Hike #194
11/8/5
Cold Brook/Oldwick-Deer Path Park (Hunterdon) with Fred Hafale, Gerry Martiniak, and John Spiridon
Another one who's journal entry got lost in the fire.
In Cold Brook Reserve
For this hike I met everyone at Deer Path Park in Hunterdon County Parks. I had no idea just a few years later I'd be working for this department! I met with Al Rebovich from Readington Township, as per the recommendation of the friends I'd made with the county parks, John Trontis and Bill Clother, and he gave us a driving tour of where the new Readington connector trails went during the car shuttle.
We actually started the hike in Oldwick, in the Cold Brook Reserve where we parked. There was supposedly a loop trail in there, but we did'nt find it yet at this time. We just walked out the field, then tried to make our way around but could'nt quite figure it out so we wandered back into Oldwick. Once there, my next mission was the try to locate the remainder of the Rockaway Valley Railroad constructed in 1888 and abandoned by 1916. It passed right through Oldwick, but this section was very difficult to follow let alone see at all.
Here's a link to an article I wrote about it for Skylands Magazine:
http://www.njskylands.com/odhikerailrock.htm
In town, we turned left on Church Street which became Vliettetown Road. This road paralleled the rail bed slightly to the north. I knew a right turn on Cold Brook Road would take us across the right of way, but when we walked it we did'nt see anything at all except a pumpkin perched atop a utility pole.
We continued out to Lamington Road, turned left, then immediately right onto Felmley Road. I would later find that it crossed Lamington Road further to the west near a pond. We took Felmley to an interesection with Gulick, and did'nt realize it but we'd crossed the rail bed just before this intersection and continued straight. We got back to the main Rd, 523, and John turned back toward Oldwick to return to his call. Fred, Gerry, and I headed south on 523.
After crossing Rt 78, we turned left onto New Bromley Road, passed by an historic house site (John Mehelm House) and by the next intersection we found the railroad right of way, very obvious. While we looked at it trying to decide if we should walk it, a lady drove by motioning us in a way that seemed like we should'nt go on there, and so we did'nt.
We may actually have taken a different way, I don't really remember, but I know we ended up heading down into Oldwick on Rt 523 because the rail bed crossed Rt 22 in the short section where Rt 523 and 22 were coaligned. I waded across the Rockaway Creek instead of using the highway bridge.
I think we walked up 22 to a right turn into Oldwick instead of trying to follow the rail bed directly across, even though it was recongizeable. We went into a ball field park just off Nelson Street and followed the perimeter and actually found the rail bed, the first good section we could actually walk. We backtracked a bit to see how walkeable it was and for how far. It took it all the way to the trestle site over Rockaway Creek. It was narrow and had some big trees growing through it. We then turned back and continued along the ball field, the former rail bed, to the Oldwick Train station where the junction site was (I used to think it was further east).
From here, the route of the hike was to head to Dreahook Road on 523, then follow the road to the entrance to Bowman Stickney Farm, part of the Readington Trails system. We reached the farm and headed down the driveway, and then tried to follow the route given to us by Al Rebovich earlier. We did'nt have too much a problem, and we found our way along the unmarked route all the way to Stanton Road. I'm not sure if we make a right on the road then a quick left onto the next trail piece, or if we turned straight on West Woodschurch Road to the next trail head (that sounds more likely) and turned right heading up the old woods roads to the Peter Buelle Trail over Round Mountain. I think we did that. I remember when we reached the Buelle Trail I could'nt figure out where we were and ended up following the trail to the right instead of the left, and kept going for a bit till we figured out what we did wrong.It did'nt take too long and we were back on track heading south off of Round Mountain, across the utility lines, and into the main trail system of Deer Path Park.
On Round Mountain
We headed directly along some of the horse trails and through soccar fields to the soccar lot section of Deer Path Park where we'd left our cars, finishing just before dark. I was worried we'd get in trouble for being late, but we were okay.
Cold Brook Reserve, Oldwick
Cold Brook Reserve
In Cold Brook Reserve
Cold Brook Reserve
Along Vliettetown Road
Cold Brook Road, Tewksbury
Cold Brook Road, Tewksbury
Along Cold Brook Road, Tewksbury
"Chia Pole" on Cold Brook Road, Tewksbury
Rockaway Valley Railroad bed in Readington Twp.
Historic home site south of Oldwick
Old bridge site near Whitehouse
Old bridge site south of Oldwick
Walking across the Rockaway Creek
Along Rockaway Valley Railroad bed, Whitehouse Station
Along Rockaway Valley Railroad bed, Whitehouse Station
Along Rockaway Valley Railroad bed, Whitehouse Station
Trestle siteh where Rockaway Valley Railroad crossed Rockaway Creek
Along Rockaway Valley Railroad bed, Whitehouse Station
House along Dreahook Road, Readington
Dreahook Road, Readington
Bowman Stickney Farm entrance
Hiking Bowman Stickney Farm
Bowman Stickney Farm
Bowman Stickney Farm trail
On Peter Buelle Trail, Round Mountain
Round Mountain
No comments:
Post a Comment