Hike #835; Warren Railroad

Hike #835; 18 Year Anniversary Warren Railroad

Group shot

3/21/15 Warren Railroad with Matthew Davis, Gregg Hudis, Dan Lurie, Jen Berndt, Shelly Janes, Jamie Becker, Christopher Brooks, Joshua Kenneth, Justin Gurbisz, John J. Edmonds, Larry Philips, Scott "Tea Biscuit" Helbing, Amanda Lance, Stephen Argentina, Russ Nelson, Beth Dillenbech, Joe Tag, Seth Gollhardt, Serious Sean Dougherty, Lyz Hagenbuch, Ric Giantisco, Andrew Ward, Rich Pace, Eric Pace, Fred Hafele, Susyn Mihalasky, Glenn Rothman, Lynn Hummel, Russ "Lord Byron" Rapp, Ken Lidman, Alyssa Lidman, Terri Allen, James DeLotto, Bobbie Landrock, Bob Sidoti, Daniel Lurie, Sue Olivar, Marion Barbeto, Michele Valerio, Al MacLennan, Angela Guinta Williamson, Dan Asnis, Mark Norman, Brandan Jermyn, Samantha Lynn Schosselberg, Jamie Van Blarcom, Mark "Bobo" Godfrey, Jack Lowry, Susie Duncan, Chris "Cupcake" Kroschinski, Mary Sarah Agliotta, and "Major Tom" Conroy.

group shot

It was time once again for our annual Anniversary Warren Railroad hike. This hike marked eighteen years since I started leading these hikes, and it would be the 19th annual Warren Railroad hike. It really doesn't seem possible that we could have been doing this for so long.

The day before, we had gotten a bit of a snow storm which dumped a couple of inches on us. This would be the most amount of snow on the ground that has ever been present when doing these hikes. I figured that it would put a serious dent in the number of participants, but I was delighted that we still ended up with 53 participants.

I also did not put as much effort into planning this hike this year for several reasons. First, we did not have a place set up ahead of time to have the Annual Hikers' Hootenanny. Usually, I have a party to go along with this hike, but it wasn't until two weeks prior that my mom got us permission to have the hootenanny at Scotty's Stadium Pub in Washington. The bar was certainly not my #1 choice for where we could have this event, but it was conveniently located in Washington, and I needed to do something. Second, my issues at work were coming to a head and a lot of my time had to be spent writing rebuttals to outrageous claims. I was up for a promotion, but if it could be justified not to give it to me, someone else would be promoted and transferred to my work place, and we'd have another body there. As this time neared, I received papers making ridicules claims regarding my work, and I was told I would have to work weekends. I had to reach out to the Union and step back from all trail related stuff that was not part of my regular job after receiving these notes, and dug my heels in to get my way. I put up with a lot of crap and just let it happen, and so more of it keeps coming my way, but when my livelihood is at state I strike back. Things somehow worked out and my schedule was restored, mostly thanks to a friend at work who stepped up to diffuse the situation. In personal life too, craziness from the past was still haunting me, and there are a couple of people who just wanted to bring me down. My circumstances were making it harder for me to be excited about it all until things started to improve.

When the improvements started coming, we had a monthly Metrotrails meeting and discussed some things coming up. I felt a lot lighter; I should have known that things would work out at work. Every issue surrounding me was really pretty crazy and not worth fussing over. I didn't expect that so many people would be attending the hike, but there were still some great people from all walks of life coming out worth being excited over. As the day drew near, a snow storm hit and dropped a few inches on Warren County. I figured attendance would be far lighter than the past few years, maybe thirty at best. I was delighted and surprised when 53 participants attended.

As usual, we met at Port Colden Mall. I arrived earlier to sign people in and such, and the first one I saw to show up was none other than the administrator of the largest abandoned railroad forum group on Facebook, with over 14,000  members: Russ Nelson. Russ and I had become friends on Facebook with my constant posts on abandoned rails, and he was doing very similar explorations in up state NY where he's from. We further bonded over the interest in historic canal routes, and he inspired me to start a similar group dedicated to the documentation and sharing of canal material, and I made him an administrator on it.

The social media scene for Metrotrails has grown incredibly within the past couple months before this hike. The meetup group had reached 1,050 members, which was much higher than average. The Facebook page has over 1,500 'likes', and the Metrotrails Extreme Hiking and Exploring group was now up to over 1,000 members. I suppose it's not so surprising that participation has been rising as well.

