Hike #1253; Basha Kill Loop

Hike #1253; Basha Kill Loop

9/7/19 Basha Kill Loop/Westbrookville and Wurtsboro with Matthew Davis, Russ Nelson, Ewa Wdzieczak-Smering, Jennifer Berndt, John DiFiore, Kristina Sekulovski, Stephen Argentina, Robin Deitz, Diane Reider, Dan Lurie, Kevin Kowalick, and Kathryn Cataldo.

This next hike would actually be almost a repeat of one I’d done twice before, but as a loop it was so good that it merited doing it twice previously. This time, it fit into the Delaware and Hudson series.

On the canal

We had done really great in this series so far, our effort to travel the same journey taken by a piece of anthracite coal from mine to market on the Hudson River.
This was the tenth hike in the main Delaware and Hudson series. Rather than just do the canal the entire way, I thought it would be nice to do the loop I’d done before, and then pay another visit to the Bashakill Vineyards, where we had stopped the last time I did it.
We really liked our visit back then, and I told them I’d eventually come back with the group. Well, that was a decade ago, but we did finally make it back.

On the canal

By going this way, there is also the opportunity to fit it into another series on the New York, Ontario, and Western Railroad. The Port Jervis Branch I had already followed south from Summitville all the way to Guymard Turnpike, but not anything else. I intend to merge this Delaware and Hudson series, when finished, with a simple anthracite series, using railroads and canals in their historic routes for as long as we have interest. That will bring us to that line anyway.
I chose Westbrookville, right where we left off, as the meeting point. The Pine Kill Deli is across the street from the Basha Kill Wildlife Management Area parking access, and a place people could get breakfast and such, so it’d work out well.

The canal, apparently near Wurtsboro

When I arrived, my car was overheating badly, and the entire engine was full of all sorts of orange crap. This was not good. I bought a container of antifreeze to pour in, but it just went right out on the ground. I figured I’d have to keep pouring water in later. I tried not to think about it too much and set out to enjoy the hike.

This was the only really bad weedy part

Jen asked the guy in a building adjacent to where we parked if we would be okay to leave the cars there, rather than head down into the WMA parking area further down. We were good, and so we left from right there.
There is literally no service in this area, so we’d have to make due with nothing. If anyone wanted to meet up, it would be kind of hard until service was back.
After everyone had pretty much arrived, we prepared to head out. The route of the canal crosses the access road to the public land at Basha Kill Lake, and just to the southwest of this point was where an aqueduct carried the canal over the Pine Kill. We had walked over the parallel road bridge on 209 when we came through previously.

On the canal

When we got to the canal, we immediately turned to the left into the weeds to begin following the towpath. It was not at all clear at first, but it got a little better as we went.
It was still passable, which isn’t bad or Summer. We continued until another path came in on the right, and then the towpath was totally clear to continue.
The canal was up on a high shelf above the Basha Kill wetlands, and it weaved around in splendid curves. The stone work on the berm side was usually very nice. This whole area was a pleasure to walk.

Old bridge site, probably Macauleys Bridge

There were some sites where there were old bridges that once spanned the canal. In these areas, sometimes the canal is filled across for a simpler crossing, and the abutments to the original bridge remain beyond. The stone of the “newer” crossings might be quite historic too, because the canal was taken out of service in 1898. That makes even that significantly old.
One of the bridges we came across the site of was known as Macauley’s Bridge. A little bit after that, a stream came in and eroded the floor of the canal out quite a lot. It then breached the towpath to head to the right, and a foot bridge spanned the missing bit. We crossed that and regrouped on the other side. Kat, Kevin, and a couple others had fallen behind a bit, so we let them catch up. They were worried they didn’t go the right way, because there were other little trails going off in other directions. At this point, the route was pretty obvious still.

Oak Brook Aqueduct site

We continued ahead, and another old road crossed the towpath with stone work over it, but the original site, probably the site of Heeley’s Bridge, had abutments just beyond.

