Hike #264 1/14/7
Another one that's fun to look back at...the first time for our buddy Captain Soup as well!
On the White Lake Branch rail bed, Ridge and Valley Trail
1/14/7
White Lake-Blairstown-Colombia with Ron Phelps, Bill "Guillermo" Fabel, Jason Itell, Larry Butler, Steve Sanbeg, Haiyen Zheng, "Major Tom" Conroy, "Amish Paul" Hassler, Dave "Captain Soup" Campbell, Wyatt Hassler, and Scott "Tea Biscuit" Helbing
In White Lake Natural Resource Area
Lime Kiln on Ridge and Valley Trail
Ruins at old girl scout camp at White Lake
Marl Workds Ruins at White Lake
Marl Works ruins
Marl Works ruins
Marl Works ruins
Marl Works ruins
Looking out over White Lake
Looking at the Vass House from White Lake
My next hike would cover some new areas I wanted to explore in conjunction with places I was very familiar with from White Lake Wildlife Management Area near Blairstown to Colombia NJ. We met at the TA Truckstop in Colombia, shuttled some cars to the Portland-Colombia Footbridge, and then headed to the White Lake Wildlife Management Area on the north side of White Lake. Joining me in Colombia were past participants Ron Phelps, who acted as co leader for this trip, Major Tom (both of them rode up with me), Bill "Guillermo" Fabel, Jason Itell, Larry Butler, Steve Sanbeg, and Haiyan Zheng. I found that Amish Paul and Wyatt Hassler were waiting for us at the White Lake parking lot, having misunderstood meeting location. We had one newcomer, David Campbell from Perth Amboy NJ, training to do high peaks out west by doing high mileage hikes.
Capt. Soup along White Lake
In the Marl Works ruins
Marl Works ruins
Marl Works ruins
Marl Works ruins
Abandoned house that used to be at the Marl Works
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Looking through the floor of an abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Along former NYS&W rail spur at White Lake, now Ridge and Valley Trail
Paulins Kill trestle on former NYS&W
Paulins Kill swan
Weird round foam bubble on the Paulins Kill at Paulina
Paulina NJ
Guillermo swinging amazingly on a vine
Vine swinging
Tea Biscuit joins us in Blairstown after happening upon a couple having sex in a car in Footbridge Park
Near Blairstown
Lackawanna Cutoff
Lackawanna Cutoff
View from the Lackawanna Cutoff
We shuttled a few cars to White Lake, then began our journey. We started by walking the road east passing the old Vass House, then cutting into the woods to the south off trail. We had to go far enough in as to be away from the wetlands. We immediately were faced with lots of little ridges and gullies between that we had to negotiate. It was a bit slippery, and I took a fall almost immediately, cutting my ring finger on it's tip rather badly. I also got a smaller cut on the palm of my hand. Fortunitely, Ron had a first aid kit and was able to bandage my badly cut finger well enough that I could get by. We continued on and soon reached a dirt road, used as a driveway within White Lake WMA. We walked the road for a bit, but had to turn to the north a bit because we got too close to the house at the end of the drive. We made our way to an unblazed path along the top of ledge of dirt over a swampy area, the inlet to White Lake. We continued along this little ridge until we reached an old lime kiln in beautiful shape, as well as, to my surprise, a new section of the Ridge and Valley Trail with it's slate markers. It was not here when we'd last been in the area on 10/22/6. I ran along the trail to the north to see where it went, but it seemed to curve around a few old fields and I decided not to try to follow it too far. We all continued south on the trail, leading us through the lowlands where it was dry enough to cross. We made our way along the other side of the White Lake inlet (I spotted the trail from the other side earlier, not knowing it was an official trail) until the lake came into view. Soon, we found some chimneys and a few building ruins laying on the ground, which I read was the ruins of an old Girl Scout camp from the 1950s. Not much was left of the buildings.
