Hike #1208; Warren Railroad
3/23/19 Warren Railroad with Russ Nelson, Ewa Wdzieczak-Smering, Matthew Davis, Shelly Janes, Tea Biscuit (Scott Helbing), Jacob Helbing, Troy Helbing, Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Conrad Blease, Cheryl Mahala Glaser, Teresa Montes, Amanda Lance, Kralc Leahcim (Lerch), Rich Pace, Eric Pace, Robin Deitz, Aaron Young, Shane Blische, Jessica M. Collins, Austin Grimshaw, Edward DiSalvo, Terri Allen, Ron Phelps, Steve Sanbeg, Dan Lurie, Caleb Olivar, Janet Lynn McCourt-Finsen, Jack Lowry, Sarah Jones, Serious Sean Dougherty, Don Mayberry, Buddy V Mayberry, Max Davis, Erica Pensyl, Doug Boyer, Dan Asnis, Kenneth Lidman, Alyssa Lidman, Red Sean Reardon, Thomas Reardon, Ronnie DIVirgilio, Diane Reider, Agnese Drzymala, Maria Osorio, Justin Gurbisz, Kathryn Cataldo, Kevin Kowalick, Valerie Paster, Marina Font, Brandan Jermyn, Brittany Audrey, Michael Krejsa, Michele Valerio, Jennifer Tull, Mr. Buckett (Jim Mathews), Daniel Trump, Michael Brennan, James De Lotto, ?, and Natalia Gokhman.
Group
t was that time again for the annual Warren Railroad hike, the anniversary of the one that started it all.
The group at start
Every year as this event approaches, there is a bit of dread in me. I’ve done it so many times.
Rich Pace's group photo
There’s a very big part of me that’s really hungry for more new stuff. Revisiting these same old places, even though I love them, gets to feel like a chore.
The group
While I don’t feel at all old yet (I turned 39 the morning of this hike), I do have a sense that time is finite. I’m just not going to be able to see everything I want to see before my time here is up. That’s a difficult thing to wrap my brain around. I’ve had this feeling for as far back as I can remember.
I love sharing experiences, but I love experiencing new places. From the beginning, this has been something I’ve struggled with.
Group pic
Sharing has always been the underlying theme, and in the beginning, I wanted a core group of people who had all experienced the same hikes as we branched out in all directions. This concept just wouldn’t work. I realized that early on enough. I’d have to find balance between trying to share everything and having new experiences.
Last year, I posted the hike incredibly far in advance so that no one would have any complaint about not being able to attend. This time, I posted it rather late. A lot of people had a lot of other things going on.
The rail bed in Delaware
Vacations, an art gallery thing, and more. It was somewhat disappointing that so many bailed on it.
It's depressing not having my own good home with which to have an after party, the annual Hikers’ Hootenanny. I nearly had my own house given to me by a friend, but the plan fell through due to incredibly frustrating circumstances out of my control.
Usually, as the hike approaches I start to get a bit more excited about it. There were a few special things coming together that would make this hike something very special.
Heading out from Smiddy's
First, our good friends Russ and Ewa, who both administer the extraordinarily popular Abandoned Rails Facebook group, wanted to get married on the hike. They’d acquired the marriage license prior to the event, and the hike would serve as the ceremony for which I was given the honor of officiating.
Next, I’d stopped up to visit my father a few days before when I was picking up suits for myself and Matt Davis. He lives right down the hill from Family Thrift, and so when I’m in the area, I’ll ring him and see if I can stop to say hello.
Conrad and his mom on the trail
I talked with him for a long time this time around, on everything from politics to family, and then got on about the hike. I wanted to invite him to come along, but he’d never been out with us in the twenty two years I’d been hosting the hikes.
This year, the one difference was that Dad had just had knee replacement surgery. He’d been doing really well with it, and had been walking about five miles per day.
Tunnel
Before I left he said “You’ve been doing this for twenty two years….I think it’s about time I got out for a hike with my son.”.
