Hike #953; Morris Canal: Mountainview to Rockaway
7/17/16 Morris Canal; Mountainview to Rockaway with Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Serious Sean Dougherty, Captain Soup (David Campbell), Jamie Chwala, Jennifer Berndt, James Quinn,
Our next hike would be the next in the Morris Canal series, picking up where we’d finished off on the main canal in Mountainview and heading onward to Rockaway. It was a pretty hot day, and I was kind of dreading how we’d handle the open areas along the former canal, but I think we did really well.
The group in Boonton!
We met in the morning at Rockaway, then shuttled with as few cars as we could east to Mountainview, where we parked at the train station, which doesn’t run on Sundays.
Everyone went into a little store across the street, where the canal went right behind businesses. We had only just been on it less than a month ago, and I brought everyone back and pointed out where the Pompton Feeder Canal joined. I think pointed ahead at where the aqueduct used to be over the Pompton River.
Former Morris Canal looking toward Pompton Aqueduct site
The area here confuses me; it’s hard to place exactly where everything is. It’s changed so much. We crossed the tracks now used by the Montclair/Boonton line, but at this point it was originally the Greenwood Lake Branch of the Erie. When 80 obliterated the original Lackawanna Boonton Branch to the east, the main lines were switched.
Rail crossing looking toward Pompton Aqueduct
We walked the former towpath to the tracks, and there was no remnant of the bridge whatsoever. It’s probably up on a much higher fill today. We crossed over and then went to the left onto Rt 202 to cross over the Pompton River on the road bridge.
Historic view of Pompton Aqueduct
I tried pointing out to everyone about where the Pompton Aqueduct would have been, and I didn’t have the historic photos with me to compare. I think it was too early in the hike and too hot out for them to be all that interested in it. Once on the other side, we passed a couple of businesses, then descended to the former canal again.
Present view of former Pompton Aqueduct site
Aqueduct Park was directly below. We all walked over to what would have been the western side of the structure. There is really nothing left. We then continued to walk out through the park to the west for a bit.
Pompton Aqueduct
Thee was even a pavilion in the park that read “Aqueduct Park” on it. We walked to the corner of the park, and it looked like someone had once cut a path along the towpath at the far end, but it was getting a bit overgrown. I made an attempt to go in anyway.
Historic view of Pompton Aqueduct
Trying to follow the canal through the mess proved to be a bad idea. We couldn’t get through really. I made my way steeply up hill through weeds to the edge of Rt 202 again, and encouraged others to go back rather than climb through the Poison Ivy.
Tracing the canal route in Aqueduct Park
Kevin ended up getting Poison Ivy out of that one.
We continued from here walking along Rt 202 for a little while, then made another turn on Midway Road, and the left on Glendale Road. Morris Canal was just above Glendale from what I could see, because what appeared to be a prism was off in the weeds. I believe it then becomes part of the road, and it goes through someone’s yard. I had walked that section one time before, coming from the Lincoln Park direction. We hurried through that time and fortunately no one bothered us, even though I did a jump flip at some point and realized a bit later I’d lost my keys and had to run back.
Morris Canal east of Lincoln Park
We walked as far as we could on Glendale, then cut to the left up through the woods. When I got on what I thought to be the canal, I continued walking parallel with Rt 202. When there was another house built over part of it, I headed back out over the railing onto 202. A guy came out of the sort of ramshackle house and looked at all of us as we went by, probably thinking us to be insane.
We continued along 202 a short bit more, then I turned right down Ryerson Road to check if any new developments were made on the greewnay here. The canal is trenched out on the west side of the road, and not really easy to follow. No matter, it crosses Rt 202 shortly ahead anyway.
Morris Canal, Lincoln Park
We continued out along Rt 202, and all took a little break so everyone could catch up, just to the west of where the canal would have crossed the present day highway.
From here into Lincoln Park, the canal is on the south side of Rt 202, and the prism is still noticeable as a sort of dip in the trees in front of the developments and homes. We continued to the west toward Lincoln Park when all were together, and stopped only to eat some Japanese Wine Berry that were growing pretty well at this time.
