Hike #1175; Pinkneyville to Mt. Olive
11/14/18 Pinkneysville to Mt. Olive with Justin Gurbisz, Daniel Trump, Ken Zaruni, Jennifer Tull, Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Dan Lurie, and Daniel Lurie
This next hike would be a point to point tracing mostly the historic routes of the Sussex Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, and the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway. I’d done all of this before, but it had changed so much it was worth doing.
Some old entrance off of Mulford Road
I had already hiked the entire Lehigh and Hudson years ago, but recently Paul Miller had notified me that some new sections in the areas north of Andover had been cleared, and that a section had been formally turned into a trail closer to Sparta. The tracks are still in place near Sparta Junction where we started, at Pinkneysville, but are abandoned to Belvidere from there. I figured we would get out there and do that first new section at the start since I’d not walked it since it was developed.
What I didn’t realize was that it was getting dark so incredibly early that I wouldn’t be able to really get any good photos of it. I’d have to return and do it again another time anyway.
New trail section from Mulford Road
We met at 4 pm at the Village Green shopping center in Mount Olive NJ. We then shuttled in my van to our starting point at Pinkneyville, where there was a large parking area for a Rehab center. I parked there and we immediately began walking to the west out to Mulford Road.
We passed an abandoned entrance to some sort of a complex called Lifecare Drive. The rumor is that the guy who built the thing did it all illegally and buildings were demolished.
Across from that, the rail trail began. It had surfacing and was quite clear. We started making good time right from the start.
The end of the line in 2004
I had followed this section last on June 27th, 2004, when we walked south at the end of the tracks and then continued parallel with the present day apartments.
Hiking the line in 2004
It was really tough going then. I remember it being a lot of weeds until we got beyond the apartment complex. From there, it was clear enough to walk, but still with weeds and ballast.
It was in this stretch that we were first bluff charged by a bear. My brother Tea Biscuit, Skyler Jermyn, and I were all running on it when something was moving through the weeds at us fast. It had been getting dark, and when we saw it we took off running in the other direction. I looked back only once to see it stepping out onto the trail, barely visible in the dark.
The rail bed as it appeared in 2004
Back then, railroad ties were mostly all still in place on this railroad bed. That made for some tough walking as well, and easy to trip when going through in the dark. Now, all railroad ties were completely removed.
I had forgotten just how secluded this section was. We passed beneath Newton-Sparta Road through an underpass, but it was a lot of rather deep woods. We went over fills and through cuts that I didn’t remember being as apparent in the weeds and stepping over the railroad ties.
We had a very easy and relaxing trip out along a golf course briefly, through woods, and then to the end of the formalized trail at Lake Iliff.
Lake Iliff was the site of Camp Nordstrom, a German American Bund group from 1937 until 1941, an pro-Nazi organization. Several Bund camps like this one existed not only here, but up in the Pequannock watershed near Bloomingdale as well.
After crossing Lake Iliff Road, the rail bed had been recently cleared, but was not surfaced.
Trail section north of Lake Iliff
Lake Iliff was also home to an ice house at one time. The rail bed continued clear through woods for a bit, moving away from the lake, and then came much closer to Limecrest Road.
Historic image of the German American Bund Camp Nordstrom
It got less and less clear to follow until we got to where there was a house, and then a power line coming across the grade and Limecrest Road. At that point, we just had to walk the road because it was getting too tough to bully on through in the dark.
We continued on Limecrest Road to the next private driveway south of the power line crossing, and from there the right of way had been recently cleared again. We got back on it, and continued walking parallel with the road, but it got much more out of sight, and started following the edge of Lake Aeroflex, also known as New Wawayanda Lake.
Historic image of Lake Iliff showing the old ice house
Lake Aeroflex is known to be the deepest natural lake in the state of New Jersey. Round Valley Reservoir is deeper, but that’s man made.
We had a very nice walk along the shore of the lake, and the moon shone over it nicely. I could see beyond to the old Slater House in Kittatinny Valley State Park ahead, where my first office was for the state of New Jersey when I began employment.
We continued along and crossed the park access road. The rail bed remained clear from here out to where it goes right along someone’s back yard. They had extended their yard out over the right of way, but the entire right of way is state land. I was a little concerned about this section, but it was so clear I figured we’d be able to get through no problem.
There was a spot light going all around the lake as we walked close to the water, which made me wonder if there was a missing boater. I had everyone regroup before we passed by the house so everyone would be sure of where we were going.
As we walked by, we could see a guy sitting on a computer through the wide windows in teh back of it. As we reached the end of the open yard, there was a gate and the rail bed became totally overgrown. They had not cleared this bit yet. We carefully climbed through and tried to continue on, but it just got worse. Then, a dog started barking like crazy. I didn’t want to keep this up. I got everyone together, and we headed up slop to the right and into some more evergreens that made it easier to move around.
When we were at the back yard section, there was another trail breaking off to the right. I didn’t what it was or where it went. It was not there when I’d gone through before. I figured we’d head out to it this alternate way and see what happened.
Everyone followed me, and we came to the new path beyond the yard. It did continue on to the left, and crossed some foot bridges at the outflow to Lake Aeroflex. When we got to the other side, the trail continued around the lake to the east, but another old road continued through woods parallel with wetland heading southwest. This was the direction we needed to go.
We headed along this path for a while, with some impressive rock outcrops to the right.
Soon, we came to the open area behind the State Forest Fire Service headquarters. I figured we’d just cut to the left across the lawn to get out to Route 206 from behind the place.
