Hike #92
Morris Canal towpath on Saxton Lake
Hike 92
6/1/3
This time, I wanted to walk the Morris Canal from the east to Washington, beginning in
Waterloo Village, east of Hackettstown. Aside from Tea Biscuit, we were joined once
again by Kenny Rasheed, who now knew slightly more English. I don’t remember who
dropped us off, probably my mom. If it was’nt that, maybe I left my car, but I think we
were dropped off.
Pipe under Rt 80 at Waterloo
In the pipe under Rt 80, Waterloo
Morris Canal at Starport
Morris Canal at Starport
Musconetcong River flooded over an abandoned dock near Waterloo
Along the Musconetcong, upper end of Saxton Lake
Upper end of Saxton Lake on the Musconetcong
In one of the abandoned houses along the Morris Canal near Saxton Falls
Abandoned house along Saxton Lake
Our first priority was to find our way to the canal. We were right near route 80, and we
walked to the fill. Fortunitely, we found a pipe under Rt 80. We walked through the pipe,
which took us to the old alignment of Waterloo Road from before Rt 80 was built. The
canal, with water still in it was right next to us. We got to the towpath using the Rt 80 fill.
I was surprised what nice shape the canal was in at first, all the way out to Waterloo
Road. Along the way we passed the abutments of a bridge, and some sort of barn
foundation. Some kind of goods were carried from here. It was once known as Starport
and was apparently pretty busy. The road that crossed once went across the
Musconetcong as well. After we reached Waterloo Road, we had to turn left along the
road a short distance where the road had obliterated the canal.
The next section was nice, though not much water was in it. Soon, we reached a concrete
capped set of bridge abutments. A sign designated this the site of a former waster weir.
We soon crossed another road, Waterloo Valley Road I think, and passed by the Waterloo
Concert area on the towpath. Rumor has it one can sneak into concerts for free from here.
Next, the canal ahead had been taken as part of someone’s house and back yard, so we
had to go out to Waterloo Road around the house, then onto a trail back to the towpath.
The next section was a mess, but the prism and towpath were recongnizeable. It soon
came back out to Waterloo Road once again. The road had overtaken the canal prism,
with part of it’s remnants visible to the north of the road.
The canal soon moved off the road again, and the towpath was walkeable parallel to the
road, but unfortunitely another house was built along the route, and we had to bushwhack
back to the road again, only to go back to the towpath trough more weeds afterwards.
Abandoned former lock tender's house, Morris Canal at Saxton Lake
Inside former lock tender's house
Former lock tender's house
Former lock tender's house
Morris Canal towpath severed by the Musconetcong
Morris Canal towpaht on Saxton Lake
Next, we reached an abandoned house along the towpath, and there were some old docks
in the Musconetcong, in the eastern end of Saxton Lake. The abandoned house was not a
very historic structure, 20th century architecture, The inside looked worse than the out. It
had boarded windows, but people had obviously broken in, as the door was open.
The canal was ruined ahead, near the site of Lock #4. The land opened up and there was
another abandoned building in plain site of Waterloo Road. Rumor has it this was once a
restaurant. When there were no cars coming, we entered the building from behind, which
was very dark at first. The stairs to the main part of the building were missing, but Tea
Biscuit climbed up; I followed and helped Kenny up. The second floor was much clearer,
and I think I took another thermosdat cover. There was also some kind of expensive
looking PA system stuff built into the walls. We left the house, passing the lock site where
the canal apparently entered slack water on Saxton Lake. The canal would use slack water
on lakes rather than dig new trenches along the side.
Morris Canal towpath on Saxton Lake
Inside the Ditmar House
Inside the old Ditmar House which has since been demolished
Morris Canal lock at Saxton Falls
Saxton Falls, Morris Canal
Along Morris Canal just west of Saxton Falls
Morris Canal just west of Saxton Falls
Stream near the Morris Canal
Morris Canal in Hackettstown
Morris Canal at Florence Kuipers Park
Morris Canal, Florence Kuipers Park
Morris Canal at Rockport
Morris Canal at Rockport
Rockport Game Farm view over Mansfield Twp.