When we reached Lincoln Park, we walked around a school for a bit, some of which I think has buildings over the former canal. We crossed parking lots and went near a playground.
Morris Canal along Beaverbrook Drive
Ahead, in the past we had to walk parallel with the canal on roads. The only inclined plane site on the entire canal I had not visited in any way was #10 East at Towaco. There was a section of canal that used to be accessible, but I recall being told we couldn’t go through any more. Additionally, there really was no good way of hiking it going from west to east, now that we were going east to west, I figured we would try to figure it out. We continued on Beaverbrook Road from the middle of Lincoln Park, where the canal was directly to the left of the road going ahead. We then turned left onto Windsor Drive into an apartment area, and then right onto grass parallel with the canal.
Morris Canal in Towaco
It was nice and easy to parallel the canal here. I walked ahead and chatted with Captain Soup, and occasionally looked over to the right at the grown over canal prism. We walked behind a series of apartments without a problem. We could just stay right on the mowed grass with the old canal to the right at all times. We actually got into the prism at one point, but it was too overgrown so we came back out.
After the last few buildings of the apartments, there was a private home, just a regular house, so we couldn’t continue like we did past the apartment buildings. We descended into the canal prism and began following it to the west a bit further.
Morris Canal in Towaco
It was very impressive for me to see such a good long section of the canal, in good shape, and that I’d never been along. It was kind of a cool thrill to be on it. We followed on and off the towpath, depending on how many weeds there were, and were soon further away from any homes. One could tell that this was clear and easy to walk through probably in recent years, but it was let go.
Bottom of Plane 10E
We walked the towpath until it started ascending a bit. I announced that I believed we must have reached the base of the inclined plane. We tried to push forward to explore more of it, but unfortunately it was too brutal to get through. Multi Flora Rose, Japanese Barberry, it was all there and just too thick to bully on through.
Power house at former Inclined Plane #10 East
We had to descend back the way we came a bit. It was amazing that the canal was even watered in this hidden section, formerly known as Beavertown, but there was one spot, a sort of causeway, where we could get across. I went first to see if it would be feasible to go over and get up to the railroad line on the other side. It wasn’t great, but I got through, and motioned everyone to follow me.
Morris Canal in Towaco
These tracks were not really used on Sundays, so we were okay to make our way up briefly, then continued along them for a short distance to an access point to Bellows Lane. The canal went up the plane and then was closer to Rt 202 again, but we were not too far north. We walked Bellows Lane for a little bit, and when I saw the first opportunity to go back over the tracks and climb to 202 on the other side, I took it. It was also not a nice spot to go, but we needed to get back over to the canal. I got to a nice little watered section parallel with Main Road/Rt 202 and waited for everyone to catch up. The rest of the group didn’t all cross the tracks the same place I did. It was brutally hot, so many of us just laid down in the grass along the canal for a time.
Morris Canal near Montville United Methodist
We stayed mostly along Rt 202 until we got to Montville United Methodist Church on the left. I don’t recall trying to hike the canal through that bit before, but this time I made my way up and followed a bit of an access road behind the church which was built right on the canal. I could see the rather intact prism coming out to the road, and we walked the road out back.
A lady at the church invited us to their sermon that was going to happen after a bit. I told her we were hiking through, and so she sent us some blessings anyway before we moved on! The canal made a hard turn back there, and I could tell by the contour of the land where it went. It cut out into the woods before some houses, and the prism was very recognizable.
Morris Canal west of the church
We made our way up the road past where the canal would have crossed, then cut into some woods with less undergrowth to the right. We were able to make our way back over to the towpath and prism pretty easily, and then followed the towpath to the west on a section I’d never done before.
We emerged back on 202 by Rails Steakhouse. Jamie joined us at that point because there was a good parking area, and some people went inside for more water. Canal Road continued ahead because 202 went across somewhere there. We walked a bit of Canal Road, and were then able to climb back up to another section of the intact prism and towpath.
