Hike #1268; Cranberry Lake to Great Meadows
10/30/19 Cranberry Lake to Great Meadows with and Ken Zaruni, Sue Bennett, Celeste Fondaco Martin, Jennifer Tull, Carolyn Gockel Gordon, and Dan Lurie
This next hike would be a point to point between Cranberry Lake and Great Meadows New Jersey, focusing on the abandoned railroads in the area.
Whitehall Hill area
I’d done a lot on all of these railroad lines over the years. Although it was stuff that was all familiar to me, there have been a lot of changes to the area that make it worth going back and exploring further.
The hike would focus on the Sussex Branch Trail, formerly the Sussex Railroad and after that the Sussex Branch of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western, followed by the Lehigh and Hudson River Railway.
The Sussex Branch started out in the 1830s as a mule drawn railroad between the furnaces, the Morris Canal, and the iron mines of Andover.
Cranberry Lake
It was rebuilt, almost on an entirely different parallel route, as the Sussex Railroad when locomotive use started. It was extended further north to Branchville and the many arteries came along from that.
The Lehigh and Hudson started out in the 1870s under the charter for the Pequest and Wallkill Railroad. That charter eventually came to life under three different railroads occupying segments of what the original charter proposed (the other two are New York, Susquehanna, and Western and Lehigh and New England). The Sussex Branch was abandoned in 1968, and the Lehigh and Hudson in 1986.
Sussex Branch
The Sussex Branch is pretty much the same as my first time I’d ever hiked it, but the Lehigh and Hudson has gone through some major changes with new sections having been cleared.
I had hiked through on the section just a bit over a year before, and it was absolutely awful. Sections were blocked and such, but we managed to get through.
I had found out from Mike Brennan that the section was now clear from Andover Junction to the south. I needed to see it.
In addition, I also wanted to get some of my then and now history photos at Cranberry Lake.
Sussex Branch
I planned the hike to end in Great Meadows, and we would shuttle to the beginning at Cranberry Lake. There would be a tiny bit of stuff I’d not done, but not much.
I met everyone at Nykun’s Store where we got snacks and drinks, and then moved out cars up past the cemetery on the hill next to the Great Meadows fire department. We then shuttled in my van to the start point.
I parked at the commuter lot at Cranberry Lake where we met up with Dan.
I headed out right away to start getting my then and now shots. I had several of the station area, the foot bridge over Cranberry Lake, the tracks, and then views of the lake from various rock outcroppings.
I headed along the rail grade to get all of those ones first, then met with the group to take a side trip over the rocks. No one really wanted to see the view out there, so I went by myself up to check it all out. It was quite nice.
The bridge at Cranberry Lake
Cranberry Lake really used to be quite the little vacation destination. It’s amazing that a version of the foot bridge over the lake still stands, although at this point it’s failed inspections and they’ve talked of taking it down. That would be rather tragic.
After checking out the views, we headed out along the Sussex Branch to the north.
We crossed over the commuter lot section and the lakeside road, then continued north over Whitehall Hill area. Whitehall Hill Road runs parallel with the railroad grade, and I climbed the steep slope to set up another then and now with that one. We continued along the trail as it separated from Rt 206 a bit, followed a high fill, crossed Whitehall Hill Road on the stone culvert known as the “Hole in the Wall”, and then headed to the Lackawanna Cutoff underpass.
Historic image of Cranberry Lake foot bridge and the Sussex Branch
We came out the other side and crossed the couple of streets heading in through Andover. I set up one more then and now shot there, which would be the last one I would get for the night as it was getting too dark at this point.
Sussex Branch
We continued through a couple of parking lots and then back onto the trail heading to the north through town. It backs up against a few houses in this stretch with some of the most obnoxious dogs ever. They bark like crazy and act quite aggressive. There’s no good way about doing night hikes through this section after it really does get dark because they go so nuts and there’s no way you could walk through undetected.
A little ways north of there we came to the former site of Andover Junction. This was always a rough spot, and you couldn’t even tell what it was unless you knew until recently.
Sussex Branch Lackawanna Cutoff underpass
The Lehigh and Hudson River Railway crossed the Sussex Branch here, and continued north to Maybrook NY and south to Belvidere NJ. When I first started hiking this bit, it was still recognizable, and somewhat passable, with difficulty. The last time I did it with Ken and Dan Asnis, it was an absolute nightmare to get through.
