Hike #538 1/30/11
1/30/11 Belvidere/Riverton/Roxburg loop with Jason Itell, "Commando Tom" Petrucci, and Jillane Becker
Foul Rift Road Culvert, Foul Rift NJ
With all of the snow on the ground, and with no sign of it really ending, I had to come up with routes that would be feasible despite the bad treadway. I figured a repeat in part of some past hikes, and by doing a little tweaking, I could come up with something good.
For this one I came up with a loop in the Belvidere/Riverton vicinity again. It was intended to be in part the Bel Del Railroad, but the snow was still too difficult so I'd shelf doing that again and instead do something almost the same, but different.
Jason and Tom joined me in Belvidere at Skoogy's Deli. We parked on a side street and went in for some snacks to start the day off.
Inside we met up with our friend Aaron Young's sister. She was working at Skoogy's (the one on Water Street) and we chatted about some upcoming hikes. I got some chocolate milk before we moved on. Tom took a pretty bad fall on the ice really early on and cut his hand, a forewarning that we were seriously going to have to watch our steps. He had a little cut, but was okay.
Also, on this trip Jason had a friend's dog, Ellie, a little ball of energy that probably did double the mileage we did by running back and forth.
We walked down Water Street and crossed over the Belvidere Riverton Bridge, then entered the Lower Mt. Bethel Township Park and stopped by the visitor's center that still to this day I have never seen opened.
At the restrooms, lower Mt Bethel Twp. Park, Riverton PA
Fortunately the restrooms were still open though. We continued from here and followed the connector trail over to the Tekening Preserve of PP&L. We reached the trail intersection at the end of the fields and turned left toward the Delaware River. The ground was covered in snow, as were the trees making it quite beautiful.
Snow covered trails in Tekening Preserve
Ellie ran ahead of us and just plowed through the crazy snow, seemingly indefatigable.
Along the Delaware, Tekening Preserve
We continued along the Delaware River heading down stream along Foul Rift. The trail wasn't too tough to follow, but still hardly anyone had been using it. We took a little break when we got to the viewing platform overlooking Foul Rift.
View of Foul Rift from Tekening Preserve
Fould Rift from the Tekening Preserve
Foul Rift from the Tekening Preserve
We turned inland more from here. The trail is marked with large markers nailed to the trees and done so sort of spuratically at times. We ended up losing the trail for a bit walking along the river, but I soon realized where we needed to be. Usually the treadway is so good it's tough to get lost, but the snow is a variable that messses that up.
We continued out to the parking area on Depue Ferry Road, then followed the road north. We didn't even bother trying to walk the parallel trail because it was completely covered in snow.
We came to the intersection with Depue Road, and Jillane drove down to meet us. We saw her and told her to find parking down Depue near the boat launch. She headed off and we continued walking the road.
PP&L power plant near Riverton PA.
We followed the road past the PP&L Plant, then headed down hill slightly and ignored where the snow covered trail crossed over the creek below. We followed the road to a fork where the through route went right and the route to the boat launch went to the right. Jillane had pulled toward that road, and since the boat launch lot was closed and unplowed she tried pulling off of the road right there. She ended up getting stuck badly in an unlikely looking location.
Where Jillane got her car stuck.
All three of us got behind the car and tried to push it out, but amazingly we got nowhere with it. It seemed like it should be able to push right out. We then tried getting sticks and put them under the tires for traction. I got behind the wheel and tried rocking it while Jason and Tom pushed, and we got it to go a bit further until we had a tire on solid pavement. We dug out around the things so there would be room for it to move. It was a really slow process and took over an hour, but we managed to get it out.
Jillane's better parking area just a bit further down Depue Road
Jillane got back in the drivers seat, and we would push it back, then have her move forward a bit, we'd push more, and keep repeating until eventually we got it out. Jason kept telling Commando Tom to push on the wheel with his hands because it'd be easier, and we kept looking at him strange when he would suggest it. Finally, after several times suggesting that, Tom said "Jason, I'm not going to stick my hands under the wheels of a moving car!". This put it into perspective for Jason and we all laughed.
Where Jillane got her car stuck.
Nice truss bridge on Depue, next to where Jillane parked
Jillane found a much better parking lot just down the road across a little truss bridge, a cleared pull off parking. In her defense, the area she initially pulled into had been plowed previously, just not during the latest store. Piles of snow that were obviously plowed were in further than she was stuck, and it must have looked like a safe place to pull in as a result. We continued walking from here up the road past the boat launch and soon reached the railroad tracks of the Roxburg Branch.