Oak Brook Aqueduct site

We continued ahead, and Oak Brook came in on the left. This brook was completely dry at this time, but evidently gets to be a real rager. Just ahead is the former site of Oak brook Aqueduct. The abutments used to be in good shape here, and a foot bridge spans the former east end of the abutment walls. Now, there are signs reading to keep off of the bridge, and the canal trail is routed down hill and around the aqueduct site. The abutments are collapsing very badly, and part of where the foot bridge is looks about ready to fall over. We went under it to check out the remaining stone work and got some photos. It won’t be many years and the remains of this structure will likely be destroyed by floods like the rest of it was.
We passed the former site of David Brown’s Bridge, and then another filled in section with a cross road beyond that. The towpath throughout this was lovely.
We missed it, but if we had taken the one road up hill, we would have reached the Brown family cemetery, hidden back in the woods dating from 1800-1856. I have to certainly go back to look around.

Along the canal at a former crossing site

Soon, the canal emerged at the end of a driveway with a gate. A house on the left was built on the canal. We had to walk out the driveway for a bit until we came to Haven Road.
We regrouped again, and then continued from Haven Road into some woods beyond a building that was one of those Elks Club type places, like a Moose or one of those other places with cheap beer for members.
The canal got to be hard to follow ahead. It was overgrown, and a trail went out across a meadow to the right. We followed it briefly, but then cut off trail to try to get back over to the canal. This was the roughest part of the entire hike.

The canal north of Haven

We just couldn’t fight through on the towpath the entire way. The area had had some sand quarrying and such over the years, and it just wasn’t feasible to get through. We had to go to the right up hill a bit, and then descended after a steep spot to return to the canal, where some masonry gave away what it was. The canal remained pretty close to Rt 209 up until where we got back on it, and then it turned away again to the right.
I remember there being an abandoned house somewhere in this area, but I didn’t see it. It must have been torn down at some point. I also remembered there being an abandoned car, and we found that. It was a fifties model with the rocket ship looking back.

The abandoned house I was looking for, as it appeared in 2009 with Kyle Zalinsky

There was a major washout in the canal in this section. It was not the site of a former aqueduct or anything, just a washed out spot that might just be because of some highway drainage. The towpath resumed again on the other side near the abandoned car. It was an easy walk on it from here to where it crossed over Rt 209.
We dashed over, and on the other side was probably the former route of 209, because there was a stone culvert that would have been built just after the abandonment of the canal. There would have been a more substantial bridge here, because the road dated back to colonial days. It is likely that this is the route of the Old Mine Road. If not, it could have been on the other side of the wetland, but it was likely here.

The old car

We continued along a nice wide towpath through this section, with houses closer to either side. The towpath remained clear for the most part through this section ahead, until we started to get closer to where it came back across Rt 209. Ewa was leading the way at this point, and dipped down to walk in the prism of the canal. There was a dead deer on the towpath in this area, and she cautioned us to stay off of that part and remain in the prism.
Someone had annexed their back yard onto the towpath as we neared 209 anyway, so it was best to be in the prism until we were on the other side.
The other side was much clearer and easier again. We continued with some houses in view on the left of the canal, and came to a weird breach in the towpath. There were a lot of masonry ruins in this area that I couldn’t at first identify. I did not bring my guide book to the canal, nor did I refer to it ahead of time because I thought I remembered everything pretty clearly. I knew there were no real locks in this area, but I soon realized I forgot too much and should have referred to it.

Dry dock entrance lock, Graham's Dock

Just ahead of the little breach, the stone work had a large enclosed area to the right, and a large one to the left. There was what appeared to be possibly a weir, and then a lock to the right. Looking at the site, I assumed this must have been a dry dock for boat repair. It would explain why there would be a large stone enclosed area and what looked like a lock.

Graham's Dock, a dry dock

It turns out I was right. This was Graham’s Dock, a dry dock that held several boats at a time. The opening of it appeared to have lock gate recesses in it as well. There was an access road out to the area that appeared to be newer than the rest of the stuff there, with a small opening to allow for water to pass through. That was probably a post-1898 structure.
The canal was really nice ahead of this point. We left where we could see to the houses, which was good because we thought we heard someone yelling from one of the houses as we were heading out.
As we headed into the woods, there was what was probably a chimney off to the left, followed by another old canal basin where it widened out.