I was elated. My dad was going to come out for the first time ever. He already had met a lot of the group at parties and such over the years, and he has an appreciation for history and such. I knew he would really love it.
Further, my little nephew Jacob, now nine years old, really cracks me up.
"Besame Mucho"
He’s been out on several of the hikes, but this one would end up being his first time going the entire distance. My brother Alex was stuck working or I’ll bet he’d have come too, but even Jacob’s mom came out.
Aside from this, I had many old friends show up that I hadn’t seen in quite a long time, which made it really special. There were so many more I meant to call to come out, but so much slips my mind and then I feel bad for not getting back to them.
My then and now post
Despite all of the positive things, it would end up being probably the smallest group out on this hike since 2009 or so. I think the final count of participants was 51 or so.
Metrotrails video post
None of that really mattered, especially after I headed out in the morning.
Tunnel fun
I went out to pick up Brandan, and then we headed to the Port Colden Mall, where we’d been meeting for so many years.
At da tunnels
Immediately, my old buddy Ron Phelps was there knocking on my window. It’d been a long time since I’d seen him. I met him through Rich Pace and Appalachian Mountain Club. Rich was there of course too, and his son Eric.
I was very happy to see Shelly back; she had had more spinal surgery, which has been knocking her out for a long time. She did ten miles the previous year, but still wasn’t in great shape.
Craziness at the tunnels
She’s doing the best she has in a very long time, and hopefully this means we’ll be seeing lots more of her.
It was the first time I’d seen Jess and Austin in quite some time, and found out that they were moving down to the Carolinas...in a couple of weeks!!!
We’d not seen much of them since Jess’s completion of the Appalachian Trail where she raised money for NJ Coalition Against Sexual Assault. Those following Metrotrails the page probably saw that we shared each of her photo posts along her entire trip to help support the cause. It was heart warming to see Jess and Austin’s engagement at the end of the trip.
Jess's initial post when she did the entire AT
The group was looking really great after a short while. Port Colden Mall was like a giant party of people on the Rt 57 side of it.
Manunka Chunk Tunnels
I started having those that were spotting cars for early outs go up ahead, and eventually we got everyone into their respective cars and were off to the start.
Rather than use Smiddy’s parking area this time, we instead used the lot we have become accustomed to using further up in Delaware, where the rail yard and station used to be. Conrad, Teresa, and Mrs. G would meet us further down at Smiddy’s because Conrad prefers to avoid the group photo.
I was surprised at the start by Shelly, as well Dan Lurie and CJ and a few others. It’s always great to see these people.
Tunnel fun
We didn’t hang around for all that long. I wanted to do introductions and get everyone’s names, but no one wanted to quiet down or stand still for long enough to do it this time. I just wanted to get started too. It’s always just too much stuff at the start to get it all in order.
We walked parallel with 46 and where the station used to be, and then headed around the Sanico place to the bridge abutment on Clarence Road. We got our regular group shot there. Rich probably got the best head on one. I got some from a couple of different angles before we moved on.
We headed from there through some weeds on the rail bed, and then came out behind Smiddy’s.
Manunka Chunk Tunnel
The owner was in there, all happy to see us. He must make more money on this day than any other day of the year. It took a while for everyone to siphon through and get what they wanted.
Pretty soon, we were on our way. The railroad bed remains pretty clear for the first bit. I walked with my dad a bit and told him some of the historic points more than the others. It’s too hard to share everything with such a big group. I miss doing that a bit. If I were to try to throw something like that together, it’d take forever.
Manunka Chunk Tunnel
I moved around between the front and middle of the group. A few were way ahead. My dad and Jacob actually stayed pretty close to the front a lot of the time.
We crossed the former bridge site in Delaware, and I pointed out where my great great grandfather’s sawmill was as well as his two homes from different times. We climbed back up to the right of way on the other side, and then passed where they built the road for the cell tower access. The “Shrub of Might” where we stop and run up the shale cliffs, was always a time consuming thing, and I didn’t bother to do it this time.
Manunka Chunk Tunnel
I was wearing one of my nicer suits and honestly didn’t want to get it wrecked so early.
