Hike #259 12/17/6
12/17/6
Red Bank-Atlantic Highlands-Manhattan with "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler, "Major Tom" Conroy, and Yon Lee
On the Sea Streak in the NY Bay
My next hike was a newly planned route which would be much more unconventional than any of my previous hikes. We would begin in Red Bank and hike north along an abandoned railroad, roads, and trails, and take a ferry from the Raritan Bay to Manhattan Island where we would finish our hike. By the end of the day we had walked over twenty miles.
Old rail station in Red Bank NJ
Red Bank NJ
Railroad bridge, former New York and Long Branch in Red Bank
Shrewsbury River where the CNJ railroad used to cross
Former CNJ Red Bank Branch in Bodman Park, Red Bank NJ
In Bodman Park, Red Bank
Former CNJ Red Bank Branch in Bodman Park
Former CNJ Red Bank Branch along Sleepy Hollow Road
Former CNJ Red Bank Branch near Sleepy Hollow Road
Along the US Gov't Railroad where the former CNJ line used to go through
Sign in Leonardo NJ
A Mallard Duck
Along Henry Hudson Trail
Henry Hudson Trail, former CNJ Bay Shore Branch
Gun at Leonardo NJ Military base Earl
Henry Hudson Trail in Leonardo NJ
Hanging at McDonalds between Leonardo and Atlantic Highlands
McDonalds in Leonardo NJ
Downtown Atlantic Highlands NJ
Victorian in Atlantic Highlands
Strange tree in Atlantic Highlands
View from the Atlantic Highlands
Atlantic Highlands
Steps in Atlantic Highlands
Atlantic Highlands
This is Lenape Woods in Atlantic Highlands area. Not a well known park, but makes a good greenway route.
View from Mt. Mitchell in the Atlantic Highlands
Mt. Mitchell view of Sandy Hook and NYC
Mt. Mitchell view
Mt. Mitchell view
Mt. Mitchell view of Spermacetti Cove and Sandy Hook
Sitting area on Mt. Mitchell
View from Mt. Mitchell
Mt. Mitchell
View from Mt. Mitchell
Spermacetti Cove and Sandy Hook from Mt. Mitchell
View of Highlands piers from Mt. Mitchell
On Mt. Mitchell
9/11 memorial on Mt. Mitchell
9/11 Memorial on Mt. Mitchell
Descending Mt. Mitchell
Highlands NJ
Highlands NJ
On the beach in Highlands NJ
In Highlands NJ
Highlands NJ
Wandering on the Highlands/Waterwitch pier area...and climbing!
Climbing a dock in Highlands NJ
The Sea Streak
Highlands NJ
Highlands NJ
Highlands NJ
The Sea Streat at Highlands/Waterwitch pier
Boarding the Sea Streak
Aboard the Sea Streak at Highlands NJ
Aboard the Sea Streak at Highlands NJ
Broken water from the Sea Streak leaving Highlands/Waterwitch pier
Verrazano Narrows Bridge
Verrazzanno Narrows Bridge
Aboard the Sea Streak
Verrazanno Narrows Bridge
View aboard the Sea Streak
Aboard the Sea Streak
Aboard the Sea Streak
Aboard the Sea Streak
Ham supper squishy toast onion Geraldo.
City views from the Sea Streak
Manhattan from the Sea Streak
NYC
NYC
NYC
NYC
Aboard the Sea Streak
The Empire State building
The famous Christmas Tree at Rockafeller Center
Rockafeller Center tree
Rockafeller Center tree
Downtown Manhattan finishing up the hike
Tree at Rockafeller Center
Rockafeller Center
Decor at Rockafeller Center
Rockafeller Center, NYC
Rockafeller Center, NYC
Downtown Manhattan
Joining me for this trip were "Major Tom" Conroy, "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler, and newcomer Yon Lee of New York. Major Tom met me at my house early in the morning and we drove to the Somerville train station where we parked and caught the 7:22 am train east. We were right on time to catch the train. Major Tom put money in the parking pay box, and we could hear the train coming. We ran to the platform then down stairs and under the tracks to the appropriate platform for our trip. We got on the train in time and headed east. It cost us $7.75 each to ride to Red Bank with the train switch in Newark. We eventually reached Newark Penn Station where we had to switch trains. We went down some stairs, then back up more to the platform area. It was very crowded; many people were waiting for an Amtrack Train to Washington DC. We waited for a while until our train showed up. We boarded, and rode through Rahway to Perth Amboy on through Monmouth County to Red Bank. When we reached the town, we were greeted by Yon Lee, who was apparently on the same train. Wyatt appeared on the platform soon after; his dad was parked on the other side of the station. After we all grouped together, we looked around for restrooms. I was the only one that needed one, but could not find one. I ended up ducking into an alley and hid behind a chimney. We walked a few streets and found that we had been going the wrong way. We were looking for the remnants of what was the Red Bank Branch of the Central Railroad of NJ. We ended up walking north on Pearl Street when I finally got my bearings. Wyatt and I walked ahead for a while. We left on Riverside Avenue which had some rather new looking buildings, so I knew the railroad right of way must have been obliterated to the Navesink River. The river at this point is incredible wide and of tidal nature, so the rail bridge was certainly of great distance. We walked along the riverside as closely as possible, but did'nt see any remnants. We made our way behind a building and out to the