Hike #36
In Sarepta beginning the hike
Hike 36
6/26/1
On this rare occasion, Conrad was in town having his 1979 BMW (with the dashboard in
German) worked on at Sam’s Auto Service, and was in the mood for a hike. We dropped
his car off in the morning, and my grandmother drove us to Sarepta where we’d walk the
route I’d established through Belvidere.
Along Catherine's Run on Manunka Chunk Mountain
My grandmother dropped us off, and we headed north along the DL&W, over Manunka
Chunk Mountain rather than through the tunnel. Conrad jumped Catherine’s Run with
ease. The fields atop the mountain were now growing some form of wheat, while before it
appeared to be corn.
Along Catherine's Run on Manunka Chunk Mountain
In Manunka Chunk Tunnel
In Manunka Chunk Tunnel
We walked around checking out the area at the north portal of the tunnel, then headed
onto the Bel Del south. As I recall, there was a cop who had somebody pulled over where
we needed to sneak into the Roche facility. We made our way to King Cole Grove
Restaurant’s property and entered teh woods into a farmer’s field as to not be detected.
In the fields near Hoffman LaRoche
Fields south of Manunka Chunk and Vass Gap
We then made our way along the normal route running across the access road and fields,
and along the Delaware River. Conrad commented along the way that Samia would be
interested in seeing what was going on back there, as we witnessed a wounded goose.
Along the Delaware north of Belvidere
Conrad’s belief was that there were illegal discharges into the Delaware here. This was
particularly believeable as Roche was already in trouble for having more than the allowed
amount of air emissions. Belvidere had a higher than average asthma rate as well.
Former Hercules area north of Belvidere
Descending from the Bel Del tracks in Belvidere
We made our way through the series of roads, and out into Belvidere and Skoogy’s, then
on to the L&HR right of way. After finding a giant sized dandilion flower, Conrad broke
into quoting the movie “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”, which quite possibly has more
one liners in it than any other movie.
Along former LHR railroad tracks in Belvidere
Former LHR railroad with a giant dandilion like thing, Belvidere
As we made our way out to the new developement, still under construction, I was
surprised to see that a wood chip path had been placed through the finished section (there
were now a few houses along the former rail right of way). This gave me hope that
perhaps one day they had plans to make this part of a rail trail.
New pathway in the development, formerly the LHR railroad east of Belvidere
The development was till partially under construction on this trip.
When we reached Buttsville, we did a repeat of what we did in 1997, cutting up along Rt
31, this time not only because it was very hot, but also because Conrad had to be back to
pick up his BMW by a certain time, I don’t remember when. We made it though!
Deck girder bridge over the Pequest River near Buttsville
Former Warren Railroad bridge site on Jackson Valley Road, Washington
“It was really hot. Was that the blessed shade day?” -Conrad
That was the second blessed shade day...the first one was hike #3. We did stop under the
shade of “Jack’s Barn” on this one as well.
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