Hike #347 5/31/8
5/31/8 Freehold-Matawan-Laurence Harbor with Jason Itell, "Major Tom" Conroy, Skyler Jermyn, Shelly Janes, Russ Moyer, "DJ Ray" Cordts, and Jason Michael "Jamal" Flintosh
Group shot in Matawan
In Freehold NJ
Freehold NJ
Old station in Freehold
Old Freehold Station
Tracks in Freehold
Freehold after visiting a thrift store
Freehold after visiting a Thrift Store
Freehold NJ in a robe
Former rail bridge site in Freehold
Rail bed in Freehold
Following the rail bed north through Freehold
Freehold
Henry Hudson Trail, formerly the Monmouth County Agricultural Railroad
Along Henry Hudson Trail...Skyler makes a concoction
Henry Hudson Trail
North of Freehold. I dig the funnel.
We found a pipe north of Freehold
Pipe
Rail trail, north of Freehold. This section was not yet paved
In the pipe
Pipe
pipe
Russ getting ready to drop grass on me
Russ dropping grass on my head
pipe
Henry Hudson Trail north of Freehold
Along the way, we found a bird stuck in a tree. It was surely a goner, but we set it free. Nice.
Henry Hudson Trail in the rain
Henry Hudson Trail
Taking a break on Henry Hudson Trail where it temporarily ends!
Jason loves Poison Ivy
Henry Hudson Trail heading north of Freehold
Jamal on Henry Hudson Trail just north of Freehold
Henry Hudson Trail north of Freehold
Henry Hudson Trail north of Freehold
Flowaz
Multiflora Rose
Old station along Henry Hudson Trail
Henry Hudson Trail
Oh no! End of trail?
Russ at the temporary trail end
The rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro. We couldn't see in front of us with the dense vegetation, and so I fell into a deep pit.
Rail bed near Marlboro...amazingly, some of the rails are still in.
Rail bed near Marlboro. Surprising these tracks remain.
Flowers
Former road crossing on the rail bed near Marlboro
This is my "Golly Gee Willickers" look
Oh no! Skyler's suffocating!
Jamal pretending to hitch hike
Farm
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro
Rail bed near Marlboro, where a little more rail was in place
yard along the rail bed
Rail bed near Marlboro
Intersection heading north
View along the rail bed
view along the rail bed
view along the rail bed
Swamp view from the rail bed
Henry Hudson Trail
Farm view from the rail bed
Farm view from the rail bed
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Mausoleum
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Tomb stone
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Cemetery near Marlboro
Cemetery near Marlboro
Cemetery near Marlboro
Cemetery near Marlboro
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Mausoleum near Marlboro
Henry Hudson Trail
Abandoned bridge over Henry Hudson Trail
Old bridge overpass
Jason, why are you on the edge???
Old farm bridge south of Matawan/Aberdeen
Henry Hudson Trail nearing Matawan
Abandoned bridge south of Matawan
Looking onto Henry Hudson Trail from abandoned overpass
From atop the abandoned farm overpass on Henry Hudson Trail
Top of the abandoned bridge
Top of the abandoned bridge
We watched some bikers do some awesome jumps for a while
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Bikers
Multi Flora Rose
Power line parallel with Henry Hudson Trail
Path near Henry Hudson Trail
Abandoned farm overpass bridge along Henry Hudson Trail
Henry Hudson Trail
Resting on Henry Hudson Trail near Matawan/Aberdeen
Jason relaxing.
Heading north on Henry Hudson Trail nearing Matawan/Aberdeen
That's bad, Ray.
Lunch break in Matawan area
Lunch break in Matawan area
Lunch break in Matawan area
Lunch break in Matawan area
Stewart's in Matawan area
Weird plank road in Matawan area
Weird plank road in Matawan area
Weird plank road in Matawan area
Weird plank road in Matawan area
Matawan...trying to get into places I shouldn't be...
Oh no! Trail ends???
Oh no! Trail ends???
Continuing along the rail bed
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Matawan area abandoned trestle
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle near Matawan
Matawan area abandoned trestle
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Matawan area abandoned trestle
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle in Matawan. Not the easiest thing to get across
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Abandoned trestle in Matawan
Book swim?
Old Matawan station
Matawan Station
"No Tickets Sold Here"....
Old Matawan Station
Old Matawan Station
At old Matawan Station
Back roads toward Cheesequake
Wetlands
West of Matawan near Cheesequake
Park in Laurence Harbor
Unfortunitely this original journal was also lost to the fire so I'll do my best to remember.
We met in the morning up in Laurence Harbor on the Raritan Bay and then shuttled cars south to Freehold. The plan was to follow what I think was an old CNJ rail line abandonment north, part of what I think was the Freehold Agricultural railroad.