Morris Canal near Montville
I was rather surprised to see more watered sections again. I walked pieces of this before, but never to the extent we did this time. I honestly thought this section of the hike would suck because it’d be mostly road walk, but it turned out to be very nice I thought.
We followed the towpath for a bit, then had to climb back down to Canal Road when it came to someone’s front yard. Canal Road is far less busy than Route 202 was, so this really wasn’t much of a problem.
The road soon turned hard left and crossed the former canal. The towpath goes out and across someone’s yard where the last time we came from the other way and just walked across without a problem.
Morris Canal near Montville
We kept on the road and made the next right turn onto a short dead end road, which used to go through but now had blockades over it. Just past the blockades were stones across the somewhat wet prism of the canal where we could cross over to the towpath side. The development in this area appears to have utilized the canal as part of their obligatory retention pond system, a strategy apparently used at a few different places I’ve seen. The canal and towpath were at first in the woods, with the canal watered, but the towpath disappointingly overgrown from how I saw it the last time I was out.
Morris Canal at Montville
It really only needed a mow and it would be fine.
The canal emerged from the woods into an open area where the road on the opposite side and buildings were in more plain view. We remained on the towpath until it got to be a bit too overgrown, and we switched over to Macculoch Road on the other side. It didn’t matter much, because the next regular road crossing was Changebridge Road, named for where the canal towpath switched sides. We turned right at this road, and then took a break at a gas station on the corner of Changebridge and Route 202 for refreshments.
Morris Canal at Montville
The canal went right out behind this particular gas station, and from there we walked along Rt 202, and soon passed beneath Rt 287.
On the other side of 287, the canal turned to the right and went into what is now a lot of private land. We were stuck walking Rt 202 here in what would be the worst road walk of the hike. It was brutally hot. The canal goes around a sharp bend on private land, and crosses present Rt 202 by the intersection with Valhalla Road. It then was just south of 202 as we walked ahead for a bit more.
After Asa Street, Rt 202 had a hook to it, and it was there the canal reached the base of former Inclined Plane #9 East.
Historic view of Plane 9E
There was a nice little creek that flowed below. There must have been a weir at one time at this point, because it would not have had an aqueduct for this little creek, and historic photos show slack water coming in from the right. It must have been a small supplemental feeder.
Former Plane 9E today
We decided to take another break here. The creek didn’t look like it would offer anything all that refreshing, but we were so hot we couldn’t handle it. We headed down and I happened to find a good deep spot under the 202 bridge to lay in.
We had a really nice break here, and I couldn’t believe more people weren’t quick to get in and cool off a bit. The rest waited above in the shade.
We tried not to take too long, and headed back up to 202 heading west a bit.
Morris Canal Plane 9E
It was a rather pleasant surprise ahead, that where 202 crosses the former plane, the upper end of it is now a public park. It had just been along a driveway in the past, and was inaccessible. There was now a sign and the top of the plane had been cleared off to where we could see riprap rock on the right side of it.
We walked up hill gradually on the plane, past a few new interpretive signs. I could tell that since it was turned into a little pocket park, no one was keeping up with maintenance. There were a lot of weeds growing through the plane. There may have still been sleeper stones from the rails underneath, but we couldn’t see them it it’s current condition.
Top of Plane 9E
At the top we could see where the power house used to be. We were able to continue beyond the top along the towpath. A road called Emry Lane followed it and dead ended at the top, but we continued through some weeds at the end into the corner of a parking lot for an industry.
We continued at the edge of the lot to the far side, then cut back into the woods. I recall trying to follow some of this in the past but I didn’t find much. This time, the prism was so badly grown in, as well as the towpath, that we followed parallel with it for a bit. We got as far as a housing development and it was so badly overgrown along it that we couldn’t go any further. Besides, Interstate 287 blocked the way ahead. Either way, this was the base of former Inclined Plane #8 East.
Historic view of Plane 8E
We headed out away from the canal to the left, through woods following a sort of vague path. It looks like at one time the industry there might have had a path through there, but it wasn’t maintained in forever. We continued parallel with the industry until we emerged again along Rt 202.