Cooper Bridge over the Navesink River. The NJ Transit bridge was visible to our left. I could see no remnants of the Red Bank Branch's bridge over the water whatsoever. On the other side of the bridge we turned right on Conover Lane heading eastbound for the most part. We looked through here for the remnants of the railbed. We did find the railbed, though we were not sure what it was when we saw it. It was a long ditch being used for water runoff stretching from the Navesink River to our south, and through woods to the north. The area was well developed, but this was a recognizeable grade that stayed intact. I only realized it was the railroad bed as we walked ahead and in a low area to our left/north, I could see a fill used by the right of way. We continued and turned north on Glenmark Ave, then north on another street from Navesink River Road into Bodman Park. This park was for the most part a few ball fields at first. I could see the railbed to our left, now used by a power line. We walked across fields and a ball game going on. We cut through the fence past a dugout and began following the right of way. There was a park trail which led us into a wooded area with no undergrowth other than sod. We were able to get onto the right of way briefly where a trail was aligned on it for maybe a hundred feet, but then had to parallel it again to the end of Bodman Park at Cooper Road. From here, we were able to closely parallel the right of way to the right on Sleepy Hollow Road. Along the road, the railbed was in a cut to our left, badly overgrown. The right of way branched away from us briefly, and after we crossed Chapel Hill Road, the right of way crossed Sleepy Hollow Road, still followed by the power line. We were able to climb up onto the right of way briefly and walk for maybe a block's lenght before having to come back down. Soon, we came to the US Government Railroad and Normandy Road, which was not open to public. It seemed as though the Red Bank Branch's right of way was probably used for part of this later gov't railroad. We walked (illegally) briefly along Normandy Road to East Road (Hopping Cross Road) and headed north. What I believe was the right of way to the Red Bank Branch lay in the lawn to our left at first. We continued north on this road, though we could see no remnants of the railroad until we reached Leonardville Road where I could see it's remnants where it used to cross, then again through people's back yards from East Road. We came out soon to Rt 36 in Belford, and walked behind a post office where I believed a junction once was, but we could not get through to where the Red Bank Branch joined the former CNJ Bayshore Branch. We had to turn back and accessed the Bayshore Branch, now Henry Hudson Trail (which we'd walked the previous Summer) via East Road. We followed this paved right of way east to Leonardo and cut out to Rt 36 into Atlantic Highlands where we stopped at McDonalds for lunch. I ate several sandwiches and a McFlurry, and I was irked that they forgot my M&Ms in my McFlurry at first. Amish Paul and Wyatt ordered a pile of cheeseburgers but would not eat the buns. Our table was cluttered with unused buns. I used two and made a sandwich using chicken Mcnuggets. We were soon on our way, and continued on 36 east to the main street through Atlantic Highlands. We walked the street and turned right on what I believe was Mount Avenue. We walked up and around a circular road on the hillside passing by a series of beautiful homes, one of which was the home of the local historical society. We headed around the loop and continued up hill. There was also a beautiful stone bridge we crossed over another road. We continued on along Ocean Boulevard and nearby roads passing by a restaurant with a great view over the Raritan Bay. There was a trail on our right called the "Steep Slope Trail", which I considered following, but it would have taken us too long. We continued on the road passing by another park, called the Lenape Woods Park. There were mor trails here as well, but we opted not to use them, instead heading east to Mt Mitchell Scenic Overlook. This spot, sitting at 266 feet above sea level, this is the highest point on the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Mexico! The view was spectacular, looking over Sandy Hook and the Rariatan Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, and New York City's five boroughs. We stayed here for quite a while to take in the sight. There was also a nice 9-11 memorial there, with the names of all residents of Monmouth County that died in the attacks. It was a sculpture of an eagle with a jagged piece of a World Trade Center I-Beam. We walked along the edge of the small park, then headed down through a playground skirting the woods until we reached a path leading us through the trees down to a road. We were able to follow this road to Rt 36, then to Linden Street into the town of Highlands. We walked streets down to the waterfront, then walked a short section of the beach along Sandy Hook Bay to the docks which I believe is called Waterwitch, where we could see a Sea Streak vessel.
