Hike #865; Delaware to Washington

Hike #865; Delaware to Washington

7/16/15 Delaware to Washington with Lowell Perkins, Shana Grabowski, Evan Bisquick, Sarah Jones, and James Quinn, with Mark Di Ionno and Andre Malok.

The group in Oxford Tunnel

Our next hike would be a point to point, to a great degree retracing the steps of Hike #1 from 1997, on the old Warren Railroad, former main line of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad. I never get sick of this line, and doing two abandoned railroad tunnels on one hike is always quite a treat.

This time, it would be a bit different. We would cover some stuff that I'd not done yet as part of this hike, because I needed to get it out of the way, and because I was to be interviewed by one of NJ's premier news columnists, Mark Di Ionno for coverage on my NJ perimeter series.

Perimeter so far

Even though it was so close to home, there was a bit of the perimeter I had not yet included on my hikes, in the town of Delaware. We met by my house in Washington, at South Prospect Street, then headed north to Delaware. Mark and the photographer, Andre Malok, joined us in Delaware, but we didn't connect with them initially. We parked at Smiddy's Deli, as well as further up near where the railroad station used to be and didn't see them. We were getting bad cell reception, but eventually found them after we started walking from the station site. We walked the side streets out, and connected with Mr. Di Ionno and Mr. Malok on Ferry Street.

Mr. Di Ionno was different than a lot of reporters I'd met before. He listens intently, and asks very pertinent questions. The man obviously did his homework. He must have read the other articles that had come out about this series that had been plastered all over NJ.com already and was putting out something more substantial. We chatted as we walked about all sorts of things, and he'd had some of his own experiences with similar things that had been frustrating me. All questions were pertinent and had a natural flow. Sometimes, when we ask a question, we get lost in it's interpretation. People tend to ask questions and conversation gets in the way of learning more. But such is the nature of the interpersonal beast. Conversely, it is good, but for good reporting, it is necessary to use a different set of ears. Di Ionno had a regular progression of questions; he was able to listen and converse, but could always get back to the bones of his article at hand. I felt like I had the opportunity to answer questions that had not been asked a dozen times over. He also had an understanding of the whats and wheres of NJ in such a way that other reporters I've spoken with do not. He asked about the waterfronts of Union County, about the Delaware Bay and getting around the estuaries, the dredge spoils, and the oil tank farms. I could feel that I was truly talking to someone with a common frame of reference more than anyone I'd talked to.

Along the Delaware

I was surprised that in addition to photographing our hike, Mr. Malok was also taking video footage for inclusion on the NJ.com posting. I was not really prepared to do a video interview, but I think I was able to pull it off, and they did well enough not to make me come across like too much of a lunatic!

I have a great respect for reporters who really get out there and experience something. In most cases, none of them actually get out and walk with me, and in many cases we never meet face to face at all. Prior to this, the only time a reporter had hiked with me was Marie Therese Biebel of the Times Leader in Wilkes Barre/Scranton area, who did a whopping twenty miles with us! While Mark Di Ionno and Andre Malok did not cover that much of this evening's hike, they did do a respectable 2 miles out with us, for a total of 3.5 for them to get back to their cars. That is far more than most reporters do. (One reporter this year made an article and never even spoke with me at all, having simply read other articles and copied information.)

We walked at first down Ferry Street. The ferry across the Delaware used to be at the end, and it gives me a strange feeling to know that my family once owned it. I had found out just in the past year that my Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather was Henry Albertson, prominent land owner who had all holdings from the Delaware up to and beyond Blair's Knob on the hill. He in fact sold the land needed for the railroad to John Insley Blair from his deathbed.

We cut to the left on a path into the Delaware River Family Campground. We had run a trip through here back in 2008, but hadn't returned. I also never walked the entire waterfront within the area, so I wanted to cover that before moving on. We headed out and back, and chatted as we went. We then got on back to Ferry Street to Rt 46 and followed it east. Along the way, we stopped at Smiddy's Deli for some food and drinks.

Smiddy's; photo by Andre Malok

The guys at Smiddy's have known us for years, and have always been very accommodating to our group, so I try to patronize them when we go by. We continued on from here down Rt 46, and then turned right into the Delaware Cemetery.

Many of my family members are buried in this cemetery. My grandfather always took me walking through it when I was little, and we would pick flowers to put on his mother's grave. She had died when he was only five years old. A shed on the right side of the cemetery was reportedly built by my Great Grandfather, Edwin Allen.

