Hike #1289; Phillipsburg/New Village Loop
1/15/20 Phillipsburg/New Village Loop with Ken Zaruni, Sue Bennett, Justin Gurbisz, Brittany Audrey, Sarah Jones, Dan Lurie, and Kyle ?
This next hike would be a loop around the western Warren County areas including mostly the Morris Canal and the former Morris and Essex Railroad. I planned it specifically because I figured it would be the last chance to go through the Phillipsburg Mall.
The group in the mall
I had done one the previous week thinking it was getting close to the end, but this time we found that maybe we could do yet another one.
Entering the mall...
I made the meeting point to be the mall parking lot over near the Taco Bell. We could then walk directly into the mall from there.
The mall, built in 1989, has been reported by its owners to be property“better served” with another use rather than a mall. With the ceilings falling apart and no real effort to fix them, it’ll probably be torn down shortly after it closes.
.....really....?
I had wanted to go into Spin Me Round one more time, the record store owned by my friend Stephanie Nagy, but she closed only a few days ago, so I missed it.
Dan was running a little late, so the rest of us headed into the mall over at the far south side. We walked over toward the end, and there was a guy there with a mop bucket doing some cleaning. I decided to ask him outright when the mall was supposed to close.
His name was John. A very nice man who has only been working for the mall for a little while, but he also worked in other stores, and he was involved in the union that did a lot of the construction through the area.
He told us that his job was supposedly good through April they were telling him, but that most of the stores were going out before then. I had been under the impression that we were in the final week the mall would be open. John said though that the Verizon store and I think a couple of others still had leases through March. Kohls at the far end could work independently because they own their own building, one of the old anchor store ends.
LOL
The Black Rose Antiques is still there, but they are supposedly going out as well. I think someone told me they were going to Palmer Park Mall in Pennsylvania, which is where Stephanie is moving Spin Me Round to.
John said that there was a store up the other end, and that was soon to close. He said when that closed, the may section off that end of the mall so you can’t walk down it any more.
I was looking around for a soda machine, and John said they had emptied out just about all but one of them, and I couldn’t find that one. He made some kind of joke about that being their “food court”.
The signs still in the mall reading “something for everyone” and “one stop holiday shopping” seem so much more like a crazy joke now than ever.
The mall
John was very interested in what we were doing.
“You’re doing a hike right NOW?” he asked me.
“Where are you going tonight?”
I told him about the Morris Canal Greenway, and such, and he was very interested in it. In fact, he was friends with Bill Lee he said, who is related to James E. Lee who conducted the excavation of the turbine chamber at the Morris Canal Inclined Plane #9 West. Jim Jr. and Jim III followed in the family foot steps and are closely connected with the county and the canal.
Goofing off in the mall
We said goodbye to John and continued through the mall heading back toward the end where the Sears used to stand. Dan joined us at the end. We turned left and went into the Black Rose antique store, and did the entire perimeter of it. In an area with books, Brittany read some questionnaire in a book about better sex life in a very comedic fashion. We were very giggly on this entire hike, beginning to end, and this is about when it started.
We moved from here out of the store and back into the main mall heading the other direction. On the way, the Santa Clause display and Santa’s chair was still inside. No one had done anything with it since the last time we were in, and this was a great opportunity for a group shot.
Some of the group grabbed a present from under the tree and held it. Justin sat in Santa’s chair, and the others stood around him like some sort of dysfunctional family photo. Sarah opened up one of the presents to see what was in it and I think it was just packing peanuts.
Santa's place
We checked out Bruno’s Pizza, which has been closed for a long while, with its odd art above the oven. We could just walk back, as no one was around. It was so strange to see. I got a photo from inside the place back out to the mall.
Looking out of Bruno's
We used the restrooms before heading out to the other side, and then back into the parking area toward the Taco Bell again.
I was surprised to see Kyle back, who was on the first day hike. He’s sort of a man of mystery, with his big beard. He had to leave the group early at some point, and I gave him my number so he could get back to us if he needed to.
We headed over to Rt 22 and were ‘sable to cross over near to the traffic light, so there were good breaks in the cars. We then turned left and made our way to the next little gas station where I went in and got some cranberry juice.
I had described to Kyle where we were going, and he saw us cross over 22, so he met us at the other side of the convenience store.
Just ahead, there was a billboard alongside the road with pleasant adjectives, so we of course had to climb on and pose with them.
Kyle said “You guys are gonna get the cops showin up here”!
Fortunately, we had no such problem and we continued on.
The crossing of Rt 22 could become a major issue in the near future depending on the the fate of the Phillipsburg Mall property. If the property were to be developed to some sort of non-public warehouse, the crosswalk to the mall could potentially be eliminated.
Peeee Burg Mall
I had a Board of Recreation Meeting just the night before where I made my concern known that we need this crossing for the Morris Canal Greenway. We should have gotten an overpass over the highway, or under, when both the new development and the warehouse was built nearby, but we didn’t use any leverage to make it happen unfortunately despite everyone wanting it so badly.
This is why we had to walk along 22 for a bit, and then descend to the canal towpath through the property of Stowaway Self Storage, through which the county purchased a right of way for access.
