Hike #946; Byram to Hackettstown

Hike #946; Byram to Hackettstown

6/22/16 Byram to Hackettstown with Gregg Hudis, Jason W. Briggs, Sean TheRed Reardon, James Quinn, Jennifer Berndt, Lerch (Kralc Leahcim), Jim "Uncle Soup" Campbell, Dan Asnis, and Steve Levy

Our next hike would be a point to point night hike between Byram and Hackettstown NJ.
It was one of those nights I really needed to get out, but everything was really frustrating. There’s always something, somewhere that’s a bother, and sometimes it’s tough to get past it, even for me. Overall though, it was a pretty good hike.

Highlands Trail in Allamuchy Mountain

We met at the Wendy’s in Hackettstown and then shuttled with one car to the Byram Shop Rite to start off. This was the first time Steve Levy would be back out with us in quite a while, and it was convenient because he lives so close to it.
We started by crossing Rt 206 at the Byram Shop Rite, then followed the cul de sacs to the Highlands Trail into the woods. I hadn’t been on this section in quite a while, so it was nice to revisit it. It didn’t look at that different than I remembered, except the initial approach is now the Byram Bike Trail. We followed the trail over a hillside, and then descended to the creek crossing before the Sussex Branch Trail. There’s a nice little waterfall there where we could take a dip.

Swim hole

We had a really nice refreshing dip in the creek. It was a hot day, so we needed it. Somehow, Gregg and Dan got off of the Highlands Trail in the area and were quite behind, so we had to wait up for them to catch up after a bit.
After taking our dip, we walked the parallel old Sussex Mine Railroad right of way instead of the wider, later locomotive right of way which would give Gregg and Dan some more time to catch up with us. That earlier right of way is much more natural and pretty interesting to walk. It was a gravity line from the iron mines in Andover, to Waterloo Village that predated the locomotives. It went to a spot where they could load the cars onto Morris Canal boats.
When we got to where the old mine railroad bed rejoined the the main rail trail, we waited for Gregg and Dan to catch up. Once we were all together, we continued south.
Jen was coming to join us up ahead here as well, and I figured she might meet us in this area, but she was behind.

Sussex Railroad Bed at Waterloo

Just as we reached the parking area at the corner of Continental Drive and Waterloo Road, James realized that he had forgotten his shoes! He ran all the way back looking for them but couldn’t find them. As he walked and ran, he met some guy and told him about his shoes. He asked that if he happened to see them if he could return them to him.
As if by some miracle, the guy ended up finding his shoes, but James didn’t get the phone call stating that they’d been found and put back at his car until much later.
We continued from here across on Continental Drive, which was built on the old 1901 right of way of the Sussex Branch of the Lackawanna Railroad. The bridge the road takes to get across the Musconetcong is capped onto the old masonry abutments of the railroad. We followed the road only to a trail turn off to the right, which then took us through woods to the original Sussex Railroad right of way, which was built to replace the mine railroad.

Old house

We followed the old railroad bed further on, parallel with Waterloo Lake, and then continued to where it once crossed Morris Canal’s Inclined Plane #4 West. From here, we headed down onto the old roadway. Waterloo Valley Road used to continue through prior to the construction of Rt 80 to Waterloo Village, but around the same time a quarry truck driver destroyed the bridge connecting the village so the road was severed and never re-opened. There is one house on the Morris County side of Waterloo Village, on old Waterloo Valley Road, that remains unpreserved because there’s literally no way to get a vehicle to it.

House

Hopefully, when the bridge is erected over the Waterloo Lake, it will be possible to get vehicles over and it can be repaired. Until then it’s going to sadly remain in bad shape.
We left the building, and then took to the trail that heads down closer to the Musconetcong River, and passes beneath Interstate 80. On the other side, it then climbs back up to former Waterloo Valley Road on the other side of 80. Lerch had gone way ahead and jumped into the Musconetcong for a swim. I don’t even know how he got ahead of me because he was right with me at the house.
We continued on from here, and then headed up to the current alignment of Waterloo Valley Road, which was rerouted so that it connects to International Trade Center.

