Hike #834; Belvidere and Martins Creek Loop

Hike #834; Belvidere and Martins Creek Loop

3/19/15 Belvidere and Martins Creek loop with Justin Gurbisz

Justin at the abandoned farm

The next hike would be another night hike, rather quickly planned, and altered with even more haste for better conclusion.

My stress level was still high from the events of the previous weeks, with work and my health. I had the big 18  year anniversary hike the coming Saturday and had to go to the hospital for a CAT scan the next morning. Alyssa Lidman was back from college and she brought up doing a hike, so I figured a rail bed trip around Belvidere would be good because her parents had just moved to nearby Hope NJ. I prepared two options for a hike there and posted it.

Unfortunately, Ken and Alyssa, who were originally signed up, backed out at the last minute. Fortunately, Justin also signed up at the last minute. Justin and I can definitely cover some more crazy stuff than I can with most any other group, and I immediately had another hike in mind that I'd been wanting to do, but I wouldn't try it without someone like Justin.

My plan was to loop from Belvidere south to Martins Creek, and return on the old Bel Del Railroad. The southerly route would give us the opportunity to check out some of the abandoned quarry operations at Martins Creek. I thought Justin might like the route too because of some of the industrial stuff, the power plant, etc. He was up for it, and so off we went.

We parked on Water Street, Belvidere, and walked through town, stopping first for drinks, then across the Belvidere Riverton Bridge. I've done all of this so many times it's like second nature to me. We powered through this section, and on the Riverton side headed into the Lower Mount Bethel Township Park where the trail led us into the Martins Creek PP&L Tekening Preserve (Tekening is a Lenape word that means "In the woods"). We followed the shore closest to the river bluffs, with views of Four Rift, most dangerous spot on the Delaware, and down toward the power plant.

Martins Creek PP&L

Justin was surprised at how close we were to the power plant well before we were even as close as we would get. I knew he would be blown away by how close the parking lot is to it at Depue Ferry Road. We got to that point, and the stacks towered above us. We turned right across the lot and continued on the Lower Mount Bethel Township Recreation Trail. I think it's funny that the sign on the trail warns of rugged treadway while the trails in Tekening are actual hiking trails, not this crushed stone aggregate thing they have outside the preserve.

The trail led up along the road, then crossed to parallel the road going to the boat launch on the other side of the power company. Justin ran across that road from the trail to check out all of the Gulls going crazy on a retention pond. They were flying around like mad, so I got it on video. We continued from there along the trail and descended to Oughoughton Creek, where the trail crosses on concrete cylinders. The water was too high to be crossing those this time, and so we used fallen trees just up stream to continue across.

Crossing

The trail headed back up hill over wooden board walk things and then paralleled Martin's Creek-Belvidere  Highway heading west. The trail weaved around a bit remaining at least fifteen to twenty feet off the road at most times, so it was nice. It then turned left to follow Del Haven Road to the community of the same name, then turned right to the ball field park there. This had been the furthest I'd gone in this direction in the past. My plan from here was to continue trying to follow the river.

The excitement of something new was something I needed to free my mind up here, to help focus on other things. During the course of the week, things came to a head at my work, and I told my co workers and county via e mail that I would not be attending a trail meeting that week, and I would no longer be doing any volunteer work on trails due to my conflicts at work and with the Union. My superintendent received a string of e mails after that which was apparently a big problem, and it turned into a meeting with my Supervisor who was causing some of my issues. I refused in the meeting to do any further trail stuff outside of my job due to my schedule conflicts. By the end of the day, things were smoothed out, and my buddy Darryl offered to change up the schedule so that I could continue with my hike plans for the whole Summer. Part of the catch was that I had to call the Union back up and repeal the grievance I put in regarding issues at work.

In addition, the promotion to Maintenance Specialist and the raise that goes with it were offered to me, which I accepted after my terms were met. I still don't know what to think of it, and I'm waiting for further retaliation, but for now things were looking a bit better. Stress level was still high though thinking of what was going to happen with the CAT scan the next day.

