Hike #1225; Pond Eddy to Port Jervis

Hike #1225; Pond Eddy to Port Jervis

6/1/19 Pond Eddy area to Port Jervis with Matthew Davis, Russ Nelson, Ewa Wdzieczak-Smering, Jennifer Berndt, San Westermann, Anne ?, Robin Deitz, Daniel T Westermann, Diane Reider, Jason W. Briggs, and Jennifer Tull

This next hike would be the next in the main Delaware and Hudson Series. I believe it was the 8th in the main line of hikes that takes us between the end of the D&H Gravity Railroad and Kinston NY. After this one, we have only about four hikes left in the series.

D&H north of Pond Eddy

There’s been so much stuff going on, and we couldn’t really get through this next section from where we left off last year, so we were filling in with other stuff such as the Delaware and Hudson Pennsylvania Main Line heading north, the later locomotive railroad. The canal route below Hawk’s Nest, just north of Port Jervis, was a big worry with flood conditions, which would keep us from being able to walk that stretch. We had to be sure the water would be low enough to be passable.

D&H Canal

The water has certainly not been low. It’s been raining quite a lot. I was concerned that at any time, we’d have to turn around and skip the rest of Hawk’s Nest, but this hike actually went quite great.
We met in the morning in Port Jervis, where they gave us permission to park at a dollar store on the south side of town, and then shuttled to where we had left off north of Pond Eddy.
Our starting point was actually quite a bit further north from Pond Eddy than I’d remembered, because after the shuttle, I couldn’t figure out where to pull over.

Along the canal

We eventually figured it out. It was a spot just a little beyond the spot where Lock #65 had been adjacent to a private home at the end of the Towpath Road.
This road was a through public road right on the canal towpath until flooding in the 1930s destroyed that section. The level of the towpath goes up from that point, which is probably why the road was not so badly destroyed at the ten foot higher elevation beyond the lock.

A little messy...

I decided that we would bushwhack from the parking area on Rt 97 directly to the canal ant attempt to get through. I had walked this section in the dark the last time, and then bushwhacked to a driveway to get back out. This time, I wanted to keep going on it. Everyone climbed down, and we managed to reach the canal, but it was still watered with no way over.
We had to turn to the left to follow the berm, and then came to a back yard area. At that point, there was a little land bridge across the canal which allowed us to get across to the towpath. Once on it, we moved along quietly until we were past the private homes as not to disturb any of them.

Eventually, the canal came to a sort of camp area. There was a volleyball net set up in the mucky wet bottomed canal prism where there was an access road, which looked almost like a joke. On the other side, there was a sort of amphitheater set up in the prism. Beyond, there was a sort of campground along the towpath. We continued, and there were people out there, but we were able to walk by. Someone said “Oh, hikers!” but didn’t holler or anything. We walked by, and then continued under a sort of carport tent beyond that. No one was there. After that, the canal towpath was a mess again, with a large washout in it. We had to go down to the right, and then up again on the other side. Just beyond that, it opened up into a wide mowed yard.
The canal moved away from the Delaware a bit. It’s prism intact, and towpath side mowed, we were able to walk along the edge of it back out to Rt 97.

Lock #64

We passed the Pond Eddy base of several canoe places. This, however, was not the settlement of Pond Eddy. This area was actually known as Lumberland I understand, a colloquial place name that’s gotten lost like these places tend to do.
We turned to the right along 97, and evidence of the canal prism remained along the highway. We continued along until it looked undeveloped enough to the right to go into the woods to follow it.
I got on the berm side of the canal, and continued walking. There was eventually an interesting waste weir into the edge of the canal. Usually these are on the river side, but this was in the berm side.
I was angry with myself for forgetting my D&H Canal Guide book by David Barber. It really gives a great overview of what is left, and lets us know where the locks were. I was afraid I might miss some of the locks, which to me was very important to get. Fortunately we didn’t really miss any.
Soon, a lock came into view. The berm side was busted down a bit, but the towpath side looked to be full height. This was Lock #64, also known as Squire Van Tuyle’s Lock. Water filled the lock, and there was remnants of a bypass on the berm side. Jerry’s River Campground was to the right, and the house for their office was adjacent. This could have been the lock house. I noted that the structure had an old stone foundation, and the shape of it appears consistent with lock houses elsewhere on the canal.