More and more people began to show up. Friends old and new came up to greet me as they always do. There were a few newcomers as usual, and some great old friends I was delighted to see like Fred Hafele, Glenn Rothman, Susyn Mihailasky, and Lynn Hummel. Even Russ "Lord Byron" Rapp showed up again with us for the first time in a couple years. We actually had the entire Metrotrails Board of Directors this time, and there were of course old friends who usually make it out every year at least for this one.

While waiting in the parking lot, Russ demonstrated how his quad copter camera drone worked and video taped us all gathering, which was pretty cool.

Like in recent years, I met the group doing the entire hike at the Port Colden Mall, and those doing the abbreviated version met at the Oxford Central School. Each group would handle their own car shuttles to head to the start in Delaware. This year, my brother Tea Biscuit showed up with his camper he'd just bought for $500 to use it to shuttle everyone to the start. This was exciting and rather crazy! There were nearly twenty of us that crammed into the camper to head north, and while driving the thing felt like it was going to tip over!

Tea Biscuit's RV ride

When we arrived at the parking lot in Delaware, comments were made about how it seemed like people would never stop getting out of the camper. It must have looked insane. There was already a great group ready to go at the parking lot. Fortunately, the snow was not too deep as to keep people from parking there. I greeted everyone and gave others time to catch up. It's always a terribly slow start on this hike, and even when we do start, there's a lot to see and do in the first segment.

I went over the history of what we've been doing the past 18 years, and how this was the 19th annual Warren Railroad hike. I was also able to add a bit more into it from what I've found out more recently. I have always told the group of my family history relating to the town of Delaware, how my great Grandfather, George Prall Allen was born there, and his father Edwin owned the sawmill. He lived in a family house next to the rail bed, and built another in retirement. His father was Michael Cline Allen, also involved in the lumber business. I had always knew these family names, but I did not know anything any further back until more recently with my promoting of the Metrotrails pages and posting on several Facebook groups. In the Knowlton and Blairstown page, I met a man named Bill Kelly who was working on family history, and I found out a whole lot more. The history really blew me away.

Michael Cline Allen married Sarah Jane Burd. Miss Burd was a granddaughter of Henry Albertson, a prominent land owner in Delaware in the early 1800s. Albertson sold all the land needed for the Warren Railroad to John I. Blair in the early 1850s from his death bed. It was a great revelation to me that my Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather was once the owner of a good portion of the railroad right of way I so love to hike. Through the genealogy done by Mr. Kelly, I found that I am of Dutch descent, and my family can be traced to one Nicholas Albertson who was living in the Dutch section of Nassau County, Long Island. He moved with seven children in 1734 to Hunterdon County NJ and worked as a wheelwright. Upon the death of the father, most children moved north to Warren County.

We began our hike, heading past where the Delaware Station used to be. I stopped everybody because I forgot to mention the history thing, then we moved on.

Here I am talking about stuff

We passed where the railroad station used to be, and continued along the lot heading south. The group was huge, and some of them went out to Rt 46 rather than cut across the back of the Sanico place like I always do. My brother Bobo and Stephen took off running like mad, which probably was not a good idea for Bobo considering he'd just drank like three cups of coffee. He is quite the caffeine addict.

Delaware Station

We soon reached the Clarence Road bridge site and paused for our group picture. This year it was probably the most difficult since we've been doing this because it was so slippery. Delotto showed up in his car just in time to jump in on the photo. We then continued along the rail bed, which had new "no trespassing" signs in place that were never there before, out to Smiddy's Deli and Liquor store. Mary Sarah met us there, and the owner of the store was very happy to see us come through. We'd been stopping in this place every year now for 18 years, and he took it over I think in 2002. We chatted a bit, and I remembered the first time they were in there when we passed by. They seemed sort of shocked, but they've been really good to us letting us all use the restroom for years.

At Smitty's

It took a while for everyone to use the restroom before moving on. It always does. We hung out for probably forty five minutes and eventually others continued ahead to the south. I hung back until everyone was out of the restroom before moving on. We then continued along the right of way past where my family used to live, and then crossed over the road where the bridge used to be. As we left Smitty's, Blair's Knob, the rock outcrop behind us was in plain view. I hope that one day we can visit the view, which is now on private land, and maybe the site of the home of my ancestors.

We continued on the right of way past the "A Rock" on the shelf, then beyond toward Ramseyburg.

Bobo felt sick and had to head home. Tea Biscuit told him to take the camper, but he couldn't handle even that, and his dad, Big Mark had to come and pick him up.

