Hike #523 11/2/10
11/2/10 Woodbridge/Metuchen area loop with Jason Korski and Jack Lowry
Trail behind Forest Haven Apartments.
My next hike would be a big loop around part of Middlesex County. For this one, I would head to my old buddy Jason Korski's home on a road called Sunnyview Oval from Crows Mill Road in the Woodbridge area.
I found out from phone conversations that he lived right on the Middlesex County Greenway, a rail trail following the old route of the Lehigh Valley (and earlier the Easton and Amboy) Railroad.
We walked a path right off the rear of his development and onto the old rail bed. We first went left, heading west to see an abandoned building Korski had told me about.
Abandoned building off of King George Road, Middlesex Co NJ
King George Rd underpass for the former LV Railroad
We walked around the King George Road underpass and checked out the graffiti, then headed back to the east on the rail bed.
Graffiti below King George Rd underpass
Graffiti below King George Rd underpass
We continued along the rail bed heading east to a side track that broke off to the right, then to the long bridge over the Garden State Parkway. This looked as I remembered it from years earlier.
Former Lehigh Valley Railroad over the Garden State Parkway.
We crossed the bridge and then continued for a bit toward the bridge over Rt 440 and then turned back.
View from the old railroad bridge over Garden State Parkway south
Old railroad shelter laying down below the tracks
Bridge over Indistrial Ave
After crossing back over the Parkway, we turned left and followed the still somewhat active spur line that went south toward Raritan Center. I'd been wanting to follow this line for quite a while now, and this was the chance. We crossed over Industrial Ave followed by Rt 440, then Smith Street.
Crossing on the rail spur toward Raritan Center
Smith Street, Rt 565
The tracks curved a bit more to the west and crossed a small body of water on a little bridge.
Rail line heading toward Raritan Center
Rail line looking away from Raritan Center
We continued heading for the most part to the west as the rail bed crossed over another part of Crow's Mill Road and then paralleled Industrial Ave. We eventually paralleled another road called Place Extension just before Raritan Center Parkway, and then turned left on a railroad spur line heading to the south. I was using my phone GPS to try to figure out where this went.
I could see on the areal images that there was another rail spur that cut to the left off of this southbound one in what was now a parking lot, then headed out to the waters of the Raritan Bay. We decided to try this.
The parking lot ended, but at the end there was reasonably sized hill, too much for a railroad to overcome. I assumed it was placed there following the abandonment, so we went to the top to see if we could see more of it.
Brackish estuaries along the Raritan Bay near Raritan Center
On the other side of the hill was a beautiful view across the brackish tidal marshes of the Raritan Bay. The rest of the rail bed was also clearly within sight below us, so we made our way down to it.
Tidal marshes along the Raritan at Raritan Center
Tidal Marshes at Raritan Center.
We continued along the railroad right of way south for a bit, and soon we came to where there were still tracks. This line was connected to another spur from another location.
Old railroad spur on the south side of Raritan Center
Rail spur in Raritan Center
Parkway Bridge over the Raritan from near Raritan Center
Building and old dock site along the Raritan at Raritan Center
There were rail cars on the south side of this little spur section, and so we went to the right of them as not to be seen in the area at all. We continued out to the waterfront and then switched from the inland side of the rail cars across to the water side and cut into the weeds where there was sort of a path closer to the water where we'd be far less obvious.
I don't know how we got through, but we just continued along out onto the road across a bridge of an inlet and wandered to the left. There was no one working over in this area, so we just kept going and soon went by a large building that appeared to be vacated. On the opposite side of it was the burnt remains of a giant dock that would have been incredible if it were still intact.
Dock ruins along the Raritan River
Dock ruins along the Raritan River bay
Dock ruins along the Raritan near Raritan Center
Dock ruins along the Raritan
Dock ruins along the Raritan
Dock ruins along the Raritan
After passing the old dock ruins, we continued on close to the waterfront, and we would have been able to continue straight on through if it weren't for people working. A guy with a beard came up to us and asked us "Can I help you fellas?". I told him yes, we were just trying to walk on through, but he told us he couldn't let us pass through because they were working on recovering unexploded ordinance left over from when it was some sort of munitions depot during World War I. I agreed to turn back, and we went to the old rail bed we had just passed heading north. I figured we'd just head up that and then make our first left hand turn to get back to where we wanted to be and continue on without those guys knowing. That didn't work out.
Abandoned rail spur heading inland
Looking across the Raritan from Raritan Center
We followed the rail bed which took us onto a paved road heading north. There was an abandoned building on the right I had to check out.