Old weir site

A little further on, there was a waste gate site through the towpath, with some of the east wall of it still standing. We climbed down and back up the other side to continue to the east. The canal also passed in this area through one of the deepest cuts on the entire route. There was a high hill to the right, and we were just cut right through the center. To the right of this, I noted what almost looked like it could have been canal and towpath below us, but was probably not. I can’t help but wonder if the canal was ever rerouted in some of these areas during the 1840s improvements, and maybe some locks were eliminated. One might never know if it was not documented. I have no idea what that little remnant to the right could have been otherwise.
We soon reached Rt 17. It filled over the canal, and in the past I’d just dash across and then get back on it on the other side. We took a break here to regroup.

Unfortunately, there was a cop with someone pulled over within sight of this. We could have gone around the fence and dashed over, but he was sitting there the entire time we were waiting. Then, a second cop car showed up behind the first one. There was no way we were getting through. We had to walk up slope to Rt 209 and cross 17 on that.
Once on the other side, there was no trail to get back down to the towpath. When the bridge was replaced in 2003, there was supposed to be an access, but apparently it was never built on this side. I didn’t want to walk past the obvious “no pedestrians” signs on the exit ramp to 17, so we walked only briefly and then bushwhacked down the slope carefully through the woods. This would get us back to the towpath just beyond the Rt 17 fill.

Junk on the canal

The towpath was good for a little bit from this point, but then started to get all bulldozed out. I’m not sure what happened here, but the entire former canal route was bulldozed flat. Almost all of the towpath save for a tiny bit of it was bulldozed in in this area. There were old appliances dumped back there, and we turned to the left to reach an ATV or utility vehicle access. This continued along the route of the canal heading toward Wurtsboro.
The route soon became a gravel road, and some of the prism became more obvious again as we weaved back and forth around more dramatic curves. Were were high up, about forty feet above the level of the wetland and the Basha Kill. Somewhere in this area was the former site of Sneed’s Basin, but it’s not exactly obvious.
There were some houses along the berm side as we got closer to town, and then the access road came in from the left.

Delaware and Hudson Canal approaching Wurtsboro looking west

The canal turned to the right and was a grassy trail with a power line along it. We followed this with more homes visible off to the left as we walked.

The scene today

The group started getting much farther ahead of me in this area because I was trying to set up more of my then and now photos, but I couldn’t quite place where the site was.

Church then...

I started heading to them to catch up, but then there was an access to the left where there was a yard sale, so of course I had to go over to check it out.
There wasn’t anything there that I couldn’t live without, so I headed back onto the towpath, which curved to the east in the area.
That stop must have been Hudson Street. I soon reached the former crossing with Pennsylvania Avenue, which was where I had turned on and off the previous times I had hiked this. The road here is now the route of The Long Path, the long distance hiking trail which connects New York City with the Adirondacks, which I’m also working on a series slowly to one day finish. It’s not looking like I’ll be doing that one any time soon however.
We turned left on Pennsylvania Avenue, and saw some snubbing posts. One was near to the canal, and the next one was just ahead in front of the Village Office. It was at this point we had reached that construction began on the first bit of the Delaware and Hudson Canal on July 13th, 1825.

The church today

Pennsylvania Avenue reached Sullivan Street, the main drag in town, and the Long Path turned to the right to head back to the ridge. We went to the left, because the next order of business was lunch.
My plan was to go to a bar and restaurant place at the corner known as Danny’s. We had stopped there to eat on a previous one and found it to be quite good, but this time not everyone wanted to go there. I was still leaning toward Danny’s, but everyone else had seen Las Mananitas Mexican restaurant.
I walked out to the corner at Rt 209 because I wanted to set up some then and now photos. I had one of the Danny’s restaurant, which is a historic hotel. I had another couple of them of churches, but I could only positively identify one of the locations. I then headed back to the rest of the group who had already gotten seated at Las Manatitas. I was getting hungry, so this would be a good stop.

The canal from Pennsylvania Ave

The restaurant was clearly not prepared to deal with the number of people in our group. The lady working the place had to call in another guy, maybe her father, to help out.

The canal from Pennsylvania Ave today

Because it was going to take longer, we got lots of complimentary cheese quasadillas. They put them all out on the table, but not everyone wanted one, and so I ended up eating at least four of them. They were pretty tasty. They also brought us at least three chip baskets.

This is what is now Danny's

I ate way too many chips as well, and also had a good lunch of enchiladas. They were also great. However, by the time we were out of there, I was so stuffed I felt ready to die.