The tree roots in the area were growing over some of the ruins in peculiar fashions. We continued on and soon reached the ruins of the Marl Works, where some sort of limestone sediments were dredged off of White Lake for various uses. These ruins were incredible. The walls of the buildings were all still in place, but the roof was long gone. Some metal piping laid of the floor of the place, and must have been some sort of an exhaust from the burning of the lime. We checked out the ruins for a while, and then moved onto the trail, turning off soon again to an abandoned house along an old roadway. It was posted with "no trespassing" signs, but we ignored them. The house was collapsing badly in the center while the framework held the sides and part of the roof up. We went in and checked out the lower rooms first. The floor was so bad where we first entered that I fell through! It gave me quite the scare! Another room had a fireplace still standing. There were stairs leading to the second floor, but the bottom four at least had all collapsed. I was able to pull myself up those steps to get to the second floor, and I was followed by Guillermo and Larry. We wandered around checking it out, very cautios of the floor. I remember looking at all of the windows to figure out which one I'd jump out of should the structure begin to fall! We left the building and headed out along the woods road toward the shore of the lake. The road led to a private piece of farm land, but we found a bit of the railroad right of way leading onto what looked like sort of a jetti into the water. Ron walked all the way out to the end of the jetti, which was probably where the ice was harvested to put onto the trains. Ron said it did'nt seem like that far across the lake to where we'd parked, as we were now directly across from there. The Vass house was in view across the water. We soon turned back and found that the Ridge and Valley Trail followed the railroad right of way, the former White Lake spur of the NYS&W Railroad. It was clear and level, and took us along a couple fields until it led us to the road near Marksboro. The blazes ended at a road intersection within view of the main line NYS&W at Marksboro. The spur line was obliterated by the road, but a cut was still in existance above us to the left where it made a gradual descent to the main line grade. We turned to the west on the NYS&W/Paulins Kill Valley Trail to the village of Paulina where we made our way up to Rt 94. There was a sign along the road that stated "Alchahol Not Allowed" with the "Not" whited out. I took a picture of Guillermo chugging his wine here. We continued walking along Rt 94 a short distance until we saw signs for the Limestone Forest preserve on our left. We bushwhacked into the forest here, and made our way along the edge of a small ridge above a house to a creekside. We crossed the creek, the ascended steeply to the top of another hill where we found more Ridge and Valley Trail blazes. We turned left following them, which led us to a trail junction, where a left turn led us to a lodge and pavilian where we had a lunch break. I talked to Tea Biscuit on the phone here, and he headed out to meet up with us. After everyone had eaten, we turned back onto the trail in Limestone Forest, this time taking the other fork of the trail which took us upon a hill just above Rt 94. We cut down the hill steeply (and I fell down...again!) and I got a call from Tea Biscuit that he'd arrived at Footbridge Park in Blairstown to meet up with us. We walked down hill and along Rt 94 to the overpass to the former NYS&W Railroad where Tea Biscuit met up with us. He accidently happened upon a couple having sex in the rail trail parking lot and had to park further away! We saw the car from up the hill and we made some loud comments about steamy windows. We turned and followed Edge Hill Road and Heller Hill Road looking for the entrance to the Limestone Ridge Marsh preserve, another new preserve in the area, but could find nothing. We continued up Heller Hill Road to the former Lackawanna Cutoff railroad right of way. We descended to the underpass below the road and began following it west. It did'nt seem as though anything had changed since our last visit. This was the first time in many years I'd walked this part during daylight hours. There was a nice somewhat obscured view from the high right of way to the north at one point.