We went down through some weeds, and then through the prism to the towpath.
Exiting the mall
Once everyone was on the canal, we turned right and started following the route westbound. Kyle shot ahead of us and said “I’ll see you later”. I wasn’t sure if he was leaving or if he was just taking off to join back up again.
We soon reached and crossed over Strykers Road, then approached the old Lopatcong Creek weir site. The creek and canal become one various times from the base of Inclined Plane #11 west to where the creek spills out into the Delaware River, and this was one of the spots they diverged again. There is one really nice masonry abutment as well as one concrete one left. The county with the Highlands Partnership with Youth Corps built nice steps up and down here.
Silliness
Kyle had stashed his bike somewhere hidden and was now on foot, waiting for us at the weir site. He then handed me gifts of a bottle of delicious mead made in Allentown, as well as some kind of pumkin beer I’d never had before to share with the group.
On the Morris Canal
Kyle in some ways really reminded me of my old friend Kyle Zalinsky. He has kind of the same nose, a downward pointin John Lennon type of look. For a moment after I first met him, there was some hope in me that Kyle Zalinsky’s death could have been some sort of crazy farce, and he had come back to surprise me.
Of course, it wasn’t him, but he seems very cool and enigmatic. We made our way from the weir site along the towpath parallel with Rt 519 heading westbound.
It was getting darker, but still good enough to see pretty well. There was also the ambient light from the road always close by.
Soon, we came out to Rt 519 at the Stein farm, owned by the county. There is no good crossing there, and there is no opening in the galvanized rail for walkers.
WOW YUM!
Kyle and I dashed across here, and a truck honked at us. Kyle jumped the railing on the other side and nearly went off of the road bridge into the Pohatcong Creek. I pointed out the abutments to the original road bridge over the combined creek and canal, where they first became one.
This was the base of Inclined Plane #9 West, the longest such portage railroad on the entire Morris Canal.
This one was a double plane for opposing traffic, and the current driveway up to the top of it is the former towpath.
I didn’t want to bother anyone, so we cut off to the left pretty soon after heading up and got on the field trails around the outside.
I was surprised to see that the posts for the trail had been put in, but they were not blazed.
We made our way up above the top of Plane 9, and then along the field edge heading east. The canal has been plowed in by farmers in the past making room for more cultivation. Only a tree line marks where it used to be today, with lots of large houses on the other side.
Plane 9 is a special place because it was a private museum long before the county ever acquired it. The Lee family had consistently donated immeasurable time and energy to the development of the greenway and education regarding the canal.
Jim Lee Jr. with the dedication plaque to his parents
We continued on the canal to the end of the larger county property, where the canal passes by Stewart’s Hunt. This is the property where the county owns the Morris Canal ahead, but the land owners sued the county so that they couldn’t open it, despite it being in their deeds.
There, usually I turn away from the canal to follow some series of development paths between homes, but since it was dark we could easily just head up through the cultivated fields. We made our way through here as Brittany and Justin talked about dolphins and sea mammals ridiculously, and we spent an absurd amount of time laughing.
Along the canal
We reached a beaten down area where machines trail through the center of the field, and followed that for a while to the east. We then left that and headed back out toward Greenwich Street. When we reached the snow fence closer to that, we turned left to follow it.
We continued close to Greenwich Street, but cut through a tree line into municipal land, and then down into the little municipal building. We headed over to the playgrounds, and lots of the roup started using the little ridin things. I moved ahead to the merry go round thing, and said “wait till they see this. They can’t walk by this one.”.
The Morris Canal
Of course, when they started moving, they started all over again when we got to the merry go round. I spun them around a few times before we were ready to head out.
Brittany got on the swings just before we left, and then jumped off at a great height. She landed with a giant thud, in a faceplant that I can’t believe she didn’t get hurt.
A then and now on plane 9
We moved on from here through the park and then out to a church property to get us to Main Street. It’s really a nice little park with a foot bridge over a small stream.
We passed the abandoned old school, and soon after turned right to reach the greenway.
Another of my then and nows
There is a kiosk on the right but no parking area there. We turned off the road and across the little creek to the path along the edges of the fields, to the left of the driveway used to access them. It was then a nice easy walk for a while to the east.
Another then and now
The rail reached the edge of the fill for the former Morris and Essex Railroad and paralleled that for a bit heading east, until we reached Richline Road. There, we turned left across the tracks, and the greenway leads us to the east through fields, parallel with the other side.
The Morris and Essex was originally the line intended to go through the Delaware Water Gap, but John I. Blair’s Warren Railroad beat them to it. Instead, they extended to Phillipsburg, and it later became part of the Lackawanna Railroad anyway.
The canal is actually on the north side of the tracks at this point, out in the fields, but it has been nearly farmed out of existence to some point. The solar farm there was built on top part of it, and part of the deal was that they give us a greenway for the canal trail on the outside of the field, and when the solar field was done we could get the canal back.
Bread Lock then and now
The trail took us up hill and back down again, then over a wash next to a culvert underpass of the tracks. At the end of the next field, the greenway goes to the left. I noticed that some of the metal posts had been bent along this route, which is sad to see. I’m having worse problems on the Warren Highlands Trail, but I suppose it happens everywhere.
