Hike #258 12/12/6
In Bernardsville area I think
12/12/6
Peapack/Gladstone-Lyons with Cathy Fisher
This was another hike just Cathy and I took along the former Lackawanna Railroad's Peapack-Gladstone Branch in Somerset County, now operated by NJ Transit. We began walking from the NJ Transit Gladstone Station. We walked to a little road crossing, then made our way along the tracks, which was pleasant at first because it was several tracks wide and the ballast was very small. As we continued, there was a little bridge over Peapack Brook, and beyond we could see workers workng on the electric lines above the tracks, so we turned to the left off the tracks so that no one would be able to give us a hard time for being there.
A preserve in Far Hills area. This is probably about the worst I've ever looked in my life.
Trestle south of Peapack/Gladstone
Trestle south of Peapack/Gladstone
Lyons Station
Gladstone NJ
Peapack NJ lime kiln
We walked through a little business place, then out to Rt 512 briefly through downtown Gladstone. We walked along the road and into a park with a little lake on a path for a bit of the time. We also checked out a really nice old lime kiln along the 512. We continued on the road until we reached the Peapack Station, which was very nearby. From here, there was an industrial building on the left, so we walked on the grass parallel with the tracks, making our way onto the tracks when we were a more significant distance away from the nearby grade crossing and station. We continued around a corner and onto a fill. As we walked, I kept my eyes peeled for trains. The trains using this line are electric, and use lines above the tracks the entire way, so they make little noise. As we made our way around a corner, we heard the deep whistle of a train all of a sudden. I turned and there was a train barreling straight toward us. We had not even five seconds to get off the tracks as not to be hit. After this train left, we felt we would be safe to walk more. Surprisingly, another train came, this time from ahead of us, only about fifteen minutes later! We again jumped from the tracks. When the train had passed, we got back on the tracks, but not right away. We tried to steer clear of them for a bit. We soon got back on them and reached a narrow underpass for Rt 512, immediately followed by a through truss bridge over the North Branch of the Raritan River. We thought about it for a second, then decided to quickly run through the culvert, then over the truss bridge. This bridge had recently been replaced, as I had read in an article maybe two years prior. We continued walking and Cathy needed a break next to a switch box. After the break we walked down the fill into a field to see if we could parallel the tracks for a time. Unfortunitely, we came to an electric fence and decided not to go any further. We turned back and returned to the tracks. We only walked the tracks again as far as where it began to closely parallel Rt 512. Here we decided to cut through the weeds onto the highway. It was a relief to get off the tracks.We continued walking the road until we reached Far Hills, then walked some side roads parallel to the tracks reaching the Far Hills Station where the tracks crossed Rt 202. Cathy was getting hungrly, but I was'nt yet so we did not stop here where the station had been converted into a restaurant. We crossed the highway where we found a Green Acres sign designating this park land. It seemed to run parallel to the tracks so we decided to walk through it, as walking the tracks after our experiances on it so far was out of the question. We walked into the woods passing the sign, and two alternatives lay before us. We could either walk the power line ahead directly parallel to the tracks, but also with sticker bushes, or we could turn left a bit and follow an old road passing a plaque designating this park land. We opted to to the latter, and headed down hill a bit on the old road. We continued down hill, soon crossing an old bridge over Penn's Brook. There were what appeared to be the remains of holders for guard rails before and after the bridge. We continued along, with the ruins of a dam to the left, as well as a small resevoir site. The road seemed to peter out, so we took a right fork on what looked like a somewhat beaten path. Eventually, we came to where a yard was visible with "No Trespassing" signs, so we turned back. We took another fork leading to some sticker bushes, and finally reached the edge of the resevoir site (now a meadow) and followed it's east side to the next section of the long abandoned road. There were some weeds over it at first, but it soon became clear again and led us shortly back to Rt 202. We walked the highway from here to the right. We continued with a long road walk on the highway, which paralelled the tracks to the north. We could'nt see them the entire time, but