Danny's today

The town of Wurtsboro dates far back to original Dutch settlement when the entire area around it was known as Mamakating. That name is now only applied to the little settlement to the north. The settlement grew around the Old Mine Road, and after settlers counted the peaks on the mountains visible, they ambitiously named the town Rome.

Historic snowy view down Sullivan Street

The town name was retained until 1812, and some sources say it was then called “Church of Rome” for the local church that took it’s name. When the canal arrived, it was renamed “Wurtsborough” and then “Wurtsboro” after one of the D&H Canal officers.

This is now Rt 209

We headed from town back down Sullivan Street. I had intended to get back on the canal where it crossed Sullivan, but I was such a bloated mess from Mexican food that I couldn’t bare to do even that little bit more at this point.

Another historic Wurtsboro scene

We followed Pennsylvania Avenue from Sullivan back over where the canal had been, and continued past the Emma C. Chase School, along the route of the Long Path.
We passed that original snubbing post where the canal had first begin in 1825. I didn’t notice if the plaque was still affixed to it, but I know it was there the time we went by in May of 2009.
We continued down the road, where I had not returned since that trip in 2009. There used to be some old houses along the right side of the road in this area, and on my last visit I was told by a guy nearby that they were soon to be torn down. Of course, both times I had to explore extensively.

Snubbing post in May 2009

Of course, all of these beautiful old houses are gone now. It was hard to even try to figure out where exactly they stood as we were going by, but I think I figured it out.

The old house in 2009, May

The things still had a lot of stuff left in them when I had explored them before. Kids toys, a piano that could barely be played, all sorts of stuff. I figure they probably tore the whole thing down with everything inside.
We continued along the road, which had some nice little pond views to the left.
When the road turned to the left with another pond on the right, there was a yard decorated for Halloween already. I can’t believe how much people have been rushing the Summer to be over with. I’m not nearly done with swimming.
Just past this, we came to the former crossing site of the Port Jervis Branch of the New York, Ontario, and Western Railroad.
The “O&W” as it’s called started out as the New York and Oswego Midland Railroad in 1868, but became the O&W in around 1880. It operated from Weehawken NJ all the way out to Oswego with the branches to Port Jervis, Scranton, and many other little ones.

Historic O&W scene at Westbrookville

The O&W is particularly significant because it was the first railroad to entirely abandon it’s route in one day, on March 29th 1957. Many claim it should never have been built at all.

The old house outside of Wurtsboro in June 2009

We continued walking the old O&W line to the south from here. It wasn’t long before we passed beneath Route 17. There were lots of little bridges over tributaries through here.

Old house site today

The first time I’d hiked this, the tributaries were good spots to go in for a swim, but this time they were looking scuzzy and inundated further back. I think beavers have been active.

The O&W/Long Path

The site was nice and easy walking. The Long Path follows the entire section from where we got on it to Westbrookville, so it’s well maintained. That trail only deviates from it a bit closer to the Westbrookville site where it goes up onto a knoll to view the wetlands. I’d actually never walked the rail bed all the way through that section, so that bit of it would be new to me.
There were frequent openings to the right with some great views out over the wetlands. The trail seemed mowed in some areas, but in others it got narrower and was harder. There were even still railroad ties in place when it got closest to the wetland.

Tributary bridge

There were a couple of new bridges on this route, but most of them were the ones I remembered from before. We passed by an old concrete structure to the left, which had something to do with the railroad but I have no idea what.

Old ties

Eventually, we came to Haven Road, at the sort of mid way point back to Westbrookville. There is parking there, and it’s always kind of a popular place. Haven Road was now closed out over the middle of the wetland for some reason.
We continued further on, and the sound of music could eventually be heard through the trees coming from the Bashakill Vineyards. The next parking lot for the wetland preserve was filled with patrons for the winery.
The ground had been covered in Red Efts, which is the juvenile stage of the Eastern Newt, and some young girls were gathering them up out of the parking area so they didn’t get run over, and letting them go closer to the water. It was neat to see them retreat so quickly to the water.
We turned left and headed up to the winery. A lot of the group was ahead of me at this point. My ankle was hurting me pretty bad because I rolled it on the previous night hike.