Old house in Del Haven

We walked along Del Haven Road all the way to it's end, passing one historic stone building that might have been associated with the ferry. The road turned up hill to the right, but there was a cut through we could use to get over to the next development, to 2nd Terrace. This became Hillendale Road as it started up hill out of the second development there. We followed it along, then passed the last house on the left followed by a stream crossing. Just after this, we hurried off the road and onto farm fields heading west.

We soon were out of sight of the road. I stopped feeling as paranoid at this point. We continued along the field, and gained some elevation to a height of the land where we were afforded some nice pastoral views. There didn't seem to be a good way down through the trees from this height, so we kept to the fields, skirting a wide bend in them to the far west side. From here, I could see old silos and what appeared to be an abandoned farm house through the trees. We descended here through the trees to reach a farm road below, with two large crop cage things along the edge. We turned left on the road and reached some farm ruins and a silo, as well as a barn foundation ruin. We made a corner down to another road level along a wash.

Washes are mostly common out west, seasonal creeks that are usually dry but can be quite strong during heavy runoff. There was another old barn and one with several garages reaching very close to the wash area.

House ruin

There were several more buildings than I anticipated finding. Small out buildings all over. We wandered around, but would not have the time to go through all garages and such. It was going to get dark and we had to find our way through the quarry property beyond, and I figured we'd need at least a little light to find our way through the network of paths there.

The main house was just a ruin; the masonry frame of a once large farm house. There was a small out building with a good roof on it next to us, and a basement with a strange stair case that made it's way down at such an angle that the stone and brick construction of it looked like it had collapsed that way. It of course had not collapsed, it was strange construction. We headed over to the house and made our way into it's crumbling frame. I tried not to touch the walls after the first one release a bit of stone and mortar. I didn't need a huge building to come tumbling down on me. I remembered how that had happened with the ruins of the Bowerstown Mill in Washington, and killed a young boy.

Inside the building frame I could see little wood remaining, but a few pieces were still exposed in the walls. This building was a burn victim. The charred boards were only visible where it was partially covered by stucco and such. I first I thought it might have been something from after abandonment, but then I found similar wood remnants on the opposite side, proving that this was probably a much larger fire that gutted the building. Most wood from the floor area has long since rotted away.

Farm house ruin

We exited the building and went around to the opposite side for a better view. The up hill portion must have been a main entrance, though there was definitely a road below it too. Part of the building was of cinder block construction, and ugly compared to the nice old stones. It still had an awning on the porch.

I wanted to hang around this site and explore more, but it was getting dark and I was not at all sure what we'd be facing ahead. We had to make a move in order to get to the other side of the quarry property, which started here. There was an ATV path heading down toward the river, and so that would be our route. The old road on the other side of the wash out continued and must have been the old road going into Del Haven, which we could no longer access on private land.

We followed the ATV path heading down to the river and found a lovely little spot next to the water. It would be great in the Summer time for swimming. We then headed along the path parallel with the river down stream. The area became even more attractive to me for Summer adventures with the discovery of two rope swings.

Rope swings!

The ATV path continued a good while along the river. We stayed with it, as it made it's way into a seasonal flow area of the river, and then back up to the slope. We got to where there was an outflow to the first quarry full of water. We didn't really see this quarry, but we headed up hill, off trail to the next woods road path above. We then turned left to follow it west. There were old building ruins along this road, made of brick and such. We continued on the road which ended up reaching a more active paved road in an open area. Overhead utility wires showed that this area was still occasionally used. Additionally, there were overhead wires that appeared to be active. We continued left on the road and could see tire tracks, though not very recent, in the melting snow.

