Hike #878; Lambertville/Titusville Loop

Hike #878; Lambertville-Titusville Loop

9/3/15 Lambertville/Titusville Loop with Lerch, Nick D'Allesandro, Shane Blische, Sarah Jones, Slasher (Zain Abass), Michele Valerio, Shane Blische, Dan Lurie, and Dan Asnis

Group shot at Howell Farm

Our next hike was planned as another obligatory bit of Jersey Perimeter I was missing, the last bit along the Delaware in Lambertville. I realized that there was an island out there, called Holcombe Island, which supposedly had trails on it. I found out about it after receiving a call and a question from my friend Brian Sipler. He often asks trail questions, and I'm not often stumped. When he asked about the island, I realized it was something I had to check out to be complete.

This one would be a loop, meeting at Lambertville behind the station restaurant, a good parking lot for D&R Canal State Park that many don't know about. We simply walked from there, out past the restaurant, then down along the river to the bridge into New Hope. We crossed the road and continued on the other side along Lambert Lane, passing by the historic Lambertville Station.

Historic view of Lambertville Station

The Lambertville Yard roundhouse, circa 1885 with every individual that worked in the complex. The yard existed from 1864 to 1937 for construction of locomotives and rolling stock, overhauls and repairs, storage and classification of freight cars.

As we walked closer to the river, Shane pointed out that there use to be tracks at the bottom of what is now the parking lot. It was an industrial siding which today bears no clue that it had ever existed.

Historic view of Lambertville Station

Lambertville station during the dark years. The trains were still running but the station had been closed in 1970 by Penn Central. Photo shot 1976 by James Gillin. The station would later be sold in 1979 and subsequently restored in 1982.

Shane always provides us with interesting tidbits about the history as we walk along the Bel Del corridor. He had mentioned to us during this hike that the Black River and Western Excursion rail line for which he is employed still plans on extending service back to Lambertville. Tracks are still in place from Flemington.

Shane knows all the railroad history well, but he also knows lots of other stuff. As we walked by some new apartment buildings, I was amazed that they were built on interesting masonry foundations. Shane said this was originally a grist mill, and something else, but I forget what. The building's facade now made up a sort of porch on the more modern apartment building. Some of the building was actually built right on the masonry base. I was very impressed. It makes all the difference with this building.

We crossed Coryell Street on Lambert Lane and continued onward.

Coryell Street in Lambertville historic view

A Pennsylvania Railroad L1 locomotive is seen here in 1950 hauling a southbound freight train shot north of the Coryell St. crossing. This was taken during the last years of steam on the Bel-Del as steam would be terminated by PRR in 1952 in favor of 1st generation ALCo and EMD diesels.

There was access to Holcombe Island to the left, via a foot bridge, but it was inaccessible because it was private. I thought we'd get over, but we just couldn't do that. Still, Lambert Lane was closer to the perimeter than I'd walked before too. We continued on past the former River Horse Brewery, which was just taken over by another group, then along the old Bel Del Railroad heading to the north.

Holcombe Island

Shane got us to our access point. There was a well used foot path with a plank for a bridge over a wet spot below. We headed down hill and onto a good trail which crossed a couple of wet areas that might seasonally be under water. We then came up to height of more land onto Holcombe's Island.

I was amazed; the trails up there were either clear or totally mowed! Who would bring a lawn mower out to this secluded island and why?

Delaware at the Rt 202 bridge

We followed the trail to a fork, and continued left to try to stay as close as we could to the perimeter. This led us to a mess of muck and weeds that would be both difficult and unintelligent to try to cross. Believe it or not, we did not attempt to cross this, but rather headed back to that fork in the trail, and the other way took us further onto Holcombe Island. We crossed over to come to yet another fork, and again turned left. This led us along nicely to a nice outlook of the river and the free bridge into New Hope. I went down to get in the water, and Lerch was right there behind me, but Shane stopped us and told us that there was a much better swimming spot if we'd wait, just a little further down. We trusted his judgement as a local and headed back to the trail.

The trail continues along the island to the south, to the private homes, so we headed back the way we came to continue along the river side to the north. This led us to a very nice little spot with another outlook, this time at the Rt 202 bridge over the Delaware. We used this as our swimming spot.

