Hike #933; Townsbury to Washington

Hike #933; Townsbury to Washington

4/20/16 Townsbury to Washington with Brandan Jermyn and James Quinn

This was another night hike, this time on a Wednesday instead of Thursday which limited how many could come, but it was still a great time.
Only Brandan and James were interested, but I was glad. Sometimes the huge groups can become a little stressful to watch out for, even though for the most part they watch out for themselves. I had originally planned to hike the old Warren Railroad again, same as the anniversary hike, but without a bigger group I sort of tabled that idea for a later date.

James and his pants

We instead opted to walk back to Washington from near where I used to live at Great Meadows, Townsbury area. I could add some stuff along the way to make it some more miles. James took us to the start point and changed into some pants, and we were on our way down the former Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad, which was abandoned in the late 1980s.
I’d walked this countless times, but I never really get tired of the relaxing nature of it. I’d gotten some drinks and we were on our way.
We followed the clear right of way from the crossing, over a driveway and through woods parallel with the Pequest River and Rt 46, usually out of site from the latter. The time washed by as we walked the route past the Pequest Trout Hatchery, then out to the former site of the Pequest Furnace.
We continued on the same rail bed heading to the west from there until we got to the Pequest Viaduct, where the former Lackawanna Railroad crosses the river at the same spot as the LHR line crosses by way of a through style girder bridge. The Lackawanna line crosses on a three arch concrete span that I’ve always wondered about.

Old mile marker

The concrete span sits apparently on the exact same spot as the previous structure, a stone span. But I wonder how they dealt with the interruption of service demolishing the old stone one and replacing with concrete. I’ve always wondered if it could actually be the originally bridge capped with concrete. It’s possible, but I’ve never found anything documenting such.
In the same area, there was an old signal tower on the LHR line that I used to climb up. this time, it had sadly fallen down and was now sitting along the edge of the right of way. I knew there would come a time when it would fall, but it’s still sad when more of these structures succumb to the decay that just goes along with time.

Fallen tower

At least the old concrete mile markers will last a while longer, denoting “BD” for Belvidere and “MB” for Maybrook NY, being the north and south terminus of the former LHR trackage.
From the arch bridge, we climbed through the one to get to the top, then started to follow the old Lackawanna Railroad main line right of way back to the east, up hill from and parallel with the LHR right of way we just followed. I’ve always preferred that to the LHR line because there is no ballast rock really on it, and the soft cinders make for better walking. This section is going to be part of the Warren Highlands Trail as planned. We continued through the Pequest Cut and headed south.

Under Pequest Viaduct

The Pequest Cut is where the Pequest Furnace Railroad turns away from the main line. I’ve always wondered if a portion of this could be an original Lackawanna line, because the cut is huge, and would have been some undertaking to be done in 1856. I’d imagine the line was probably opened around the cut first.
We continued from here out across Pequest Road, then on the paved trail section that heads into Oxford. The moon was rising and was just about full. It was really looking like it was going to be a good night.

In Oxford

Brandan looked in the trash can at the start of the paved trail portion and found an empty bottle of Insanity, most certainly a remnant from the anniversary hike still in there.
We continued walking along the path into Oxford, and it was getting rather dark before we arrived there. The trail still ends at Lower Denmark Road, but the good news there is that Warren County Department of Land Preservation is looking into purchasing the remaining portions of the old Lackawanna main into Oxford that would connect the existing bike path out to where Lower Denmark Road is built over the railroad, at the old station site. I really hope that happens, it’d be a great improvement.

Reflections

We made a stop in the liquor store I believe in Oxford before moving on.
I was talking about going through the Oxford Tunnel pretty much the entire hike, but when we reached the town, both Brandan and James didn’t really want to go through the thing. It was now totally dark out and I suppose the memories of the tunnel from the anniversary hike were still too fresh in mind or something. We all walked together to the intersection with Academy Street, and then I went off from them by myself to the railroad bed and headed for the tunnel.
I’d walked through the tunnel many times, including by myself, but I hadn’t done it solo since 2010. My mind was made up to go though.

Remnants

Brandan and James headed out along Rt 31 south, and I quickly made my way down into the old railroad cut. I had to climb over many fallen trees, through the branches and such, and tried not to trip in the mud approaching the western portal.
I paused for a second outside, then made my way in cautiously. It’s a big drop when you first enter this tunnel, and always has been, but it’s gotten worse since the cave in occurred a little over ten years ago. I made it over the drop without falling in, but then my feet were getting stuck. I didn’t bring a stick with me for balance or anything, and it was nearly pulling my shoes off trying to walk through those first dozen or so steps.

Everything and the kitchen sink

Once I got past the bad muck, most of it was not so bad to push on through. It was cold, but manageable. After the mud, I carefully climbed over the cave in, then briskly walked out to the east (south) portal of the tunnel. When I got there, James and Brandan were nowhere to be found. They were still up on the highway trying to figure out where to come down. This always happens with the tunnels, people can’t figure out where to go, or they wait too long on the highway and end up in the briars or in a swamp. I was able to see them with their flashlights on the highway from the rail bed, and I directed them down to where I was so we could continue on.

Plush car wash toy

One of our Metrotrails followers had gone to the right of way earlier in the day and cut back some of the brush approaching the tunnel, so we were able to walk along it with a bit more ease.
We found the kitchen sink along the way that we’d found on the anniversary hike, and goofed off a bit. We continued on the rail bed out across Jackson Valley Road, then through the rough section near the high school. We turned to the left off of the rail bed when we got to what used to be an ATV trail to the left. When I was in high school and just after, this path would connect from Warren Hills Regional High School to what at the time was Bowers, Schuman, and Welch Insurance, my first car insurance company. It later became Brown and Brown, then closed down. The property is now the new municipal building and police station.
The path had grown over, but it was still recognizable from the rut it caused in the hillside. It wasn’t easy to find it at first, but once we were on it, we knew it. We came out into young growth of sticks behind the buildings and along a field, and followed it out to Rt 31. The plan was to walk from here to the bowling alley for some food.
We were rather tired at this point, and we saw that Leo’s Pizza was about to shut down for the night. We opted to go in and see what they had left. There were a few slices left to sell, so we each got a couple.
After the nice sit down, we walked into the developments and directly to Brandan’s house where we finished.

This would be my last night hike for a little while. There was a lot of stuff coming up including preparing for my upcoming backpacking trip that would preoccupy my time.

Ham sandwich