Hike #331 2/23/8
On Dutch Hill
Another milestone...on the tenth anniversery of the first time I led this hike, I decided to do it again and we were joined by Laura, and just the week before her future fiance Tom joined us for the first time. So funny they missed each other by a week. Regardless, it was meant to be, so congratulations to them!!!
2/23/8 Califon-Washington railroad beds with Fred Hafale, "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler, "Major Tom" Conroy, Joe Tag, and Laura Cunningham
My next hike would sort of be a repeat of a past hike, and for a good reason. It was almost ten years prior to this date that I first led the trip between Crestmoore and Washington NJ (it was actually 2/28/98), and so I hoped to lead the same hike again. Unfortunitely, I could not get any of the past participants of this hike to join, nor could I start it in Crestmoore because we'd gotten a good deal of snow and there would be no place for us to park there.
Old Califon train station
Ken Lockwood Gorge
Columbia Trail in Ken Lockwood Gorge
Ken Lockwood Gorge
Along Columbia Trail in Ken Lockwood Gorge
Me with one of the Bollards on Columbia Trail
Bollard on Columbia Trail
Bollard unlocking on Columbia Trail
Along Columbia Trail
Me on Columbia Trail, Ken Lockwood Gorge
Columbia Trail in High Bridge
Along Columbia Trail
House along Columbia Trail
Columbia Trail in Ken Lockwood Gorge
Along Columbia Trail
Wyatt tried to hug Amish Paul while he was on skis
Columbia Trail
Former CNJ line
Laura with some building decor done by one of her friends
Former CNJ main line in High Bridge
Former CNJ main line north of High Bridge
Former CNJ main line north of High Bridge
House visible from former CNJ tracks
Former CNJ main line in Glen Gardner vicinity
Former CNJ main line in Glen Gardner
Former CNJ tracks in Glen Gardner
Along the tracks in Glen Gardner
CNJ marked box at Bells Crossing, Glen Gardner
Taking a break at Bells Crossing
Bells Crossing on the CNJ line
Bells Crossing
Rt 31 CNJ underpass in Hampton
CNJ tracks in Hampton
Former Hampton junction site at Rt 31 underpass
Rt 31 underpass
On CNJ at Rt 31 underpass
Resting under the Rt 31 underpass
Rt 31 underpass
Rt 31 underpass
Climbing beneath Rt 31
Rt 31 underpass on CNJ line
Underside of the Rt 31 bridge
Underside of the Rt 31 bridge
Underside of the Rt 31 bridge
Former trestle site over Rt 31 for the DL&W line
Former DL&W trestle site in Hampton
Former DL&W trestle site in Hampton
Walking the former DL&W/Warren Railroad in hampton
View toward the A&P from the former Warren Railroad in New Hampton
View from former Warren Railroad in New Hampton
Along the former Warren Railroad in New Hampton
An old roadway and stone rows on Dutch Hill
Dutch Hill
Walking through fields on Dutch Hill
Fields on Dutch Hill
Fields on Dutch Hill
Fields on Dutch Hill
Along Dutch Hill Road
Former Warren Railroad heading northbound from Dutch Hill Road
Former Warren Railroad near Changewater
Former Warren Railroad near Changewater
Former Warren Railroad near Changewater
Former Warren Railroad near Changewater
View from the former Warren Railroad bed
South side of former Changewater Trestle
View from site of Changewater Trestle
View from site of Changewater Trestle
Former Changewater Trestle site
Changewater Trestle site
Changewater Trestle site
Changewater Trestle site
In Changewater
Changewater Trestle site
Musconetcong River in Changewater
Site of Changewater Trestle
Site of Changewater Trestle
Crossing the Musconetcong in Changewater
Changewater Trestle site, north side
View of Point Mountain from Murderer's Crossroads
Changewater Road parallel with former Warren Railroad bed
Farm view near Changewater
Former Warren Railroad in Washington, south of the rail yard
Former Warren Railroad south of Washington Rail Yard
Former Warren Railroad at the site where the Morris and Essex line once crossed it on a bridge
Bridge for DL&W railroad over Rt 31
I opted instead to park at the Califon A&P from where we'd walk down to the rail bed in Califon. Joining this time were "Major Tom" Conroy, Joe Tag, Wyatt and "Amish Paul" Hassler (Paul would meet up with us and leave along the course of the trip because he wanted to cross country ski it), and newcomer Laura Cunningham of Bethlehem PA who'd found out about my group from David Noble while swimming at the YMCA building. Also, Fred Hafale would join us near High Bridge. We began walking down the street from the A&P into Califon. We soon reached the railroad bed, and then headed west. It was very difficult to walk with all the snow, but we managed. Laura kept a very strong pace and I sweated quite a lot to keep up with her! Amish Paul turned back to his car after a bit to meet up with us later. We continued through Ken Lockwood Gorge and after a little while Amish Paul showed up on cross country skis. He continued with and and we soon met Fred Hafale before getting to High Bridge. We all continued on passing by Readingsburg and into High Bridge where