Morris Canal at the base of Plane #8 East
We wouldn’t be along the actual canal again for a while because it’s either under 287 or just barely to the south of it. I had walked that way previously, and there was no need to go back over there at this point so we just kept along Rt 202.
While we were walking the section of Rt 202 ahead, we heard the sound of some music. It was that generic stuff played by an ice cream truck! It was so hot out and we could all go for some ice cream. The truck came up and went past us as we were looking really happy to see him, but it was followed by disappointment of him continuing on. There was really no where to pull over along Rt 202.
ICE CREAM!
As we headed slightly up hill, to our great surprise the ice cream man had pulled over into a restaurant parking area and was ready to sell us some product!
Everyone was elated, and we pigged out on lots of ice cream. Not only that, but the guys working the restaurant saw how how we were and they brought out pitchers of water for the entire group! I believe this would have been the Columbia Inn on 202. It was built into an old hotel style building, and I’d love to go back, not just because it looks interesting, but because they were gracious enough to offer our group free water.
We had a really nice break here, and we all felt much better before we moved on.
Boonton Station
We had to continue on 202 for a little bit into the town of Boonton. It really is a pretty interesting town. The downtown section has all sorts of specialty stores and there are always some kinds of events going on.
We walked along 202 past the old brick train station, which used to be part of the Boonton Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, built in 1904.
We turned from the station up onto the main street to the right. There really are no signs of the canal through here, even though it was really close.
We passed the Boonton Historical Society Building, but unfortunately it was closed or we’d have gone in. It was originally the Dr. John Taylor House built in 1898. The town of Boonton bought it in 1921 and dedicated it to World War I veterans, and used it as a city hall until 1965.
Old home with many uses over the years
It then became an American Legion Headquarters.
We walked up the main drag for only a short bit. The canal would have gone behind this and other structures.
We then turned down hill to reach Plane Street. What is now the street was once Morris Canal’s Inclined Plane #7 East.
Boonton is and always has been one of the more urban sites along the Morris Canal. Even in the historic photos, there have always been lots of buildings closely adjacent to the inclined plane. Only Newark has such a similar distinction with Plane 12 East.
We began climbing up the road on what used to be the plane from here.
Historic view of Plane #7 East
We made our way up the plan to the intersection at the top. There, the canal crested and dipped back into it’s pool. There was a police officer who saw us and I think he asked someone what we were doing. He ended up passing us a few times on the route here.
Present view of Plane 7E
The former canal is now a parking lot behind the buildings of the main drag in Boonton. We continued along the parking lot to it’s end, and there a paved pathway begins following it’s route.
Historic view of the plane
This felt like about the toughest climb of the hike. It was out in the open, and just too hot.
Present view of the plane
People always like to talk about how this area had no development back in the day, that the “Old Boonton” is now under Boonton Reservoir, but the truth is there was already settlement around the canal in the mid 1800s.
Top of Plane 7E
We continued along the pathway for a bit, and the sound of the Boonton Falls below in Grace Lord Park was completely audible. It was a very loud falls, probably the second largest by volume in NJ.
Present view, top of Plane 7E
Once we reached where Main Road crosses over the Rockaway River, we took a little detour from the canal. We went across the bridge, then turned left on the path into Grace Lord Park.
Historic view of Morris Canal in Boonton, now parking lots
There’s a really great little trail system below the canal through Grace Lord Park. There was an historic iron works down there as well as a railroad spur that serviced them.
Former Morris Canal in Boonton
There was no one around really except the people walking the main path, so we took a narrower footpath from an outlook area down to the front of the falls, and decided to take a dip. It was really one of those perfect places I’d not considered before, like the Little Falls on the previous one.
Historic 1905 view of Boonton and the falls along the canal
I jumped in and swam up to the falls. Justin, Tom, James, and Jen all got in too I believe. Justin and I went all the way to the falls and climbed up more of it. We got close to the main flow of the falls than I’d ever been before, which was really cool.