Playboy

We waited a little bit because Jen couldn’t find the spot to meet up. I had her park at ITC, and then walk Waterloo Valley Road to connect with us, and I think she went a bit too far on it and had to come back. Once we were all together, we headed down a path that led to the Tilcon Lake. Lerch had already run down there too, and by the time the rest of us walked by he was far up in a giant tree. I think someone commented that “He’s probably up in a tree or something”, and sure enough he was right there. We soon reached the edge of the lake, but there was someone fishing where I wanted to go in. We continued around the shore until we found a pretty nice spot and took a dip.

At Tilcon Lake

When we were done, we walked the old roadway out and around the Kinney Road, then turned right. Steve left us at Tilcon Lake, where he’d left a car nearby. It was only a short distance on the road to the former Morris Canal, now a trail, and we turned left on it heading west.
Before we reached the next time the trail came out, at Waterloo Road, Lerch stopped for a swim. The trail goes in and out of the woods to go around one house at this point. Lerch decided he was enjoying his swim and didn’t want to continue, so we left him out there and he called for an Uber or something to pick him up. The rest of us continued on along the trail, and a little bit of Waterloo Road road the canal wasn’t accessible. At one point the trail follows the abandoned former road rather than the canal to keep it off of the road.

Musconetcong Lerch

When we passed the Lock #4 tender’s house, later Elsie’s Restaurant, there was another abandoned house, probably a recent one I’d have loved to check out, but everyone was being too loud and I didn’t want to chance going over to it. I was starting to feel annoyed and was actually just wanting to finish the hike at this point.
We headed up past Saxton Falls, and the spot I wanted to swim next was all full of scuz, and so we didn’t bother there. We continued from there past the old Saxton Falls guard lock, crossed Waterloo Road on the trail and continued to the east. Jen and James were falling behind, and Dan was using his flashlight a lot. I couldn’t wait to get done with the back woods stuff and get onto an easier route everyone could deal with better.
One thing that surprised me was that when we got to the next abandoned park house, the canal had been cleared by some of the Trail Conference crew since my last visit. It was now possible to walk the canal towpath all the way to the next driveway, which was great. It was totally impassable every other time I’d been in.
I’d been in touch with the folks doing the work by e mail regularly and gave them some guidance on where to go. Jacob Franke was taking lead and doing an excellent job. They had just recently started at Bilby Road and worked to the east, then did this new section. I figured Bilby Road would be in fine shape by the time we got to it. Such was unfortunately not the case though.
The stretch of the canal from the driveway out to Bilby Road was getting badly grown over. Even though Franke and his crew had only been out there a couple of weeks earlier, this Summer has been a horrible maintenance growing season, so it needed to be done again badly. This just piled on the frustration. Also, James and Jen turned off of the canal on the Highlands Trail instead of continuing, so we had to reconnect with them.
When we reached Bilby Road, we turned left, then right onto Willow Grove Street past the hospital. We turned left near there out to Hackettstown Riverfront Park. There was a good section of trails through the woods there, all surfaced and easy for walking. The hike was better for me at this point. Straightforward and relaxing, which is what I needed at this point. We followed the trails out to Alumni Field, the former fish hatchery, and this time walked along more of the inland sections of propagation ditches. I’d not done this section, not in years anyway, or as part of one of my hikes, so it was a good area.
We had to be quiet going by a state house being lived in, and then quietly made our way out to the intersection of Rt 46 and Willow Grove Street. From here, we simply walked along Mountain Avenue back to the Wendy’s in town, a good relaxing end to the hike.

Hamburger Onion Smith Tokeo.

We drew penises and Jesus stuff and such on Dan’s car when we arrived before saying goodbye, which he’s always a good sport about.
When everyone was on their way out, I instead headed over to the Applebees where I knew Lerch had been hanging out. I couldn’t leave without checking and making sure he was okay.
He’d been sitting there for about three hours, now using a hand held breathalizer to make sure he was good to drive before leaving. I’d had the remainder of Sean’s drink, I forget what it was, not long before, and I had to rub it in by blowing a 0.00 into it (LOL). I hung out with Lerch there for a bit, and he decided he’d just get a hotel room for the night rather than try to drive and risk anything. He’d made some friends at the bar hanging out there for a while, and was in pretty high spirits. I drove him over to the hotel a mile or two away before heading home.
I felt better by the end of it all, but am dissatisfied when I am unable to rise above frustration and bad feeling. Overall, not a bad hike, and if this was the worst we could have for an entire Summer, there is nothing really to complain about.