Hike #16; Crestmoore to Washington

 Hike #16

On the former Warren Railroad bed near where it began, in the Hampton Cut.

5/21/2k

 

Having not led the Crestmoore to Washington hike for some time, I should head out and

do it again. This time, I would bring Tea Biscuit, Conrad, and Ronald (Tea Biscuit began

calling him “Ronald” rather than Ron to belittle him as a joke, as Ronald always would try

to explain things to Tea Biscuit).

Beginning point, former Crestmoore Crossing on the High Bridge Branch

Conrad demonstrates his yo yo skills at Crestmoore

I also had a “real” pair of shoes, what they now call “Trail Shoes” which is like a cross

between a boot and a sneaker. Not normal for me.

Ronald was also kind of odd looking to me on this occation, because he had recently

burned off his facial hair in an accident with a grill.

Crossing Jenkinson's tree farm at Crestmoore

My muddied shoes from Jenkinson farm crossing

Once again, my grandfather would drop us off again. Conrad would demonstrate his

superior skills with the yo yo during the course of the day. All the trees had been cut from

the tree farm and we made our way immediately across the now extremely muddy field. It

had been raining quite a lot, and more was in the forecast. My mom told me to call if it

started raining so she could come and pick Tea Biscuit up. Though it was foggy and

cloudy, it did not rain until we neared High Bridge.

Columbia Trail near Jenkinson Nurseries

Ken Lockwood Gorge Trestle

Ken Lockwood Gorge Trestle

Along Columbia Trail near Readingsburg

Readingsburg Bridge, Columbia Trail

Columbia Trail nearing High Bridge

We sat out some of it at the pizza

place on main street, and it drizzled a bit as we were leaving. We decided to get away

from phones so we would have an excuse why we did’nt call to have Tea Biscuit picked

up. So we made our way north on the CNJ main line.

Former CNJ High Bridge Branch in High Bridge

Tea Biscuit dragging a branch along the former CNJ, High Bridge

Former CNJ north of High Bridge

Tea Biscuit dragged a large branch

behind him for quite while, for no apparent reason.

Taking a break from the rain under the Buffalo Hollow Road bridge

Steps coming down from Buffalo Hollow Road

Retrieving insulators along the former CNJ line in Glen Gardner

Ronald in a shelter box, Glen Gardner NJ

The rain soon stopped and we spent a considerable amound of time trying to get

insulators from the tops of telegraph poles (insulators are very collectable among rail

fans.). We would unscrew the insulator with a long stick while one of us would wait

below to catch it as it falls. Unfortunitely, we did not manage to retrieve any without

breaking them. There was one close call, when the insulator fell and Ronald caught it with

his right hand, but it bounced out and rolled far down the hill; Ronald ran after it, but it

already had broken a bit.

Along former CNJ in Glen Gardner

Former CNJ railroad at Bell's Crossing, Glen Gardner

Former Warren Railroad near it's CNJ junction, Hampton NJ

Former Warren Railroad fill in Hampton NJ

Lackawanna Avenue culvert in Hampton before it was destroyed

Site of former trestle over Rt 31 on the Warren Railroad, Hampton

We soon made our way through Hampton and onto the DL&W, into New Hampton. The

woods were somewhat heavy, but navigable. We made our way down through someone’s

back yard, then walked through New Hampton.

New Hampton NJ

Climbing to the Warren RR right of way in New Hampton

Though we probably could have accessed

the right of way from Dutch Hill Road nearby, we instead walked to where there were no

more homes and climbed the hillside over large rocks. We then continued out to where the

Changerwater Trestle stood.

Former Warren Railroad right of way near New Hampton

Former Warren Railraod right of way nearing Changewater

Looking across the site of the former Changewater Trestle from the south

Climbing down from the Changewater Trestle site

We climbed down and over a wall, then crossed the

Changewater Bridge. We had to walk a road because of the condition of the right of way.

We passed by Maxwell Farms within view of the right of way, and Ronald bought some

fruit. It’s a neat farm, because it uses the “Trust System” where you just put the money

into a box. We then walked the road to Murderer’s Bridge (where it used to be anyway),

and north paralleling the right of way directly to the west to Washburn Ave, where we

could get back on the railbed into the Washington Rail Yard. We of course finished with

some pizza.

Changewater Trestle site on the Musconetcong River bridge