Metrotrails Blog!: Hike #5; Crestmoore to Washington

Hike #5

At Crestmoore Crossing beginning the hike.

Another old hike...the writing on these journal entries is by no means anything special, but still it's an interesting look back at what was going on at the time....

2/28/98

As time went by, I was continually asked about the hikes, but there were already times I

had scheduled hikes, many had signed on, but never showed up. It was upsetting but I

continued scheduling the hikes.

Somewhere along the way, someone asked me if I knew of any other interesting twenty

mile hikes. I had to think about it for a minute, but immediately knew at least part of what

I wanted to do.

The Warren Railroad we had followed in Portland continued south of Washington, where

we would finish walking, and I wanted this new hike to incorperate that missing section,

som of which I had still never walked. All I had to do was figure out what else the hike

would encompass. It was obviously going to be the Central Railroad of New Jersey, now

mostly abandoned north of High Bridge NJ, and used only occasionally to Hampton where

the Lackawanna’s Warren line began.

I asked my grandfather, Eldon Allen, to go over his USGS Quad maps to help me scale

the next section. We decided that twenty miles would begin in Crestmoore, a former

station stop on the High Bridge Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey just over

the Morris County border, would be the best place to begin, following it to High Bridge

and the former CNJ main line north to Hampton, then the Warren line filling the gap to

Washington.

This time, Aaron Marques, along with Abbie Bullevant, who I’d met on a Photo/Video

Club trip at Warren Hills, and her then boyfriend, Mike Delgado, who was fast becoming a

friend as we were both performing in the Warren Hills production of “Joseph and the

Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat” (Abbie was as well), joined.

My grandfather dropped us off for the beginning of this one, because he was the only one

who knew how to get to Crestmoore at the time.

Immediately, we could see that the right of way, which was abandoned in the late 1970s,

was clear heading east, but in our direction there was a tree farm put in. It was easy to see

the route, because despite the many young Christmas trees growing on it, Colombia Gas

Company had recently used the right of way to lay pipe. We made our way across the tree

farm hiding behind the trees from workers who might confront us.

Crossing the Jenkinson Tree Nursery in Crestmoore

Mike at what was the junction with a spur from the High Bridge Branch of the CNJ Railroad to a quarry near Vernoy

Soon, we entered Hunterdon County where the railbed had already been turned into the

“Colombia Trail” named for the gas line. We continued through Vernoy (which I am told

used to be a bad neighborhood, but is actually quaint and pretty), then on to Califon,

which was once named “California” but there was not enough room for the full name on

an early post office, so the name was shortened. We stopped here at Rambo’s General

Store for food.

Califon Station, one of the earliest stone stations on the CNJ

After the stop we visited the beautiful old stone railroad station, then continued over

Hoffman’s Crossing and passing a junk yard owned by John Palmer, a long time resident.

We soon began to near Ken Lockwood Gorge, and where the right of way turns into a

shelf (a term used to describe where a railroad is ‘shelved’ into a hillside) is a beautiful

hillside to the south. Aaron had the same idea as me, to run up to the top!

Hillside as seen from Ken Lockwood Gorge. A home was built on it in the years to follow.

View from the top of the hill after Aaron and I ran to the top, looking toward Ken Lockwood Gorge.

Columbia Trail, former CNJ High Bridge Branch in Ken Lockwood Gorge.

We both indulged and were dead tired when we reached the top, but enjoyed rolling back down.

As we ventured further into the gorge, we could see the South Branch of the Rariton

River clearly to the north, and decided to throw rocks into it, which meant throwing them

over a road first. We were freaked out as a car went by at this time, so we moved as close

as we could to the hillside as not to be seen. Soon, a Ranger in a jeep drove up the right of

way, but he did not stop us or talk to us at all.

Throwing rocks out across Ken Lockwood Gorge

Ken Lockwood Gorge nearing the trestle.

Next, we crossed the Gorge Trestle, an iron deck style girder structure, built to replace an

earlier wooden structure that in the 19th century collapsed and caused a train full of coal

to crash into the South Branch. The bridge was fitted with fencework over the top, and

planks for vehicles to pass over on.

Ken Lockwood Gorge Trestle before it's rehabilitation.