Shrub of Might

Next, we reached the "Shrub of Might". Since 1997, on  hike #2, we have been running up the hillside of shale to get behind a shrub (and actually two trees) as a sort of fun activity. There was more snow on the ground this time than there has ever been for this event, and so I figured because of that, and the fact that I was wearing a rather nice suit, I wouldn't try it. I probably wouldn't be able to make it with all the extra snow anyway. But when we got there, I couldn't resist the urge to try. Even with my fancy loafers on my feet, which had absolutely no tread, I managed to climb the hillside and reach the shrub. I was terribly out of breath and felt dizzy when I got up there, but felt accomplished, unwilling to surrender to any weakness. This was the turning point in the hike for me. Despite everything that was bringing me down, as I looked down at my friends applauding for me, I felt completely uplifted.

Serious Sean soon came dashing up the hill behind me. It was not surprising to me that he would be the other one to make the attempt. I think a couple others tried after we continued on too. I managed to slide down without crashing into the tree. One of these days that dangerous ascent will end up bad I'm afraid. I shifted to spin to my right as not to hit the tree when I got close.

Ramseyburg homestead

We descended to Ramseyburg, where we could see the old Ramsey homestead. The building used to sit where the railroad was, but was moved in 1856 during it's construction. The house has been beautifully restored in part with grants from the Warren County Municipal and Charitable Conservancy Trust, which I sat on when it was awarded.

Ramseyburg House on the Anniversary Hike in 2005

It's a stunning difference today from what it looked like when I photographed it exactly ten years prior.

We continued on the other side along the right of way heading toward Manunka Chunk. It was a nice long stretch where the group ended up quite split. I tried to hold everyone off at the tunnels to be sure those going over the top rather than through would have someone to guide them. We had many with us this time who knew the way over very well.

Manunka Chunk Tunnels

We started heading through, and everyone sort of scattered to get to the other side. There was actually less ice in the tunnel than there was last year, and to my greater surprise less water than has been in the tunnel almost ever. The water in the tunnel usually comes up to about my shins, but this time it was almost dry for most of it. It never really came above the ankles. I think one year it was low enough that we walked through without getting wet at all, in the 1990s, but not since.

Manunka Chunk Tunnel

We made our way out the other side, and then continued through the cut to where Catherine's Run spills into the right of way. Rich was waiting there to take photos of us all coming out. When the railroad was in service, there was quite a complicated flume system that carried the water away from the tunnel, usually keeping the right of way quite dry.

Diesel coming out of Manunka Chunk tunnel in it's later days

There were several floods over the years to hit the Delaware Valley, some of which caused very major damage to the right of way. There was the Pumpkin Flood of 1903, which devastated much of the valley and swept away major bridges, but the flood that was more documented as being horrible for Manunka Chunk was the one in 1913. It swept away much of the junction site at Manunka Chunk station on the north side, and turned the cut into a river on the south.

Today, the flume system that carried Catherine's Run has collapsed completely, but the wood from the structure can still be seen in the creek, and we use two of the boards from it to get us across the same just up stream from the tunnel area.

1913 flood at Manunka Chunk

It took everyone a while this time to get across the planks because it was so slippery. Delotto, myself, and Matt helped to get people over safely. Once here, I gave a few the option of cutting a corner, walking ahead to remain on the rail bed, while the rest of us headed up hill to the fields of Beaver Brook Wildlife Management Area. In past years, I went in ahead and cut a route through, but this year I did not do so, so we ended up doing a bit of a bushwhack to reach the fields.

Once we were up there, it was fine, and we managed to continue through to the woods road leading out to Upper Sarepta Road. We continued to the overlook area where we had a moment of silence for the group members we've lost. In the past year, we lost one more past hike participant, Mr. Howard Lane of the Scranton/Wilkes Barre area.

View in Beaver Brook WMA

We continued down hill from here, directly across the fields with the views of Mount No More and farmlands near Belvidere. We skipped going over to the abandoned farm we visited last year because there was just too much snow and it seemed we were already running behind. We made our way to the woods road that led us soon parallel with the ledge of the old quarry to the west. I pointed out to Russ that with the snow on the ground we could make out a rail right of way accessing the quarry. That spur section is visible where it crossed Ledge Road further beyond. We reached Sarepta Road and turned right to get back down to the right of way. Susie and Jack joined us at this point, and we continued on along the right of way within Jenny Jump State Forest to the south.

When we reached Rt 519 after Hope Crossing, at the old Bridgeville Station, some followed 519, while the rest of us continued on the right of way to cross the sand quarry. We made our way around the outside to the north more this time because it appeared more work had been going on. ATV tracks went through adjacent farm fields. We followed these and headed off to the other side, eventually descending back to the right of way. It didn't take long from here before we reached Hot Dog Johnny's. We slid down the hill and got in quick to get some hot dogs.

While hanging out, Jack started playing guitar, and as usual, I started singing along.