Abandoned building near Raritan Center
Abandoned building near Raritan Center
Abandoned building near Raritan Center
Old buildings near Raritan Center
The old road through the tital marshes below Raritan Center
There were old buildings off around the road, which was probably an older rail bed judging by the maps, all over the place, but we didn't have the time to go and try to get into everything. We took maybe the second or third abandoned rail line we saw branching off to our left with the hopes that they would lead us out to the road along the waterfront we had been walking. Very little remained of the rail lines except for occasional railroad ties.
Tital marsh near Raritan Center
Tidal marsh near Raritan Center
Tidal Marsh along an old rail bed in Raritan Center
Old rail bed by Raritan Center
Old rail bed at Raritan Center
Old building near Raritan Center
Wetlands near Raritan Center
We could see the guys we had talked to earlier at some points, plain as day out across the meadows. We assumed they could see us, but we figured we'd be long out of there before they'd ever have time to get to us, so we just kept going. Unfortunately, when we got the the end of the old rail line, it stopped dead at a body of water, like a canal of some sort. We were not going to get soaked trying to wade through that disgusting water, so we instead walked all the way back and turned left along the road section out to a huge parking area near a convention center. Where we came out was clearly posted not to trespass, but this was the first such sign we had seen yet!
We walked out through the parking lot to the left, and came to a distribution place for costumes, and it said to come in if you want to purchase, so in we went! When we got to the front desk no one was sitting. We hung around for a bit but no one showed up so we walked north along the edge of the building. We met a guy up there who told us that he had purchases a cheap costume there, so back we went. This time I looked around inside a bit better; there were employes all sitting around a table having a meeting, but apparently far too important to get up and talk to a customer, so we went on our way.
Raritan Arsenal Park
We continued from this building to the left on a side road, then went through a fence I believe out to a building; we cut through to the right of it and through some woods into part of the Raritan Arsenal park where there were some ball fields and such. We continued walking along the edge of it parallel with Patrol Road out to the railroad tracks, then made our way on the road on out to Mill Road and went right.
Tracks near Raritan Arsenal Park
We stopped in at a small pizza place for a break where we were then joined by our friend Jack Lowry! Korski's girlfriend Mary Ann came to meet us briefly as well before we continued on.
We made our way from here right on Woodbridge Ave, then turned left onto Sine Road to Clausen Road to Old Post Road as I recall.
Foot bridge over the Turnpike next to Old Post Road.
Old Post Road had a separate walkway footbridge over Rt 95 ahead from the road bridge, so we obviously took that. On the opposite side of the Turnpike there was a power line that went down to the right, so we followed it, and there was luckily an apartment complex next to it that had an exercise trail along he back of it, so we made use of that and walked eastward a bit.
We turned out of the apartment area to a mall area just on the north side of it off of Rt 1, and we went into Staples to see if I could get a new camera cable for my Olympus Stylus Tough camera (I had lost mine recently). They had none.
Railroad tracks just south of Metuchen near Rt 1
We made our way over to a set of railroad tracks that went north. We had to wait for a while to try to cross Rt 1. It was insane with traffic, but we somehow managed to get across. We followed the tracks north past a rail yard and then under Rt 287
Railroad tracks near Metuchen NJ
These tracks joined the heavily active NJ Transit/Amtrack line in Metuchen, so we descended from them to Rt 27 and headed east. We soon came to the Middlesex County Greenway trail, which was the former Lehigh Valley Railroad we had started on, and then turned left to cross it on Lake Ave into Metuchen. We walked on into town and got a couple of drinks (I got something light like a Mike's Hard Lemonade or something since we were too close to the end to be really buzzed). We then made our way back to the rail bed and headed east.
Middlesex Greenway, former Lehigh Valley Railroad bed
We passed under a few streets as we continued on to the east, but the biggest difference was the existence of a very long pedestrian bridge over over Rt 1 near Pierson Ave. I didn't remember how we got across the previous time we were here years before, I thought it might have been another underpass or something. Maybe we just dashed across. I can't remember.
New pedestrian bridge over Rt 1 along Middlesex Greenway
Rt 1 Pedestrian bridge
On Rt 1 Pedestrian bridge
It was a really cool new bridge, and afforded a view of the developed waste land around us. It was almost dark at this point, so we continued off of the bridge and eastward under the NJ Turnpike.
New pedestrian foot bridge over Rt 1 where the tracks used to go, Middlesex County Greenway
I recall a fence being in our way of passing beneath the Turnpike, so we just went around it or something. We then continued on with a few more street crossings till we reached King George Road where we were earlier. We soon took the path to the right that led us back out to Jason's place to close the day.
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