Manunka Chunk
We continued down and across the road at Ramseyburg, and I pointed out where the old Ramsey Homestead used to be where the railroad was, but that it was moved across the street to make way for the railroad in the early 1850s.
We headed up the other side of the former bridge site and had a pretty easy walk out to Manunka Chunk Tunnel. I pointed out to my dad how close the mountain would get in such a short period of time, looking down through the Delaware Valley toward Vass Gap.
Manunka Chunk Tunnels, east portals
Once at the tunnel, I showed my dad where the 1955 washout happened, and where we could still see ties and rails down in the washout area below.
The cut by the tunnels
I made an announcement about going over the tunnel versus through it. Usually there is a big handful of us to go through, and the majority do go over the top, but this time I was totally surprised that only three of us went through. Shane, Mike Brennan, and I passed through the portal we usually do.
Just before passing through, Jack had Sean’s guitar, and we did a rendition of “Besame Mucho” before passing over.
The tunnel was in pretty bad shape. I think it’s collapsed a bit more since the last time I was in it. It was holding more water in between the big piles of debris deep inside.
Dad and I share a drink. Pic by Janet
I wonder how safe it is to walk through with the potential of falling rocks. There was ice inside the thing as well, which is hard to go over. I worry about the expansion and contraction of the structure with the freeze and thaw.
The three of us got through alright, and exited through the cut on the other side. Mike K was there to check out the portal, and said he’d be prepared to go through next year.
At this point, I’m inclined to believe that the other tunnel, which is the one we’d always deemed to be in horrible shape with the worse cave ins, is actually better than the other.
We climbed out of the railroad bed and up along Catherine’s Run where there used to be a flume system to carry water above the grade, and into an artificial waterway to pass safely below the rail grade to the south. It’s amazing the wooden planks that held the thing together are still laying about, and that two of them still serve as a little foot bridge to get across Catherine’s Run. We’d been using that same thing now for 22 years with no problem.
Wandering Upper Sarepta
We got across the thing, and regrouped on the other side in the fields of Beaver Brook Wildlife Management Area.
Matt setting up the arch
While we waited for some of the group to join up (they tried to walk Catherine’s Run up stream to find an easier place to cross rather than just go with the rest of us), I gave my dad one of my Weyerbacher Finally Legal bottles. It’s an excellent beer, and I actually picked it up specifically when I found out my dad was coming so I’d have something really good to share with him other than the Blasphemy, which is only in the big bottles.
The gathering
Blasphemy is the one that’s a quadruple ale aged in wiskey barrels. I had purchased several of them when they appeared to be wrongly marked at a half price amount. I’d intended to bring two of them on this one, but I didn’t realize I’d brought three. I ended up drinking all three of them as well, sharing of course.
Often, we take a side trip here up and through the fields, but I opted to do it a little more simply this time, by following the field paths out to Upper Sarepta Road, and then walk up to the overlook area.
Love
This time, we would still go to the overlook area, but we would instead follow the most used path parallel with the railroad bed through the fields and a section of woods, then walk the distance up Upper Sarepta Road to the overlook.
In this stretch, Sean and I did Led Zeppelin’s “What Is and What Should Never Be”.
We intentionally didn’t announce much about the wedding ceremony to make it a sort of a surprise. Matt got up there and started setting up the archway thing immediately. We got everyone who had hiking poles to stand together and form an archway for Russ and Ewa to walk beneath.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/JrsqcryBOqQ
Dan Asnis captured the event
I had had a stressful week, and kept looking over non-denominational wedding services for something to read that would be appropriate.
The "wedding party"
I ended up looking over a lot of it just the night prior, but I was so exhausted I ended up again falling asleep at the computer.
Happy
When we were approaching the site, I started thinking about it more. I thought back to the memorial service to my old friend Brian Rapp and the metaphor I made about cake.
Hiker rumble pile
The saying, “You can have your cake and eat it too”, and how I didn’t like it. I prefer “You can have your cake and share it too”. I used a variation of that for my speech at the end of the New Jersey perimeter series.
