Hike #127; Hainsburg/Columbia/Portland

 Hike #127

Beginning in Hainesburg

Hike 127

 

3/16/4

 

My next hike I believe was a weekday hike, which is always tougher to get participants

for, but I was able to convince Amit Bhojwani to join me once again. My original plan was

to do the Lower Water Gap hike of 22.5 miles, but the plan changed at some point.

Mile post in Hainesburg

Paulins Kill Viaduct

Paulins Kill Viaduct

Mile post in Hainesburg

Old LNE trestle in Hainesburg

Bangor and Portland Railroad, Portland PA

Old connector track between Lackawanna and LNE lines in Portland

Old connector track between the DL&W and LNE in Portland PA

Old connector track between LNE and DL&W in Portland PA

West abutment of the LNE railroad's trestle over the Delaware

Delaware Viaduct, west side

Inside Delaware Viaduct

Inside Delaware Viaduct

Inside Delaware Viaduct

Lackawanna Cutoff in Knowlton Twp.

Inside Delaware Viaduct

Paulins Kill Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

PK Viaduct

I believe we took Amit’s car and headed to Hainesburg, walking as we always did on the

NYS&W grade to the LNE west into Colombia. I recall bringing a few beers on this one

at the beginning. When we started in the morning, it was somewhat cloudy, and even

when we reached Colombia, the Delaware Water Gap was still in view. We went into the

TA Station store for food, but when we came out the mountains were totally obscured! I

did not immediately abandoned the idea of finishing the entire planned hike, but when we

got to Portland and I got a quart of chocolate milk, I thought it out more. I figured with

no viewpoints it was not really worth going all the way to the Water Gap. I instead

decided we’d walk through Portland a bit, and then head south on the DL&W briefly to

the Bangor and Portland line. We followed it west out to where a connector line went to

the Lehigh and New England. It had begun to snow about the time we reached Portland,

and by now it was beginning to accumulate quickly. I had never followed it, and decided

this was the best time to do it. We found it with ease, and continued to the LNE line, then

followed it back toward Portland. We continued to where the bridge used to cross the

Delaware, and climbed back down to the DL&W, following it northbound toward

Slateford. When we reached the Lackawanna Cutoff in Slateford, we decided to try to

climb into the Delaware Viaduct. It was tough getting in, as the first arch was quite high

up. The arches and tunnels in this bridge were much tighter and lower than those in the

Paulins Kill structure. We crawled through as far as we could before turning back. We

then climbed to the cutoff and walked across into NJ back to Hainesburg, where we

climbed on and through the Paulins Kill Viaduct. We spent quite a bit of time here before

heading back to Amit’s car. There was quite a bit of snow by this time as well!