Hike #167; Warren Glen/West Portal

 Hike #167

In Warren Glen

4/10/5

 

 I had my regular party the night before this one, and was expecting to have moreparticipants than we had, but we still did alright. I decided to do another new sectionwhich again did not work out as planned. We spotted my car in Pittstown, NJ, and thenheaded to Pop’s (our step-grandfather) house in Warren Glen where we left Tea Biscuit’scar. The plan was to walk a bit of the Highlands Trail system to the former Lehigh ValleyRailroad south to Lansdowne, then southwest to Pittstown on an abandonement.  I thought it would also be funny to do this hike in Shop Rite uniforms once again.

At the Warren Glen Paper Mill

Former Warren Glen spur of Lehigh Valley Railroad

Seasonal view in Musconetcong Gorge

Seasonal view in Musconetcong Gorge, Highlands Trail

Joining this time were Tea Biscuit and Paige, Al Eisberg and his girlfriend Jenny Walsh, andKenny Rasheed.  We began walking down the road to Rt 519 across the Musconetcong River and past theWarren Glen Paper Mill. We continued across to where the spur line for the Lehigh ValleyRailroad used to cross, and we turned east. The right of way was easy to follow out towhere there used to be a bridge, then we bushwhacked up the hill to the right to one of thetrails in the Musconetcong Gorge Preserve. We followed the trail up to the main parkingarea, then began following the Ridge Trail northeast. We made our way along, sooncrossing over a beautiful little Pine Creek with small waterfalls. From here, the HighlandsTrail blazes started up with the ridge trail blazes.

Falls in Musconetcong Gorge, Highlands Trail

Seasonal view in Musconetcong Gorge, Highlands Trail

LV Railroad spur in Musconetcong Gorge

Descending on the Ridge Trail in Musconetcong Gorge

Falls in Musconetcong Gorge

Signal tower on former LV Railroad

Train approaching on former LV Railroad near Bloomsbury

We followed the ridge trail with somenice seasonal views to Scout Creek where the trail descended to the railroad right of waypassing another small waterfall. By this time, it was far too hot out to continue wearingthe Shop Rite smocks, so we stripped to our regular clothes. We continued following therailroad bed out to the active line, then headed east. We also climbed a signal tower alongthe way. As we continued, we walked through Bloomsbury, though not through town, and headedout towards the underpass for Rt 78. On our way, a train appeared in the distance. Wewere all on the left side of the tracks, while Al was walking on the right, so I told Al tocome over and join us before the train came. This was a good thing, for when the trainpassed, there were large brush fires growing along the south side of the tracks at aboutfifty foot intervals! At the time, we did’nt know if the train was spraying hot acid or what,but there were small fires out as far as the eye could see! I would later learn from TaylorRental (they’re firefighters) that a brake on one of the train wheels had siezed up andbegan melting the wheel itself, throwing molten steel into the weeds! Quite a crazy thingto imagine! We were fortunite not to have been hurt. I used Tea Biscuit’s cell phone tocall 911, and then we got out of there. We passed under Rt 78 and made our way around corners, but before we reached theMusconetcong Tunnels in West Portal, Jenny and Paige were not willing to go on anymore. In addition, Kenny was not doing well, having drank far too much the night before.He had been dragging further behind than anyone. We climbed down to the nearest road in West Portal, and began walking back toBloomsbury. Tea Biscuit soon called our mom to come and pick us up. We were all tiredanyway, but I would have liked to do the entire hike.

Brush fire started by the train in Bloomsbury. They appeared at roughly fifty foot intervals.

These brush fires appeared at fifty foot intervals after the passing of the train. It's a good thing no one was on that side. The brake shoes seized up and caused melted steel to fly off into the bushes causing the brush fires. We reported the incident.

Along former LV railroad near West Portal. How romantic!

Photos by Mike Helbing, Ken Rasheed (KR), and Jenny Walsh (JW)