Hike #465; Rahway River Greenway; Carteret to Union

 Hike #465 1/17/10

1/17/10 Rahway River Greenway; Carteret to Union with Jillane Becker, Kyle Zalinsky, Amanda Rosenblatt, Shelly Janes, Joe Tag, "DJ Ray" Cordts, Chris Herbig, Dave "Captain Soup" Campbell, Carol Creamer, Russel Rapp, Heather Gebhardt, John Spiridon, and Wayne Meiner.

The group on the giant pipe over the Rahway River's brackish confluence area

Sadly the original journal entry to this one too has been lost. If anyone has it let me know!

For this hike we met at Kyle's beloved Connecticut Farms Presbetyrian Church in Union NJ. We planned this hike together, and he would co lead it, following the Rahway River through his stomping grounds. We shuttled cars to Carteret where we parked near the end of the Rahway River. I think we went into a McDonalds in this area off Roosevelt Ave.

We walked Industrial Ave as I recall to the railroad tracks heading west, then north to connect with the active main line. There were newly completed bridges over us, and I remember on my previous time to this spot seeing them as they were just piers in place.

The active track took on out to where the lift bridge exists for the railroad over the Rahway. We then turned left under the NJ Turnpike. There was a good walkway which took us out to Joseph Medwick Memorial Park. I was dragging a Kohls shopping cart I'd taken years ago when the one in Mansfield first opened, while I worked at Wal Mart, and was ready to use it for something. On this urban greenway I could use it rather than carry a pack, and it would be funny.

We continued along the pathways in the park, and then turned off of them into a slightly fenced area to the top of the long pipe over the wetlands I'd walked on the previous trip. This time, a cop was near the access point to it, so we had to wait for him to leave to cross over.

Everyone loved this section, probably the hilight of the hike really since soon after leaving the pipe it rained.

Jillane on a pipe

The pipe took us out to more streets, still in part of Carteret, and we walked south on Mileed Way I think it was. We took a break for a while at a bench at a corperate place, and DJ Ray took his shirt off to demonstrate how working in retail taught him how to fold a shirt in three seconds. He didn't quite do it, but it was close.

We walked Randolph Ave probably to Hart Street north to Hazlewood Ave west closer to the river. Once we crossed Woodbridge Street we were much closer to the river. We turned north on Main Street and then some of us crossed a parking area while some others went around to Milton Street where I believe we picked up the first signs for the Rahway River Greenway trail. This was also marked I believe with East Coast Greenway Trail signs. We followed up the west side of the river as it started raining. I had a happy face umbrella I'd gotten from Shelly I was carrying, and Kyle begged me to use it. I agreed to let him use it under the condition that he drag the Kohls Cart.

We then followed Dock Street and passed Monroe Street, then came close to the pedestrian bridge, probably a former road bridge that I'd walked over on the previous trip, but continued under the railroad tracks. When we reached Elizebeth Street, we turned right and crossed a bridge over the Rahway. On the left was the next trail section into a park.

We walked this section pretty fast because the rain was getting pretty bad. It took us out to West Grand Street. I think this was the area known as "Spanktown" to which we had a laugh, and we stopped at a hot dog cart to get some food. I bet this guy wasn't expecting to see such a huge group of people walking around sopping wet in this downpour! What he wasn't expecting more was that I had taken tons of magnets (Jillane hated having all of the magnets on the fridge that I had, so we had to get rid of them. I said I'd find something to do with them). I could find no better and more amusing way to dispose of so many advertisement magnets. This guy was bound to get home and say "what the hell???".

John S. and Wayne opted to go fast ahead to get to the end since we were standing around for so long, and DJ Ray opted to cut out and bridge Carol as well. Russ I think decided to stay for a while with us. It was cool having him back out with us since I hadn't seen him in years since he first joined with his brother Brian. He'd go on to become more of a part of the group than Brian ever was amazingly.

We walked along the west side of a pond, then onto the greenway and crossed some roads. Eventually it was so wet we decided to go up and walk Parkway Drive for a while, and we rested under a pavilian and in some of the restrooms along the way.

The next spot we went down to to the river was a nice one with no paved surface or anything. This took us back up to the roads  eventually, and right where we came out DJ Ray was waiting with his car to pick up Herbig, Russ, Captain Soup, Heather, and I don't remember who else. Heather actually might have left with Carol. That's more likely.

We crossed over the Parkway on Raritan Road I think, then used a footbridge over the river. I recall passing under a railroad bridge, then the paths took us out near the end of what must have been High Street, a dead end, and we had to walk roads for a while.

I think it was when we reached Lincoln Ave that we came to a great little old mill with a dam that had next to nothing going over it. We checked it out before moving on, and Kyle and I walked across the spillway. We followed the left side of the river, but the trail petered out. We ended up having to walk on a steep embankment and through soil that seemed like flower beds before coming to the next road by way of a parking lot, and I believe that was Chestnut Street. A through parking lot next to a building that had all sorts of furniture and junk around it led us out to the next road, South Ave in Cranford.

I'm at a total loss to explain where we went from here because Kyle led the way, this was his turf. We walked a few roads, and we got on parallel paved paths and more on properties I don't know for sure. Along the way, Jillane found a bicycle out in the rain just sitting on the sidewalk, a nice one probably from the 1960s, and so she rode it for a while despite the flat tires. She really wanted it bad, and so we stashed it behind some restrooms in one of the parks. A cop stopped and asked what we were doing, and I believe she was questioned but I recall her being surprised that he didn't ask about the bike. We goofed off in the bathrooms and dried up for a bit, then headed on.

Another mirror shot, Union NJ

Somehow I think we ended up along Nomahagen Park and headed north into Black Brook park from Kenilworth Blvd. Kyle took us around another spillway, difficult to cross in the dark, to a large berm on the other side. This was definitely like a cleared trail, and it took us into an amazing beautiful wooded area. The rain had stopped and I really loved this section. Kyle and I talked about how we needed to bring another group back sometime soon.

We crossed Springfield Road and went through another park area, then crossed through woods and over railroad tracks, abandoned, to Fairway Drive South, along the edge of Galloping Hill Golf Club. We walked this road out to Chestnut Street and to Connecticut Farms. We were parked across from it on Wewanna Ave where we finished the hike. I took my Kohls Cart that served me well and left it alongside the GS Parkway next to the parking lot and said if it was there for our next trip that I'd pick it up!

It was a great day, and It's sad that Kyle won't be around to help me lead another hike in this area, but he'll certainly be with us in spirit.