We climbed up a tall section of dock to a parking area and headed over to the ship. We asked some people how we would go about getting tickets, but we were told to buy them on board. We had a lot of time left, so we opted to walk around. We walked back out to Highlands where we stopped in a bar called Driftwood. Only Amish Paul got anything. We also went into an Irish Pub to have a look around, but we soon left. I could not afford anything really, as I was almost broke. We decided to head back to the Sea Streak. When we returned, we found that we were able to walk a section of dock out to one of two Sea Streak ships, and bought our tickets, which were $18.50 each, to ride into 34th Street Manhattan. The boat we bought the tickets for was not the one we would ride, though we would board the vessel from this vessel. We waited inside where it was warm until the boat came. It was not long before the Sea Streak ship arrived at 4:30 pm. It was a relief that we were able to be there on time. This hike was stressful for me because we had to rely on times for public transportation, which were more limited on Sundays. The ship soon took off. We picked out seats on the second floor of the ship, but opted not to use them and headed for the rear of the boat to see the views as we pulled out of the Atlantic Highlands area. We were moving quite fast, and the boat ran smoothly enough that it did not make us seasick. As we stood on the deck, there were three men standing to our left. One of the guys, named Rob, approached me when He'd noticed I was wearing a Ringo Starr tee shirt. He cited that you rarely see a Ringo Starr shirt, and that there were many Beatles and Lennon shirts, but rarely others. We immediately began talking about the Beatles as well as their solo work, and Rob tested me on how much I really knew. He asked me to complete the sentence "Would you care to sit with me for a cup of English Tea..." I immediately replied with "Very twee, very me, any Sunday morning, what a pleasure it will be chatting so delightfully, nanny bakes fairy cakes every Sunday morning", the lyrics to "English Tea", a song by Paul McCartney on his most recent album, "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard". Rob was very impressed by what I knew. He left me with his phone number telling me that he'd get me in any time I wanted to see a Capital Records hosted concert! I was pretty happy. Rob was taking his two friends, brothers from Spain, on a tour of the United States. At first, I thought they looked slightly gay in appearance. I soon realized it was the culture difference, and probably nothing to do with sexual orientation. I posed for a picture with them, and was happy to have made their acquaintance, as they were very nice people. The boat took us under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, as well as teh Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, and the Williamsburg Bridge, with a short stop at a dock at the southern side of Manhattan. When we got off the boat, we had to wait for a while as there were a lot of people getting on. We made our way around them and headed into Manhattan. Yon led us along some streets to 5th Avenue north towards the Rockafeller Center where the famous Christmas Tree was. It was interesting to see how New York City decorated fro Christmas. One building was glowing Red, Green, and white. The Empire State Building was glowing blue and white. When we reached Rockafeller Center, we saw the tree, but the tall building was also glowing blue with falling snowflakes projected onto it, apparently from sorrounding buildings. I decided we would fight through the crowd toward the tree, which was'nt too bad at first. We had to push through a big rough crowd for a while before getting back out to the next street. Some streets were completely closed to traffic due to a Christmas festival that was going on, which made for easier quick walking. We continued west to just north of Times Square, where we accidently lost Major Tom. Fortunitely, we both had our cell phones and were soon in contact, though we were yelling to hear over the crowds. The city was majorly packed more than usual. Major Tom was standing in front of Virgin Records, while we were just south of Times Square where there was a large sign advertising for Target with a picture of a blonde woman in a red dress with targets all over it. It must have sounded rather weird, as Major Tom was shouting that he's at "Virgin" and I was yelling "No, go for the girl in the red dress!". He soon caught up with us and we continued south to Penn Station and bought our tickets back. It cost Major Tom and I $10.50 to get back to Somerville. We said goodbye to Yon in the station, and Major Tom, Amish Paul, Wyatt, and I got on the same train, bound for Newark before heading to Red Bank. Amish Paul shared some of his vodka with me that he'd bought in Highlands while we were on the train, and Major Tom gave me some Fig Newtons. Major Tom and I had to get off the train at Newark Penn Station, and Amish Paul and Wyatt were lucky enough that they could stay put and not have to worry about the switch. Major Tom and I got out and quickly ran to the next platform, which ended up being the wrong one, then had to run down a set of stairs and back up others to another platform where we were able to climb aboard another train in the nick of time. The rest of the ride was free of incident. It took a while, but we got back to Somerville, and our feet were hurting as we walked back towards my car. A very interesting trip, nevertheless.
