Hike #238 9/17/6
Group shot in Atlantic Highlands
Hike 238; 9/17/6
My next hike would take us along the final stretch of the Raritan Bay to Sandy Hook, connecting with a hike I did previously with Cathy between Sandy Hook and Galilee in August of 2005. We would begin this hike where we had left off previously in Atlantic Highlands near the Burger King to follow the route of the former Central Railroad of New Jersey's Bayshore Branch.
Henry Hudson Trail in Atlantic Highlands
Henry Hudson Trail, Atlantic Highlands
Henry Hudson Trail, Atlantic Highlands
Henry Hudson Trail, Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Along the Raritan Bay in Atlantic Highlands
Abandoned ship along the Raritan Bay
Abandoned ship along the Raritan Bay
Abandoned ship along the Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Abanondoned ship on the Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Joe making his way along the former CNJ rail bed, through thick weeds in Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Along the Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Weird painting on a metal thing in Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bayside
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Along the Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Along the Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Abandoned former CNJ Bayshore Branch railroad along Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Abandoned CNJ Bayshore Branch on the Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Along the Raritan Bay at the Atlantic Highlands
Along Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Along Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Joe tending to his cut up legs along the Raritan Bay
Raritan Bay near Atlantic Highlands
Raritan Bay, Atlantic Highlands
Along the Raritan Bay at Highlands NJ
The Sea Streak near Highlands Pier
The Sea Streak leaving Highlands Pier
Sandy Hook bay
Waterwitch/Highlands Pier
Hotel on the Atlantic Highlands
Park in Highlands NJ
Cannon, Highlands NJ
Sculpture in Highlands NJ
Sculpture in Highlands NJ
Twin lights and sculptures in Highlands NJ
Sculptures in Highlands NJ
Sandy Hook Bay
Old Rt 36 lift bridge
Old Rt 36 Bridge, now gone
View from the old Rt 36 bridge
View of the Shrewsbury River from the old Rt 36 Bridge
Shrewsbury River from Old Rt 36 bridge
Old Rt 36 bridge over Shrewsbury River
Shrewsbury River from old Rt 36 bridge
Sandy Hook and Spermacetti Cove from old Rt 36 bridge
Old bridge, possibly a former rail bridge site from old rt 36 bridge
Looking up Sandy Hook
Southern end of Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
The Atlantic Highlands from Sandy Hook
Twin Lights from Sandy Hook
Sea wall on Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Plane over Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
Fort Hancock, Sandy Hook
View from Sandy Hook
View from Sandy Hook
View from Sandy Hook
Plane over Sandy Hook
Sandy Hook
North end of Sandy Hook
North end of Sandy Hook
Northern end of Sandy Hook
Ruins on Sandy Hook
Ruins on Sandy Hook
Ruins on Sandy Hook
Fort Hancock ruins on Sandy Hook
Ruins on Sandy Hook
Fort Hancock
Fort Hancock
Fort Hancock
Multi use trail on Sandy Hook
Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell
Mt Mitchell
Trail on Sandy Hook
Trail on Sandy Hook
Trail on Sandy Hook. I took this shot through my Lindsey Lohan glasses.
Meeting with Action Adam and Chrissi on Sandy Hook.
On Sandy Hook
On Sandy Hook
On the old Rt 36 bridge
On the old Rt 36 bridge
Sunset over the Twin Lights at Highlands NJ
Joining me this time were Cathy, Tea Biscuit, Fred Hafale, Joe Tag, Laurie Ellicott, Jean Fletcher, and Sue Bickford-Martin. There was one other woman who showed up too late, and Joe and I drove around to catch up with her, to no avail. We started walking along the route of the Bayshore Branch on the piece of grassy land parallel to the road, then found where it once crossed. I was happy to find that the Henry Hudson Trail resumed on it's right of way briefly as we crossed parking lots and through some parkland. The trail seemed to end on part of a boardwalk at the Atlantic Highlands Yaht Harbor. The rail right of way was visible ahead of us, on a fill above the ocean, though it seemed like it was recently refurbished. We made our way down to the shoreline and walked the clearest possible route. Joe decided to try to walk on the fill to the south. The rest of us continued on, passing an abandoned yaht laying sideways along the shore. The shoreline was sandy and full of low soft weeds, which soon gave way to rocky coastline similar to those we'd already been on, with Horseshoe Crabs and Razor Clams. Joe was nowhere to be seen, so we started getting worried. At about the point where the beach ended and rocks began, I walked back and yelled for him, and though it took a while, I finally heard an answer. Joe was making his way slowly but surely along the railroad right of way. Where we were taking a break, there was a weird old hot water heater with a freaky face pained on it. I walked back to the rail right of way to keep an eye out for Joe, and he finally appeared through the trees, his legs bleeding something terrible from all the brush he'd gone through! It was amazing that Joe washed the blood all off in the salt water! I commented that that must have hurt, but he said no. Still, he used some sterile pads on it. We continued walking eastward, closely parallel and sometimes on the railroad bed, which followed the