Quarry ruins

We didn't go far before we found more ruins to the right. We headed toward them and found one small building and three tall concrete towers. We passed the small building and found a concrete structure that appeared to have been dug into rock, or carved from a larger rock. Upon further inspection, we realized there was once a larger building here, but much of it had collapsed to oblivion. There was a giant bucket thing, and we noted a ladder/stairway laying on the ground with large trees growing through it. We made our way over to the three stone towers.

Justin noted that this was very old concrete. The existence of re bar in the material was little or non existent. He noted the large size of stones used in the mortar mix, and knocked off one very large piece protruding from a standing bulk of the stuff. There didn't appear to be any way into the concrete things. One had a hole in the bottom, and Justin got down to go in but could find not ladder to access. We wandered around a bit before heading back out. While leaving, I noted a ladder stuck to a piece of wall that went no where, which further justified that this was part of a much bigger structure that had crumbled to near nothing.

Quarry deck

We walked down the main road and I noted a side road to the right, recognizing it as about where we would access the quarry. Kids have swam in the quarry for years, but with the darkness falling I wouldn't be able to find my way around perfectly. I was right, this was the point I wanted to get to. We walked on along a metal cat walk along the top of steep quarry walls, then climbed through a cut hole in barrier bars to a steep stair case down to a platform close to the water of the long abandoned quarry. This was a nice, surreal place to take a little break. The quarry walls on the other side were much steeper than where we were standing, but the ones close by were still impressive. I didn't want to hang around too long because there are security cameras in place there. It was all over the Express Times rather recently that cameras were in place to catch illegal ATV riders who make their way into the quarry. Several people had been caught riding or swimming there in the Summer time. With Justin and I, I wasn't too worried about being caught because certainly no one could catch the two of us, but where we were sitting there was no other way out.

We made our way back up the ladders to the access road, and then continued out toward the town of Martins Creek. We could see lights on the buildings ahead, which at first I thought might have been an active building in the quarry facility, but then I remembered there was an active Con Agra facility along what used to be the Uhler Branch of the Lehigh and New England Railroad, which I'd hiked through with Tea Biscuit in 2003 I believe it was. We continued toward the main gate to the place, but cut off on the side road to the left with a couple more ruins, then came out at the side of the railroad tracks, former Bangor and Portland Railroad and later Lackawanna branch. This line travels north to connect with the old Lackawanna main line in Portland PA, passing through Ackermanville area, then Bangor and Johnsonville on the way. We turned left on it to head across the Brainards-Martins Creek Bridge.

The walkways along the sides of this bridge were in good shape, and now they were on both sides. I remembered only one side having such walkways in the past. On one side, the walkway extended only partially over the bridge. This time it was certainly changed.

The bridge on a hike in 2002

We got across the bridge, and there was a car coming down the street in Brainards. It was dark and we probably weren't very visible, but just in case it was any kind of security we hurried off of it and onto the tracks heading to the north. The town of Brainards owed it's existence really to the quarry. The bridge was originally built with a walkway so that workers in the quarries could get to work from NJ.

We continued up the tracks with more old quarry stuff off to the right side. We then found a backpack in the middle of the tracks, which was strange. We started going through it, and nearby there was some sort of inspector's jacket that had the name "Cole" on it. It looked as though it would fit Justin, so he grabbed it. This thing was probably stolen from somebody and sifted through on the tracks before being discarded. Many of the zippers wouldn't open, but someone had gone through it by cutting the inside separators to get to the other pouches.

Justin's new shirt

We continued along the tracks heading north from there. The railroad was secluded at first, and the first light we really came across was that of the station on the Delaware where the pumped storage for Merril Creek Reservoir is. Despite the dark, we were able to see with the little amount of reflective snow that was on and along the rails. We continued to cross the bridge over Buckhorn Creek, then descended from the tracks to River Road into Hutchinson.

I had never walked through Hutchinson. Technically, this was a little more of the NJ Perimeter I had never done. The road goes slightly closer to the river here than the railroad which I've walked many times. We headed down past a closed bar called "The Hutch". We would have gone in for laughs if it was open.