Paulins Kill Viaduct
Paulins Kill Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Viaduct
Near the end, Portland PA
Near the end, Portland PA
When we reached the Paulins Kill Viaduct, I let everyone know they had the option of climbing down to the bottom or climbing through the structure. Major Tom and Dave Campbell both opted to climb down to the bottom and wait for the rest of us. I took everyone else across, and accidently climbed down the wrong man hole at first. I had to climb back out and lead everyone to the next one. Once everyone was down, we made our way down the first arch and climbed down into the pier. Everyone handled it okay. The next arch, with the water and the pipe was easiest yet, as someone had placed a board across the way. We made it through the entire thing with basically no problems. Jason and Ron took a bit of time to check everything out, so they came down last. We all made our way down to the rail beds below and continued west to Hainesburg Junction. When we reached the junction site, we followed the former Blairstown Railroad/NYS&W west through Warrington area where it got a little overgrown. We continued into Colombia Lake Wildlife Management Area on the right of way, and used Rt 80 to cross over to the other side. I read recently that the northbound NYS&W used to cross the Paulins Kill at about the same place Rt 80 crosses, and that the construction obliterated signs of the former right of way. We made our way down the other side, fighting through weeds rather badly, finally coming out on the west side of one of the pipes under Rt 80. We continued through and along the former railroad bed/access road, reaching where the line continued northwest, and we continued on the road passing the old powerhouse on the left. It was getting pretty dark by the time we came out the access road in Colombia on Rt 46. We turned up the road to the footbridge and Dave was good enough to bring drivers back to the cars in White Lake. Tea Biscuit, Ron, Amish Paul, Wyatt, Major Tom, Jason, Larry, and I had dinner at the Portland Diner, which was fantastic. Our waitress kept bringing the wrong soup out, so a lot of us got free soups with our dinner! I had two of them!
1.) The group making their way off trail in White Lake WMA2.) A lime kiln on Ridge and Valley Trail in White Lake WMA3.) Part of an old Girl Scout Camp along White Lake, now along Ridge and Valley Trail4.) The group with the ruins of the Marl Works along White Lake, Ridge and Valley Trail5.) Larry, Wyatt, and Major Tom at the Marl Works6.) View of the inside of the Marl Works7.) Probably the stacks for chimneys or something at the Marl Works8.) Some sort of foundation stones along White Lake near the old rail spur9.) View of White Lake near the Marl Works10.) View of the Vass House across White Lake11.) Dave along White Lake with the Vass House in view12-13.) Part of the Marl Works14.) Me in the Marl Works ruins15.) Within the Marl Works area16.) An abandoned house near the Marl Works17.) Guillermo in the abandoned house18.) Guillermo in the old house, trying to climb the stairs19.) Dave below the stairs20-21.) View of the top floor of the house near Marl Works22.) Jason, on the first floor, taken from second floor!23.) Larry on the second floor24.) View of the second floor25.) Major Tom and Jason in front of the abandoned house26.) The house near the Marl works from the outside again27.) The group along the former NYS&W Railroad's White Lake spur line28.) Larry at the Paulins Kill bridge just east of Paulina29.) A swan on the Paulins Kill30.) A huge ball of disgusting foam scum31.) Guillermo and Ron at the "Alchaholic Beverages Allowed" sign in Paulina32.) Guillermo swinging on a vine along the Ridge and Valley Trail in Limestone Forest33.) Wyatt on a vine along Ridge and Valley Trail, Limestone Forest34.) Tea Biscuit on Rt 94 coming from Footbridge Park, Blairstown35.) The group along Heller Hill Road where the ATV path descends to the Lackawanna Cutoff36.) Guillermo at the Heller Hill Road underpass37.) Along the cutoff in Blairstown Twp.38.) View to the north from the cutoff39.) Ron climbing into Paulins Kill Viaduct40.) Wyatt climbing down41.) Ron in the viaduct42.) Tea Biscuit climbing through the viaduct43.) View inside the viaduct44.) View down at Dave and Major Tom from the Viaduct45.) Jason climbing in the viaduct46.) From left, Amish Paul, Ron, Larry, Guillermo, Steve, Tea Biscuit, Wyatt, and Jason inside the Paulins Kill Viaduct47.) Wyatt in the viaduct's first arch end48.) The east side of the viaduct49.) The group climbing out of the viaduct50.) More of the group climbing down51.) Tea Biscuit and Wyatt at the viaduct52.) Jason in the viaduct53.) Steve and Haiyen along the railbed below the viaduct54.) The group in Portland PA55.) Major Tom on the tracks in Portland PA
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