Hike #926; Warren Railroad

 Hike #926; Warren Railroad 19 Year Anniversary

3/26/16 Lackawanna Old Main with Matthew Davis, Shelly Janes, Jennifer Berndt, Dan Lurie, Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Serious Sean Dougherty, Lyz Hagenbuch, Ric Giantisco, Rich Pace, Marina Font, Craig Craig, Kyly Christa, Chris ?, John Spiridon, James Quinn, Jessica M. Collins, Dan Asnis, Mike Heaney, Amy Davis, Bartek Zarzycki, Tom Vorrius, Carolyn Gockel Gordon, Carl Manzi, Shayna Michaels, Edward DiSalvo, Terri Allen, Sandy Westermann, Dave Hagenbuch, James Quinn, Eric Pace, Kralc Leahcim (Lerch), Justin Gurbisz, Scott Helbing (Tea Biscuit), Amanda Lance, Kevin Gondek, Neil Washington, Jennifer Tull, Brian ?, Crystal Waters, Brandan Jermyn, John Pershouse, Chris Vitalos, Caleb Groth, Georgia Beatty, David Li, Michele Valerio, Conrad Blease,Teresa Montes, Rich Kowal, Rachel Alexander, Wilma Vargas, Misha ?, Ron Lozowski,

(Apologies if I forgot to mention anyone!)

It was time once again for our big anniversary hike. Every year I say that I can’t believe how long it’s been that I have been doing this same hike. It has become something that people expect, people love, and more people than almost any other trip come out for. It’s like a big family reunion complete with shenanigans and silliness.
I didn’t know if I should go over the top promoting this one, or if I should wait until next year. It is in fact nineteen years since that first hike, but it is the twentieth annual Warren Railroad hike. I suppose either one could be considered big, and I could promote both, but it’s gotten to the point where so many of my other hikes are ones that I want to promote. I’m starting to feel like this one is more for our group rather than trying to bring people into the group. It’s the kind of hike I’d prefer that my friends who have done it invite and bring others they know will enjoy it and be able to do it. The madcap adventure isn’t always the best way to introduce fellow hikers to our group. In some cases, it very much is.

It’s really not like any other hike we do. The route is pretty straightforward for the most part, but we have the tunnels, we have some bushwhacking, we have the crazy celebratory aspect. We have so many people that it’s barely manageable. It’s all kind of crazy. It’s one of the few hikes we set aside every years and write it off that it’s going to be crazy.

Mattthyooooo

I decided this year that I was going to change things up a bit: we would do the hike backwards. I had only done it that way once before, in 2003, when the group was still so much smaller, and we were doing the hikes after the parties so hardly anyone would go.
I figured this would change things up a bit. I went out and met with our friends at Smitty’s Liquor Store in Delaware and let them know what we wanted to do. They gave us permission to park everyone there, and then everyone could still head in and patronize their business the way we have every year for years, and probably 15 years since the same family has owned it.
We also had the Metrotrails monthly meeting at the Jagerstein Biergarten in Delaware to discuss having the after party there. Matt had suggested we try to use them for the party a year or two earlier, when the place was known as Buckwood Bistro. They had recently switched to German theme to try to get more patronage. We tried the food and it was great.
The owner offered us a good deal, $15 a dinner, which had soup and breads and such set up buffet style, and choice of one of three dishes so it would be easier to mass produce. I knew it would work out well.

The rail bed next to Changewater Road

That wasn’t the end of Matt’s good ideas that we implemented on this one. For years now Matt has been saying we should extend the hike to Changewater. He’d been hot on walking the line between Changewater and Washington for a long time now, and I kept blowing the idea off because I figured when we got to Washington that no one would want to do any further distance after food was available. This time would be different. He suggested it again, starting in Changewater, and it was brilliant. It was the perfect time to finally use this section, much of which is owned by state park service. There was plenty of parking. It was a very convenient place to start.

