Hike #1381; Easton Area Loop

 

Hike #1381: 12/23/20 Easton Area Loop with Dr. Michael Krejsa, Joe Tag, Jennifer Tull, Tina Chen, Cupcake (Chris Kroschinski), Professor John DiFiore, Daniel Trump, and Karen Ezzo.

This next hike would be another loop night hike in Easton PA area.
I never get sick of the area. There is an infinite amount of stuff to do around there.

This time, we would do a variation of stuff I'd done many times before, but never get tired of.

From the boat launch area in Phillipsburg, just north of the Northampton Street free bridge in Phillipsburg, we met to start the hike.
Joe Tag showed up and gifted me an antique New World Atlas and Gazetteer he'd had for a long while to add to my map collection.
We started the hike by walking across the free bridge, and then turning right along the greenway along the Delaware River as I recall. We made our way to Bushkill Drive, and I think we might have tried to go up steps that we don't usually try, but couldn't get through.

We then made our way up the regular Lafayette College steps up into the campus.
This time, we headed through a different way than we usually do to the north. 
We walked by some nice huge trees, and then down through a campus building into an odd parking lot. I just kind of wanted to wander through the campus on a route I had never done before.
We then headed up I think Broadhead, Wayne, Kemmerer, Parker, and Shawnee Ave.
It got dark really quickly, but we still pushed through, and then descended on an abandoned set of steps from Shawnee down to the old trolley right of way up to where the Paxinosa Inn used to stand.

The trolley bed is really a fantastic route. It was already dark by the time we got to it, but it was still really pretty great. We could see the lights of the bridges over the Delaware, and on both sides of the river.

I pointed out to the right, across the river, how brightly the new Phillipsburg high school looks. It's kind of a pollution from that vantage point compared to what it was.

We made it to the very top, where the trolley made a hairpin turn below the hotel that has long since burned down in 1931 and was never rebuilt.
From there, we took a side trip on the foot path out to the end of Weygadt Gap, which looks up the Delaware.
I would normally go a bit further down, but it was so dark and so icy that I opted not to go much further. The spine of the little ridge gets narrow, and a fall would be the end of any of us, so I erred on the side of caution with this one.
We continued back to the trolley bed in Gollub Park, and headed to the west, to where it joins Paxinosa Avenue. We passed the private homes quietly and made our way onto the paved street, which was also the route taken historically by the trolley.

We came out to Sullivan Trail, and turned right (Sullivan Trail is a highway). We continued a short bit and then reached a grassy field area on the left with a high slope. I led everyone up onto that, and then across a field to the rear of the Forks Childcare Center, and then cut out to Knox Avenue.

We followed Knox to Old Mill Road and then cut to the right behind some more retail buildings into the big parking lot for the Giant supermarket where we took a break.
Here, at least Cupcake and I got some foot at Picasso II Pizza I think it was. It's hard to turn down pizza. 
When we were done there, to the right side of the parking lot is where the Forks Trail system connects to the Giant lot.
We turned onto that, and walked out behind the supermarket and parallel with a Forks Community Park access road, then crossed Marigold Drive. We continued west on the south side of the park skirting residences.

At the end of the wide park fields, the trail forks north and west. We continued west in a narrower swath between homes.
This led us out across Wagon Wheel Drive, behind more homes, and then across Hedgerow Court. We skirted a retention pond on the north and Heather Lane on the south, then crossed Mitman Road.
This spot was the first time I came up with "recycling bin fences".
The plastic fences with removable tops are supposed to get glued, but when they're not, I've put my beer bottles inside. They'll be found in fifty or so years when someone goes to replace the fence. Maybe sooner if there's an accident. I added to the collection this time as well.
 The trail then goes along Fox Run Road like a sidewalk and ends at Willow Drive.

From there, we went straight to the end of the road and cut to the right in back of the last house, along the edge of a farm field.
Through the line of trees at the end, we emerged at the rear parking lot of the Jahova's Witness place off of Lieb Road.
We headed down from behind there, turned left, and then right onto Hill Rd.
We turned right at the bottom on Northwood Ave, then left into Penn Pump Park on the old Easton and Northern Railroad bed, now paved trail.
We continued south over the Bushkill Creek on a girder bridge, then passed behind some homes before crossing Bushkill Park Road. We then crossed Bushkill Creek again.

This section brought us out behind the old Binney and Smith place, through the parking lot. Some rails are still visible there on that little stretch.
I pointed out how the industrial building was once a much older mill on the creek, and that it was built upon to create the large complex there today. The old mill wall on the south side is still visible.

