd Street, and left on Cedar Street to another Delaware Ave, this one actually on the Delaware heading up stream.
OBEY!
The sun began to set beautifully on the down stream Delaware as we walked up the road. There were nice, stately manor houses, one with large columns as we continued to the north on the waterfront. Many of the properties along the river here were private and were posted as such, and only a few were public access. When we could get closer for a better look, we did so. The road stayed right along the river to Lilac Lane, from which point we had to turn right a block, then go left on 2nd Street. We followed 2nd Street to River's Edge Drive and turned right, then left on Fenimore Lane. This looped around to an access out to Burlington Ave where we turned left.
Sunset in Delanco
We didn't go far till a left turn on Delview Lane. This was I thought just a stupid street loop we'd have to do that is extra miles, but better to get it out of the way. We headed up it, turned right sharply, then at the sharp right heading back toward Burlington Ave, there was a utility clearing heading east. I figured this was perfect. We got on the utility clearing which was very clear for a while. Unfortunately, the line ended at a stream that would be too difficult to cross. We looked up and down the stream for a better crossing but found nothing. We opted to bushwhack a bit to a clearing to the east, then make our way out on an old woods road.
The dirt road took us out behind someone's house along their garage. We just kept going and no one bothered us. We turned left again on Burlington Ave to continue along. After crossing the stream on the road, we cut to the left along the grassy swath behind apartments. They seemed to share a common yard so we could get away with walking across them. We continued on the slope, and ended up at the far north side of the partment complex with some views through the trees out on the downstream Delaware. We moved on from here to the right, at the north side of the complex, then turned right and headed south down the other.
It was getting much darker, but at this point we weren't really missing anything. We stayed in the grass behind apartments and could see some sort of crane or something at a business just beyond the fences of the apartments. We continued along the grass to the sidewalks back out to Burlington Ave. I went over the maps a few times and determined that from where we stood, the Delanco train station was just 0.1 mile closer than the Beverly station to the north. We opted to shoot for the closer one.
We turned back to the right on Burlington Ave and went for the death march back toward the station at Delanco. We continued back to a left turn on Maple Ave, then a right on Hickory Street which paralleled a ball field park we couldn't even walk across. We turned left on Cooper Street, then right on Pennsylvania Ave to reach the train station. The train had just come as we were getting back and we had missed it, but it didn't matter, the trains come often enough that we're alright.
I went to check some of the historic markers while there (this was the former Camden and Amboy Railroad, first civilian passenger railroad in the US completed in 1832.). We hung out until the train came and had a relaxing ride back to our cars at Palmyra/Rt 73 station to close out the day. I didn't feel like eating at the end because I'd stuffed myself so bad, so we all pretty much went on our way.
With the extra mileage we had covered on this hike, we made up for the less we had done on the Camden North hike, so things are still going along wonderfully as planned. Soon, all of my full day hike perimeter sections will be complete, and the only thing to do will be to tie up those loose ends we hadn't done before. It's looking more and more like we will indeed complete the perimeter series by the end of 2015!
No comments:
Post a Comment