we stopped for lunch break at the pizza place. I got some wine at the little liquor store that used to be a bank. We soon continued on onto the former Central Railroad of NJ's main line heading north. Major Tom immediately began to shoot ahead of the rest of us. He was making a good pace and was soon almost out of sight ahead! Amish Paul went with us for a bit, but then decided to turn back once again. I can't remember if he joined us further up on the CNJ or not. The trip heading north went pretty free of incident. It was tough to walk, but we managed. We took a quite break for everyone to catch up again at Bell's Crossing in Glen Gardner, then continued on north to the Rt 31 underpass. I of course had to climb up the rocks on the west side of the underpass as I had so many times in the past leading this hike. My shoulder was still bothering me a bit from breaking it, but I managed. Wyatt climbed up as well while the others waited below. From the bridge underpass, we turned onto the former Lackawanna Railroad's main line; I think this was the first time for me leading this hike through here since the Lackawanna Ave culvert had been removed. We followed the fill to where the culvert used to be, then headed out to Rt 31 and walked south. Keith Monohan, who I worked with at Hunterdon Parks lived right here, and was considering joining, but considering the weather he opted against it. He would tell me later he saw our footprints and commentented on how crazy we were! We stopped by Hampton Pizza before we headed up onto the railbed on the east side of Rt 31. Major Tom got a slice and we were soon off. We headed up to some sort of doctor's place that had been there for years, across from a still existing abutment for the former Lackawanna railroad's old main line. We cut into the weeds in the snow and began heading through a cut, then onto a shelf with some good seasonal overlooks over the Musconetcong Valley. I was surprised I could see the A&P supermarket from here. We continued on and my feet were freezing. Because I'd opted not to wear boots, I lost all feeling in my feet. I just kept moving on as best I could, sometimes stopping to empty out snow. When we got to where someone's yard was over the rail bed, unlike times in the past I decided we'd bushwhack up the hill to the south and cut out to Dutch Hill Road that way. It was rather steep and all that much tougher with all the snow on the ground. My feet were still freezing, but we kept moving. We eventually emerged at a farmer's field I'd intended to use to get to the road. There was an old set of stone rows with a former farm lane in between I was rather impressed with on the one side of the field. Once in the field, we turned left and made our way out to Dutch Hill Road. We took a break on the road, and I removed my shoes to massage my feet which had no feeling at all. I had two hand warmers, and Fred had two more he gave me. Major Tom gave me a pair of socks, and so I changed them and put the warmers in, and I was soon fine. My feet actually hurt a bit because of the change of temperature I think. We walked down Dutch Hill Road to where the railroad used to cross and accessed the right of way from behind a trailer parked on it. This section was much easier to walk. We continued on this out to where the Changewater Trestle used to be and descended to the road. It was very slippery and I slid for quite a while before reaching the bottom! Amish Paul was at the bottom in his car to check on us. When we were all down, we walked Changewater Road across the Musconetcong and continued to Murderer's Bridge site (named because the supposed murderors from Changewater who were buried there.). We continued across Asbury-Anderson Road parallel with the rail bed. We soon reached Washburn Avenue in Washington and turned back onto the railroad bed where the bridge used to be, walking through the cut out to Washington Rail Yard. We opted to hike to Dicola's Pizza by continueing straight across the former Morris and Essex Railroad, then straight across Rt 57 to the Rt 31 bridge where we took the ATV trail down to Dicola's. We had some pizza for dinner here, then waited for quite some time thinking Amish Paul would show up with his car to bring us back. When he did'nt show up for like 45 minutes, we all decided we'd better do some more walking. We walked down the Boulevard to Rt 57 east. I found a bicycle on the railroad slope along the boulevard and went to get it. It had a flat tire, but still rideable. I rode it past everyone until I got too tired on the ice and snow, and passed it off to Wyatt, who soon got tired as well. I ended up leaving leaning on a sign near the corner of Rt 57 and Flower Avenue (which by the way was still leaning on that sign, amazingly, two weeks later!). We continued walking to Port Colden Mall where Amish Paul was waiting for us. Wyatt ran into Family's Pizza to say hi to Tea Biscuit (he was working) before we got a ride back to Califon.