Corn war
I realized that the metaphor is relevant in so many aspects of life, most certainly in marriage. Marriage is the ultimate in sharing. The choice to spend the rest of your life with one person is no small deal.
And so, rather than go over something that’s very impersonal, I chose instead to bring up the cake again, to bring up sharing, and then to segue into the wedding. It seemed appropriate to me because they chose to share this wonderful experience with the entire group.
Tree stand fun
Russ and Ewa had prepared their own vows for me to read. Russ had given me the piece of paper with them on it in the morning, and I folded it up into my back pocket where it would be most difficult to fall out, and where I had nothing else I’d have to access and chance it falling out. I dreaded the thought of reaching the spot and not having the vow paper ready. Fortunately, I did.
Serious Sean provided the musical backdrop for the event.
Russ and Ewa stood beneath the arch after walking under the line of hiker poles, and repeated after me as I read what they had prepared. We had a lovely group shot with the bride and groom in the middle of the arch, and the amazing view out over the Pequest and Delaware Valleys beyond.
From here, we headed down slope through the fields of Beaver Brook Wildlife Management Area. Russ announced that their reception would be the lunch stop at Hot Dog Johnny’s and that lunch for everyone was on him!
At Hope Crossing
He brought a deck of playing cards and passed a card to each person on the hike, with the plan that he would go to Johnny’s and tell them to charge anything purchased by a card bearer to him!
While walking, Justin and Red Sean got into some sort of a crazy war with corn stalks.
We passed down through the fields and skirted the far left side. We ended up doing a bit more of them than I’d ever done before, which was kind of nice.
Hope Crossing area
We could have actually skipped a bit if we’d gone direct via a path in the middle, but I got caught up talking to people and missed it. Lerch climbed up a deer stand along the way, and some of the group checked out the abandoned farm buildings to the left.
I caught up with my dad as we got to the tree line where a woods road leads out to Sarepta Road. My dad commented on how beautiful it was out there. Just then, we were coming close to the quarry edge off of Ledge Road, and just about everyone was passing by it without even looking.
The rail bed
I told my dad to check this out, and showed him the old quarry wall. He commented that it was like Point Mountain. The cool thing is that barely anyone knows about this stuff save for locals. Shane came over to check the thing out too, but we wouldn’t let him get too close to the edge.
We soon got on Sarepta Road and were then down to the railroad bed. Delotto had met up with us up above at the overlook, but he then went out to the next road, Hope Crossing Road.
In Beaver Brook WMA
We walked the section out to there, and Delotto had the group signing a gift to me. There was an old Mt. Pleasant Road sign, which had been in a basement for forever. It was an official county street sign which was preserved from back when they were still made of wood. He decided to have everyone sign it like a card, which was a really very cool gift. After the hike, he stopped by my step dad Mark’s place to drop it off for me, and I retrieved it later in the week.
In addition to this, everyone was signing the archway made for Russ and Ewa from the overlook as well.
Walk. Relax. Repeat. LIVE.
We continued from Hope Crossing past the old Bridgeville Station. The building is still there, but encased in block. The stone station was partly destroyed by fire a couple of years back, but thankfully was not demolished. Instead, it was rehabilitated into the same building. I was very happy to see it standing and back in use again.
We crossed Route 519 and some people went off to the right to go by Quick Chek and walk out to Hot Dog Johnny’s on Rt 46. I hate that way.
Love
Walking around the sand quarry is not really a problem, and the state actually purchased the railroad bed right up to the quarry on the north side rather recently.
Most of us chose to do the quarry route, which was fine. Conrad and his mom ended up going out the Bel Del grade from Manunka Chunk Tunnel to Rite Aid, and cut back over at some point. This added over a mile to the full trip for them, and I ended up not seeing either of them again. Teresa stayed with us and got some great photos of the wedding tom foolery along the way.
