Hike #638; Warren County Rail Loop

 Hike #638; Warren County Railroad Loop (Buttsville/Belvidere)

7/10/12 Buttsville/Manunka Chunk/Belvidere Loop with "Naaron" Young, Goeff Foschetti, Allie Breadel, Gregg Hudis, Matt Davis, Dave Dech, and Jane Bullis.

Group at Belvidere Municipal Park

My next hike would be a more impromptu night hike again. I posted the trip on Meetup, and tried to have the Warren County Board of Recreation Commissioners meet me to use it as a workshop meeting to show some of the old rail beds between Buttsville and Pequest, and how we could promote them as a loop, as well as how they fit into the Warren Highlands Trail route as I have proposed it.Unfortunately, the normal meeting time is 5, and also two of the commissioners had backed out. I didn't hear from Jane after I called her, so we moved cars a short distance to Pequest where we met Matt and Dave. It was cool that after some time of trying to get my co workers from Spruce Run to join, I finally got Geoff and Allie to come out.

I pointed out some of the historic Pequest Furnace ruins to everyone while we were waiting for some of the group to show up. Jane didn't get my call, and so she was at Buttsville and backtracked on the Warren Railroad to meet up with us.We walked through the former Pequest Furnace site, up from the former Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad (1886-1986) to the former Pequest Furnace Railraod, passing the old foundations. The right of way took us to the old Warren Railroad which operated between Hampton NJ and Scranton PA from 1856 till 1955. We followed this back to Buttsville across the Pequest Viaduct, and then down across Rt 46. We continued to Green Pond Road, and I pointed out to everyone where I thought the Warren Highlands Trail should break away from the right of way.

At Green Pond Road, Matt led Dave and Jane back by way of the former LHR line. The rest of us continued across and along a back road to regain the rail bed heading north. We took the ATV path to the right which bypassed the obliterated section around the sand quarry in Bridgeville. The path led to a nice view out over the Pequest Valley. We were able to cross the upper end of the sand quarry easily, but they had piled up a lot of debis on the former rail bed that was not there the last time I walked it in March. We crossed the top of it and continued on the rail bed out to cross Rt 519. We were then in Jenny Jump State Forest land on the rail bed out to Sarepta and Manunka Chunk Tunnel.The walk to that point was very nice and relaxing as always. It actually got a bit clearer when we approached Upper Sarepta Road.

We had some blow downs over the farm lane when we got to Beaver Brook WMA, nearing the south portal of the tunnel, but we got around it. We then crossed the boards over Catherine's Run and took a break. I layed in the water, which was great. Allie switched into sandles to get through the tunnel, but when we got in there they wouldn't stay on, and somehow Geoff kept seeing them, despite the dark to get back to her.There was a bit more silt inside this one than usual, which made some of the walking difficult, but we managed.

Once on the other side, it seemed so bright again, even though the sun was passing below the other side of Vass Gap to the west. We turned left and followed the old Bel Del Railroad bed south from here, which I hadn't done in a few years. It was still pretty clear, but there were a lot of blow downs which sucked. Allie handled it well, running like crazy through all of them. I was surprised at how well she handled it all, but I probably shouldn't have been considering all the stuff she has to do at Spruce Run.

We followed the rail bed out to where it used to cross Rt 46, and I let the group decide whether we'd try to follow it further or walk the road which was a lot easier into Belvidere. I was kind of glad that we chose the road, because it would have taken so damn long to hike out along the river and into town.

When we reached the Belvidere Municipal Park, we found a trail I did not know existed amazingly, and one of those "2000 more miles" signs. We walked the trail in sort of a loop, then bushwhacked off of it onto the old Bel Del tracks, still active in this section as an industrial spur line to reach Hoffman LaRoche. We continued on the tracks across the trestle over the Pequest, then over a couple other roads where we headed down into town. As I had so many other times, we made a stop at Skoogy's Deli shortly before they closed and got some more sustinence. We had a nice break in front at the tables.I then brought everyone to the property of the old creamery owned by my grandfather and made our way to the Bel Del tracks again. We followed them south out of town to the former junction site with the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad, which we'd trace back to Buttsville. Gregg had a cool flashlight with a battery pack he used the entire way.It was pretty easy to follow, but was getting quite dark. After following it for a bit, it started to rain steadily. We could hear some thunder and see lightning, and the rain actually got a bit hard. Some of the rail bed was badly overgrown and covered in blow downs when we got to where the old station used to be. We had to head out to a road and back, then head across the Pophandusing Brook. The ties were partially removed to deter ATVs from crossing, but we had no problem. We crossed and followed the right of way into the age restricted community that was built over the right of way in 2001. It was kind of neat walking through this section in the dark, after fighting through so much mess it got so easy for a bit.We soon crossed Hazen Road and had very little trouble getting through the woods section to the open fields. The stars began to come out when we were in the center, as I hoped they would. It's really amazing to see, and uncommon for a rail bed to pass through such an open expanse, especially after abandonment.

When we got to near Bridgeville, we followed a farm lane out to Rt 519 rather than try to follow the rail bed through the corn, which was growing rather high.We soon crossed the stone arch bridge over the Pequest and turned right on Titman Ave to former Edison Road. The bridge missing here I knew would be a tough spot, but ti was never that bad. Unfortunately, Geoff and Naaron both got their phones wet while trying to cross in the dark. Geoff's worked by the next day, but Naaron had to get a replacement.The rail bed ahead was pretty easy to follow out to Buttsville. After Mill Street someone had placed a bunch of stuff over the right of way which we had to step over, but we managed.When we got to the path out to the road in Buttsville, I said goodbye to the others, and I continued on by myself back to my car. I really didn't want to go home yet, and needed the solace of the woods for a while. I thought about it and realized it probably wasn't so safe for me to be wandering this rail bed by myself, with only my cell phone to use as a flashlight should I need it.

I actually sat down at one point out there, because I didn't want to be finished. I had work at 7 am, but wasn't really that tired. Allie texted me to make sure I got back to my car safe. I let her know when I did, but then I placed my camera on the roof of the car and drove off. I followed Pequest Furnace Road to Pequest Road to Townsbury Road, and realized it was missing when I got home. I pulled right back out and took a slow drive to look for it. As if by some miracle, I found it in the center of Pequest Furnace Road at a bend just before the bridge over the river.It was 2:20 am when I got back home. I took a shower and got to sleep at about three, and still made it to work by 7 am. I was very impressed to see that Geoff was not only in work and on time, he had more energy than I did. I knew he could handle the hike, but he actually did exceptional.Allie called out, but when I asked her how she was doing, her answer was "dead....let's do it again!".

I felt dead tired all day. I hadn't had a lot of sleep the previous nights either, and had just had the most brutal hike of the year in the Lehigh Gorge on Sunday, but I was still pretty happy.I feel very lucky to have a work place where I truly enjoy the company of my coworkers, can laugh and go home feeling a sense of accomplishment (usually!).

After this night, my next hike on Sunday cannot come fast enough. The feeling of learning and frolicking, and building positive experiences is an addiction that everyone should be so lucky to have.