Insanity

We met at Smitty’s, then shuttled south to Changewater. My brother used his camper again, but didn’t load it with twenty people this time. It was a little haphazard getting people to the start, but not too terrible. Lerch gave me some Weyerbacher Insanity, one of my all time favorite brews, as a birthday present. A delicious way to start the day.
He and I both showed up in suits, as well as Justin, but I don’t think anyone else really got in on that this year. It was kind of warm for it anyway.
The start point was the former Changewater Trestle site. The bridge was part of the original Lackawanna Railroad main line built in 1856. It was short lived as main line because of the acquisition of the Morris and Essex Railroad, on which the main line was superimposed and the section through Changewater became the Hampton Secondary.

Changewater Trestle with the old Graphite Mill

The place where we parked used to be the old graphite mill, part of the same one that was active in Asbury. They had several locations at one time. Changewater apparently took it’s name from the operation of the mills in the area, and probably had something to do with the mill raceways.

Changewater Trestle

When I was little, the block portion of the old graphite mill was still standing. My second hike every went by this same site. I always tell everyone about my first real hike from my grandfather’s house to Point Mountain, the one that started my obsession, but my second one was just one week later.
That time, we planned to hike from his house to Murderer’s Bridge, where the convicted were buried after execution for the Castner murders in Changewater. On that day, at the young age of three, I walked too far and got sick when we reached that point. There were no cell phones then, and we had to wait for my grandmother to pick me up. She had to go that night to get me medicine and my grandfather was afraid of bringing me hiking again. I think I was vocal about wanting to go again enough that we continued.
For our group shot, Justin and Lerch immediately climbed to the top of the bridge abutment. The section of the old Lackawanna was abandoned in 1955, and the bridge was demolished in 1959. There is a kiln built into the north abutment which I can only guess was used on site to fire the mortar for the masonry.
I had forgotten to bring my camera on this one, and so I was using my phone a lot for the start. We got moving, and followed the road through Changewater.

Map with Changewater to Washington

The rail line is partially on public land, but the section through Maxwell Farms parallel with the road is not, so we opted instead to just follow the road parallel to Murderers Bridge.
I explained about the Castner Family Murders, how in 1843 four people including a child were brutally murdered in a house we walked by.
There were two men, Carter and Parke tried for the crime, and found innocent, but then Double Jeopardy occurred and they were found guilty. They both maintained their complete innocence up to their hanging over a year later, and the county came under scrutiny for executing two innocent men.
In the years to follow, there is a local story of a man who on his deathbed wished to confess to his daughter of “something terrible he had done”, and she would not let him confess. Some believe that this was the true murderer.
The graves we believe are under the stop sign near the corner of Asbury Anderson Road and present day McCollough Road. There is a house nearby that claims to have the graves in the back yard, but that looks unlikely. The road was changed when the railroad was built, after the murders in 1856, and some maps show that they would be where I stated. The 1874 Beers Atlas of Warren County however would suggest they were in the back yard of the house as claimed, but I don’t consider this source to be too accurate because the road is shown inaccurately without the bridge in place, and it also shows double tracked railroad passing over the Changewater Trestle, which was in fact switched to single track just before.

Newspaper clipping just before Murderers Bridge was removed and filled in

Originally known as Murderers Crossroads, it became knwon as Murderers Bridge after the railroad came through. The bridge was torn out shortly after the abandonment of this part of the line.
I gave my grandfather a phone call while we were walking to see if I could coerce him out to join us, but he opted to stay in this time.
We continued walking from the bridge site, and I was going to just follow the road, but it seemed like it’d work out to walk some of the railroad bed parallel. I was rather surprised at how easy it was to walk actually. We wandered through without much a problem for quite a while. Conrad and Teresa called me while we were walking up there, ready to join us in Washington. Lerch and I forged through most of it pretty quick. We descended after going over a little creek section.