Singing "Come Sail Away" at Hot Dog Johnny's

I don't know what we were doing first, but people weren't really into it. I can't remember. But then, we started doing the Styx song "Come Sail Away". People started getting into that. My voice was surprisingly not totally shot at this point, despite my respiratory issues, and I could pull off most of it, and covered the high harmonies on the chorus. The entire place started singing alone, which was quite entertaining. When we got to just about the end of the song, the lady from behind the counter came out and asked us to quiet down because she couldn't hear the orders. At least it wasn't as bad as the previous year when Justin and Lerch's rooftop shenanigans got them to the point where they didn't want any of us there at all!

One girl behind the counter was very interested in the hike we're doing, and really liked the music.

Along the Warren RR

We continued on from here, many following the road to regain the railroad bed, but I dashed across and up to the right of way directly. This was right after someone had asked me what we were up to; he didn't think we could seriously be hiking in suits (several of us had them). He must have thought I was nuts running up through the woods like that.

We made our way out to Buttsville where we crossed Rt 46 and continued across the Pequest Viaduct.

Pequest Viaduct before the LHR was torn up in 86

I pointed out to Russ that the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad, abandoned in 1986, was just below us. That section too is in Pequest Wildlife Management Area. We crossed the three arch concrete span over it and the Pequest River and then continued through the WMA on a shelf above the other line, parallel with the river. A few had left the group by this point, but the rest of us moved foward toward Oxford.

I pointed out again, as the old Warren RR turned right through Pequest Cut, where the spur line, the furnace railroad went off to the left toward Pequest Furnace. Russ took notes on a small recorder he had of where these different locations were, which was pretty cool. He puts a lot of the stuff into "open street maps" for people to look over.

Pequest Furnace

Pequest Furnace

Ahead, as we left the Pequest Cut, I forgot to mention to him where the other branch of the Pequest Furnace Railroad came in to join the southbound old Warren Railroad. I did mention to Russ that I suspected the original line might have followed this route instead of going through the Pequest Cut, because it put it closer to Pequest Furnace. Just past this point I showed the giant piles of waste minerals left over from the furnace which to this day do not grow very much vegetation.

We continued on to cross Pequest Road. We turned right, then left onto the paved trail section, which parallels the rail bed because it's too wet down there. There was a good amount of snow on the pavement, but we managed to get through. It was nice when we weren't the very first ones in the group because we didn't need to break in new trail.

When we got into the woods section, there were new 'no trespassing' sings on the left side near Cat Swamp. They must have been on every tree, it was ridicules. The trail took us along the right of way, then descended to reach Lower Denmark Road, while the right of way remained in the woods behind it.

Historic view, Oxford Station

The rail bed returned to the current road route, and is now the route of Lower Denmark Road out into town. Today, only the platform from the old station remains next to the road, and many don't realize there was ever even a railroad there.

Present shot at former Oxford Station site

The before and after shots from this are particularly crazy to see. We passed through here, then crossed the Furnace Brook on the re used old stone culvert, then turned right into town. A lot of the group left us here, having parked at Oxford Central School in the morning. I didn't get to say goodbye to everyone because they'd gotten there before me. Everyone laid down in the parking lot of the liquor store, and we went in and got a free tasting of some new Jack Daniels that tastes sort of like Fireball. We got some drinks and were ready to continue on. Before we left, the clerks in the store told us we might not want to have everyone laying in the parking lot like that because of how fast cars whip in there.

We split the group again here, with most going over the tunnel, and only a few of us headed to go through. Matt, Russ, Cupcake, Josh, and I were the only ones feeling crazy enough this time.

Approaching Oxford Tunnel

We made our way with the group to Axford Avenue, at which point we split off. Major Tom was almost ready to go through with us, but changed his mind. He did bring me a delicious sandwich for my birthday!

We headed to the cut, and Cupcake had his hip waders on. The rest of us were just going crazy style. Cupcake picked on me saying that I'd be falling over in the silt. I assured him that I would not only not fall, I would be ahead of everyone else!

Historic approaching Oxford Tunnel

When we got to the mouth of the tunnel, I let everyone catch up. We could see the other side because it was still pretty light out. The water wasn't flowing too heavily into the tunnel this time, and it seemed dry for a few feet longer than usual. I warned everyone about "The Drop" we used to call it, where all of a sudden it was a drop off from being shallow to very deep and totally silt. Walking is very hard in this part.

Oxford Tunnel

I took off quickly into the tunnel. Everyone bellowed out when they hit the drop, with painful bellowing sounds. I powered on ahead, with Josh close behind me. It wasn't very long before I was pretty far ahead of everyone but him. We pushed on through the deep stuff to where it got easier. The water was cold but not unbearable.