Down to Hot Dog Johnny's
After we got through the sand quarry, the path that circumnavigated the working part of it back down to the railroad bed was the same it’s been since around 2000. Soon after reaching the rail bed, we went down the slope to cross Rt 46 and reach Johnny’s.
I ordered two dogs, and someone else gave me a third one, so I was pretty much set.
Natalia met up with us here, but didn’t join for too long (she said she was “fake hiking”).
The group at Hot Dog Johnny's from Delotto
We hung out at Johnny’s for a while, but some of the group went well ahead. It’s always quite segmented from this point, because so many move ahead so fast.
On the rail bed
While we were hanging out, Red Sean had brought out the “Fanny Whacker” I had found while working in Liberty State Park in 2012 following Tropical Storm Sandy.
Finding the Fanny Whacker in 2012
I had this thing in my stuff for a long time, and I eventually gave it to Red Sean in a Happy Bag or something some years ago.
In Pequest WMA
He brought it with him on this one, which I had labeled with “Industrial Strength Fanny Whacker”. I think I must have given it to Sean when he worked with me at Spruce Run. Either way, it’s been around a while.
Somehow, in the sand pit area, Lerch managed to get his hands on it and started abusing everyone’s fanny. It continued at Hot Dog Johnny’s to the point where I had to pull some martial arts style detainment on him and knock him into a chasm of brick work and stacked tables.
Pequest Cut
I’m not sure what became of the Fanny Whacker from here, but hopefully it is no longer in the wrong hands. I know Red Sean didn’t end up with it again.
Pequest Cut
It actually wasn’t all that bad, because a lot of us were still together by the time we got to the Rt 46 crossing. I climbed directly back up the slope to the railroad bed across from Johnny’s, while others went out to the side road that goes up to Green Pond Road. We followed that out to the cemetery on Green Pond Road beyond which the rail grade is very clear again.
When we got over by the mini mart property at Buttzville, we descended to cross Rt 46.
Coming out of Pequest Cut
This was a spot that had me angered a bit. I had been calling Department of Transportation about this site over the past year because they first blocked the access from the south side of 46. I let them know this was part of the regional trail plan, the Warren Highlands Trail, and we were relying on that crossing at 46 being the only reasonable safe spot. I was then very critical about the plan to put the giant fences in through the Delaware Water Gap. I brought up that Oxford Tunnel had collapsed directly under Rt 31, and they were trying to say that Rt 80 was the most dangerous stretch of DOT maintained highway.
A message thing...
After I called BS on them, they immediately put up the “no pedestrian” signs at the 46 crossing.
There was never anything there before, and it is definitely a legitimate thing because there’s really not a lot of room for pedestrians, but I found it kind of funny that immediately after I was very critical, the signs went up after none had ever been there in 21 years and more of hiking this.
Takin a break
Regardless, it was nice that after a meeting on Warren Highlands, Brandee Chapman, the State Trails Coordinator, and expert Planner Michael Dannemiller came to the site with me to look at how we could make it work. I feel a lot better about it especially after Mike D put eyes on it.
A few left at this point including Jacob’s mom Erika, and we headed up hill from where the bridge used to be that carried the railroad over Rt 46.
Jacob with the sign
We then crossed the Pequest River on the three arch concrete span, also directly over the former Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad.
Along the trail
The next stretch of the rail bed is a very nice one, through Pequest Wildlife Management Area. The group got more separated, and I hung back with my dad for a bit to tell him some of the history of it.
Pequest WMA
He was particularly impressed with the Pequest Cut, and after that I showed him the cinder piles remaining from Pequest Furnace off to the left.
Soon, we reached Pequest Road, turned to the right, and then left on the paved trail leading to Oxford. The paved trail circumnavigates the rail grade for a short distance where it’s in a water filled cut. The railroad would have passed beneath Pequest Road when it was active.
Super happy fun
The path regained the rail bed, and we moved on through to Lower Denmark Road. The rail bed continues behind houses and gets overgrown. The land owners adjacent to it don’t own the land, but they’ve encroached on it. The guy in the last house back there hates the trail and people walking through, and has annoying dogs out all over the place. Fortunately, he was not out to bother anyone this time. His neighbors have told me that they pretty much can’t stand him either, and he nearly ran some of the hikers off the road one night walking through.