It was crazy to look down that right of way and see it completely clear now. There was a sign saying area closed, and that it was the “future trail to Green Township”. The ballast rock was still down, which is uncomfortable, but that’s it.
Sussex Branch in Andover
We all turned to the left and started following the rail grade to the southwest.
Aside from the ballast being somewhat uncomfortable, it was alright to walk.
We continued out past where I had observed the illegal dumping, and it seemed like much of that site had been cleaned up. It makes me wonder if maybe I had something to do with this being clear because of that report.
We soon crossed the access road to that area where the dumping was, and there was an ATV with lights on idling just barely out of sight. I stopped to see what it was going to do.
Sussex Branch in Andover
I figure whoever it was probably wasn’t supposed to be there either, because they took off toward the woods on the other side of the field and never came any closer to us.
We continued walking through the fields to the south, then came through a section of woods below a house before reaching the grade crossing at the little colloquial town name of Brighton.
At this point, the right of way was still cleared straight ahead, but I knew that this led to the culvert underpass of the Lackawannna Cutoff.
The Cutoff is a problem back in this area. Officially, DEP owns the land to the very center of the culvert, and the other side of it is somewhat in question.
Sussex Branch in Andover
A guy has the underpass fenced off on both sides, and he is using it for storage.
Where it stands currently, the state has the right to remove the fence on the north side, but not officially on the south side. NJ Transit wants to claim ownership of the culvert so that they can maintain it, so the state is in a position where they can either try to fight for this, which might be costly, or they could let NJ Transit do it for them because they would have to do it anyway. Regardless of what action is taken, it could be years before there is finally any decisions are made that open this section to public.
I was planning on climbing up the fill to the Lackawanna Cutoff, then back down the other side as I had done the previous time I was up there, however it would be really tough in the dark. I decided that was probably not a good idea, and opted instead to head right at Brighton, and then left on the next road to get under the underpass for the road. We could then follow the road out past Trinca Airport and get back on the rail bed where it’s formally developed as a trail at the next intersection below the airport.
My then and now at Andover Junction
Just before we had come out to the road, Celeste had seen a bear on the trail. I apparently walked right by it without noticing. Dan decided to Uber out when we got to the road.
The rest of us continued walking as planned. The road walk wasn’t all that bad, but when we got to the south side of the Lackawanna Cutoff, there was a guy in one of the houses to the right mumbling some sort of angry crap to Celeste.
He had asked what we were doing, and she said we were just out hiking. It must have been obvious. She was walking Benny and we weren’t up to anything.
Recently cleared Lehigh and Hudson River Railway seen from Andover Junction
I suppose it must have been rather unbelievable because it was mischief night.
We continued to the railroad bed at Creek Road and continued on a nice and relaxing path back to Tranquility where the side paths lead to the ball fields. We had an easy walk right out to the post office and to Kennedy Road.
Beyond, the right of way was moved for a short bit, but then got badly overgrown with lots of branches over the way. I usually fight through this stuff in the daylight without a problem, but at this point it was going to be too hard. We backtracked, and then took a side path to the west side that took us up into the Tranquility Cemetery which runs parallel.
Somewhere in the back of the cemetery is the grave of a young boy that was hit by a train while hauling a cart over the tracks in area here. I didn’t notice it.
Another then and now
We followed the cemetery to the end, and then started to follow parallel farm fields. The right of way was still a bit too hard to fight through at this point.
The fields were set up with some sort of signage so that people could get around them any way. They must have some sort of hay ride or eco tourism thing going on.
Historic image of Tranquility Station
We stayed in the fields for a bit, and eventually the arrow marked perimeter drive turned off to the right while we continued into the weeds on the railroad bed again.
It was somewhat passable at this time, but not really good. There was no other option at this time because it was too weedy on either side, and there were cows or something on the opposite side. We just moved on through slowsly and quietly until we got to the farm lane crossing. Beyond that, the railroad bed is totally public land for quite a good while.
We followed the path from here through some nice woods, and crossed Trout Brook on a bridge. This is a major tributary to the Pequest River.