My great grandfather reportedly built this shed

We walked through and looked at graves; I know so much more about my family than I did in the days when I would come through with those flowers. Names like Albertson and Hutchinson, which in the past never meant anything to me, were now family. Others like Brinkruff and Osmun are also some sort of relation. The Alberson family has been traced back to 1734, in the Dutch section of Nassau, Long Island. They moved to  Hunterdon County in 1742, and after the father died, most came to northern Warren.

Me in the cemetery of my family

They recorded a good interview with me from this particular portion before continuing on. I'd never walked out and around the cemetery, which really is as close as you can legally get to the NJ Perimeter at this point, and I'd wanted to show everyone my family graves too, so it was a good stop. The group were good sports about waiting for us to get done with the interview.

The graves of my Great Great Great Grandparents

I spotted the grave of my Great Great Great grandparents, Michael Cline Allen and Jane Hutchinson, both of which have deep ties to the area. Jane Hutchinson is my connection to the Albertsons as I recall, and further to a German family living in Easton prior to the Revolution. I had found out that the town of Hutchinson along the Delaware was named for my descendants.

Ramseyburg Homestead

We walked on from this point along Rt 46 toward the Ramseyburg Homestead. The home was very old, originally on the opposite side of the road, but moved in 1856 when the Warren Railroad was built. I told the reporters they would probably like to see this site, and I wanted to walk along the river in that wildlife management area because I'd not yet incorporated it into one of my hikes yet.

Mark Di Ionno cut out and headed back to his car; I felt bad that I didn't get to say goodbye, but we'd chat again before the article dropped. Andre stayed with us to check out what there was along the river. We walked on down the trail leading to the river, and up and down stream a bit. I walked in the water a little. Sarah said he had an interest in my shoes; of course, my shoes did look like hell. It must look rather interesting.

The Delaware at Ramseyburg

We headed back up from the river, and said our goodbyes to Andre before heading on. He got footage of us heading up hill onto the old railroad embankment.

We continued walking along the line; we were way farther behind on schedule, but well worth it for the great article that came of it. We followed the old railroad bed all the way to Manunka Chunk Tunnel; James was ready to meet up with us when we neared the tunnel, so I gave him directions on how to best catch up with us.

Manunka Chunk Tunnels

When we reached the tunnels, we didn't take too much time to get on through. We all went through it, which was great. I never tire of the tunnels on this line. We got through rather quickly this time. The water level was actually lower than it had been on more recent trips through. We followed the right of way out the south side, then took the path up to the little falls on Catherine's Run where I took a quick dip.

Catherine's Run falls

From here, we headed up to the pathway across the planks made of the old flume system that carried water away from the tunnel during operating days. We crossed and followed fields through Beaver Brook Widlife Management Area back to  Upper Sarepta Road, crossed, and continued on the rail bed to where James was parked off Ledge Road. Once he was there, we continued to the south along the rail bed past Bridgeville Station, and beyond along a long fence and out to the sand quarry.

We took a path to the left that circumvented the sand pit, then came back out further down, up hill from Hot Dog Johnny's. It was late so we didn't bother stopping there this time.

The hike went very easily along the right of way through Buttsville, across 46 and through Pequest Wildlife Management Area. We continued on through to Oxford with great ease. Everything went smoothly and quickly.

Once in Oxford, I gave everyone the option of going through the tunnel or over. I of course wanted to go through. We all tried to get on through, but when we got in, James lost his water shoes in the muck. He had to turn on back and follow the highway to meet us. The silt was thick but it wasn't the worst we'd faced in this tunnel. We fought on through and reached the other side, then bushwhacked up hill to meet up with James by the park bench on 31. It was too dark to navigate the sometimes overgrown rail bed ahead from here. We opted to just walk 31 to Jackson Valley Road, then head into town.

James had these weird light up gloves. I said it was "Magic James and his night hike twittle fingers".

We headed down Jackson Valley to Belvidere Avenue into town, then headed onto Washington Ave back to South Prospect to finish the hike and shuttle drivers.

Jugs

So much of the end of the hike was sort of a tired blur, but such a positive feeling.

The article was fantastic, and not the same reiteration of previous article content. The video too was great, and I felt like we had a very good presentation on what we have been doing. I am so grateful for all of the coverage this project has received, and I can only hope that the places we are showcasing through our hikes will benefit even more in the long run from the attention brought on them for being on the forgotten bits of the perimeter.

The clip from this hike: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgYRsTja6LU