The start of the tunnel

Things started getting difficult when I felt a painful smack against my shin. I thought I'd walked into a rock. I stepped back to go around the obstacle only to hit my shin again. The surface of the water was frozen solid. In over 25 years of hiking through this tunnel all times of the year, never have I found the surface of the water frozen. I had to lift my legs out of the water and smash the ice apart in order to continue on. I tried to get through that as quickly as I could. It reminded me that I was still wearing my loafers, the most formal looking thing I'd ever attempted to go through the tunnel with.

Steaming ice in the tunnel

I pointed out the side tunnel to the left to Josh, but he wasn't interested in seeing anything, just to get out of the water. We pushed on and climbed over the cave in near the middle, and hung back on the top for a bit to make sure the others got through the ice okay. We then started walking on toward the other side. We couldn't go too fast through this section either, because there was a lot of ice on the ground.

We came out the other side, and I hung back for Matt while Josh dashed on ahead, totally happy that he'd gotten through the mess. Matt and I got over the ice and met Sean who had come through part way. We all waited on the other side, then moved on to the south atop a high fill.

We continued rather easily, with only a few briars and blow downs to Washington Township and Jackson Valley Road. This section was still worse than it's ever been, growing over and getting a lot of thorns. If someone doesn't step up to fix it a bit, it's going to just keep getting worse. I also pointed out near the old farm overpass where the original 1856 right of way of the Warren Railroad joined the later post-tunnel route. The rail line circumvented County House Mountain and West Oxford Mountain to pass through Van Nest Gap prior to the completion of the tunnel in 1862.

Wet right of way in Washington

We crossed Jackson Valley Road, and not everyone followed me. The right of way was an absolute mess of water. It was the most flooded I've ever seen it, and getting badly overgrown too. We had to walk through the water in this section pushing on toward the high school. There were times when I was younger that it was bad too, but I don't recall it ever being quite like this. We could always get through.

Josh and I again got way ahead and eventually reached Warren Lumber site. My friend Al Eisberg was doing test cores in the area for contamination during the course of the previous week, at EPA test wells. The Pohatcong Creek aquifer is badly contaminated and considered a Superfund site. When we got to the active spur tracks and no one was with us, I figured it would take them a while to catch up, and so Josh and I went to do some urban exploring of abandoned buildings assocated with Warren Lumber.

Abandoned building

We wandered through the first one up some steps, then climbed a ladder to the second floor where we could see someone had set fire to it. We then came down and wandered through the other side, then across where there would have been a rail spur, and into a second building with creepy graffiti all over it. We headed back the way we came and up onto the tracks again where the Morris Canal used to pass beneath, then headed ahead to meet up with the rest of the group who had gone ahead of me. I didn't realize that so much of the group had actually stuck with us and walked the mud section! We went ahead to the former Jackson Avenue culvert, and continued on to finish.

Hikers' Hootenanny at Scotty's Stadium Pub

My mom had secured us the back room area of Scotty's Stadium Pub for the Hikers' Hootenanny this time. I wasn't so into having it there, but I needed to do something. I've never been into the bar scene, but it would work out alright. Since my  mom didn't make it on the hike, she stayed in and cooked us an excellent tray of ziti, a pot of stew, and salad. I was feeling too out of it to stay too late, but I did sing some songs with Jack for a bit before heading out, and ate my share of food.

Bill T. and Joe Millionaire!

The best part of this for me was seeing my old buddy Evan "Joe Millionaire" Van Rossum. He had been in there for a while and I didn't see him. I soon recognized Bill Thompson in the bar and flagged him down. He pointed out to me that Evan was there. I gave him a big hug, having not seen him since February of 2011. We chatted for a while, and it was nice to catch up a bit. I really hope we see him a lot more in 2015.

The hike was a great boost for me that I'd needed badly. Despite bad weather conditions, and without really utilizing any sources other than Metrotrails for advertising, we still pulled in 53 participants. Certainly, if it had not been for the weather we would certainly have had many more, and maybe even a record breaking number. Everyone seemed to have a really good time, and it was more what I wanted it to be than it had been in some years.

In the following days, Matt and I discussed our satisfaction with the hike and with the group in general. People have been more "civil" as it was put, and the group dynamic is becoming more and more what I want it to be again after several periods of waning. We can't possibly predict what craziness will happen next, but at this point in time it appears that things just keep getting better. I was happy we worked to accommodate people with distance limitations and it went relatively smoothly, and we still managed to keep it feeling fresh and light in the right ways.

If this day was any indication of what we have to look forward to the rest of the year, it's going to be fantastic.