Just as we were almost there, two dogs came running at us barking like crazy. We headed back the other direction and around the fence of the forest fire place to the right. We were able to skirt it all the way around to Route 206, which is right next to where the Sussex Branch used to cross anyway. We were able to cut across the highway and just pick up that rail trail without any further issues.
Dan decided that he was feeling pooey and got an uber for he and his son out at this point.
Bob McCue photo of Andover Junction
The rest of us continued on, along the Sussex Branch south. There was a building and some guys working outside as we walked by. We could hear the dog from the yard near the fire service place going nuts as the two Dans were going by on the parallel Route 206. Fortunately this interaction did not lead to any death either.
Soon, we crossed the former site of Andover Junction, where the Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad came through. Had it been lighter, we would have been able to bully through the section, but it was just too bad to get through.
We headed south through the town of Andover and crossed over Brighton Ave followed by a couple more side streets. The trail is really cool through Andover because it gets to be really narrow between homes. As we were heading to the main part of town, dogs behind fences right along the trail were going nuts, which I didn’t much care for at all. I figured we’d have someone see us and flip out or something.
The original mine railroad used to cut off on the north of town as well. Originally, the Sussex Mine Railroad was a mule drawn railroad that closely parallels the later Sussex Branch. Many will say it was “rehabilitated” into the Sussex Branch, but truthfully, it is almost an entirely different right of way.
Soon, on the south of Andover, we passed beneath the behemoth Pequest Fill on the Lackawanna Cutoff by way of a concrete culvert.
Below this point, we were in some woods for a while, then passed into a section where Route 206, as well as the original mine railroad bed, was on the left, and Whitehall Hill Road is on the right. We crossed over an old culvert known locally as the Hole In The Wall at Whitehall Hill, and then reached the most washed out section of the entire trail.
Water flows right on top of the fill and has been a major problem. Part of the road was built over the rail bed, and then 206 was expanded over some of it. That entire section south of Whitehall Hill was totally under water to the point where some decided to go up and walk the horrible section of highway. Only Ken and I went through it initially, but then I found out a bit later that Jenny went right through it as well.
The section passed just below the house of the famous “Waving Willie”, who sat along side the highway and waved at passersby for years. Just after that, we crossed over North Shore Road. The railroad bed is right along the edge of 206 in this area, and leads into a commuter parking lot.
North Shore Road rail crossing historic image of the Elizabeth Rose House
We stopped at the commuter lot and crossed over to the mini mart there for a break and snack. I think I got a snickers bar or something in there, as well as a chocolate milk because they have the good kind. The best we find in this part of Jersey these days is either Clover Farms or Cream O Land. The old Lehigh Valley ruined it when they went “Tru Moo”.
Sussex Branch at Cranberry Lake
Once we had had a good break, we continued on through the commuter lot and past the pedestrian bridge that leads over across Cranberry Lake into the community. There was a sign there saying to “save our bridge”, because apparently it’s in some kind of trouble.
The original bridge at the site was built in 1902 by the Lackawanna Railroad to get to an amusement park out there, but they lost interest in that venture within ten years, and then tied it off to a train as it left the station, which pulled it down into the lake.
The community across the bridge was developed in the 1920s, and the current suspension foot bridge was erected in 1930. It’s one of the oldest and longest of it’s style in the state.
Cranberry Lake heyday
The bridge is now owned by DEP, and apparently hasn’t passed an inspection since 2002. It will take over $280,000 to get it back in the shape it’s supposed to be in, and there is a non profit that’s been started to try to help raise the funds. Hopefully they’ll be able to do it.
We continued walking around the buildings where the railroad station used to be, and then along the edge of the lovely lake near the parking area. The moon was quite bright, just slightly smaller than a half moon, shining the way for us.
We crossed over South Shore Road and entered the woods into Allamuchy Mountain State Park. The right of way was really wet. There were a lot of puddles.
Moon over Cranberry Lake
We had a nice easy walk to the south, but when we got to the area of Jefferson Lake, the rail bed was more flooded than I’d ever seen it. The waters of Jefferson Lake were up and over the rail bed. We’ve been getting so much rain that it’s really very high. We managed to get around or through the water, and then headed south through the woods out to Waterloo Road and the parking area. We crossed here directly to continue on the part of the Sussex Branch built in 1901. The original went a bit more to the west to cross the Musconetcong River on it’s way to Waterloo Junction, and the originan mine railroad had a dock on the Morris Canal.
A paved path appears on the left side of the road as we continued. The entire road was originally the 1901 cutoff to Stanhope. I pointed out how the current Continental Drive road bridge over the Musconetcong is built on the original railroad abutments, and then pointed out later, when the path went below the old grade, how the road incorporated old stone railroad culvert work into it’s own grade, through the chain link fences on the path.
We headed from here into the International Trade Center area and made our way to the International Drive to the right. We followed this to the entrance to a bunch of buildings on the right, which I’d walked before, crossed the railroad tracks (NJ Transit, formerly Lackawanna and before that Morris and Essex), and walked the paved pathways along the edges of their nicely landscaped retention ponds.
After we came out to the last building off the retenton pond path, we were on a street called Clark or something, and we cut into the woods on an informal path that led to Hickory Wood Circle in the Village Green Apartments. We walked through this complex on their sidewalks, then cut through their crappy little golf course in the center to emerge behind the Village Green Shopping Center. We cut through the tunnel in the building to the east side to get us back to where we were parked.
Super happy fun time
We had a pretty good time with this one, and it went rather easily. There were only a few spots with weeds and ballast early on, and a little bit of new trail I’d not known about. There’s definitely more to explore up there, but we’ll wait for longer days.
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