Delaware River along Holcombe Island

We had a really nice time cooling off here, at the confluence of the Alexauken Creek with the Delaware. When we were ready to go, we headed up along the shore of Alexauken Creek rather than stay up along an overgrown power line cut. We had finished the bit of perimeter I wanted to do for this hike, so we headed onward.

I walked along the right side, then cut to the left at an ankle deep spot to walk under the former Bel Del Railroad, then under the Delaware and Raritan Feeder Canal.

Alexauken Creek

Dan didn't want to go through the water, and rather than go up onto the bank further, he decided to try to go along the creek and step over at another spot. While doing this, he accidentally dropped his iphone into the creek. Nick swam around trying to find the thing for a while, and until a few minutes of putzing around under the aqueduct I didn't realize what was going on. I headed on back to them to see if I could help out.

I got my cell phone out and began calling Dan's. He must have dropped it in the only bit of the Alexauken that is over ankle deep. This spot was nearly hip deep, and the base of it was a silt muck. His phone was still ringing, and then I saw bubbles coming up from out of the water. I thought for sure that I had located it. I had to reach down and put my hands all through the muck, but no luck finding anything. Nick had also been looking for a good while. He then told me that he'd seen a big snapping turtle in there, and I saw similar bubbles going by the same as what I thought was the phone, and figured it was time to stop looking. We'd have to give up and continue on.

D&R Canal Aqueduct at Alexauken Creek

The creek was very low, and it seemed as though there was really no water in it at all except for what was spilling over from the aqueduct for the Delaware and Raritan Canal. This was not an original structure, but rather a replacement. Some of the original towpath bridge piers and abutments were still in place against the later concrete ones, and maybe it was part of the original aqueduct too. I'm just not sure. The railroad was on the other side of the bridge, also a replacement from the original span.

Historic view of original Bel Del Alexauken bridge

The first Alexauken Creek trestle bridge, otherwise known as 1st Howe. This was taken before stronger, much deeper spans replaced the spans shown here to hold the weight of heavier locomotives in 1918. This is approximately one mile from center Lambertville.

We waded up stream for a little bit to the Alexauken bridge for the former Flemington Branch of the Bel Del, and climbed to the top here. Shane had already made his way up to the top of it and was sitting out on it waiting for the rest of us to catch up.

Alexauken Bridge on Flemington Branch

 The bridge was badly overgrown but it wasn't in terrible shape. Once on the bridge, we had a look at it on the deck, then turned the other way to walk those tracks back toward the junction briefly. Shane pointed out an old whistle marker just off the right of way. We then continued on the tracks to a side path down to the north, and Shane guided us on along this, then to the right to come out at the back of a VFW lodge. We walked from here back toward town a bit where we stopped at CVS for some drinks.

Whistle marker on the Flemington Branch

From this point, Cherry Street, we headed across Rt 29 to climb up steep steps to an apartment and development area. We followed Heath Court to Holcombe Way right, then right on McDowell Drive to Alexander Ave up hill a bit more. Here, we came to the Lambertville Nature Trail. I had found this preserve on a map thinking it would be some inter city paved pathway I'd never done, and should do it just to sort of cross it off the list.

Lambertville Nature Trail

I was much more impressed with the trail than anticipated. At the entrance, weeds were growing almost completely over the routed wooden sign reading "Lambertville Nature Trail", so I was expecting a grown in mess. It was actually pretty good. There were wooden foot bridges over deep washout gullies, and then it came to some of the steep slopes where in the Winter time it would afford us with some nice views. We couldn't see much this time, but it was still pretty nice.

The trail descended to York Street at an odd place just off of people's back yards. The steep walls I would imagine were once quarried. We headed right on York, then left on Franklin Street to stop at a wine place before continuing on. We then walked south along Rt 179 to Quarry Street and turned left.

Bruce Hockenbury was trying to find us, and ended up at one of the old rail cars. We must have crossed paths a couple of times, but he just couldn't quite connect with us because I think we were on the move in weird places too much. We saw a white truck pass  us that we thought must be him, so we waved him in to the road we were headed to, but then saw it was some stranger staring at us strangely.

We soon turned right on Rock Road, heading up hill and onto Rock Hopper Trail, which goes through State Park land.