Atop Oxford Tunnel
We soon came upon the former Oxford Station platform, where old Lower Denmark Road cut away, and the road was rerouted onto the railroad bed. My step mom Donna showed up here on the platform to pick my dad up.
Dad had done over ten miles at this point, and had handled it great even with the knee replacement he’d had. He only started getting some pain in the hips after reaching the paved section, which happens to the best of us. People don’t think about the difference pavement has on our joints until walking long distances like that.
We headed out along Lower Denmark out into Oxford, and I went into Mountain Valley Liquors to get some more to drink. I think I got the Tiny Belgian Style Imperial Stout because it was good and cheaper.
We all skipped the Oxford Tunnel on this one. It was such a death trap to go through from the south side the last time I was through a couple of years back that I wouldn’t go back through. I do want to revisit it and have a look at what’s happened.
Over the tunnel
I would imagine the depth of the water would be a lot more after the mess of the collapse. There was one giant boulder in the roof that looked ready to come down, and I didn’t want to be in there when it did. Maybe this Summer I’ll go back in with a flashlight and have a look.
Red Sean’s younger brought joined us in Oxford after having been heckled to join for quite some time. I was already rather blasted, and so I started heckling him pretty badly. I was probably awful to him, but he was a surprisingly very good sport. I suppose with a brother like Sean, he would have to be.
We continued along 31, and then passed where the hunting supply store was recently torn down by the state. After that, we cut to the right down to the top of the Oxford Tunnel’s east portal. Lerch had been talking about going in through the crawl space over the top of the tunnel portal and climbing down for a while, and I wasn’t going to do it until we got right there.
Approaching the old farm overpass
The hillside was loose and climbing down to it was a mess. I was doing it with an open beer too, and had to pass it down in order to even use the roots for climbing.
Rail bed
Everyone was dilly dallying at the entrance when I decided to just go in and make my way through a bit. I could hear voices inside, so I knew someone was already out in there. I didn’t have a flash light, so I just went slow and paid attention to where I stepped that it wasn’t a doozy down to the floor of the tunnel.
As I walked a bit, it felt like I was standing in a gross mud. Lerch or Shane or someone started approaching with a flashlight, and I went back a bit. When the light reached that point, I realized that I’d been standing on top of a disgusting, smelly dead buck.
In Washington Twp
It was still rather fresh, with antlers still on it, but it smelled awful. I was so disgusted and distraught by the fact that I’d been standing on top of the thing that I walked back out the way I came in quickly. I didn’t realize that I’d dropped my phone in it until I was out and had already climbed back up the horrid slope.
I went to take a photo and realized my phone was gone. I was shocked. I figured there was no way I’d ever see the phone again.
Jackson Valley bridge site
The best phone I’d ever owned, given to me by Tea Biscuit, and at this point I’d probably have to buy an expensive new one. I wasn’t happy. Even worse, all of the photos I’d gotten all day with it, with my father, with Russ and Ewa’s wedding, would be gone. I HAD to find that phone. I had some photos with my regular camera, but nothing that great.
I carefully climbed all the way back down, into the tunnel, and out toward the horrible carcass. There, in the carcass water, as if by some miracle, I found my obviously dead phone.
Washed out right of way
I was so relieved because even if it was done for, I could at least remove the micro SD card and get the pictures off.
Rail bed in Washington
I dried the thing and put it in my inside pocket, and continued on out. I had tried calling for help finding it, but no one heard me clear enough and they all continued on.
I made my way down to the grade and caught up with some of the people remaining at the concrete foundations at the end of the tunnel cut.
I had worn my Reebok high tops I’d gotten many years ago. In fact, I am pretty sure these ones were some of the only remaining ones I’d gotten at the K Mart closeouts back in 2001 and 2. I had purchased 41 pairs of shoes at an average of a dollar a pair, which lasted me many many years.