Pictures by Mike Helbing, with a couple by Yon Lee (YL)
1.) View of the Red Bank Railroad Station2.) Another nice building in Red Bank3.) Current NJ Transit train bridge over the Navesink River in Red Bank4.) View down the Navesink River, where the CNJ Railroad Red Bank Branch used to cross5.) Walking in Red Bank, Bodman Park6.) View in Bodman Park with the rail bed to the left7.) On the CNJ Rail Bed in Bodman Park8.) The rail bed in a cut north of Bodman Park, now a utility line9.) On the right of way up on a fill, along Sleepy Hollow Road10.) Wyatt on Normandy Road, Government owned, next to the Gov't Railroad. The CNJ Red Bank Branch crosses somewhere near here11.) Mallard Duck...how cute...12.) Wyatt playing with a measuring tape he found along Henry Hudson Trail, former CNJ line13.) Amish Paul, looking like a Terminator, on the rail bed along Rt 3614.) Another gov't installation we passed along the Rail Bed15.) Wyatt with a giant gun outside the Naval Base16.) Wyatt with a Burger King sign he found along the way and carried for some time, Leonardo NJ17.) Wyatt and Major Tom in McDonalds18.) Me at McDonalds in Leonardo/Atlantic Highlands19.) Downtown Atlantic Highlands20.) Incredible old house up on Atlantic Highlands21.) Weird shaped tree on the hill in Atlantic Highlands22.) View out onto Raritan Bay from Atlantic Highlands23.) A beautiful arch on Atlantic Highlands24.) Awesome stairs ascending the bridge, Atlantic Highlands25.) Amish Paul on the same stairs!26.) Map of trails on Atlantic Highlands, Lenape Woods27.) Scenic Overlook near a restauranton Mt Mitchell28.) Scenic view from near a restaurant on Mt Mitchell29.) Lower Sandy Hook with Spermacetti Cove from Mt Mitchell Scenic Overlook30.) View of the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge from Mt Mitchell31.) Another view of Sandy Hook with Spermacetti Cove from Mt Mitchell32.) taking a break on Mt Mitchell33.) Sandy Hook View34.) The group on Mt Mitchell35.) Another Sandy Hook View36.) Spermacetti Cover view37.) View of ship yards in Highlands below38.) Me on Mt Mitchell39.) Wyatt with the 9-11 memorial on Mt Mitchell40.) Rear view of the 9-11 memorial41.) Yon and Major Tom descending from Mt Mitchell42.) Wyatt in Highlands with balloons he found43.) Wyatt has balloons, Amish Paul has an undergound line flat...like father like son?44.) Walking along the beach in Highlands NJ45.) Major Tom on the beach at Highlands!46.) Sea Streak Vessel at the Highlands/Waterwitch dock47.) Climbing up a dock from a beach at Highlands48.) Major Tom and Yon trying to climb the dock49.) A Sea Streak vessel50.) View of the hotel up on Mt Mitchell from Highlands pier51.) View along the beach west from Highlands pier52.) I put Cathy's an my initials in the beach at Highlands with Mt Mitchell in view53.) One of the Sea Streak Vellels54.) Wyatt and Amish Paul on a docking hall attatched to one of the Sea Streak Vessels55.) Me, Wyatt, and Major Tom on the Sea Streak ship where we got our tickets (YL)56.) Me, Wyatt, and Yon on the Sea Streak ticket boat57.) View from the rear of the Sea Streak departing Highlands Pier58.) View of the Verrazano Narrows Bridge from the Sea Streak59.) Better view of the bridge from the Sea Streak!60.) Me, Wyatt, and Amish Paul on the Sea Streak (YL)61.) Yet another view of the Narrows Bridge62.) View straight on at the Narrows Bridge63.) Me on the boat with the Narrows Bridge in view64.) Amish Paul and Wyatt with the view off the back of the ship65.) Another view of the Narrows Bridge66.) I think it's Brooklyn Bridge but I can't tell...67.) And that's NYC, though it's barely recognizeable...68-72.) Views of Manhattan Island from the Sea Streak73.) Exiting the Sea Streak at 34th Street Pier, Manhattan74.) View of the Empire State Building, I think, in Manhattan75.) View of the Rockafeller Center famous Christmas Tree76.) View of the tree with the buildings behind it with fallins snowflakes77.) View of more snowflakes projected onto another building near Rockafeller Center78.) The group in downtown Manhattan, walkin' around.79.) Another view of the famous tree at Rockafeller Center80.) Rockafeller Center with falling snowflakes projected onto it81.) Another view of another building with snowflakes on it from Rockafeller Center area82.) Yet another shot of the famous tree83.) View downtown, one of the closed streets for the holiday festival84.) Another view of the closed street85.) View of Times Square, Manhattan
Times Square
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