We continued through from here, and I believe we turned right uphill into Upper Hackett Park. I think since it was Christmas time, it was the one where I planned to walk more of the length of Northampton Street completely. I'd always wanted to do it, and I know we ended up back in the Easton Circle before the end, but I didn't quite remember which route we chose to take to get there. We might hve done Sterner Arts Trail, but I just don't quite remember.
Once we got to the Easton Circle, it was just a short couple of blocks back to Northampton Street free bridge to get back over to Phillipsburg. It ended up being a pretty great last night hike for the year 2020.

Hike #1380; Throgg's Neck to Fort Lee

 

Hike #1380: 12/20/20 Throgg's Neck to Fort Lee with Jack Lowry, Sarah Jones, Brittany Audrey, Cory Salveson, Linda Salveson, Kirk Rohn, Jim "Uncle Soup" Campbell, Vi Chen, Tina Chen, Professor John DiFiore, Jennifer Tull, Serious Sean Dougherty, Diane Reider, Robin Deitz, Justin Gurbisz, James Quinn, Ann M, Dan Trump, and Karen Ezzo

The Holiday New York City hike is always a very well attended, crazy fun time. But this time was a little different. We were back into pandemic craziness after things had started to improve a bit.

What was I going to do? I had a date scheduled for it, but we ran the risk of having some major issues.

What I originally wanted to do was to walk across the new Goethels Bridge from Elizabeth NJ. We would then do some more Staten Island stuff and make our way across to Manhattan from there. 

Then, when the virus hit us, I changed the plan so that we would walk across the Bayonne Bridge and never get into Manhattan at all. Maybe that would be better.

There was a time when people were not supposed to leave their state at all. Of course we all ignored it, but I didn't want to risk a chance by going with a large group on a high profile new walkway over the Arthur Kill. I had a few different routes planned, and even toward the last minute I sort of changed it again.

I decided we would meet in Fort Lee NJ, and then shuttle with as few cars as possible to a starting point in the Bronx and walk back. That way, we wouldn't have to bother with public transportation or any possible problem with it. We'd run it like a regular hike, we'd just be in New York City. We'd also be doing a lot of stuff I'd never done before that had been on my "to do" list. Namely, the walkways along the waterfronts from a point in the Bronx, and then some other smaller parks back to Manhattan and back across to the George Washington Bridge.

I had decided on parking at Plaza West in Fort Lee thinking a grocery store farther from the Hudson River would be fine. It wasn't.

They would have towed us if we had stayed there, so we'd have to use paid parking elsewhere. 
I don't even know what parking area we decided on, but it was something Justin had gone off and found, so we shuttled all of the vehicles there, and then shuttled in as few cars as possible to our beginning point.

The beginning was a large strip mall complex with two levels sandwiched between Hutchinson River Parkway, Brush Avenue, and Lafayette Avenue. It was easy to just park on top and get going. It was amazing that in this area that is technically so much more busy than Fort Lee, it's so much easier to just park and go and do something.

The ease of parking and the ease of walking were quite a different thing.

We walked off of the ramp from the parking area onto Lafayette Ave, and then turned right to cross the Hutchinson River Parkway. Then, we turned right again to follow the frontage road along the parkway to the south. It goes parallel with the Saint Raymond New Cemetery, which I thought maybe we might be able to walk through, but it was typical city cemetery, all fenced off. We had to keep on the road.

Just below the cemetery was the Trump Golf Course at Ferry Point. That was similarly gated so we couldn't walk through that. There was a good amount of snow on the ground, and so walking would be hard enough, but we wouldn't have to worry about anyone golfing.

The frontage road passed beneath Hutchinson River Parkway just before the golf course entrance. It was narrow, so we had to scurry through. On the other side was Ferry Point Park.

We turned to the left and cut directly across fields of Ferry Point Park in the snow. It was tough walking, but alright. There was a nice view of the Bronx-Whitestone Bridge from both sides of Hutchinson River Parkway. The suspension bridge was once the fourth longest such structure in the world when completed in 1939.

There was apparently once a ferry operated out of the bridge site, probably starting in 1909, which also operated out of nearby Clason Point.

We got down about as close as we could get for a good photo of the bridge, and then turned around to follow the waterfront north from this location.

Some of the pathway stuff was clear of snow, or in some cases it was beat down enough that we could walk on top of it, which made the work a whole lot better.

The trail in Ferry Point Park continued along the waterfront to end at the intersection of Schley Ave and Brush Ave. 