There was one more thing I wanted to do on this one that we hadn't the last time. When the trail heads up from the old road to the power lines, we turn right on the power lines to follow the blue trail. This time, I wanted to follow the trail that goes straight, which I think was red or something. We did this, and it just took us back to blue again. As we walked through the property, we passed by the lovely stone walls, regained the historic road, crossed the historic stone bridge, but then I saw other side trails I had no clue about. I gave Shane the mission of going back there and finding out where they all go so we can run a hike on them.

Rock Hopper Trail

The first one went off to the left, up hill from the blue, and I think right before the historic bridge. The second one went off to the left as I recall, while the blue went over a small tributary and continued gradually up hill. That one I think was blazed white or something. The final trail was one that crossed from left to right over the Rock Hopper Trail. Not sure where this could go, but I would bet to a reservoir that is off to the west of here. The other direction I am clueless on.

We headed along the trail and soon came out on Rt 518. I waited just before the crossing for everyone to catch up, then headed out across the mowed farm area to cross the road and continue into the Dry Run Creek Trail of D&R Greenways. We followed the trail gradually down hill parallel with the creek, across the berm to a former dam, down steps, then up the other side to the parking area on Woodens Lane where we were joined by Dan Lurie. It was already dark, but he was ready to go. Dan actually walked north on the trail to join up with us.

The highlight of the Dry Run Creek Trail for me was when Lerch had picked up a Budweiser Clamato drink, one of the most putrid alcoholic beverages we'd had, and gave it to Dan. Dan had had the crap once on an Allamuchy area hike and had a hilarious long commentary on it over several miles. He also badly injured himself which he blames on the Bud-Clamato drink. Of course, he would not drink it.

Nick on the other hand was ready for the Clamato stuff. He actually liked it and finished the entire thing!! Lerch commented that it was even disturbing how much he enjoyed that stuff. We had tried passing it off to Slasher first, but he wouldn't have it.

We turned left on Woodens Lane heading south to the Howell Living  Historical Farm. We passed the farm and then jumped the wooden fence to follow the mowed edges of fields when I felt we were out of sight enough from the farm area as not to have a problem. I wanted to get further along a bit before it got really really dark.

Howell farm area

We continued to the south for a bit more and eventually emerged onto Valley Road. We turned left here and headed down hill over Moore's Creek to Pleasant Valley Road. The last time, we walked a power line from here to the trail system, but I thought it might be too overgrown, so we continued to the left on Pleasant Valley Road to the trail heading into the woods high above a tributary to Moore's Creek. This was the Grist Mill Trail. We soon emerged at the power line, Pleasant Valley trail, and turned to the left. We went over that small tributary, then turned right into the woods and past a house foundation, former Hunt Farmstead. We continued up hill and there was a fork in the trail I didn't remember. We kept heading in the direction I thought was right, and we were good.

We got to a wider trail, an old woods road, and continued to head up hill, and then soon reached the Ridge Trail, which follows an old roadway too. We turned right on this. Shane was listening to his head phones and couldn't hear me when I was telling him to stop and wait, so I had to keep pulling  him back. Once everyone was together, we headed out toward the overlook on Baldpate Mountain, in an open grassy area. I briefed everyone on staying quiet and we walked out to the picnic bench at the overlook. The view wasn't super great this time of night, but it was still nice. From here, we headed onto the Summit Trail, a bit back the way we came. The trail goes through a mowed old orchard area, then along the back of a mowed yard area before reaching the woods. We crossed one more woods road and then began heading more steeply down hill.

I pointed out to everyone that this is the most technically built trail in Mercer County. The stone steps and such are quite impressive. My night vision on this was spot on this time, so I stayed up front as not to get flooded out by the lights. I stopped when I got to the parking area at the bottom, but Dan accidentally got stuck off trail. I went back for him and we really didn't lose any time here.

Together, we crossed the mesh sort of parking area, which allows for water to seep into the ground, then got on Fiddlers Creek Road down hill to Titusville area. We turned left on Rt 29 just to the main road into Titusville where there is a bridge over the canal, then stopped for a swim in the Delaware. The slope down to this spot really sucked, but otherwise it was a great little break.

From here, we headed back to the north. We got on the Bel Del right of way next to the canal, and Shane pointed out some history as we went. This section was pretty cool with it's quarry spur lines. There was one bridge that only one span of two was still in place over the canal. We also passed the former Moore's Station site. I think it was Moore's Creek that Lerch looked at the spillway for, and thought it would be really cool to use it as a sliding board. He didn't this time though.

