Hike #380; Belvidere/Riverton to Oxford

 Hike #380 10/20/8

Along the former LHR rail bed in the fields of Bridgeville. This is where we found a balloon with a note that was part of a kid's project.

10/20/8 Belvidere/Riverton-Oxford with Al MacLennan

Outcropping in Tekening Preserve

Foul Rift from Tekening Preserve

Newly construction observation deck in Tekening Preserve

Pequest River and dam in Belvidere NJ

Former Bel Del railroad in Belvidere

Former LHR line in Belvidere

Former LHR line in Belvidere

Former Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad, Belvidere

LHR rail bed, Belvidere

Bridgeville NJ

I don't know what this is...

Pequest River near Buttsville

Former LHR rail bed

Former LHR bridge in Pequest NJ

Former Lackawanna/Warren RR in Pequest Cut

Warren RR in Oxford NJ

 My next hike would be the one I'd done many many times from Belvidere/Riverton to Oxford. Joining me this time was Al MacLennan only. No other hikers were willing or as crazy apparenty! Al and I headed to Riverton PA and left one car at the Tekening preserve parking area where we did the outer westernmost part of the loop heading along the Delaware on the way back. We passed some rock outcrops and such (1) and checked out a new observation platform that had been installed since my last visit (2,3). We wandered along the river to the connector trail to the Lower Mt Bethel park, but the trail had actually grown over badly since my last visit. Still, we were able to follow it out to the road and crossed the Belvedere-Riverton Bridge into town along the Pequest River (4). We also stopped at a little general store as well as Skoogy's where we'd gotten Chocolate Milk and Reeces Fast Break bars. We wandered from Skoogy's down the street to my grandfather's lot and the old creamery ruins. We crossed them and reached the former Bel Del Railroad heading south (5). We did'nt go far before we turned onto the former Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad. Someone had cleared a lot of the former rail right of way recently to my great surprise (6). The recent clearing revealed a mile marker 72, though not a very old one (7). We continued on the cleared rail bed, which I now knew was actually two rail beds at two different levels, heading east (8). We continued on along the rail bed out of Belvidere, through the age restricted community, and out across the open fields (9) on the way to Bridgeville. When we reached the section that was nothing more than corn field, having farmed the railroad out of existance, we surprisingly found a popped balloon with the following lamenated but smudged message written on it "Dear Friend, I'm glad you found my balloon ?? ????????? ??? the way from Easton, PA just so I could meet you. ?? ???? ????? ??? very happy if you would send me a postcard so I know how far my balloon travled {it was spelled wrong, yes}. SEND TO: 1400 Stafford Drive, Easton Pennsylvania 18040I look forward to hearing from you soon. Your Friend, S.R." The other side of the card had butterfly and dove stickers and the words "Groovy Love". The balloon was apparently one of those things in the schools where they let balloons go and see how far they get. This one certainly came a long way! Certainly no one would have found it in all likelihood if we had'nt been walking through that corn field (10). We put the balloon and card into my pack and continued on to Bridgeville where we stopped at the Bagelsmith after crossing the old stone bridge (11). I walked across the Pequest in my boots without even getting my feet wet, despite all the holes! We headed back up to the rail bed from Titman Ave to Edison Road, and amazingly the bridge which had in the past only been filled in was now gone!!! Someone had apparently stolen it from the north side, taking it for scrap! I was amazed that someone would simply take a railroad bridge. We continued along the rail bed through Buttsville and reached the Rt 31 underpass where I guessed the junction with the Lehigh and Oxford Railroad would have been. I found a spot where the fill extended toward the river a bit with some faint stone work, the only possible place for a bridge. Much of the remnants would have been destoyed during the construction of Rt 31 (12). We continued on the rail bed heading toward Pequest with lovely fall scenery (13,14). We eventually reached the old railroad bridge which amazingly had been decked over in a professional fashion (15). We turned away here and headed up to the former Pequest Furnace Railroad heading out to the old Warren Railroad. We walked through Pequest Cut (16), across Pequest Road to the trail section (17) and soon reached our cars to finish a nice hike, which we got done in pretty good time.

I also included a picture of the junction with the Bel Del in it's active days.