Hike #670; High Bridge Branch

 Hike #670; High Bridge Branch

12/14/12 High Bridge Branch/Columbia Trail, Flanders to High Bridge with Ernie Philips Jr, Chris "Kupcake" Kroschinski, and Lori Hanni

At the end of the hike in High Bridge

This next trip would be another night hike; it would continue to prove that the cold weather would not keep intrepid hikers indoors. This year I've certainly had better night hike participation than any other year!

At first, it was looking like it was just Ernie and I. We met in High Bridge at the municipal lot, then shuttled in my car to Shop Rite in Flanders. We walked down the hill from the store to the spur line to a small business, and began walking the still active former High Bridge Branch, on the tracks. We continued onward to Bartley, where the tracks ended at Bartley Road, and the Columbia Trail began. I still hate that the trail is named after a gas line and not the historic rail rout that it follows. I was pushing for the name change in Hunterdon while I worked there, and they just wouldn't have change. It was Hunterdon that was responsible for the naming of it, and Morris County just went along with it for their section (and they have slightly more mileage, and maintain their section better). Doug from Hunterdon Parks gave me a paper saying that Hunterdon suggested the name "Columbia Trail" and that "Naturally" Columbia Gas was thrilled about it. They should have named it the High Bridge Branch Trail. Now, with Hydraulic Fracturing being as controversial as it is, naming a public trail after a conduit through which this gas travels, let alone it being a conflict of interest by "advertising" a private entitity, seems all that more wrong.

 We hiked along the right of way from Bartley Road as the sun was going down. The South Branch of the Raritan, still small at this point, had an orange hue over it from the sun setting ahead of us. We had a reasonable amount of light until we got past Naughright. From that point, it was pretty dark.I'd not followed the trail beyond that point into Long Valley in years. The first time I'd traced the old rail bed through that section was with my brother back in 2002, September 7th. Ironically the day I met John Trontis, then Director of Hunterdon Parks, who would one day change my life by hiring me into his Department. At that time, Long Valley was still a former industrial framework, with a messed up down town section, and the abandoned buildings of Welch Farms, where my dad worked when I was small, still standing. I climbed around on the buildings and water tower that day. We used to have to follow the rail line through Welch Farms and on through a steel manufacturing place, and it became a trail again on the other side.

Now, as we approached the steel place, the trail left the right of way and went down hill parallel, beside a chain link fence. It then climbed back up, crossed the same old rail bridge over Electric Brook, then turned left once more on the abandoned right of way of the Chester Branch of the CNJ Railroad. It followed it to near the former trestle over the South Branch, then turned right. We saw another mowed path continued on the rail bed. I was rather surprised to see this. We continued on as the trail went along the south side of the open fields, where Welch Farms used to stand to the north. New condo buildings or something had been built on the site. We continued along a line of evergreens, and then the trail turned right once more. There was another side path that joined from the left. Soon, the trail turned left onto the right of way of the High Bridge Branch again, and we crossed a re-decked old bridge over a brook into Long Valley. There was a new kiosk on the right with a trail map. This was now referred to as Mill Pond Park, and there were new trails marked along the section! As it turned out, one was now called Trestle Trail, and it went to the former bridge site. It apparently goes to the old mill pond out of Long Valley proper as well. I would have to come back to check this out in more detail very soon.We continued across Rt 24 in Long Valley, then headed into the deep wooded section beyond. This was always the most boring trail section, the long wooded part that's wide like a gravel road, between Long Valley and  Middle Valley. As in the past, this section dragged on. I was wishing I had a drink. Ugg.In Middle Valley, there was a new bridge construction going on. An attractive truss bridge was being put over the South Branch just to the left. It was nice to see an historically accurate looking bridge going in. It actually looks better than the old simple deck one.

We continued on the trail through a section that was previously muddy. They'd redone it with a crushed stone. The surface was nice, not too hard on the feet. We made our way across the South Branch on a long trestle, then crossed 513 in Crestmoore. This was the first time I hiked the right of way across Jenkinson's tree farm on the other side since the trail was pushed across. We used to have to walk around the outside of the tree farm, but Morris County came in and just built it, which I respect. They won't be bullied, whereas someone could put a trampoline on a trail right of way in Hunterdon, and they opted to simply give up the easement.There were kids running around in the trees, and three bicycles discarded on the trail. Part of me wanted to take one and ride off. In retrospect, the kids ended up being so annoying that I should have. When we passed over the tree farm, the kids returned to their bikes and followed us. They had an annoying bright light that they kept flashing to see us. Kupcake joined us at the county line where there was parking. We continued along the trail from here through Vernoy. The kids on their bikes turned from behind us and followed parallel Vernoy Road to cross the trail ahead of us. They stayed ahead of us barely for a long time, often shining their light back. Kupcake returned the blast with his own bright light. We made our way out of Vernoy, and then on into Califon. The kids were sitting behind the fire house shining their lights at us, around the corner of the building. Kupcake returned fire again as we continued on past the lumber company. At Main Street, Lori joined up. I had met her at Commando Tom's 30th birthday party the previous week, after the hike, and she had said she was interested in joining. I was surprised she would join a night hike for her first time out, but she handled it really well and the darkness didn't bother her.

We continued past the old Califon station, then onward past John Palmer's old house. The former junk yard looks cleaner every time I go by. I used to be so cluttered I couldn't even see the house from the trail.

We kept on across Hoffman's Crossing and into Ken Lockwood Gorge. The sound of the river was great, and the stars were bright. We were looking for meteors, but I think I only saw one shooting star. The trestle in the middle of the gorge was a great place to view it all. We continued on along the trail out of the gorge, and Lake Solitude looked amazing in the night. It was never too dark to see, although Lori almost walked into the bollards a few times. We crossed a couple driveways, and when we got to the Taylor Steelworkers Historic Greenway, we turned left and went to the overlook of the dam briefly. Kupcake's company was responsible for repairing it somehow, and so now it is supposedly impossible to jump off the top the way I'd done before.

We continued from here into High Bridge, and crossed 513 to the parking lot. We actually finished this hike in pretty good time again. The entire distance was about 16.5 or 17.

This ended up being the perfect route for a night hike; I'll have to use this one again.