Boonton Falls
The water gets incredibly deep, and we were even able to jump off of a couple of spots. This was really the perfect spot for our lunch break or whatever you want to call it.
Justin actually swam
When we were finished, we climbed out, then headed back up to the bridge, crossed, and turned left to regain the former canal. There is a giant globe that has been sat where the canal used to be.
Historic view of the canal in Boonton
We goofed off climbing into fake cars and such on a playground, then continued ahead to another good, watered section of the canal. There’s a nice towpath and authentic looking canal going for a good while to the west of Boonton, above the Rockaway River.
We followed that section along until it ended, then turned to the right onto the road once more.
We followed Main Street just a bit, past a couple of houses, and then descended again on the other side back to the towpath. Another good section of towpath is open ahead from here to the next settlement, which was known as Powerville.
Morris Canal west of Boonton
The towpath remained good to the back of a business, then we had to cross a lot, then cross Main Street again.
We walked through a park on the other side to a dam on the Rockaway River. Here, the canal entered slack water of the river. There is a round pier out in the middle the pool behind the dam which supported the towpath bridge that used to cross. We viewed where the canal entered the lake, then had to backtrack to the Main Street, because the canal enters private land ahead and is unaccessible. I understand there is a good section of the canal parallel with Main Street, but I’ve not seen it myself.
The group west of Boonton
On the other side of the bridge, we turned right on Powerville Road, then left on Old Denville Road. Serious Sean and Cindy cut out early here because a car had been left for the early out. Jamie was having some trouble too, so her and Captain Soup backed out as well.
Dam and old bridge pier at Powerville
The rest of us continued along the Old Denville Road to the west until we got to the Hamilton Farms Greenhouse area. Here, we turned right and followed the access road down to the end, which where the canal used to be.
We turned left on a dirt road, and soon we could make out a towpath next to it. We followed the towpath, which is a clear trail at this point through what is considered part of Tourne County Park for a good while. It was a bit different than how I remembered it, a bit more developed. There was a nice spot with picnic benches and such to the right, right along the shore of the Rockaway River. Hardly anyone wanted to jump in and cool off amazingly.
I think it was actually only James and I that wanted to get in and cool off. The rest of the group just sat at the picnic bench and relaxed while we laughed at ridiculous things.
We made our way from here back out to the Morris Canal, and began following it west.
Morris Canal at Tourne
When I hiked this last, we were able to go around a private house to the right and just continue on, but now there were giant formidable gates across the former towpath keeping anyone from accessing from this one private house. I understand there is an easement there, but that there has been an issue with the land owners with keeping it open.
We had to turn back, sadly. There wasn’t a good way to go through without having a problem, so we got to a side trail, which took us out around some fields parallel with developments, and then petered out. I was getting a bit frustrated with this before the end. Eventually, we made our way to a deer extruder fence, and headed back out to the access road from here.
Towpath Road and former canal
The access road took us out to Norris Road where we turned right, then went right again on Bush Road. When we got to where the people have the the towpath closed off, we turned left on Towpath Road, a regular dead end road built on the canal towpath. It was a nice walk, and people told us along the way that there was no way through. I told them that we would wade the river, and they just replied with “Ah, ok!”. There was also some sort of incident at one of the houses, because police were there and an ambulance. Fortunately, we didn’t have any problem, and we followed the road to where it ended, then continued out onto golf course lands.
Rockaway Aqueduct site
The last time I hiked this, we remained right on the historic canal route. I considered reaching out to the golf course to get official permission like we had done with Upper Montclair, but then the time came too quickly and I just never got around to it. So, this time we had to turn to the right, closer to the river, and follow parallel ATV trails to the canal, which wasn’t too bad.
We soon came to where the canal turned away from the golf course, and we we able to head right back up onto it close to the former site of the Rockaway River Aqueduct.
Only the piers remain in place for this former aqueduct, but they’re in pretty good shape.