edge of the water closely almost to the town of Highlands. Here, we made our way onto a beach out to the water, and watched the Sea Streak, a small cruise ship, take off. This area was marked on the maps as Waterwitch. Next, we walked into the town of Highlands keeping close to the shore at first, but then making our way inland on roads. As it turns out, we were probably on the rail bed at some point, as a road appeared to have been built over it. We also stopped in some sort of a community park where there were scultpures, apparently works in progress, being carved out of giant pieces of marble. There were nice views of the Twin Lights of Atlantic Highlands as well. We continued on to the Shrewsbury River Bridge, a nice lift bridge. We climbed to the walkway and crossed the bridge, with great views of the Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook to the north and the Shrewsbury River to the south, full of vessels. On the east side of the bridge, there was a pier and one abutment to a bridge still along the edge of the river. I assumed this would have been the bridge that carried the Bayshore Branch CNJ Railroad across the river. We reached land on the other side and jumped a fence, heading down to the Atlantic Ocean at Highlands Beach. This would be the first continueous section to reach totally open ocean not part of a bay. We walked north along the beach, onto Sandy Hook, part of Gateway National Recreation Area. It was a hot day, and the breeze from the ocean felt great. Tea Biscuit found a pair of sunglasses along the way which I wore for the next several miles. We continued north as Cathy and I did the previous visit, passing under fisherman's poles and going around a jetti toward the first visitor's center. The previous visit, Cathy and I turned just beyond the visitor's center, but this time we continued on the beach straight ahead. We soon entered the Gunnison Beach area, which was a nude beach! Tea Biscuit kept glaring at me with disgusted looks which was quite funny. We commented that the only good thing was that it was good for our egos, as most of the men walking around were poorly endowed. Somewhere on the nude beach section Fred and Sue decided to cut inland instead of going all the way up the hook. We continued on the nude beach northbound, and Tea Biscuit and I discussed how there was a total of about three women that were worth looking at, sadly. There were little peninsulas of sand breaking off into the water that we ended up on and had to walk through some deep water to get back to the main part of the beach a couple times. We continued north along the shore line, and I commented that at least the view of Staten Island was nice. Tea Biscuit was a bit freaked out because there were a lot of gay men holding hands. We soon left the nude beach section and walked north around a bend in the beach to the north side of the hook. There were great views again of New York. Once we got to near the end of the hook we turned inland, south on a path between grassy areas. The path led us out along some abandoned bunkers which were very cool. Tea Biscuit and I climbed up on one of them, and talked to a couple near the top about the upcoming hikes. We then made our way back down on the stairs to the path. We passed many more old bunkers on our way south. There were many interesting old buildings on what must have been part of Fort Hancock. We continued south along the west side of the hook. There was a paved trail which probably followed the course of the railroad that once went up the hook. We continued south along the hook on the paved trail passing by the visitor's center. We met up with our friends Action Adam and Chrissi Carney near the southernmost parking area and walked with them briefly before continueing south. They were going to join part of the hike, but decided to hang out on the beach. Tea Biscuit got Chrissi mad at here by telling her to spin around so he could see the full package. We kept walking back to the end of the hook and recrossed the Shrewsbury River where we'd been earlier. The sun was starting to go down which looked fantastic over the water and the twin lights up on Atlantic Highlands. We headed down from the bridge to the road that appeared to be built on the railroad grade. It was very wide, which meant a road and railroad could have easily co-existed. It now had bike lanes along it's way. We continued walking the road for a ways until I found a lady in her yard, and I asked her which way would be easiest to get back to the Burger King at Atlantic Highlands. She told me it would be best walking back up to Rt 36, which turned out to be a mistake. We walked up to 36 and stopped at some ice cream place along the way. I think Tea Biscuit got something but I don't remember what. It seemed like forever that we were walking along the highway, and it got very dark. Jean was walking in front of me and I was worried because I could barely see her. It was quite a relief when we got to where there was a sidewalk. We continued walking along 36 until we finally reached the Burger King and walked the short distance beyond to the car. My maptech disc showed me that we had done about 22.5 miles. Fred and Sue were waiting at their cars when we got back; they had gone closer to the shore line and had been waiting for a while. The even stopped to eat dinner! This was a good hike, though tiring.
Photography by Mike Helbing, Fred Hafale (FH) and Joe Tag (JT)
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