Washburn Ave bridge

We came to the next former bridge site, also filled in by the railroad shortly after it was abandoned, at Washburn Ae an dwaited on the corner for everyone to catch up. A lot of the group had gotten really far behind. Once they caught up, we headed down into the cut toward the Washington rail yard.
It was here that I unfortunately lost my cell phone. I must have lost it on the slope, though I wasn’t sure if it was further back after I had gotten off the phone with Conrad. I seemed to recall taking a photo between the two places, so it was likely here. I went back searching for it several times but could not find it in the mess of leaves. I still haven’t given up hope, nearly a month later, because if I went back with a metal detector I could probably find it.
I couldn’t let this ruin the day, and fortunately Matt lent me a spare camera of his for the day, so I could still take a few shots if anything interesting happened. Of course, people would be taking photos all day anyway.
We made our way through the cut, which wasn’t much bushwhacking, then emerged in the rail yard in Washington. We cut past where the station was, along the bit of the old Lackawanna that is still used as an industrial spur, and I hurried ahead to get to Dunkin Donuts to meet Conrad and Teresa. I ran down and found them, and we headed up the slope to continue on.
When we got to Warren Lumber, I pointed out the Morris Canal, where it had passed beneath the railroad. They used to be able to unload coal from train to canal boats in this area, close to Belvidere Avenue in Washington.

Morris Canal in Washington

We moved on where the tracks came to an end, and stopped again when we got to where the rail line entered the cut in Washington. Often this is a really rough area, and can be insanely wet. I gave people the option of cutting up to Green Street rather than staying on the railroad bed, because I knew they’d hate it.
In retrospect, I shouldn’t have split the group because it was the most dry I had seen it in forever. We really had no hard time getting through the section at all!
We met back up where the railroad went over Jackson Valley Road having had no issues. There used to be a guy that’d come out and holler at us, telling us the railroad was his, but we haven’t seen him, plus I called our awesome township police who have always been supportive when I let them know what we were doing, where we were parked etc as a courtesy.

The rail bed in Washington

We crossed Jackson Valley Road and continued on the right of way. It was pretty clear, clear enough anyway. I wish it was as nice as it was when I was in high school. It was no problem taking my bicycle down it at the time, but now we can hardly get through at all. Almost no ATVs use the section.
We headed to the old underpass for the farm, and I told everyone about the raising of the bridges to accommodate larger trains. It didn’t take us too long to get to the Oxford Tunnel, where we would split the group again. It’s weird hitting the tunnel from the south side because it’s so easy for most of it. It’s only the couple hundred feet on the north side that’s a problem.

Rich on the tunnel

Rich Pace was there waiting for us at the tunnel, sitting above the portal ready to take our pictures coming through.
We split the group again here. I sent those going over the top of the tunnel up the hill to the right to follow the highway for a short while, and the rest of us went on through. We had a surprising number going through this time. I hurried through nearer to the front.

Approaching the tunnel; photo by Rich Pace

I didn’t want to take too long in the tunnel because we had several more people meeting up with us in Oxford. Usually we have early out options that I am used to being able to plan, but this time, being reverse, it made it quite a bit more difficult. People would have to meet up late and handle their own car shuttles.

At the tunnel

We managed to get through without too much trouble. Only the silt makes it sort of tough. I think Matt and Bartek took a bath in the stuff at some point, and so did a couple of others. We made our way through the mess on the north side and climbed up to Axford Avenue without too much problem.

I wore my somewhat beat up brown suit so I wasn’t really worried about beating it up too much. This one was made for this.
We headed down the back streets of Oxford from the tunnel, and headed toward Oxford Discount Liquors where more people were waiting.

Oxford Tunnel

On the way over, Matt, Bartek, and I stopped and chatted with Warren County Planner Dave David Dech who stopped by to greet us on his bike. Dave rides his bike high mileage all over Warren County on his time off, and he chose a route that intercepted us on this occasion.