Lock #64

From here, the canal was watered on the other side, and we continued on Rt 97. Unfortunately, the highway started climbing up hill, and I wanted to be down on the canal. I could see that the route was good, and that there was a road built over a lot of it, with camp sites. As we continued to climb further, it started making me nuts. The cliffs to the right were too steep in most places to go down. It eventually got to me so much that I couldn’t hold off, and I started sliding down to get back to the canal. No one followed me at this point.
There were loose rocks on the hill, which made for some interesting footing.
I went back and forth carefully, and climbed over some fallen branches. The last bit of it was tough and I nearly fell, but I emerged in the grassy camping area maybe 100 feet away from the campers. They looked on as I trampled out into the field area that used to be the canal, and then just continued walking east. I only looked back once to take a photo of the former route.
I headed into the woods, and recognizable towpath and prism started up again.

Old waste weir

There was an old waste weird culvert thing a bit ahead, still in pretty good shape. The others were probably further ahead of me, I figured, so I hurried along, but managed to take photos.

Old canal store

The section became quite beautiful and watered just ahead, with good riprap walls to the right, and retaining walls in the steep slopes.
I was surprised when I heard the voices of my cohorts soon ahead. They were bushwhacking down the slope after it had gotten better, and reached part of the really nice section of canal. We had all worked up a sweat from what we were doing, so we took a break. Only Jen and I went in the water at this point, surprisingly. I figured more people would want to be in.

Berm Church Road bridge historic image

We continued along the towpath, and reached a washout site that had some stone along it. This was probably another waste weir of sorts, but it had much washed away. There was some caged rock that was much more modern at the site.

Berm Church Road bridge site today

Once across, it wasn’t long before we came out to a private house and a driveway. The house was built directly in the canal, and I think yet another one was in it ahead. We had to get out of there and follow the road at that point, so we headed up the driveway at an angle to reach Rt 97.
Amazingly, just after everyone had emerged from the driveway and was moving down the highway, a car pulled into it. That saved us some explaining what we were trying to do.

Pond Eddy historic view

When another driveway came in from the right after that, there was a bit more of the towpath we could get on and walk for a time, but then had to bushwhack back up to 97 again shortly, which was sort of a mess.
We headed along the road from there to the east, and came upon an old house to the left, which looked like it could have been a lock house. On the right, river side of the canal, was an old foundation. Rt 97 was completely built over the canal here.
Although nothing I have says that this was ever a lock house, I am inclined to believe that there might have been earlier locks in the area before the canal was refit. This could have been an earlier lock location that was omitted when other locks were made higher. Most of the locks in this area are ten foot lifts, which was high in the early days. Sometimes they’d use two step locks instead of one big one. It’s hard to say.
We walked the road a bit more, and Berm Road came in on the left. This is shown on maps as Berm and Church Road, which I think were separate roads but referred to collectively now. Just ahead from here, we reached A. Many’s Canal Store, a historic building on the left with the cornerstone “A. Maney 1898”. A historic marker called this an 1850s residence, so maybe a section of it is older. It was otherwise referred to as one of the last structures to be built in Pond Eddy when it was a canal town. It was pretty much the year canal operations closed.

Lock #63 and lock house

I knew nothing of the locks at the time, and so I was just taking photos as I went hoping to catch where the locks were. I’d thought either the previous house or the store were a lock site, but there was this next one that I wondered about.
There was an old stone house to the right and a slight grade difference in the road. I took the shot.
I later found out that this was in fact the site of Lock #63, the Pond Eddy Lock. The lift was also ten feet. The stone house was in fact the lock house. I still think that maybe in the past there were two locks and one was eliminated, but I have no way of proving it.

Historic original bridge at Pond Eddy

Shortly after the lock house, a road came in on the left, another piece of the Berm and Church Road. The road used to continue through but is closed off parallel with 97 here.
There was one bridge abutment here, from where the road originally went over the canal rather than where it goes over the filled in prism now. Beyond, there is an old house, another built by Albert Maney (who apparently built many) around 1880. This one served as a bridge keeper’s house on the canal.
We continued on from here with good views of the Delaware, and down stream to the new Pond Eddy Bridge, which had just opened the previous year. The old bridge next to it had since been removed; it was still standing when we last drove through.

Historic second Pond Eddy span

There were some masonry step type structures built into the slope to the left, which might have had something to do with loading and unloading.