A stone ruin on the rail bed

Feeling completely stuffed like a pregnant man didn’t help matters either.
I had intended to get to the winery far earlier, but the lunch stop took well over an hour. Probably more like two hours. We were getting close to the closing time at the winery, so I was hurrying along to try to get there as best I could.
The winery is up a bit of a hill, and we hurried up to get there. I tried to get right on line for a tasting, but then about half the group said they wanted to just go back. I hurriedly tried to get folks together because I wanted to get my group shot before everyone left.

The rail bed

Unfortunately, I couldn’t get them to wait too much longer, and Kat and Kevin ended up missing the group shot because of it. They did arrive not too long after the others left.
When the others moved on, I headed down to get my wine tasting. I had literally just made it with only a little time to spare. The live music was getting over with, and the winery closes at 6 pm. They didn’t kick us all out at sick, it was just when they stopped serving. We sat around at the table above a handsome fountain display for a little while before finally deciding to move on to the trail.

Dan stares on at the Long Path sign in horror and disbelief

Kat and Kevin opted to call for an Uber back to Kat’s car in Westbrookville, despite it being only just a bit over two miles left to the end. Jen said as we were walking along the beautiful waterfronts that they had skipped the prettiest part of the entire hike.

Basha Kill Wetlands

I told Jen I would let her tell them that, because I probably sound like I say that all the time, guilting people who leave early. Honestly, when I do say it, I mean it, but based on the rest of the hikes I don’t think they ever believe me.
In this case, it was quite accurate though. The best views were in this last two miles.

Basha Kill Wetlands on the rail bed

The trail was nice for a bit, but when the Long Path turned away to the right, I still had originally considered following it. I remembered there being a good place for a dip down there, which I did on my second to last time out there.
This time, we remained on the rail bed, but it did get pretty muddy and overgrown, which is one of the reasons the Long Path was routed to that higher ground.
I was surprised to see a Long Path sign out on the rail bed, back from the days before they moved it to higher ground. It almost looked like a joke in that big mess.

Basha Kill Bridge site

I got ahead in this next section, and the railroad bed came right along the edge of the wetlands, which was just stunning. We continued along with the path lined in white birch toward the end of this stretch.
The Long Path turned off to the left, but I continued ahead just a little bit to the point where the O&W used to cross the Basha Kill. There, I used the opportunity to take the dip in the creek that I’d wanted all day long. This section looked cleaner and a lot less stagnant than the rest of it. The Basha Kill has a tiny dam over it just a little down stream, and flows more free from here.

Westbrookville Station

After my dip, we backtracked to the Long Path, and then emerged on Indian Orchard Road. We turned to the right and passed a fishing and observation pier, then reached Otisville Road where we turned right to cross the Basha Kill.

At the old station site

We followed Otisville Road to where the railroad used to cross, and I had historic photos of the station I wanted to try to emulate. Russ and I examined the site a bit to try to determine exactly where the tracks were, and I think we figured it out.
We then continued to the north a bit, and I pointed out to everyone where the canal used to cross. We had passed the development we had to walk out of on the previous hike in the dark, and we didn’t really get to see any of that site when we went by then.

Delaware and Hudson Canal crossing in Westbrookville

We soon reached Rt 209, and and passed a building that was once a church or school, and the historic marker for the fort that originally was built here upon settlement. It had been built by Tjerck Van Keuren Westbrook, and the town takes it’s name from him. There are some handsome old buildings of great antiquity along Rt 209 in this area as well.
We turned right and soon were at the Pine Kill Deli, with the cars over to the right.
I did manage to get the van home alright, although we did have to refill the radiator with water when we stopped at Dan’s house to drop him off. I was able to get the van repaired within a few days, and ready to go for the next adventure.
As we move forward on the Delaware and Hudson series, we’re talking about what amazing ending we should have when we reach the Hudson River. The next one is pretty cut and dry between Wurtsboro and Ellenville area, but the following ones are a bit more complicated in terms of parking and logistics. There are two canal routes to do when we get to High Falls. We could do another loop with the O&W through these areas because there’s a branch to Kingston. The sections just don’t work out to the right numbers for the hikes, so I’m working on figuring out how we’ll go about doing it. I don’t think it should be a hurry to get these last legs of it done, but we also can’t be putting it off. The sections beyond Rosendale and High Falls might require some river walking, so I’m afraid we might have to jump back to some more gravity railroad stuff in the same series for a couple of the months of the Winter. We’ll see what happens....

HAM