we were never far away, as we could clearly hear train whistles. We passed Far Hills Day School and continued along the road, passing by some beautiful fields to our right. We got off the road and walked just below along the line of a fence into the outside of Bernardsville where a road accessed a quarried area along the tracks. We soon walked by the Bernardsville Municipal Building, and we went inside. I asked if they had any town maps I might be able to use, but all they had were some really crappy state and county maps. We continued on to the Bernardsville Station. There was some construction going on in front of the old station, but a store inside was still open for business. Cathy got a cheese steak and I got a huge sub sandwich, which was excellent. I also had a Nesquick because they did not have the local farm chocolate milk I like so much. We continued on from the station through the middle of Bernardsville, then turned and crossed the tracks on Mount Road. We soon turned left on Prospect Street to Washington Street. We walked briefly down a dead end street to see if there was a way through but we had to turn back. We continued on Washington and headed out across Rt 287 where we could clearly see the railroad bridge to the north of us. We turned left on the other side and reached the Basking Ridge Station. We walked parallel to the tracks here, then turned right to the next street. We were able to quickly get into a long cemetary that paralleled the tracks. We found some kids goofing off in the woods along the tracks, and I asked them if we'd be able to get through, and they directed us out. We followed the cemetary to it's end, then walked Spencer Street which paralleled the tracks as well. It was very straight at first, but became very windy as we continued walking. It led us up and down a hill, reaching Lake Road. I was'nt sure which way to turn, but opted to go left on Lake Road across the tracks to Finley Road near a High School. There were some attractive young female joggers running by, and Cathy made me turn around so I would'nt look at them. We soon reached Finley Ave where we turned right. We continued along the road, which had a pleasant paved walkway along it. The walkway deviated a bit from the roadside into a line of trees above the road, which made it seem more like a trail than a sidewalk of any kind. My Hagstrom map showed me that we should make a right turn on Sutro Road from Finley, but when we reached the point, the road seemed to have been long abandoned. It's inclusion on the map was obviously a mistake. We had to continue down Finley Ave until we reached Lyons Road, which took us out to Lyons Station. The Station was an older structure predating NJ Transit, and there was a huge "Welcome" archway that bid hello and goodbye to riders depending on which direction they were heading. We waited on the platform only briefly before we got the next train back to Gladstone. We were told by a conductor that the trains sometimes reach 79 miles per hour! When we reached the station, we only had a short walk to Cathy's Honda. The train we rode was now parking, apparently finished for the night, and conductors were walking to their cars.
Unfortunitely, due to an idiot at Wal Mart mixing up my digital discs, all of the digital images from this hike were lost. A few that I printed were rescanned and included, as well as the thumbnail index with all of the pictures. Most of the thumbnails will be very bad quality.The numbers are really screwed up on these, I kind of just gave up.
1.) (Begin with thumbnail DSCN3093_0069) Cathy on the tracks in Gladstone (refer to 001 index for pics 1, 2, 5-10, 12, 14, 16)2.) Nice pond view3.) Another good pond view in Gladstone4.) Nice lime kiln, Gladstone5.) View of a creek in Peapack6.) Peapack Station7.) The tracks heading south from Peapack8-9.) Cathy on the tracks south of Peapack10.) Narrow underpass we went through...close call!11.) The bridge we crossed on the other side of the culvert, over Peapack Brook12.) Nice farmland view13.) View of the culvert and bridge14-16.) Cathy on the tracks walking south17-18.) Cathy on the tracks nearing Far Hills (Refer to 18 index for many pics)19.) An underpass near Far Hills20.) Far Hills Station21.) Cathy in a preserve in Far Hills22.) Me in a park in Far Hills23-26.) Views in parks in Far Hills area, including a good one of an old bridge27-28.) Weird sculpture in a field near Bernardsville29.) Me in a mirror along the road30-36.) Nice scenery approaching Bernardsville37.) An abandoned house in Bernardsville38.) Cathy along some farm land39.) Parkland in Bernardsville42.) Me on an old bridge in a Bernardsville park43.) Index with barely recognizeable pics near the end44.) Cathy and I at Lyons Station
This is all that's left of some of the pictures which Wal Mart idiots lost.
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