Soon, the trail reached the canal towpath once more, and we followed it out to where it becomes somewhat destroyed before Bread Lock Park. There are some concrete structures for drainage that were probably put in about 1927 when the canal was dismantled.
Then and Now at Bread Lock
Just ahead, we entered Bread Lock Park. This was the site of Lock #7 West, which was also known as the Fresh Bread Lock because the lock tender’s wife made bread there.
The foundation of the lock house is still there, and the tops of the lock walls can be seen.
In more recent years, a mock up of a canal boat was made in the park, complete with an underground cabin that many would not now existed.
I’d done a trip where I showed it to everyone before, but I realized fast that many in the group had never seen this, so I took them down in it. You wouldn’t even know that the thing opens up unless you really look.
It’s a really cool spot that showcases exactly what the deck of a canal boat used to look like.
We hung out here for a little bit, and then continued back onto the canal ahead. We remained on the towpath or next to it for a bit until the end of the park at Rt 57. We turned right and followed the highway a bit to the east.
I pointed out where the trolley right of way is still visible directly along the highway.
Soon, we came to a road entrance on the right, which I think is some sort of new development that hasn’t happened yet. The curbs and such are in place along 57, but otherwise it’s just a road out into the field. We crossed over this and then turned right on Stewartsville Road.
The road is rather lightly used and a nice route. We followed this until we got to the ninety degree bend where it passes beneath the former Morris and Essex Railroad. There, we climbed up the abutment to the right and onto the tracks to head to the west.
The railroad bridge over the base of Plane 8
Once we were up top, we moved on ahead. Dan said he was going to Uber out at a road ahead and he seemed alright, so when he didn’t catch up at the next spot we stopped, that’s just what we figured he did.
We made our way ahead and crossed over Richline Road where we had before, and then continued on the tracks toward Stewartsville. We stopped closer to town when I figured Dan was still coming, but then I figured Richline Road was his out.
While there, I pointed out where Morris Canal Inclined Plane #8 West used to go up hill. Of the 11 inclined planes on the western half of the canal, only two of them are completely inaccessible. On the entire canal, the only planes with no public access are only 8 and 1 West, and 4 East.
Plane 8 is reportedly in pretty good shape, and supposedly the tail race tunnel is still accessible. It’s entirely possible that the Scotch Turbine still remains inside. Only two of the Scotch Turbines are certain to exist (plane 9W, in place, and plane 3E, on display at Lake Hopatcong).
I pointed out that we can actually see the tops of the now filled abutments that carried the canal beneath the tracks at Plane 8.
A view up Plane 8 West
We continued ahead from here and crossed over Warren Street at grade, followed by Main Street in Stewartsville by way of an underpass. From there, we started climbing up onto a higher fill above the adjacent farmlands.
Library of Congress view toward Plane 8 and rail underpass
Soon, we were pretty high up, and approached the overpass on the fill above Rt 519. Kyle was really interested in a lot of this stuff, and so I pointed out as much as I could.
The underpass below us was originally designed to carry the road as well as the Lopatcong Creek, but as traffic got busier, the creek was tunneled deeper, and the road was capped on top of it for two way traffic use. Not many realize it was like that.
My then and now of the site
The Easton-Washington Traction Company also had it’s trolley line cross parallel with the regular railroad line, and one of the bridge abutments for that remains today. I did my best to point that out in the dark as well.
We continued ahead on the tracks and soon crossed over Strykers Road. We stayed on them a bit further from here, and then passed beneath Rt 22. We continued just a bit farther.
Then and now of road construction
Once we were beneath 22, we were ready to head up hill into the area of the new warehouse construction. We could have gone ahead a bit more where it would have been easier to climb up, but I remembered the last time we did that, we ended up going through more weeds than I’d prefer to have done. So, although the climb here was kind of crappy, I think everyone would appreciate having done this rather than the brush if we had gone a bit further.
ham sandwich
We soon entered the construction area and went over along the new warehouse. Some of us walked right through the center of it again, and then we followed the access road, which now connects somehow to a re-aligned Lock Street, off to the right. This led us to Morris Canal again, where there is an access to the newer town houses that had been built.
We headed up into the development, and checked out some of the buildings. They had not made a ton of progress since the previous week when we were there, but it was still interesting to see that it had moved along a little bit.
We then made our way up into the Phillipsburg Mall parking lot, and walked across where the Sears building used to be.
Ken and Sue were waiting for us back at the cars, and it was concerning to see that Dan had not returned to his.
I called his girlfriend to get a pinpoint where he was, and fortunately I was able to go back and rescue him out of the woods.
Apart from necessary rescue at the end, this was a really fun time. I think I must have giggled my way through three quarters of this hike, much because of silly things Justin was saying.
It seems at this point that the mall might be standing through the end of March, and so I don’t have to milk too much more time out of doing Phillipsburg Mall stuff, but there’s definitely likelihood of me doing at least one more, possibly two if I can come up with something that I think will be good enough to merit it.
HAM
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