I recently found out that the town of Hutchinson is named for part of my family. I am descended from a Jane Hutchinson who married I think it was my Great Great Great Great Grandfather, Edwin Allen (My great great grandfather was also named Edwin). Jane Hutchinson was one of the daughters in the town of Hutchinson, who moved to Delaware when she married into the Allen family. Through the Hutchinsons, I've been able to trace my family to living on Morgan Hill (where my brother Tea Biscuit lives, ironically) prior to the American Revolution, and then further back a couple of generations in Germany.

We walked through the village of Hutchinson along the river. I thought to call my new friend Bob Shandor Jr, who I'd been working with to develop Warren Highlands Trail over his property. He lives in the most interesting house in Hutchinson, on high stilts. Matt Davis, Bill Hann, and I had had a meeting with Mr. Shandor there regarding the trail somewhat recently. I thought I might call him to pay a visit, but then figured I wouldn't bother him just yet. We had a long way to go.

We continued through Hutchinson on this little road, passing mostly newer riverfront homes, but also a couple of much older ones. I wondered if they  might have been the homes of my ancestors, which I'll probably never find out. Throughout this entire stretch of a couple of miles, not a single car went by us. The road turned away from the river when we reached the Roxburg Station area, a former stop on the Bel Del Railroad. We ascended back to the tracks at this point and continued north. There was a junction here with the Roxburg Branch, which crosses the Delaware to access the power plant. We continued on the tracks up stream from here. Sometimes the shelf was so narrow that the edge of the ties touched right to the vertical drop off toward the river. I had forgotten how steep this shelf was, as it had been years since I'd walked it.

We could see the lights of the power plant rather clearly through this section, which was very eerie. We walked on past one house on the left side of the tracks, quietly as not to disturb whatever hermit might live there, and continued to the former village of Foul Rift. Most of the homes were messed up in floods, and were then torn out. The road still passed under the tracks and went closer to the river. I'd already followed that on a previous hike, so there was no need to go down there again. We both felt a bit of a shock when a single car went down the road parallel with us, to where there were really hardly any homes remaining. It was just strange to see a car go by after so long with no one around.

Martins Creek PP&L

We passed Chimney Rock to the left of the tracks, which stands solitary and once had a satellite on top, now gone, and we had some fantastic views of the eerie lights of the Martins Creek PP&L plant. We continued on the tracks heading north. There were a few homes to the right of us as we walked, but we were mostly in the dark. There was only one house as I recall to the left of us, then we were in the dark again as the hillside to the right gained elevation. The loud water of Foul Rift was always audible on the way to Belvidere.

It seemed so much longer to me than it should have been to get to Belvidere. I kept waiting to see where the former Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad broke away to the right. The last time I walked through from the south, the tracks of the LHR line were still connected to the Bel Del, but very recently they had been cut off. I was looking for the junction site, and couldn't quite see it, but then I remembered there used to be a tower to the left, so I started looking for the foundation. When I saw the foundation, I looked harder to the right and then saw the tracks of the LHR gaining elevation and turning away. We were much closer now.

We continued walking north into Belvidere, across the bridges that span every road along the way. We then continued past the former siding to the creamery, and my grandfather's lot. Justin knew where we were now too, as he'd hiked this with me in September.

Belvidere Station war train in 1917

We passed the platform to the old Belvidere Station next, right next to the road bridge, and continued to the bridge over the Pequest River and Water Street. We hurried over as not to be seen and have a problem, then descended fast to the road. It was only a few blocks to the east from here to where we had parked. I was getting pretty tired after all of the walking, but it was great to get this particular hike done, because I'd had it in the back of my head to do for so many years now.

We'd made the best of the situation and discovered some interesting ruins that might merit some future exploration. It never ceases to amaze me how many more interesting places there are still so close to home.