Along Columbia Trail, Ken Lockwood Gorge
1.) Old Califon Train Station2.) South Branch of the Raritan River in Ken Lockwood Gorge3.) Wyatt pretending to be a ninja with ice4.) Ice in Ken Lockwood Gorge5.) Wyatt, Laura, and I in the gorge (taken by Tom Conroy)6.) Me with one of the Bollards from the Colombia Trail in Ken Lockwood Gorge (WH)7.) Me with one of the Colombia Trail bollards (WH)8.) Me locking up the bollard (WH)9.) Wyatt (WH)10.) Me (WH)10a.) Colombia Trail in High Bridge (FH)10b.) Amish Paul on skis (FH)10c.) House as seen from Colombia Trail (FH)10d.) Fred on the Colombia Trail (FH)11.) Wyatt pushing Amish Paul on skis12.) Wyatt knocked Amish Paul over12a-12b.) On the Colombia Trail (FH)13.) Laura with a building a friend of hers painted in High Bridge14.) On the former CNJ Railroad heading north from High Bridge14a-14b.) On the former CNJ (FH)14c.) Interesting building as seen from former CNJ (FH)14d-14e.) former CNJ line nearing Glen Gardner (FH)15.) Former CNJ just south of Glen Gardner16.) Wyatt with an old wooden mile post in Glen Gardner17.) Jersey Central lines sign at Bells Crossing Glen Gardner NJ17a.) Laura and I at Bells Crossing (FH)17b.) At Bells Crossing (FH)18.) At Bells Crossing18a-18h.) At Rt 31 overpass, Hampton (FH)19.) Wyatt climbing under the Rt 31 bridge20.) View of the underside of the Rt 31 bridge21.) Fred below the bridge22.) View under the bridge22a.) Departing from the CNJ underpass23.) An abutment of former Lackawanna Railroad's old main line over Rt 31, Hampton23a-23b.) Bridge abutment (FH)24.) Joe with the old bridge abutment25.) View from the old Lackawanna line at New Hampton with a view of Washington A&P25a.) Another view (FH)25b.) Along the rail bed heading northbound (FH)26.) Interesting old stone rows with an old farm lane in between on Dutch Hill near New Hampton27.) In the fields off Dutch Hill Road27a.) In the fields (FH)27b.) Joe in the fields (FH)28-29.) Nice field view30.) The group on Dutch Hill Road31.) On the rail bed heading toward Changewater32.) Rail bed near Changewater32a-32b.) On the former DL&W Railroad bed east of Dutch Hill Road (FH)33.) Fred on the rail bed nearing Changewater34.) Another view from the rail bed35.) Former Lackawanna Changewater Trestle site36.) View of the Changewater Bridge from the trestle site37.) View from former trestle site37a.) View from trestle site (FH)37b.) The group at the trestle site (FH)38.) On the rail bed at the trestle site39.) The group descending from the trestle site40.) Amish Paul in his car coming to check on us41.) Changewater Trestle site42.) Musconetcong River in Changewater43.) Changewater Trestle site43a.) Trestle site (FH)43b.) Crossng the river bridge (FH)44.) Former trestle site45.) View of Point Mountain from Murderer's Bridge site46.) Wyatt on Changewater Road parallel with the rail grade47.) Nice farm view from Changewater Road48.) In the cut just south of the Washington rail yard49.) Joe in the old rail cut49a.) Entering Washington Rail yard (FH)50.) Former Lackawanna Railroad overpass on Rt 31ALSO: Old High Bridge station post card
No comments:
Post a Comment