On Ken Lockwood Gorge Trestle

Soon, we left the gorge area and crossed a bridge in an area between places known as

Readingsburg and Stone Mill. Aaron made us nervous by dangling over the side holding

onto the weak guard rail.

On the Readingsburg Bridge before it's rehabilitation.

Below us the river soon spilled into Lake Solitude. At it’s base, we decided to walk down

and see the dam. Lake Solitude Dam towered above us, made of stone, a beautiful sight.

Lake Solitude Dam, High Bridge

When we reached High Bridge, we stopped for more food, then moved on to the site of

the Junction between the High Bridge Branch and the CNJ main line, still used by NJ

Transit Commuter Trains only to High Bridge. We took a break then continued north.

Former junction site on the Jersey Central in High Bridge

CNJ railroad in Glen Gardner

I had brought my walking stick again this time, which I enjoyed smashing things with, and

this time we found four TVs on the tracks between High Bridge and Hampton! I used it a

lot; having bought it at a camp in Massachussetts in 1996. We had a terrific time throwing

rocks and smashing them. I lent my stick to Aaron to use on a kids riding toy, and he

accidently broke it! We soon passed Glen Gardner continueing north.

Taking a break on the tracks in Glen Gardner

I don't know how Abbie fit in that thing. Hampton NJ.

We climbed around on anything interesting we could find during the next couple miles

until we reached Hampton. Originally named “The Junction” for the site where the

Lackawanna and CNJ Railroads made their connection, the name was changed to

“Hampton Junction” when it needed a different name, taken from the nearest town, New

Hampton. The name was changed simply to “Hampton” when the junction was abandoned

in 1955.

Climbing under the Rt 31 overpass, Hampton.

Climbing beneath the Rt 31 overpass, Hampton.

The right of way was clear enough to walk up to the beautiful stone culvert over

Lackawanna Avenue; the fill from this point out to Rt 31 was removed. Unfortunitely, this

beautiful culvert, too, was destroyed in the Autumn of 2002 because the town did not

want to maintain it. This was particularly sad because this was the last remaining stone

road underpass left from the Warren Railroad, as the Lackawanna under the command of

Truesdale in the early 1900s replaced all of it’s other stone culverts with more modern

concrete ones.

Lackawanna Avenue culvert, torn down in 2002.

Crossing route 31, all that remained of the railroad bridge was the west concrete

abutment. We made our way uphill passing apartments and looking for the right of way,

which ended up being well overgrown, in addition to it being used for drainage. It was

fortunitely dry, as we passed through “The Cut” as locals called it. When we reached New

Hampton we had to descend from the railgrade due to private property. We made our way

down in a thick wooded area between houses.

When we reached Changewater, site of a giant trestle that served the Warren Railroad

from 1856 until 1955 when it was removed (a local by the name of Kendrick was killed

during it’s dismantling), we had to walk the road to Murderer’s Bridge (Named for two

men convicted for murders in the 19th century, believed to be falsly accused, and buried

under the stop sign on the corner of McCollough Road and Asbury-Anderson Road). Now

in Washington Township and a very short distance from the rail yard where we’d meet the

previous section from Portland, my grandmother, June Allen pulled up, and we allowed

her to drive us to Dicola’s (Then still Spaghetti House) Pizza for dinner.

Dinner at Spaghetti House Pizza (Now Dicolas)

Dinner at Spaghetti House Pizza

Even though facebook will allow people to comment, I'll include a couple from participants anyway...

“I think you got everything. But you miss-spelled my last name. It is Bullivant.

see you soon mike!” -Abbie

Oops! Sorry about that! You can smack me when you see me...actually, is’nt it Apgar

now though? (Abbie married my good friend Jeremiah Apgar)

“It is hard to believe so much time has passed since this Hike. I remember these days

well, we would have like 10 people interested in going on the hikes yet very few would

show up. I must admit though, smaller groups always provided a lot of fun. I actually do

not remember this hike very much but I definitely remember the ranger, but I thought we

had a conversation with him about the trail? Oh well maybe it was another hike. That hill

we ran up was huge, but it was a lot of fun.” -Aaron

Yeah, you’re probably right, I think I do vaguely remember talking to the ranger, half

scared that he would ask about all the rocks that were somehow magically flying over the

embankment....good times.

Here's where you can see pictures from that hike...feel free to use them on facebook if you'd like!

http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/sneezehorse/hike005/