Had I had the group together better I would have asked him to speak some words of wisdom for everyone, but it was already too much of a mess to pull everyone together.
I had stopped in to Oxford Liquors earlier in the week and asked them to start their wine tasting earlier since we were passing through, and so they did. Some of us went in to sample some stuff before moving on.
Jen, Tom, James, and not sure who else opted to take a break from this point and get a ride to the north. The rest of us continued walking, now onto Lower Denmark Road which is in part built on the railroad bed.

Crossing Catherine's Run

We made our way into Pequest Wildlife Management Area, the paved section of the trail, crossed Pequest Road and passed through Pequest Cut.
Ron Lozowski was trying to intercept us I found out later, but I had no phone. Apparently he got a hold of someone, because he shows up in the photos, but was in part of the group that was farther back from me. I had had a good amount to drink at this point, but still felt pretty good. We made our way across Rt 46 and out past Hot Dog Johnny’s. I decided this time NOT to stop the entire group there because it’s a good hour we end up waiting when we do. That wasn’t going to work for this one. We were going to have dinner at the Biergarten, so I didn’t want to spoil it.
Some of the group went down there, but the rest of us continued on. We made our way to the sand quarry and crossed it with ease, but Matt and Bartek were behind and somehow managed to walk way out of the way around the fields, disoriented because we were going the opposite direction.
We had a good long easy stretch from Rt 519 on state park land to Manunka Chunk. Lerch and Justin ran and caught up with us somehow here. Everything was smooth to the tunnel, when I sent some of the group over the top, and then some of us went through.

Collapse in Manunka Chunk Tunnel

Another thing I did differently this time was to attempt to go through the more collapsed and messy portal of the Manunka Chunk Tunnel. After crossing Catherine’s Run on the planks, we headed to the easternmost of the two portals, which still have rails in them. The thing collapsed before they could be removed. It’s imperative to step on the rails because otherwise you sink into awful mud. Some ties are missing and it’s amazing how deep it can get between.
We got through, regrouped, and continued on the right of way to the north.

Manunka Chunk tunnel

It’s always amazing to see how much things change. I never get tired of the historic views. It’s unfortunate that this year even more graffiti has appeared on the north facade of Manunka Chunk Tunnel. It’s hard to picture that there was ever a station here.

Historic Manunka chunk Station and tunnel

The right of way is so much more eroded to the north of here than it ever was, even when I was little. It’s now impossible to get a truck to the mouth of the tunnel, but my grandfather used to be able to do it back then. It’s now badly washed out where only a few feet remain next to the cliff side at spots.

1960s view of Manunka Chunk Tunnel

We continued through, passed the spot where I broke my ankle in 1991, and emerged at the road in Ramseyburg. Another thing we did this year for the first time was to actually visit the historic Ramseyburg homestead.

Ramseyburg House

When we started doing the hikes, the place was abandoned and looked ready to collapse. The local historical society has since put a lot of money into it’s restoration as a sort of living history museum, mini farm, and event area for the township. They’re doing a superb job.

Uncle Soup and I cleaned off

Because so much of the group was far behind us, we took a break at Ramseyburg to let more of them catch up.
We checked out the old house, some of the out buildings, and I pointed out where there was going to be a new trail going in around the area. We then walked down to the Delaware River to the little spot where a spring flows into it. This was great spot to get in and wash the tunnel muck off of our feet. Uncle Soup and I were the only ones to go in as I recall. We then wandered back up to along Rt 46 and let some of the rest of the group catch up.
From here my memory is a bit blurry. We must have headed up onto the rail bed, and I don’t recall for sure if we did the Shrub of Might.

Hanging out at Ramseyburg

How we could skip something like the Shrub of Might I have no idea; that is the shrub and little trees up the shale slope that we always run up to every time we do this hike. I have so many memories of doing it, but this time it’s too much of a blue. This is probably because of the events ahead of here.