Rail bed
This pair of black, white, and red ones I would save for when I was wearing a suit they would match. I knew at the start of this hike that it would be the last trip I’d ever take them on, but it was bad right from the start when they broke more. I ended up having to duct tape them there and then.
Climbing through the tunnel mess twice, through the carcass water, made them rip off terribly. They could no longer be taped both because they were soaked and because there was barely anything left to tape on.
Rail bed
I basically finished the hike with one bare foot.
From there, we continued on into Washington Township, first on fill, then through cut under the old farm underpass. Russ and Ewa went up to check the thing out more closely.
The group was getting more and more segmented, and the grade gets to be pretty overgrown these days heading out to Jackson Valley Road. We went down the same way we always had, and then some of the group opted to just follow roads back into Washington.
The rail bed
I went right up the other side of the bridge to make my way along the railroad bed.
It was washed out horribly. The rut created by the water there was so deep now that climbing down requires a degree of care. Some of the group was still following me at this point, and Jacob was closest behind. I just got down in the water and pushed on ahead.
The walking was killing my foot. My socks were already partly worn through at the toes and heel from walking bare on it.
Rail bed
I was getting splinters, but the cold water numbed it enough to be able to push on through. I didn’t want to stop, and I absolutely could not slow down. I had to push through.
Jacob was the only one even kind of keeping up. I waited for him a couple of times just so he didn’t get out of sight, and when we got over by Warren Hills High School, it was good enough that we could move along a little more dry.
Rail bed
We pushed on through the cut below Green Street, and then emerged at what used to be Warren Lumber. It was a mess, but the two of us got through. Some of the others apparently went through some of this and cut through back yards, and Tea Biscuit pushed through and somehow came out by Warren Lumber or something before taking to the roads.
Jacob and I remained on the railroad, which is now pretty overgrown since the spurs to both American Can and Warren Lumber are completely defunct.
Rail bed
I showed him where the Morris Canal used to pass beneath when we went by.
Soon, the tracks were clear and we were able to walk out over Rt 31, and then out over Rt 57. We skirted the railroad yard, and when we got over by where the turntable pit is, (it’s filled in to grade), we cut through weeds and out into the back yards of the new development houses.
We went along the backs of the homes, and then climbed over the berm to take us out to the Warren Plaza, next to the old Acme.
Rails still there
We walked down along the store and went into the Dollar tree to get some snacks and drinks.
Where the Morris Canal passed under
From there, we headed across to Port Colden Mall where the only one remaining was Don Mayberry. I guess other people had made it back other ways, mostly by back roads.
Rail bed
Jacob’s mom called him up and he said “Just me and Uncle Mikey made it”. She asked where everybody else was and he said “They all SUCK at hiking!”. I couldn’t stop laughing.
Tea Biscuit showed up along the road a bit later. We probably had to wait about forty five minutes for him to get there. Around that time, Serious Sean showed up to save us with rides. Everyone else had been around, and some waited. Justin told me he had waited probably an hour for me before finally heading out.
Rail bed
Sean took me back to my car, and from there we all went up to Brittany’s house. She had made a bunch of food for everybody including cake for me, but unfortunately I never got to try it!
We all hung out, and Jack and Serious Sean entertained with their guitars. Sean had brought his nice wooden acoustic with him on the hike, and Jack brought his twelve string to the party.
It was rather subdued because everyone was certainly quite tired, but it was a nice time.
I ended up falling asleep on the couch from complete exhaustion next to Dan Trump. Dan must have been particularly exhausted because he joined late after being on some West Virginia job or something for a long time.
It ended up being a really great time. I was glad overall with how it turned out. I really never know how it’s going to turn out, honestly. It’s always great fun, and always a memorable experience.
Party
Everyone who attended this hike shared in something very special, and I hope if nothing else, it inspires everyone who attended to keep sharing, whether it’s with this group, or their partners, their friends, or family. Examples of all of these relationships were present on this trip, and were further solidified through experiencing it all together.
Party music
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