Crossing the Roxburg Trestle
Roxburg Trestle
View from Roxburg Trestle
We turned right onto the tracks and soon reached the Roxburg Trestle. Someone had been riding here on a snowmobile because it was quite hard packed. I started walking on the walkway to the downstream side, but when I found a guard rail to be unsafe, I came back up to the level of the tracks.
View from Roxburg Trestle
On Roxburg Trestle
Roxburg Trestle
On Roxburg Trestle
View upstream on the Delaware from Roxburg Trestle
Tom carried Ellie across to be on the safe side. She was such a lunatic running all around that we couldn't chance having her run off the edge. She got a lot of inertia when she was running. We made our way across the trestle to the junction with the former Belvidere and Delaware Railroad on the other side and turned left.
Roxburg Trestle
Martins Creek PP&L from Roxburg Trestle
Former Belvidere and Delaware Railroad at Roxburg, NJ side.
We turned left on the old railroad bed, and since snowmobiles had been using it we thought we'd be fine walking this to close in the loop, but such was not the case. The snow mobiles hadn't used it very far to the north and we were trudging through heavy snow. In addition, this track receives little use even by trains so nothing was really packed down or drifted. We could see Foul Rift Road above us to the right, and opted to just climb up and follow that for a while.
View from Foul Rift Road over the Delaware to the PP&L place
As we walked along the road we were treated to good seasonal views across the Delaware to the PP&L plant as well as toward Foul Rift.
We also saw the famous Chimney Rock along the right of way below. I hadn't noticed it before, but a second chimney rock existed, slightly away from the railroad bed on the opposite side, within the trees.
A lesser known Chimney Rock at Foul Rift
Walking Foul Rift Road, NJ
We continued walking along Foul Rift Road heading north. We jokingly mocked Jason repeating regular "Jasonisms" ("Car back", "Turkey is evil", "He bit me", "I hate fun", "Aoh!", to name a few), including new ones like "Ellie! Ellie, you can't do that!"
"Van Emburgh Ct" culvert beneath the Bel Del at Foul Rift
Old culvert, Foul Rift NJ
To the left we passed by an abandoned underpass of some kind. This underpass was very small, and I doupt how a car could have even fit under it even when it wasn't abandoned. On the opposite side of the railroad fill to our left was a road shown on google as "Van Emburgh Ct.". We continued ahead to the intersection of Foul Rift Road and what the map shows as another Foul Rift Road. We turned right on one of the Foul Rift Roads and passed under a culvert below the Bel Del Railroad.
On the opposite side was a series of vacant lots. Following the recent flooding, many buildings were removed because they were irreparably damaged. We headed up hill slightly on the tracks from here and passed an occupied house followed by a vacant trailer.
The road took us up and over the Bel Del tracks on a bridge, then headed up hill a bit to the right. We had the option of getting back on the tracks, but we all agreed to just stay on the road to make it easier, plus I hadn't walked this road before.
Along Foul Rift Road
We followed the road north and were a ways from the tracks from here on. I was messing with my camera, which mysteriously broke after my previous hike. While it was fine the night of the hike, when I got up in the morning the LCD screen seemed as though it was shattered from the inside. I couldn't explain it, because the camera was water proof and drop proof, an Olympus Stylus Tough model, and rated for freezing temperatures. I hadn't even dropped it that night, and I'd never gotten it wet. Although I couldn't see the screen, it would still take pictures. To be on the safe side, I also took some photos with my cell phone camera since I didn't know if I'd be able to save any of the others I'd taken.
Horse in a jacket along Foul Rift Road
We continued along the rural Foul Rift Road heading north, and had good talks about Metrotrails, other hikes, and laughed at silly things we saw like horses wearing jackets (while practical, it does look funny), and some crazy dog that barked at us but had to stop to wheeze between at least every third bark.
Foul Rift Road made a sharp turn to the right, and took us out to Rt 620.
Vegetable place next to RR overpass, Belvidere But only one vegetable. Probably a turnip.
We turned left and reached the overpass over the former Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad at a fruit stand. Jason and I slid crazily down the slope to the left to reach the rail bed while Jillane and Tom went ahead to go to it a different way. Underneath the bridge, Jason and I paused for a bit thinking they were coming down, and when we didn't see them turned right to folylow the rail bed a bit to the east.
