Hike #102
The group at the end of the hike, Oxford Lake
Hike 102
8/6/3
For this one, I decided to change the route of the hike I had originally done from Sarepta
south through Belvidere. It seemed more fitting that when I hike the Bel Del, that we start
at Manunka Chunk and head south, and that the hike through Belvidere should start at the
Tekening Preserve, an indian word meaning “In the Woods” just across the river in
Riverton PA, and owned by the Pennsylvania Power and Light company. We left a car in
Oxford and headed to Riverton and the Tekening Preserve. Joining this time were Tea
Biscuit, Rich N, and Toolbox.
Power plant near Riverton PA
Rock outcrop in Tekening Preserve
Delaware River and Foul Rift from Tekening Preserve
Riverton, PA
Delaware view from the Belvidere/Riverton Bridge
Flooded Pequest River, Belvidere
Pequest trestle in Belvidere
Along the former LHR railroad, Belvidere
Pophandusing brook LHR bridge in Belvidere
Pophandusing Brook, Belvidere
LHR railroad bed, heading toward Bridgeville
LHR rail bed heading toward Bridgeville
We followed a loop trail, which first used old farm roads, and then became more narrow,
taking us across a couple fields, and then along a hillside well above the Delaware.
Through this area were a great deal of berries we could eat. We continued through mixed
hardwood forests, following the trail furthest to the right, soon passing some very large
rock outcroppings. As we continued, we soon reached a road right next to the Martin’s
Creek PPL place, very close to the large eerie looking cooling towers. This is a lesser used
lot, so were were able to get maps here whenever the map box closest to Riverton.
The trail ended here, so we had to turn back to take the next fork of the trail, which
passed through more rock outcroppings on it’s way down to the Delaware River, which it
followed upstream for some time, with some terrific views. The trail got wider the further
we went. It’s obvious the trail is more well used as we got closer to the main road access.
It turned into a woods road before turning back toward the parking lot. The rocks along
this portion of the Delaware, called Foul Rift, is one of the most dangerous parts of the
river. In colonial times, it was considered un-navigable, and in the 1700s, a General Hoops
blasted away some rock in the river, and had metal rings places in the rocks along the
shores to help boats pull themselves up the rapid filled waters.
When we reached the parking lot, we walked the road back to the Riverton Bridge. It
was funny to find a sign in someone’s back yard that pointed out America to the west, and
New Jersey to the east. While it may be funny to read at times, it is little known that, at
this time anyway, NJ was considered 49.9 percent forest, and that is not county farms,
wetlands, and other open space!
We crossed the old Riverton Bridge, which was opened 100 years earlier, during an
annual festival (the predecescor of Warren County’s Famer’s Fair). I told everyone the
story of how when the bridge was open, the local garbage man by the name of Murphy
dove off the top truss of the bridge as a publicity stunt, taking bets that he would not
crack his head. He of course did’nt, knowing the river better than anyone else. It turned
into a yearly event. This bridge was built on the site of an earlier covered bridge.
We crossed, and entered Belvidere. We walked along the Pequest River, soon reaching
the Bel Del Railroad Trestle, which I tried to climb a pier on, and Tea Biscuit and I tried
climbing around a pier over the water.
Corn fields along the former LHR rail bed, Bridgeville
We stopped in at Skoogy’s Deli before heading down the Bel Del, and I tried to get Tea
Biscuit to make his proclimation that he’s a nudist, which he did but seemed more
embarrassed to do this time.
We crossed my grandfather’s lot and the old creamery property in Belvidere, making our
way to the Bel Del south to the L&HR grade. When we continued on to the Pophandusing
Brook crossing, Rich and I climbed down and walked through the creek a bit, which was
flowing particularly high.
As we made our way through the new age restricted community on the new walking
paths, I believe it was this time we talked to an older couple in their yard about my hikes.
They were very friendly and gave us more water before we moved on.
Bridgeville bridge
We soon headed to the L&HR right of way heading toward Bridgeville, through the
woods and into the fields, now growing high corn on the north and some kind of hay to
the south. When we got near Rt 519, we had to walk through the high corn fields to get to
the road.
We headed down the road to stop at the Bagelsmith in Bridgeville, but on the way played
around in the river. I jumped in and sat down, but the current was so strong it swept me
downstream from the stone arch bridge to the first island! I was able to get myself out of
the bad current and to the shore, fortunitely.
Bridgeville bridge
Muscle shot on the Bridgeville Bridge...
We made the turn down Titman Road to Edison Road, and climbed around on the old
bridge over the Pequest. We headed up the right of way, and followed it across the deck
girder bridge over the Pequest near Hot Dog Johnny’s. I told everyone about the Eel Rack
spots on the river which consisted of piles of stones out to the center of a river where they
would have a box to catch them.
Titman ave
Old Edison Road bridge, Bridgeville
Old signal tower along the LHR, Buttsville
Oxford NJ
Oxford Furnace
We continued on through Buttsville, out to Pequest where we climbed up an ATV trail to
the Furnace Railroad right of way, which we followed back out to the DL&W using the
northbound connector track right of way. We continued through Pequest Cut and north to
Oxford, where we diverted from the DL&W to Shippen Manor. We walked around a bit
there, then headed down to the old Furnace, which had recently been restored a bit more.
Oxford Furnace was the first hot blast furnace in the United States.
We continued up the road to Oxford Lake, where I was planning to swim for a while, but
none of the guys wanted to pay to go in. The lake’s waters were surprisingly higher than
usual, but we ran into the water at the boat launch anyway.
PICS: Here's where you can see all of them from this hike...feel free to steal them to use on facebook...
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