New Pond Eddy Bridge

We next passed the site of the former Pond Eddy Aqueduct, also the site of a dry dock for the canal. No remnants of anything were here. Just wider area along the highway.
The original Pond Eddy Bridge was a suspension bridge built in 1870 that washed out in 1903. The Pennsylvania side was originally called Flagstone, but creation of the bridge prompted the Shohola PA settlement to change to the matching name. Bluestone quarries existed there, and it made shipping much easier having the bridge there. The more recent bridge was erected in 1903 in Petit Truss style. It was found to be very structurally deficient and was destroyed in late 2018 in favor of the new bridge.
The new bridge is also a single lane structure, all the way across the Delaware. This is proof that some of the bridges I’ve wanted to see saved, but government officials said “HAD TO” be replaced by two lane bridges was absolute bullshit.
We continued walking south from here along the road. There were occasional remnants of the berm side of the canal, with some water in a ditch, and all of the rip rap rock in place along the road. On the river side, at times the original wall that held up the towpath continues to hold up the edge of the road, amazingly.

Lock House, Lock 62

Lock #62 was just ahead, and a bit of a shock, because one wall was still in place, though partially reconstructed into the landscaping of a house there. It appears that the house is probably the lock house, but has been altered a great deal. The gate pockets for the lock were still visible, and the bypass flume would have been filled in just above in the level part of the landscaping. The ten foot lift lock was also known as Widow Kelley’s Lock.

Historic view back to Lock 62

In the section of highway ahead, I was able to set up a really good then and now shot of the highway, back when it was the canal. The lock and lock house in the historic photo are visible in the distance, and it’s easy to set up the view based on the shape of the mountains behind.

View back to Lock 62 today

We continued on ahead from here, and it was overall the most boring section. The problem here was that there were two locks in this section, but I didn’t know where I should be looking. Fortunately, being astute payed off because I probably not only found the lock sites, but might have found some things that others had not.

Bypass flume possibly lock 61

The next one, Lock #61, also known as Pa Gene Smith’s Lock, another ten footer, is completely covered over by the highway, but David Barber’s book claims that the masonry lined bypass flume remains to the left. I found this and photographed it. That is all that remains of the otherwise buried lock. No sign of a lock house.
The next one after that, Lock #60, was not very far off, and also reportedly has a bypass flume located up hill. I had seen foundations up slope at the previous one, but around where the book says this next lock should be, I didn’t see much. Maybe the previous foundations and such were the flume and buildings, and the Lock 60 was ahead. The one thing I thought might be the bypass flume had water running through it, so it could have been simply drainage. My main question was when we came to the next homes. The first one looked barn like and had some stone foundation, but didn’t look as old, but the second one had a very old stone foundation that was bowing out pretty badly, and an old chimney. I think this might have been a lock house. There was no other good reason for a home of this antiquity to be located here. As per older images, the house used to be covered in more trees, so it’s possible Mr. Barber might have missed this as a potential for a lock house.

I think this was a lock house

We passed a couple of ramshackle houses, and then another one with a stone foundation that could have potentially been a lock house as well.
We started to reach the settlement of Mongaup, named for the Mongaup River, and there was another old house off to the left, much bigger. There was another canoe rental place, and then several old rental cottages all abandoned on the left. Of course, I had to check them out.
They were in pretty bad shape, not used in a few years it would appear. They were apparently all rentals of some sort that have been out of service for a while. A few of us went in and looked around. Not much of anything left. Beyond the ones that were standing, there were openings where others would have been standing but have been removed.

Abandoned

We continued on along the road, and there was a stone wall along the left that must have been the edge of the canal, but oriented more vertically than the other rip rap walls. I was thinking this could have once been a lock site, but was not in the later configuration in Barber’s book. Maybe it was an earlier, smaller one at one time. There were stone steps built up to the wall to a private home area, and a chimney and foundation at the top that looked like it could have been a lock house site. Again though, this was not supposed to be a lock site.
The canal appeared to cut off of the road to the right for a bit, and I went off to the woods to have a look around. It seemed to turn. There was a square foundation out there of something, but I’m not sure what. I then came back out to Rt 97, and we took a break on the right at a national park service pull off with benches and such, at the Mongaup access.
There were two rangers there working out of a towable little portable ranger station, which was something I’d never seen before. They were handing out maps and answering people’s questions.
I was a little concerned here, because if they found out what we were attempting to do, they might try to shut us down. Navigating by Hawk’s Nest would be no easy chore.
Someone did talk to them about it, and the guy there said that he would highly recommend not walking the former canal because it would be impossible. He said that there was a dam release on the Mongaup River, which goes under the highway just ahead, and that any remnants of the canal would be under. I didn’t believe him.
The canal would have been built better than that. A dam release wouldn’t equal the amount of water of a major flood, and the canal was designed to withstand flooding. It seemed to me that it had to be up.
I told everyone quietly not to give them too many details. We didn’t need them worrying and heading out to find us. If we got out there and had to turn back, we’d turn back, but we had to try.
The rangers gave us free water, which was really nice, and we moved on along 97 toward the crossing of the Mongaup River. This was the site of a former wooden trunk aqueduct, for which there is very little evidence of today. There was a feeder canal that came down along the Mongaup to provide water for the canal downstream, and some of that stone work is in place today. Lock #59 was also on the south side of the aqueduct site, now covered over by Rt 97 and a parking area.
I had everyone regroup at the bridge and told them of the aqueduct and lock, and we then turned to the right to head down along the river walking sort of south.