We stopped at a sort of old bulkhead along the way, right where the trail came out, and Justin climbed along the water to find an old cell phone, and Sean found a watermelon and a tray. 

I can't remember what we did with it, but I feel pretty certain the watermelon must have gotten smashed at some point.

This route took us right back by the lower level of the grocery store we had started at! I was glad to see that park down there, but I think some of the group felt it was pointless.

Below the stores, there was a hot dog cart, so we couldn't resist purchasing some.

I popped open a can of Epitome Imperial Black Ale to sip as we walked, because it looks like I'm drinking a soda going down the street.

When we reached the Cross Bronx Expressway, we turned left across the Unionport Bridge over the Westchester Creek. This was a temporary bridge built to replace an earlier one, made of a sort of galvanized metal, directly beneath the much higher bridges of the Cross Bronx Expressway. We then turned left on Zerega Avenue on the other side and headed south toward Castle Hill Point.

When we got down to the end of Zerega, we turned right onto a pedestrian trail that paralleled Hart Street, then Howe Avenue, then Berret Avenue with good views over the Pugsley Creek.

At a parking spot, Wappinger Trail continued where the previous one left off. Maybe it's the same trail. Whatever the case, we followed this into a somewhat plowed down section along the upper end of Pugsley Creek. There was a bit of old masonry ruins back there, and then a viewing platform over the water. 

The creek was originally named Maenippis Kill by Dutch settlers, and was later known as Cromwell's Creek. 

The creek at one time used to stretch north all the way to Westchester Ave, but was filled and developed over north of Lacombe Avenue save for a little bit next to White Plains Road.

This trail brought us all the way around a good stretch of the Puglsey Creek to terminate at Stephens Avenue in the Harding Park section of the Bronx.

We continued down Stephens Ave and turned left on Gildersleeve Ave. We followed this to Husson Ave and turned right to Cornell Ave to reach the next bit of waterfront trail along the East River, where there was a bit of dock ruins deteriorating out on the water.

We had great views out across the water to the suspension bridge again, and then we reached Clason Point Park. 

The site was originally home to native Americans known as the Siwanoys, who had more than seventy dwellings here.

The site became known as Cornell's Neck in 1643 when Thomas Cornell began farming here. A dispute between the Cornells and the Siwanoys known as the Pig Wars.
The British took over after 1664, and the area was eventually named Clason Point after a Scottish merchant and landowner, Isaac Clason. The area saw new life as a resort area in the early 1800s, and from 1883 to 1927, it was Clason Point Military Academy.

Today, it is a lovely waterfront park with outstanding views. The ferry service that began in 1909 is still in service today, though not with so expansive a reach as it had before the bridges.

We were having a great time by this point, and I almost missed getting a sip of a delectable Dogfishhead 120 Minute IPA because Kirk was having it fast. I thankfully got a little! 

We reached Soundview Ave again, and my plan from here was to turn left and continue on the waterfront along the Shore Haven Bike Path, which would have taken us all the way through to Bronx River Ave, but it was locked behind a closed gate that we couldn't get through. 

Adjacent to it was a private community with a guard gate. I figured this was supposed to be open to the public, but such was not the case. We had to walk up Soundview for quite a while, which was a bit of a let down.

We headed west when we got past that community to reach Leland Ave, and then were close to the waterfront again at Harding Park.

The street was narrow, and the city had gotten pummeled with snow. It was kind of surprising just how much was piled on top of all of the vehicles along this street, to the point that it wouldn't be easy for any of them to get out and go anywhere.

When we reached the north end of Leland, another trail cut off to the left, into the lower end of Soundview Park.

I consider this to be sort of the southern terminus of the Bronx River Greenway.

At this point, we sort of officially started my Bronx River series. The path headed out next to wetlands, and then direct to the waterfront next to an attractive larger tree. The sun was fighting through the haze over us making this scene particularly beautiful.

The trail turned right and followed the waterfront, which went near an amphitheatre and transitioned back and forth between wide open area and woods. 

The park was built on a landfill over intertidal marshland under Park Commissioner Robert Moses and New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1937-39. The park reached its current size with acquisitions through 1967.

We continued along the waterfront until the trail segment ended at Lafayette Avenue. We turned left and right along Story Avenue and such heading north to Bruckner Expressway. 

We turned left to cross the Bronx River on the expressway bridge, then crossed it on the other side, headed back a bit and then descended a ramp down along the Bronx River into Concrete Plant Park.