Jason hates fun. Rt 621 Railroad overpass, Belvidere
Jason and I made a left turn off of the rail bed onto some abandoned roadway that crossed a bridge over the Pophandusing Brook, then reached 6th Street in Belvidere. We didn't know it, but both Jillane and Tom were behind us, they just took a bit more time to get on the rail bed, and were soon following us across the little bridge out to the road. So we had a pointless little section there, but it was okay.
Old road that came off of the LHR railroad bed, Belvidere
Next, we turned right on Mansfield Street, left on 7th Street, and then went straight through some business access road thing out to Independence Street. We sort of went left across and then headed north on Knowlton Street. We headed north from here a few blocks, and tom left his empty beer bottle in someone's recycle bin on their porch. I was shocked at first because I'd thought he left it sit on their porch.
At Shoe Tree Deli, Belvidere
We turned right when we got to Third Street and followed it to the intersection with Oxford Street where we made a stop at the Shoe Tree Deli, a relatively new establishment that opened at what used to be a gas station on the corner. It actually might still be, I don't know.
Shoe Tree Deli, Belvidere
Approaching the Shoe Tree
"The Shoe Tree" itself is a giant tree sitting partway out into Oxford Street. It's where the children of town used to put their shoes on for school. They apparently wouldn't wear them for the entire walk as not to wear them out. The base of the tree was in bad shape and I wonder how much longer the tree will stand.
Walking by The Shoe Tree, Belvidere
Belvidere Cemetery
We walked up Oxford Street for a bit and soon came to the entrance to the Belvidere Cemetery. We turned left and entered it on one of the access roads. There were sings that specifically said "no dog walking" but we made like we didn't see it and headed on through. Along the way, we found one of the sights I had been planning on stopping by, the grave of "Hot Dog Johnny", the founder of the famous stand in nearby Buttsville. He even had a portrait of his restaurant on his tomb stone.
The grave of Hot Dog Johnny, Belvidere Cemetery
We turned left out of the cemetery and headed over to Pequest Road. We followed this and came to the intersection with Race Street. We turned right and followed this nice back road out to Orchard Street and turnd left. We then crossed the Pequest River on a little bridge and came out to an intersection with Rt 620,Water Street. Here, there was an old gas station with some neat old pumps directly ahead. We turned left here. Although there was state WMA property on the left, we opted not to try to go into it because it was just too snowy. There was also some sort of municipal park or something adjoining, but we'd have to walk that when conditions were better.
Old gas station along Race Street, Belvidere
Old gas station along Race Street, Belvidere
We continued along the road past the fire company, and then very close to the Pequest River again as we entered the main part of town.
Along Water Street, Belvidere
We continued walking the road until we came back to Skoogy's Deli near where we were parked. I suggested that rather than leave we should do a bit more walking just around the town of Belvidere. It was certainly a nice town for walking and we had already seen some of the great little sites.
Chia tree? Belvidere
Old fire company building, Belvidere
I think Jason put Ellie in his car. She was getting rather tired at this point. She could still keep up and was certainly willing to keep moving, but didn't run around like a lunatic if she didn't need to.
We followed Market Street across the Pequest River and stopped to look at the dam.
Pequest River dam from Market Street, Belvidere
We continued up Market Street and made the left hand turn onto Mill Street, an interesting little street that goes off at an angle with a funny shaped building along it.
Market Street, Belvidere
Mill Street, Belvidere
We then went left on Front Street, followed by immediately right onto Mansfield which led us out to the green at the middle of town, a square park with beautiful Victorians around it as well as the Warren County Courthouse.
Warren County Courthouse, Belvidere
Large Sycamore at Warren County Courthouse
Near the court house was a warm memorial I had not seen before, which named all veterans of all of the wars who were Warren County residents. Besides having each name etched into stone at this corner, there was a button we pushed, and it then read the names of each of these people aloud through a speaker. Our opinion was that this might be a bit of overkill, not to disrespect any of the people who have served (during our last conflicts I had good friends in every branch of the military).
We also stopped at the court house and admired the giant Sycamore tree that stands there. It wasn't as large as the one on Rt 519 in Hope area, but it was very nice.
Giant Sycamore at Warren County Courthouse
We walked around the entire square park and then made our way back down to where we were parked off of Market Street.
Statue along the green in Belvidere
We did a really good job of making the best of bad hiking conditions, and had a genuinely good time. Jillane and I still had some time to take a nice drive to scout ahead for future area hikes at the end of the day.
In Belvidere NJ
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