Hike #96
Hike 96
Inside Paulins Kill Viaduct
6/18/3
For this new hike, I decided to hike the former New York, Susquehanna, and Western
Railroad, mostly now Paulins Kill Valley Trail, from Swartzwood to the
Portland-Colombia Footbridge. Despite the rainy forecast, I was joined by Tea Biscuit,
Rich Nielson, and Nick Thorton, and newcomer David Noble, whom I met at Wally Mart
when he worked at the 1 Hour Photo lab. He was very enthusiastic about the hike,
showing up with a poncho and a backpack, and proclaiming in a high childish English
accent “I’m going to school!”
Ruins at Swartzwood, Paulins Kill Valley Trail
Paulins Kill Valley Trail, Swartzwood
Paulins Kill Valley Trail near Paulins Kill Lake
Paulins Kill Valley Trail, near the end of Paulins Kill Lake
Paulins Kill Valley Trail, horse
Paulins Kill Valley Trail, south of Swartzwood
Paulins Kill Valley Trail, old creamery ruins
Along Paulins Kill Valley Trail
Paulins Kill Valley Trail near Stillwater
Paulins Kill Valley Trail near Stillwater
We left someone’s car in Colombia, and then drove to Swartzwood Junction, which is
where the Lehigh and New England broke off of the NYS&W from it’s trackage rights it
had all the way from Hainesburg.
Fortunitely, the rain did’nt last long, and it ended up being a nice day. It only rained for
maybe the first mile, along Paulins Kill Lake where the right of way follows a shelf. I
checked out some ruins at Swartzwood, and we moved on happily, and by the time we
reached the next phantom bridge (abutments with no bridge) it had stopped raining.
We crossed a lot of roads along the way, more than I’m into looking up the names of and
writing them, but the scenery changed a lot, beginning along Paulins Kill Lake and
following the river, closely at times, and at other times through fields or woodlands. There
were little ponds and streams, and other interesting tidbits along the way. I had written
down a mile by mile trail description for the entire hike, but unfortunitely lost it early on in
the hike.
Paulins Kill Valley Trail near Stillwater
Paulins Kill Valley Trail just north of Marksboro
Paulins Kill Valley Trail near Marksboro
Paulins Kill Valley Trail South of Marksboro
Paulins Kill Valley Trail just north of Paulina
Paulins Kill Valley Trail trestle just north of Paulina
Paulins Kill Valley Trail in Paulina
Paulina NJ
Paulina dam, Paulins Kill
Dam in Paulina
Bridge in Paulina
Footbridge Park, Blairstown
Blairstown bad ass
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house at Kalarama
Abandoned house
Paulins Kill Viaduct
Paulins Kill Viaduct
Paulins Kill Viaduct
Paulins Kill Viaduct
Paulins Kill Viaduct
Paulins Kill Viaduct
Tea Biscuit was incredibly hungery as he had not eaten yet, so he was walking fast ahead
of the group to get to Blairstown. We also passed by the wheels of a train car at the
bottom of an embankment from a dereailment years ago!
There were several bridges along the way; all of the river crossing bridges were still in
place. The first one was a lovely through style truss bridge. The rest of them were through
girder bridges except one that was probably a deck girder, as the top had been redecked
and had railings put in. When we neared Marksboro, I climbed out onto the girders from
the outside until I got to some bees nexts and I turned back. I also climbed onto a truss of
a road bridge along the way.
When we reached Blairstown, Tea Biscuit and I walked across the footbridge at
footbridge park, and stopped in a little grocery store. I don’t remember what I got there,
but I stopped at a liquor store and got big can of Foster’s, which I’d never had before. Tea
Biscuit bought a whole cooked chicken at the store!
When we returned to Footbridge Park, Rich went on about how he should have gone and
gotten a chicken as well. I don’t remember if they crossed to go to the store or not.
We continued on, passing the signs saying “No Alchaholic Beverages” as I sipped my
Foster’s. I did’nt think it was that great, but oh well. I handed Tea Biscuit the can to share
it with him, and as he took a big gulp, Nick said in an Aussie accent “How to speak
Australlian: Brotharly Love”. I laughed histerically at this comment.
Soon, we reached the Kalarama (Blairstown) Airport where the trail had to be routed off
the right of way, as it’s under the runway. We walked along the trail which returned to the
right of way, following a road on the runway. Most significantly, we found a big
abandoned house almost completely obscured by trees, which we of course had to go in!
Inside there was a lack of real walls, just framework, until the upper level. Still, it was
falling apart. I think it was Nick who had to urinate, and did so on the top floor, which
drained through the floor onto Dave! Oops! Fortunitley, they were cool about it. We soon
left the house and headed west through Vail, and beyond to Hainesburg.
When we reached the Viaduct, we decided to climb inside. I brought everyone to the
south side, and climbed into one of the smaller arches at the end, and we climbed up. After
the first arch, there was a plank bridge across the inside of the first pier. The second pier
had to be crossed by holding onto a wire and making our way across a metal bar placed
across the wide bridgeless pier with the waters of the Paulins Kill inside it below. The last
arch had to be climbed into, and then using a rope we had to pull ourselves up the other
side. Everyone did well, and was very into it. At the top of the third arch, I led everyone
up a ladder, then crawling a few feet led them up through a manhole to the top of the
bridge. We then climbed down and continued on.
We passed the junction with the L&NE right of way, and continued on to Warrington,
passing through a narrow section of the rail right of way, then entered Colombia Lake
Wildlife Management Area. The right of way became overtaken by the lake, but we
continued on the access road parallel through a pipe under Rt 80. Soon, we came back to
the right of way. Another track used to break off as the main line to the north, now the
junction site is destroyed under Colombia Lake.
We followed the right of way through the woods, and along a path next to the right of
way. We crossed someone’s yard out to Rt 46, and walked up the road through Colombia
where we were parked at the footbridge.
Former NYS&W railroad bed near Warrington
PICS by Mike Helbing, Rich Nielson, and Scott Helbing
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