Mongaup River and aqueduct site

The first remnants we came upon heading into the woods must have been the side wall for the feeder canal I suppose, or maybe the main canal heading forward. These were strong, vertical walls holding up pretty well, but not a lock. There were more foundations just ahead from this former Mongaup settlement. We continued along this as the canal route became more pronounced. we stayed on the towpath with many more foundations until we reached Lock #58.

Lock #58

Lock 58 was in really pretty nice shape, considering it’s at a spot that floods pretty badly. The inland wall was nearly perfect, with good gate pockets obvious, but the river wall was badly collapsed with only sections of it still standing vertical. It really wasn’t that far from the road, and despite having looked for this in the past, I’d never seen it before.
We continued from the lock along the towpath heading along the Delaware downstream which was quite nice. A girl and her kids were hanging out in the area heading to swim somewhere, and we asked if it was possible to continue through, but she really had no idea how passable it was.

Interesting waste weir

A little bit ahead, we stopped for a break at a drainage weir, which had a piece of stone on top of it, like a bridge. I wondered if most of them were like this one, because I’d not seen any like this one yet. I went down and under it, and then over to the Delaware. We took a break here and got in the water. It was getting pretty hot out.
The edge of the towpath was lined with slanting rock that was quite impressive all around this. We hung out, and I talked to Jason about his recent movie experiences, filming with Scorcese on the set of “The Irishman”, and of his work with a new national historic site he’d discovered while diving.
After our break, we were able to continue on the towpath pretty well ahead. There was a really open area along the way, and then back into some more woods. It was all passable, but there were some weeds. The canal became watered, and the section was just outstanding. It’s a wonder this bit was never made into a real public trail. It could certainly be rehabilitated.

D&H Canal

We moved on for a while longer and then the towpath started to get eroded. It soon disappeared entirely, but there were often signs of the berm side wall. We were forced out along the Delaware onto the flat rocks onto which the canal used to be secured. This flat rock area was blasted away specifically so the canal could be placed on it. We had a great view of the Eagles Nest highway beyond at this wide and open area.
We moved along the open rocks for a bit, until there was enough towpath intact that we could walk it again. I was surprised that not a longer stretch here had been destroyed. The canal soon became watered again and hidden in the shade of trees.

Lock house site for Lock 57

Soon, an opening on the berm side of the canal revealed some stone foundations, a chimney, and other ruins, as well as a more modern shelter sort of thing.

Hidden waterfalls

There was an old road heading up slope toward the highway above. This, surprisingly, was the ruins of the lock house from Lock #57, which we had not yet reached. Apparently, the lock is a half mile from the lock house, but I suppose they had to build where they could, because there wasn’t a lot of room along the cliffs in this section.
We pushed ahead a bit more, and came to a washed out spot where there would have been another weir. Some of the stone work was still in place. Just to the left, there were amazing waterfalls coming down off of the cliffs above. We all had to stop to admire this unexpected spectacle. They went farther up the cliffs than we could even see. It was absolutely stunning.
We moved on from here, and the canal became a bit more eroded. We were hugging the edges of cliffs until it got completely eroded away again, and we were forced out onto another flat rock where the canal used to be situated. We pushed on through this bit, and noted some holes in the rocks where the canal would have been secured with metal or something. One of them even looked sort of like a star bit drill.

Hidden waterfall into the canal prism

I have historic photos taken from about this point on the canal, so I made myself a then and now compilation while here.

Etchins in the rocks that held the canal

We pushed on ahead, and there were etchings in the rock that read “S.C.H. MAY ‘28”, and another reading “HH ‘28”. This was likely done in 1928, about thirty years after the canal was abandoned and likely already washed away here, but I suppose it is possible that these markings were put in place during the construction of the canal, because that was exactly a century earlier!

