Hike #166; Warren Railroad

 Hike #166

Along the tracks, Portland PA

Another neat one to look back on. I'd continue to meet people through AMC who would become great friends over the next few years. Bill "Guillermo" Fabel is one of them, and this was his first hike, and he'd turn out to be one of the most fun people to ever be a part of the group. Betty would go on to hike the entire Appalachian Trail in one shot, wearing sneakers the whole way. She told me she remembered me telling her they were the best for hiking as I recall!

3/20/5

"The A Rock" in Delaware area

Old Ramsey Homestead, Ramseyburg

 It was yet again that time of year for the annual Portland Hike, and I was involved inanother musical theatre production and could not have the annual party the night before asplanned. Instead, the party was rescheduled for a month later, and we would only do thehike this time. The only past hike participant to join us this time was Tea Biscuit. Newcomers were Tea Biscuit’s then-girlfriend Paige Foley, William Fabel from Bethlehem, and Betty Kelley from the Wind Gap area. We began walking and continued as we always did, buying chocolate milk and headingout along the active tracks first, which surprisingly had a long train parked on it outtoward the trestle, though it did not reach the entire way.

In Manunka Chunk Tunnel

In Manunka Chunk Tunnel

In Manunka Chunk Tunnel

In Manunka Chunk Tunnel

Manunka Chunk Tunnel

 Pretty much everything went as usual; we climbed in the “A” rock. This might have beenthe time that there was a guy up on the right of way telling us we were trespassing, thoughhe was’nt the owner and did’nt care. When we got to Manunka Chunk Tunnel, I walked Betty over the mountain to the traildown and showed her where to wait, then I ran back to Tea Biscuit, Paige, and Bill,leading them through the tunnel. There was a great deal of ice inside this time, which wehad to climb over. Everything continued well across the sand pit, and out along the right of way throughOxford.

Old Warren rail bed at Sarepta

Old Warren Railroad in Buttsville area

Paige carrying her corn along the trail section in Oxford

When we crossed Pequest Road, Paige asked me if she could run through thecorn fields, which I replied to with “Of Course!!!”. She ran fast through the fields, andkept falling down. She came out with two giant corn stalks which she dragged along thepaved trail section south toward Oxford for quite a while. When we reached the Oxford Tunnel, (I might have gotten some beer but I don’tremember), the pathway to it was very wet, but looking through the tunnel, I was very distressed to see that it appeared the tunnel had caved in! It looked as though it had beenabout one third eclipsed. We stared at it a bit before deciding to climb up the hillside andcut across a yard rather than try to force our way through the waters of the tunnel. We caught up with Betty on top of the tunnel, but Bill had climbed straight down, whichfreaked me out a bit. We headed down the path to the right of way, and Tea Biscuit and Isplit up to search. I did’nt find that he had fallen at the mouth of the tunnel, but was stillnervous. Fortunitely, Tea Biscuit found him. We continued to Jackson Valley Road, where Tea Biscuit and Paige cut out, since shelived just down Jackson Valley Road. Bill, Betty, and I continued on back to Port Colden.Though it was cloudy, we were fortunite not to get stuck in the rain.

Oxford NJ rail trail