Hike #193
In Capoolong Creek WMA
11/6/5
Pittstown-Warren Glen with Skyler Jermyn, Jim Delotto, and John Spiridon
The original journal entry for this one was lost to the fire as well.
Here's a link to all of the pictures from this hike:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/sneezehorse/hike193%2011-6-5/
So this is Pittstown!
Pittstown Inn, former Century Inn
Pittstown Branch railroad bed
Pittstown NJ
Pittstown NJ
Old Pittstown station
Old truss bridge along Capoolong Creek
Capoolong Creek rail trail
Capoolong Creek rail trail
Old truss bridge in Landsdown
You'll notice that all pictures I took change in quality following my return from out west. This is because I left my digital camera with Cathy out there and I went back to using my Minolta QtSi for a while.
For this hike Skyler and I spotted a car in Musconetcong Gorge, a Hunterdon Park, and then shuttled down to Pittstown. I'd wanted to do this hike before but it did'nt work out, so this time I'd do it sort of as planned.
We started right by the "So This Is Pittstown" sign and were looking for the old Pittstown Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, now a trail in Capoolong Creek Wildlife Management Area 3.7 miles long.
Abandoned quarry place near Pattenburg
Capoolong Creek with an old railroad shelter along it
Deer under a bridge at Landsdown area
Former Lehigh Valley Railroad near Jutland
Cemetery along the LV railroad
View from the LV railroad tracks
Former LV railroad in Union Twp
View from former LV railroad
Former LV railroad in Pattenburg
Pattenburg quarry area
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
We wandered down the street a bit through Pittstown and turned to cross the Capoolong Creek at a road bridge, then saw a small industry with some wood piles along the creek downstream, so we bushwhacked through.
We soon came to what I thought looked like a rail bed. We bushwhacked along this and saw an old i beam bridge heading to the back of a building along the way. We knew we were on the rail bed when we reached an access road, the right of way became clear, and the old Pittstown Station was along the rail bed to the left.
We followed the rail bed from here northeast. It was nice, and even the bridges were decked. Most of it was just cinder dirt save for one improved section over a field.
Abandoned quarry place near Pattenburg
Pattenburg Quarry
Pattenburg Quarry
New tunnel at Pattenburg
Old LV rail bed
Old Musconetcong Tunnel
Musconetcong Tunnel
In Musconetcong Tunnel
In Musconetcong Tunnel
Musconetcong Tunnel at West Portal
New Musconetcong Tunnel at West Portal
New Musconetcong Tunnel
Skyler trying to be sexy
Fromhere, the right of way continued on a shelf along Capoolong Creek, which was really nice, crossing a few roads until we reached the former junction site with the Lehigh Valley Railroad's main line in Landsdown. We crossed the active tracks and first used the parallel road to the north instead of the tracks themselves. Delotto and John cut out early here, opting to walk the roads back to where we started. In retrospect Delotto remembers this wasn't a good idea becuase it took a lot longer and was out of the way.
Skyler and I continued on the railroad tracks heading north. I talked to Cathy a bit on the phone along the way, and after we got to Pattenburg we soon turned off the tracks and explored some of the abandoned quarry complex buildings and conveyors. Skyler and I both climbed all into the mess of buildings and elevators which was really cool.
After exploring here we got on the abandoned original right of way of the Lehigh Valley Railroad and entered the abandoned Musconetcong Tunnel, a mile long railroad tunnel which is just a short distance east of the currently active tunnel. It was an easy tunnel to pass through. While it had some water in it, it was not a problem with cave ins yet. It did seem to go on forever though.
Once we got to the other side we continued on the tracks and talked a bit about having a pizza delivered to the tracks, though we did'nt do it. There was a long straight away after passing under Rt 78, so we decided to jog a lot of it. We went for a long way, all the way to Bloomsbury before we stopped. From here we continued west until we got to the abandoned Warren Glen spur of the LV Railroad. We followed this as it was getting much darker all of the time, until we got to an old trestle site near the Warren Glen paper mill. From here we followed a gas line up hill to the Highlands Trail and continued out on that which proved to be very difficult, but we pulled it off.
View from LV railroad tracks in West Portal
Along LV tracks in Bloomsbury
Along the rail bed north of Pittstown
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