Lock #57 ruins

The next point of interest we came upon was the ruins of Lock #57, also known as Butler’s Lock. Only the land side wall was still intact, with the bypass flume along the cliff on that same side, but it was impressive to see. Even the gate pockets were discernible.
Russ and I followed along the base, through where the boats would have passed, and the rest of the group went above and walked through the bypass flume. Like others, this lift was ten feet.
The wing wall on the lower end of the lock was of fine cut stone and in good shape. Usually on the D&H, the lock walls are field stone, while the lead ins are more fine cut.
We headed from the lock along the river heading down stream over strewn boulders and through weeds. There was a piece of metal bar, possibly something that secured some of the canal in place, or something from the lock, laying on the ground.
Also somewhere around here, there was a concrete post with a pipe in it that read “Erie”, but the Erie Railroad was on the other side of the river here. We determined that it either washed there, or that they had surveyed to build on the NY side. It was intended for the Erie to be in NY the entire time, and they actually had to petition the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to build on the more practical west side.

Old car

We next came upon a wrecked car at the base of the cliffs. It was apparently a 1961 or 62 Chevrolet Biscayne. Four different tires including one snow tire led to assumption that this was a prank/disposal, not an accident. It certainly would have made a bang! My friend Joe Tag identified the vehicle after I posted it on Facebook.
We continued along the slopes, and the canal remained much washed out. We reached another area where it was just a stone shelf remaining with an outcropping to the water and a view to the later stone walls of the Hawks Nest Highway above. This area was known once as Hay Rock, because farmers used to ferry hay across the Delaware here.

Canal below Hawk's Nest

We moved along the rocks for a bit, and at times had to go along steep slopes where collapsed cliff debris completely covered the former canal. The slope was not easy going, and we went up and down around brush on the slope for the best footing. Eventually, he canal started to appear again slowly. At first it was sort of collapsed in, and then more recognizable.

Eventually, we had good towpath and prism in place again.
Rhododendrons started appearing heavily along the towpath, and we passed a couple of fire rings along the way. The area was known as the Bolton Sandbanks. We had to fight through the plants, and eventually came to a point where there were some stone foundations of some sort, and the canal abruptly ended at a purge where the Shinglekill, a small creek, has washed out the canal. I’m not sure if this was an aqueduct such as a stone arch, or if this was a weir site. It seemed rather heavy for the flow to be a weir, so I’m inclined to believe a culvert aqueduct.
The group stood on the north bank of the Shinglekill for some time trying to figure out what to do next. We let everyone catch up, and I decided I was going to do my best to push onward and see if I could find anything else of the canal. The rest of the group decided they would leave the canal and make their way out toward Rt 97.
The creek was moving hard and heavy, but not so bad that I couldn’t wade it. I decided to push on, and no one initially followed me. I turned to the right, and then found myself in a maze of heavy Japanese Knotweed. I didn’t see any remnants of the canal on the other side. The rest of the group moved on through yards or something to get out to the main roads.
I didn’t know it at the time, but Dan Westermann had followed me across. Of course, with the mess of vegetation, he lost me pretty quickly.
The far side of the creek is the former site of Bolton Basin, which I really wanted to check out, but there was no seeing anything through it. Instead, I pushed on toward the Delaware River to my right with hopes that I could find an easier way up to the shore. A road known as “The Hook” makes it’s way along the other side, and I wanted to find my way to it near where the Erie Railroad crosses the Delaware.
I walked a rocky shore of the river, still among the knotweed, but it started to let up a bit until the bridge was in plain view. I headed to directly beneath the still active former Erie line, and then decided to try to walk beneath or parallel with beneath the bridge. The knotweed got really bad again, the worst I had to deal with.
I ended up pushing through directly, which was a real workout, until I got to the slope up to The Hook. Once I got on the road, I noted that the former canal towpath and prism was kind of obvious. I backtracked a bit on it to see where it used to pass beneath the railroad. There was no sign of the bridge. It must be completely filled over, including abutments.
I climbed up directly over the tracks, and then back down the other side to resume the towpath. I thought the others might come walking down The Hook, but they didn’t. There was a good parking area along the river for access, but I stayed on the towpath.