We started in Freehold, driving around looking for a good parking space. I wore a bath robe on this one so was looked at pretty funny. The railroad went right through the middle of town, still active at this point, with signage forbidding to trespass but we did anway.
We found where the junction used to be between the two lines, Freehold and Jamesburg Railroad that headed east and the agricultural railroad going north to Matawan, and started folowing it. On a side street there was a middle aged black man sitting on his porch hollering at us, and he asked what we were up to. When I replied that we were hiking to Laurence Harbor he let out a hearty "DAAMMMNNN!" to our delight.
We came across the train station which had no tracks around it, and that's how I knew we were on the right track. We headed generally north trying to figure out exactly where to go and happened upon a thrift store which we of course had to go in. I forget what I bought, but I'm sure I got something. DJ Ray got a stupid hat and Shelly got some bowls or something.
Just north of there one abutment remained of the old rail line's bridge over a street. We walked northbound as it was slightly clear, then had to make our way out to a parallel road and through a small line of woods. The road with the abutment must have been Center Street. The other stuff in the woods was north of there. We came out to Rt 537 and that must have been where the rail line became a rail trail. It was paved most of the way except for a short area to come up ahead had a gravel crushed stone surface.
We got to one road crossing where we crawled through some neat pipes. When I got to the other side Russ was right above me dumping grass on my head!
On another section there was a bird trapped in some junk string or something in a tree, so we were able to loosen it and let it go. Amazing.
We continued north and at some point it started pouring down rain like crazy. Jason was kind of happy because he got super deep in Poison Ivy and wanted to wash it all off. He'd recently gotten a perfectly shaped Skyler hand print from helping him out of Poison Ivy.
It must have been Allen Road much farther north where the trail officially ended for a bit. Maybe it was because the railroad went far too close to the Marlboro State Mental Hospital which was at the time a site where a lot of break ins and trespassing was occurring. At the time I did'nt realize how close it was and we just walked the right of way. It wasn't terribly overgrown, but the weeds we high, though unabrasive. Jewel weeds and others that looked like Catulpa were over my head and we really could'nt tell what we were walking into. Jason recalled to me that all of a sudden it looked like I disappeared. There was a very deep eroded trench in the rail bed which I could'nt see through the vegetation and I fell right in. Fortunitely uninjured.
We continued on and it got harder to follow. There was a business to the right but no one saw us. There was contractor's crap around.
There was a very well manicured yard shortly before we came to the next road, and of course by the time we got to that road, probably Rt 79 or Blossom Valley Road, we were stopped by a police officer. I had a bottle of wine out as I recall and was able to very slickly switch it with a bottle in my pack! The officer made us all give our information before letting us go, but otherwise he was very nice and understood we were only hiking. He explained a lady on an adjacent property called the police.
The officer let us know how to get to the next trail section. As it turned out Station Road was acros the street as well as the next section of complete trail. We followed it north.
Our next point of interest was the Marlboro Cemetary. This outlandish place seemed to be mostly Asian interments, and the most interesting one was this huge outlandish mosselleum full of drawers. I've never seen such a building so outlandish with so many dead interred in it. This was in Marlboro NJ.
We continued on, and there was a spot we stopped and watched ATV jumpers and climbed on what must have been at one time a farm overpass bridge. From there we made our way north into the southern end of Matawan. We stopped at a Stewarts restaurant for some food. We then continued north on the trail and checked out a weird wooden road way going to the right. Not sure what it was for, but interesting. Soon the trail ended. We were able to bushwhack to the north from there, but I was not at all prepared to see the giant bridge that was coming up ahead of us.
This bridge was serious, and very uncommon for this flat part of Jersey. I instructed everyone to walk around if they did'nt want to try it, but I had to. I climbed down and around the wing gates on the sides, and was able to get onto the bridge on the other side. DJ Ray opted after maybe ten minutes of mulling it over to cross. I found by that time that a wooden plank walkway in bad shape went in the base of the bridge and instructed him to go that way. I met him mid way across underneath and helped him climb to the other side. Very cool.
We continued from here to the north, and reached First Street next to Atlantic Ave. We then walked the road to the Matawan Aberdeen Train station because the rest of the rail bed went into a cut, was overgrown and filled with water.
From here we walked westbound along a parallel road to the former CNJ's New York and Long Branch Railroad, now NJ Transit, on Aberdeen Road to Matawan Road north. We were originally planning on hiking in and around Cheesequake State Park but we just bordered it instead because it had been getting so late.
As we continued north into Laurence Harbor Memorial Park the road split with their Memorial Park in the center median which was nice. We just walked that right back out to where we were parked to finish the hike.
I hope I rememberd enough of that!
Getting questioned!
No comments:
Post a Comment