Soon, we came out to the old Allamuchy Freight Station, which was restored.
Allamuchy freight and passenger station
The passenger station at this site is long gone, but the freight station survives. It was in terrible shape when I started doing the hikes through this area, but it was very well refurbished. We stood behind it and let Celeste give Benny some food before we moved on to the section ahead, which is pretty good and clear.
We came upon an interesting sign in the stretch we had just come from saying that althrough it is public land it was not open to hunting, directly under a no trespassing sign.
Another then and now
We had a good stretch between fields and woods in the section ahead, and then the next road crossing was Long Bridge Road. We crossed into a larger parking area where fire engines turn around, and crossed the Pequest on a concrete bridge. We had to deviate slightly from the rail bed into a field to reach the underpass beneath Rt 80, but overall it was good.
After that, the section ahead got to be slightly grown in more than I’d seen it in past years, but still easily clear and passable. We made our way across the open parking lot near the ball fields and past the side trail that’s to become part of Warren Highlands Trail to the Allamuchy Municipal Building.
The section out through Alphano Flats is still perfect. Nothing blocking the way, and just a lovely section to walk. It had been raining a bit, and it got pretty humid here.
Another then and now
We continued on the rail grade out to Young’s Island Road, totally clear, but beyond was not. There was a state park gate over the right of way, but now there was a lot of other junk blocking the way in front of it. There were also no trespassing signs illegally put up over the section.
I was annoyed to see this, but more concerned about how we were going to get through this next section. Ken and I went up and over to try to start following the rail bed.
The weeds in the section were absolutely deplorable. I had to lift my legs high to be able to knock any of them down enough to push on though.
This was quite the workout to get through. We pushed though, and after a large tree was climbed through, the right of way was clear beyond.
There’s a Superfund site on the right in this next section. I’ve been told recently that the section there was where war chemicals were made and hauled by train. When I first started walking the section years ago, there was still a guard in the shanty next to it.
We continued on the grade to where a beam bridge carried the railroad over the irrigation ditch to Post Island. There is a wooden ramp up to the one side of it, and plywood on the top to make it easier to get through.
Once on the other side, we had to push down through weeds to the left to reach a farm lane, then kept to the right to continue on the rail grade. It was somewhat overgrown, but not too bad. The rest of what we walked would be alright from here.
We continued through woods, and then with fields on either side until we got to Nykun Lane.
At this point, I didn’t want to chance anything. The right of way was clear up ahead, but it starts to go behind people’s houses. In the past, someone had blocked it and put a horseshoe pit in the grade, and there are always some sort of issues. I’d rather not deal with any of that, and I was already sore from fighting through the weeds back at Alphano, so I decided we would leave the railroad bed and follow the parallel Alphano Road to Great Meadows.
Map of Lehigh and Hudson River Railway
The rail bed is only public land, as I understand, as far as the middle of the next bridge over the Pequest, and there is an access lane back up to Alphano Road from there. There were just too many possible variables to want to chance it after what we’d already seen.
We walked Alphano Road out to Rt 46, and from there turned to the left just a little bit. We then turned to the right up slope through the grass onto the property of the Great Meadows School.
We cut around one baseball field, and then turned to the left to reach yet another one with a paved path around the outside by way of a lit parking area. It was a good spot for us to stop so that I could get a group photo of everyone.
The group at the end area
We followed the paved path from there around the fields, and when the path went to the left, we kept straight through a swath of field, a little narrower than other ones but still wide open, which went directly to the gravel parking lot across from the fire department building on Cemetery Road.
It had been raining on and off, but was overall bearable because it was so unseasonably hot. However, as we were starting to get to that end point, the rain started getting heavier. We finished the hike just barely in time to avoid the heavier and colder downpours that followed.
It was one of the more miserable of the night hikes I’ve done, but still enjoyable.
The most annoying thing about it all to me is that for so many years I have been hiking the Lehigh and Hudson line, and it’s been pretty good through most of these sections, but now that the sections that were ALWAYS bad have been opened up and are improved, some of the sections that used to be good are now an absolute mess.
Hopefully things will be straightened out and we’ll be able to get back through some of these areas again. Until then, it’s not looking like I’m going to try to use much of these sections as fodder for night hikes again.
HAM
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