Along the Morris Canal basin at Rockport
We followed Waterloo Road to the next left on a small developement road. Most of the
homes in the developement were abandoned, and it was tempting to go inside all of them.
We did go into one, the one we used to cut back down to the towpath, which is called the
Ditmar house, as it had Ditmar’s spary painted all over it. We entered after first heading
up the canal towpath west to see how far we cold follow it. It took us out onto the lake,
where it abruptly ended. The rest of the towpath, overgrown, was in sight maybe fifty feet
ahead. We went into the bottom floor of the Ditmar House and took the stairs up to the
rest of the house. It was almost as bad as the first house we went into. We looked around
for good stuff, but did’nt find anything that was worth taking.
We continued on the towpath passing ruined staircases to the right, with another
abandoned house up the hill to the right. There were three more abandoned buildings on
the way to Saxton Falls, one was definitely a house, mostly blocked off. I went in, but it
was tough getting in, so we did’nt continue. The second building was boarded up, and the
third was a smally shanty next to the lake.
We came out to Saxton Falls, a dam, formerly called Guinea Hollow, I’m told. The dam
is a new one that replaced an older structure. The lock site is still there, now filled in with
rock and stuff. The outline of canal boats were drawn onto the top. The canal prism just
below the dam was lined and had ladders going into it; apparently it was used as a
swimming hole at one time as well!
Soon, the canal crossed Waterloo Road for the last time, paralelling it for a while again.
We followed the cleared towpath, almost walking head first into a wire connected to a
phone pole. The towpath was clear for some time, but the cleared path ended abruptly in
the middle of the woods. We had to turn back and bushwack back to Waterloo Road. We
continued to the former Morris and Essex Railroad tracks, where Waterloo Road becomes
Willow Grove Street, and took a woods road back to find the canal. It was raining by this
time, and we were fighting through weeds, and decided to walk in the canal, which was
the route of a small stream. We finally had enough of the weeds, and Tea Biscuit led us up
a stream, walking in the stream uphill. We fought through the weeds until there was a sort
of clearing to our left, so we walked to it, and came out in someone’s yard, and tried to
walk out, but were stopped by the owner. We let him know what we were doing, and he
was cool about it. We chatted with him for a while, then headed onto Old Bilby Road,
walking downhill. It appeared that the canal crossed Bilby Road near the railroad tracks.
Surprisingly, this was one of the only roads that did not have a Morris Canal crossing sign.
We walked into an adjacent developement that appeared to be the canal route on it’s way
to Inclined Plane #4 I think it is. We did’nt any remnants after walking around a bit, as
well as doing some bushwacking. We asked some of the apartment tenants, all of whom
said there was never a canal there, or did’nt know about it at all. I always find something
like this amazing.
We walked up Bilby Road to Rt 517, stopped at a pizza place, and came back to the
canal. We were able to follow it clearly behind several people’s houses, and then into a
playground and near another developement. It soon became a road called Morris Canal
lane, built right on the canal, which took us to Rt 46. We crossed 46, and walked a block
in, with the canal prism below us, then came to a clear section of the towpath developed
as a trail. There were also the ruins of a canal store foundation there. We followed the
towpath a long way to an old woman’s house along the towpath. She apparently did’nt get
many visitors, and chatted with us for a long time. The towpath beyond was totally
overgrown, so we had to walk down her driveway to Rockport Road, which we followed
west parallel to the canal. At many times the canal was visible but not walkeable. When we
reached Rockport, we were able to access the canal on State Game Farm property. We
decided to climb up the upper trail for a view over Mansfield Towship before heading
back down to the canal towpath.
The towpath was clear for a little while, and the boat basin was still watered as a duck
pond. From here, we had to walk Rockport Road again parallel to the canal. We could see
it at most times, but could not walk it. We decided to walk Cherry Tree Bend Road
toward Port Murray which was as near as we could get to the canal. As we walked, our
brother, Alex’s girlfriend Jill was passing by, and offered us a ride back home, which we
were obliged to accept due to our hardships so far. We would cover the section between
Port Colden and Port Murray another time.
Morris Canal and basin at Rockport
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