Former Peer's Store along Morris Canal
I didn’t realize it until now, but I think that two of the piers were removed from the former aqueduct. As I recall, there were several there, and now there was only one in the middle with abutments at either side.
There was a heated debate that the piers would cause a problem with flooding on the creek, although they had never been a problem in the past and there was no evidence to suggest that they ever would be. Apparently a couple of the piers were removed. The river was not even ankle deep the entire way across, which really goes to show how little a problem it was from the start. Maybe the middle pier was left in to help one day support a footbridge.
Former canal in Denville area
We headed out of the woods and soon emerged behind what used to be Peer’s Store, an historic canal store, now La Cucina Italian Restaurant.
The canal continued directly across from here at a private driveway. We couldn’t follow that section.
Before the aqueduct, since there was to be wading involved, we split the group in two, and I directed the rest to meet us at La Cucina/Peer’s Store, and they arrived at about the same time. Together, we turned left on Diamond Spring Road, then right on Morris Avenue. The canal soon appeared from the right and crossed over the road. We were able to turn left to follow it on a driveway here.
Morris Canal in Denville
We ended up at the Church of the Saviour, and had to turn right away from the canal back to Morris Ave, but only briefly. We then turned left on Savage Road to where the canal crossed, now apartments. We turned right across the parking lot to the apartments, then passed beneath Rt 80 where the canal used to be, beneath a bridge shared by Rockaway River.
On the other side the towpath becomes more evident, and it’s a really great trail section that very few other than locals seem to know about. Gregg seemed particularly impressed by this section, sandwiched between the Rockaway River and 80.
Morris Canal in Rockaway
We came to an industrial site, and Justin was looking for people he could fine for dumping later. The hikes are giving him some really good leads for his job lately. I pointed out to everyone where the canal feeder was at this point. A trenched short distance side canal, not used for navigation, came from the north along the Beaver Brook here.
We made our way through an industrial area and out to Gill Avenue. The canal would have gone over the Beaver Brook in this area, but we had to keep to the south of it. There is a ball field to the north that would be where the canal was, but it was fenced so we just stayed on the road for a bit.
Ahead, we walked Drake Avenue, because I did that before where the canal was overgrown, and I couldn’t find out how to get in to the next section. There is a really great section with a bridge for the Hibernia Mine Railroad built over the canal, and I wanted everyone to see it, but it looked only reasonably accessible if coming from the other direction.
We walked around, crossed the tracks of former Hibernia Mine Railroad on Ogden Ave, then turned right on Drake Ave. When we reached where the canal crossed, I turned back and checked out the bridge really quick.
Historic view of Morris Canal Plane #6 East
I think only Kevin was really interested in seeing the site at this point. Everyone else knew we were getting close to the end and were tired.
Present view of Plane #6W
We turned back the way we came by less than a block, then turned right on Maple Ave heading to the west, followed by a right on Halsey Ave toward the Inclined Plane.
Plane 6E then...
The plane started down near the municipal property, and the spot on Halsey Ave is partway up where it used to be. The remainder of the plane today is actually the driveway and parking lot to a church.
We headed up hill on the former plane, and checked out some somewhat new interpretive signs that had been put in near the top.
The top of the plane is now the Heady Field, a sports field and little park. A paved trail now follows the former canal route heading to the west for a little bit from the top.
Plane 6E now...
We next followed Dock Street, also built on the canal, out to Wall Street, and continued straight across to what is now Friendship Field, where the south part of the parking area is the canal, where we were parked.
Despite it being a really hot day, we really made the best of it pretty well. We ate berries, swam, had ice cream, and explored some new stuff.
Re-exploring the Morris Canal series has not turned out to be what I thought it would be. I fully expected Canal Society types, lots of newcomers excited about the new greenway sections and different aficionados, but instead it’s mostly the same types of characters who usually show up, as well as the usual suspects. It’s really only slightly disappointing that more of the canal nuts don’t come out, because it’s taken on a character that’s better, that all of my past hikes have embraced. I don’t need to create something new, just keep on doing what I do, and appreciate the eclectic groups for what they are: truly great.
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