Erie bridge

It opened up pretty well, and soon the road known as The Hook joined with the towpath to continue on it to the south. A watered section with rip rap rock was next, and it took me off into the woods south of the railroad bridge.
Soon, the canal prism was filled with jumbled rock and such, but the road moved onward. I was able to follow it very easily to where the road ended, at the point that the canal used to pass back under the Erie Railroad again. I climbed to the right of way on an ATV path, and walked the tracks briefly to the right, until there was a bit of an opening and what looked like a rough path back down to the towpath.
The canal was very recognizable again on the other side, but much more overgrown. It was still passable for a time, but then got rough. There was another drainage weir out there, which my camera screwed up and didn’t save the photo to. I had to leave the towpath and head down to the woods parallel, and then out to a ninety degree bend in Darraugh Lane, where the canal crossed.
From this point, the canal was pretty much watered and Darraugh Lane followed the towpath side. I walkd on along the road, which was a nice stretch parallel with Rts 97 and 42 together in Sparrowbush.

Canal in Sparrowbush

I continued to Eddy Farm Road, where I turned to the left out to Rt 97 and 42, and the old canal was parallel. When I reached the highway, I could see the group just ahead of me. Some of them had moved off more quickly ahead, but the majority of them were still there. There was no sign of Dan, who had gotten behind a bit. I’m not sure what way he followed from behind me to make his way back.

Old store in Sparrowbush

The canal crossed the highway briefly, and there was a long, old wooden building, probably dating back to canal days. A bit further, where the canal passed back under the highway again, there was an old store up on the slope, most certainly from canal days. I wondered if this was the store for which the ledger given to me by Jim Alden a couple of years back.
The D&H Canal ledger was sold to him and marked “Delaware Canal”, but upon inspection, it was actually Delaware and Hudson, and the store was in Sparrowbush. It dated to the last years of the canal, around 1897. It was full of beautiful penmanship but grievous misspelling.

A page out of the old ledger from 1881

We continued down Rt 97 south, with the former canal to the right of us the entire time. I eventually pushed my way into the woods to walk more closely to it, and got across a somewhat watered section on a fallen log. There was also an abutment at a former bridge site.
The towpath side was altered and probably lowered somewhat along the fence of I think a junk yard. When I got to the end of the junk yard, there was a fence over it. I had to go down and around, swing over the water in the prism, and climb back up the other side to where it became a formal trail.
This section I had done with Jillane several years before. The towpath is paved, and widens to about five feet every so often. This must be the ADA accessible thing, which is thirty six inches wide, widening to five feet once every one thousand feet. It remains like this all the way out to West Main Street in Port Jervis.
No one joined me for this nice trail section. They chose to stay on the road while I pushed through quickly. There was another old bridge site on the way, and Rt 97 climbed to a much greater elevation than the canal.

D&H Canal in Port Jervis

We reconvened at Main, and continued south from there where the canal is filled in, but still a trail out to a parking lot at the base of Delaware Street. It appears a section of it is cut away at this point. Beyond, Canal Street is the former canal through a lot of Port Jervis, but this would conclude our canal exploring for this hike.
We turned to the right, and headed out to the old Erie Railroad turntable, which had an engine that looked like an F Unit on it, but it was something similar as I recall.
Many of the rail cars through the area were lettered with Erie Greenwood Lake Division writing, which was kind of neat to see.
We cut through town to Front Street, then to Jersey Avenue to head back. We passed the old Erie Depot and Erie Hotel, which are very nice, and there was music very audible throughout the most active part of town. I think it was the Beatles’ “Penny Lane” that was playing as we entered. I thought it kind of strange that each street corner had a speaker on it and that music played all the time, but I actually like it. It was a neat idea and kind of uplifting.

Erie Turntable

We soon reached the cars at the dollar store, and Sandy waited to see if Dan would show up. It turned out he was really close, and made it back on his own shortly after the rest of us had pulled out. Some of us stopped for dinner I think at the River Runner’s Roost, which was good.

Erie Port Jervis depot

I really enjoyed this hike immensely, because it was something that hardly anyone ever sees. So much of this series has been just that, and this sort of feels like the last time we’ll see anything so remote and undocumented.

Erie Port Jervis depot

We only have about four hikes remaining in the series, and will probably finish with it by the end of 2019, pending availability of Matt, Russ, Ewa, and I, and then we’ll continue by doing some more anthracite themed stuff on a monthly basis, and go back for more D&H Gravity alignments, Pennsylvania Coal Company Gravity Railroad, and more I’m sure. But, this was the last bit of the D&H along the Delaware, and we’ll be heading up the valleys of the Neversink River and the Basha Kill in the next two hikes. These will be much easier, and I understand much of it is now a trail. The Basha Kill one is almost entirely trail. And so, the worst part is now finished with.
We’ll soon have to figure out what the grand finale of the D&H main series will be.

HAM