This rather odd park along the river is literally a former concrete plant that has infrastructure still standing. It began operation in the 1940s, and remained in service until 1987. It apparently sat derelict until somewhat more recently. The park section opened to the public in 2009.

We continued walking north toward the 6 train bridge in view over the river, an elevated rail line. 
Soon, we came upon an abandoned station building elevated over the active tracks to the left, 

This was the Westchester Avenue Station, designed by Cass Gilbert and constructed in 1908 for the New York, Westchester, and Boston Railroad. It remained in use until 1937, and is abandoned in poor condition today over Amtrak's busy northeast corridor.

Amtrak has the station on its demolition list, and although it has been advocated for preservation, no government agency has extended protection or even recognition of historic status.
A plan to turn part of the station into a pedestrian bridge is currently written into a Bronx River Greenway plan, but whether this comes to be is anyone's guess.

We got off of the Bronx River greenway at Westchester Ave and had another look at the station from the street side. We walked north from here a bit more to Starlight Park, which is the next Bronx River Greenway park; we couldn't get through the new section where there are new bowstring arch pedestrian bridges in place, because they don't quite connect yet.

We were able to get on the park as far as the through truss bridge at 174th Street which has a good walkway ramp up to it. The truss structure was built in 1928.

On 174th, we had only six blocks to go to the west on the road to reach Crotona Park.

This was one of the "indispensable requisites for a park" noted noted by Bronx Department of Parks in 1888, when it was Bathgate's Woods, owned by Alexander Bathgate.

Crotona Park, named after the Greek City of Crotone, fit into a plan to by landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted to create a greenbelt across the Bronx. Then governor Grover Cleveland signed the New Parks Act into law in 1884, and the park land was acquired in 1888.

We headed straight up some paths, and then off of them over natural rock outcroppings, then down to Indian Pond. We turned somewhat left there, then followed the paths of the park out to Claremont Parkway.

From this point, we needed only to continue on the street another six more blocks to head directly into Clairmont Park, which had a stone wall and steps up where we entered across Webster Ave.

When we got there, and while waiting for the group to catch up, there was a fully wrapped turkey sandwich just sitting there. It looked fresh and like it hadn't been opened. I was getting hungry, and there was nothing standing between it and myself except the oppressive fear imposed by government regarding pandemic safety. 

I claimed the sandwich as my own, and consumed it while walking across Claremont Park, declaring that I would not be needing a covid vaccine as I am now immune from eating the sandwich. Henceforth, it has been referred to as the "covid sandwich".
Jack also sampled the sandwich and deemed it to be safe and delicious.

Claremont Park was smaller but similar to Crotona Park. This was another park development as part of a Frederick Law Olmsted plan for a greenway across the Bronx. It was previously the property of Elliott and Anna Zborowski, who constructed the Claremont Mansion on the property in 1859.

It became a park in the late 1880s, and the mansion served as a headquarters until demolition in 1938.
Like nearby Crotona Park, it has weaving paths through undulating topography.

We exited the park and basically went west on 170th Street from this point over Mt Eden, which is a height of land before reaching the Harlem River.

My plan once we got to the river was to cross the High Bridge, which opened a few years back to pedestrian traffic for the first time in decades.

The High Bridge is New York City's oldest bridge, completed in 1848 for the Old Croton Aqueduct.
The aqueduct was constructed to bring clean drinking water from Croton River in Westchester County after the Collect Pond, Manhattan's best clean drinking water source, was polluted when a tannery was built on it.

I had hiked the entire Old Croton Aqueduct as a series a few years back, and it was among my favorite routes between Westchester COunty and NY City.
When the High Bridge opened up, it was right after I had completed the series.
On this occasion, the water tower, which is an an aesthetic structure on the Manhattan side, was under renovation. It looks more like a steeple to onlookers.

The views fro the bridge at night are absolutely phenomenal, and it fit perfectly into our route across the northern end of Manhattan to get back to the George Washington Bridge. 

We crossed the bridge, and then climbed the next set of steps from the old aqueduct route to reach the aqueduct park.

From the exit of the park, we only had about ten city street blocks we had to walk in order to get to the George Washington Bridge, which we've crossed so many times.

Beyond there, I don't recall the exact route into Fort Lee because I don't recall which parking lot we used, but it wasn't more than a few more blocks after the bridge.

It was really a fantastic, diverse route, and nothing like any of the other holiday hikes we'd done before, which made it so much more special. It also opened the door for more hikes branching out toward Bronx River, Pelham Bay, and more.