Moore's Station on the Bel Del historic view

Moore Station seen here in the 1910s. Approixmately three miles south of Lambertville and two miles north of Titusville. The station existed from 1851 to 1931. It was mostly a stop for farmers and quarry workers.

We continued to the north on the rail bed, which was pretty easy and relaxing. There was another old quarry spur bridge off to the right, fenced off now, and Shane told us some more about that one too. The route of the hike was almost too easy at this point. One foot in front of the other and overall pretty relaxing.

Historic view on the Bel Del

Here some ALCo RS11s take a southbound general freight train along the Bel-Del seen south of Lambertville. Shot 1966 by Martin Zak.

We continued on to the north without incident for a while. The next point of interest we came to was Fireman's Eddy. This is a spot I'd ended or started many hikes over the years. The first hike I had done here with a group was in April of 2001. Since it was dark, I knew it'd be a pretty good swim spot. I figured everyone would be into it, but they weren't.

Nick was totally down for swimming. Everyone else seemed to be in a bit of a hurry, but he, Shane, and I enjoyed a great swim in the river here. I got out briefly when I thought they just couldn't find us, but when they weren't coming and I called them up, they had decided to keep going. I said screw it to myself then, and we went back into the water.

After we were finally ready to get out, we started walking and saw a light coming down the access road.

Crap.

I knew it must have been some sort of park police and we'd probably get in trouble for swimming. We were obviously soaking wet. We walked up river behind the trees so that as the light neared they wouldn't see us. It was super bright, it had to be a car.

As the light neared, it was accompanied by Dan's unmistakable holler. It was of course his head lamp, bright as a Pulsar coming down the drive. He was looking for us but didn't know we were there. The four of us headed to the north from here.

Historic view near Fireman's Eddy

We see some BLH RT-624s (#8729 taking the lead) hauling a northbound iron ore train just south of Fireman's Eddy, shot 1966 by Martin Zak

I remembered it being about a mile north from Fireman's Eddy to Lambertville, but I also remember on those first few hikes I planned on the Bel Del in this area that they came up off. This was not because of my scaling, but rather because the maps were very off.

The canal and the railroad were really close together on the home stretch, on a nice hillside above the Delaware River. We could hear the sound of the wing dams as we got closer.

Up on the highway, some police went by toward Fireman's Eddy. I got paranoid that they'd seen us down there and would come drive the towpath looking for us. I told Nick to be ready to get off the trail if we needed to. I was still paranoid from when Dan came up on us. We of course had no problems at all.

Historic postcard night scene on the Bel Del south of Lambertville

We continued walking and could soon see lights of town showing up. There were buildings across the canal from us as well. The official trail as we neared town turned off to the right, across the canal to follow the other side. We continued straight on the Bel Del right of way past some businesses and such. There was also an abandoned passenger car on the right side. Shane pointed out a final mile marker before we got back to the cars.

Shane with a mile marker in L Ville

We soon reached the Swan Creek bridge and the parking area, and no one had left yet, though I don't know for how long they were waiting there for us. They had all been talking about going ot a club in Lambertville that night, and I'm not sure if they went or not. I was pretty tired and had to be to work at seven the next morning, so I drove Dan back to his car and headed home. One final scare came when a police officer followed me from Rt 29 up hill on a side street and uncomfortably close to the parking area on Woodens Lane. Even after I dropped Dan off, the same car ended up following me again.

Perimeter completed so far

This hike concluded most of the entire Delaware River region. Only a few hikes remained to do the entire state. Two on the Barnegat Bay region, one on the lower Delaware estuary area, one at Wawayanda area, and the final one between Roebling and Trenton. All of the little segments I needed to fill in are now complete.

I'm thankful for how things played out in these final segments. I met Shane at just the right time for him to jump aboard in an area he loves and knows better than anyone else. These fill in the blanks hikes along the Bel Del over the past several months have been a rewarding blend of nostalgia and new discoveries, and Shane's encyclopedic knowledge of the historic rail line as well as his own eccentricities fit him in perfectly with our group of wanderers. We are poised for more greatness with the passing of every hike.