Coming out to Smitty's with a view of Blair's Knob

We emerged from the rail bed in Delaware, at the properties that had been owned by my family; the Allens and the saw mill and timber lands, and the Albertsons who owned Blair’s Knob and sold the property to John I. Blair to construct the Warren Railroad. The group was too segmented to go over all of the history for everyone at this point. My Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather was Henry Albertson, part of a Dutch family who moved to NJ in the 1730s.
From here, there is a blur of stuff and stories I’ve been told. I seldom ever black out, and thankfully this was at the very end of the hike. I’m told we went to my brothers camper where we all did shots of some really smooth and delicious high end stuff Lerch had purchased for the occasion. I have no recollection of this whatsoever. I do know that I managed to walk to the Biergarten from here, and I do recall a portion of that. But then I passed out at the table there.

My sister tagged me here and said I wouldn't remember it...but I do

I eventually came to, had some soup, and it was a good time.
Jillane, my dad, step mom, sister Renus, and my brother Alex, all came as well as many friends who couldn’t make it to the hike.
People slowly stumbled into the place and we hung out and had a good time.
Matt brought his guitar, and as is tradition, we sang some songs, though my voice was pretty much gone from hollering at people and laughing maniacally all day.
It wasn’t too crazy a time as many other parties are, because it was sort of a more formal environment, but it was really nice. I wish I had had the opportunity to sample more of the food, because I know it’d have been really good, but when I was up I was too busy walking around and talking to everyone.
I’d wished we could have had something slightly more organized in some ways, and maybe slightly more crazy in others, but it was probably just as well after the crazy day.

Hootenanny

I was very thankful for who made it out, and to share yet another year of this craziness with everyone. So many old and new friends all together at once, as well as family. I love that the newcomers can share and be a part of this, and move forward as a part of the growing family. Everyone feels more welcome when they’ve shared in the experiences that so many others have had. Maybe that’s how the Appalachian Trail through hikers have such a sense of community. I’ve always thought that if I were to do the entire AT, I’d just have a different version of the same story, so I’d have my own story. Does that make me some hipster?
In a way I’ve created just the sort of thing that shied me away from the Appalachian Trail.
I’m doing new and exciting things every week, and yet this hike tends to attract more participants than most anything else we do. I sit back and consider the epiphany.

My dad and I

The Warren Railroad hike will probably always be my favorite hike. Conrad once told me “I grow weary of the (Warren Railroad) hike”, and I can relate to that. The hike is like an outstanding hit song that we’ve all loved, but it’s played over and over. For a while, Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” enjoyed a resurgence of popularity, but now people are sick of it. Some say that song sucks. The truth is, it is an outstanding song, but we might just need a break from it to appreciate it again. This hike is the same way. When I see so many new participants enjoying it, I can vicariously experience the feelings as I had them my first walk through.

Metrotrails FTW

Further, the hikes themselves, Metrotrails itself, has all just been an extension of myself. I’ve given my dreams and ambitions a marketable name, and I’ve given it back to my comrades. I’ve created a brand, doing exactly what I want to do, and the idea is that everyone in our hiking family can find their niche, be a part of it, and help to shape it as we move forward. It’s no longer just me. Everyone who has participated are themselves, Metrotrails. It’s something far greater than an organization asking for annual dues. The niche we fill is a tight fitting one, but with unlimited capacity. That, to me, is how family works, or should work. We fit through the tightest recesses together, then grow together in limitless space.

I suppose it’s something similar that the AT through hikers feel. They push themselves physically and mentally to achieve this common goal, and they share it with those who came before them.
Thankfully, I still feel that I’ve achieved something greater. Sure, I’ve completed things like the NJ Perimeter and many long trails, but my greatest achievement of my life (so far) has been giving the gift of my birthday back to everyone else, simply through doing what I love and inviting others to come with me. I am wealthy beyond measure, because people like what I do and share it with me.