Hike #1417: 5/27/21 Shoemakers to Columbia with Justin Gurbisz, Professor John DiFiore, Kenny Zaruni, Heshi, Brittany Weider, Thomas McNamee, Joel Castus, Kirk Rohn, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, and Serious Sean Dougherty
This was one of those night hikes I had set up because I had to work earlier, and it would be one of legendary status like so many other crazy things we've done.
I honestly bit off more than I could chew on this one, which gets me kind of self conscious, because I had done that on the previous weekend as well. The hike went way over what it was supposed to have, and I didn't want to keep doing that.
This time, the trip would turn into well over twenty miles and be a lot crazier than anticipated, but it was really pretty great.
We met on the NJ side, this time at the TA Truck stop gas station, and I figured it would be easy to walk from the area of Bushkill back through the Delaware Water Gap and then along the old Lackawanna Railroad back to Portland. But it was too much. We also drank too much, so many of us didn't notice.
The first part of the hike went rather smoothly. I had a route that mostly involved the very easy and beautiful McDade Trail from a settlement that was once known as Shoemakers.
The starting point I decided on was at the Pocono Mountain Villas near where River Road breaks away from Route 209. I had found a parking lot that looked like no one would bother us along the road, and we all shuttled with as few cars as possible up to there. I drove my van, and Kirk headed up there in his truck because he was running late getting to the starting point.
We only had to walk a little ways uphill at the very start on River Road, and crest the hill of what is known as Mosier's Knob to the west, and The Hogback to the east.
On the way up, there was an abandoned barn on the right that read "bar" on it, and some odd signs about Bigfoot or Sasquatch, one of which was holding a sign about mental health awareness.
We continued south a bit to the intersection with Community Drive. Here, a brief bushwhack into the woods and uphill leads to the McDade Trail, the trail that follows the Delaware River all the way from Hiahleah Picnic Area to Milford Beanch near Milford PA.
There are good ways of extending the trail through Shanwee and on to Delaware Water Gap, with some sections already in place. Even though those are not formalized yet, the point of this hike was to have a good hike through on the future route. I had done this hike before, but I figured I could do it better this time, especially since some of the sketchier things were in the dark.
The trail led us through some woods, an then reached one of the access roads to the headquarters building of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. We continued uphill from here, and then across the other end of the access road on the other side.
The trail continues from there parallel with River Road, then dips down rather steeply to reach a lovely boardwalk section along the edge of what I now hear referred to as Headquarters Swamp.
After the boardwalk, we went up slightly again, and then weaved back and forth on a bit of a switchback down off of the Hogback area, and eventually picked up an abandoned road route which I've in the past been told was called Jag Road.
I had actually never hiked this bit of the McDade Trail before. I didn't know where the plan was going to be to bring it. Initially, I thought it would end up taking the route down into the Freeman Tract after passing over the Hogback, but that area remains much undeveloped. I then thought they would simply follow the route of Community Drive, which it runs parallel with to the north. That road had been closed for many years and it was starting to look like it would never open. It certainly isn't necessary because there is hardly anything on it except for Schoonover's Mountain House, an old home.
This trail was a bit cooler than I'd imagined we would come across.
We continued down over a vehicular accessible road, then made our way to a parking area on the Freeman Tract Road.
From there, I was again expecting that this would be a walk along the Freeman Tract road only, which is unpaved and quite pleasant, but there was a new trail built immediately parallel with it, slightly up hill.
It was a pedestrian only trail with some steps leading up a bit. I suppose this was made to keep pedestrians off of the road when vehicles pass, since it can be narrow, but bikes could keep with flow of traffic. The trail remained up on a slope for a bit of time, on undulating terrain. It then eventually turned down to cross the Freeman Tract Road and the bike and walking route came back together.
South of the Freeman Tract Road, the trail followed an old roadway that was probably once part of the Cold Spring Farm which was in this area. It was lined with trees in such a way that we could tell it used to be a farm or other road of some sort.
There were good views of the Delaware River throughout this stretch, and the most important thing, places where we could go down to swim and enjoy the water in the hot weather.
I remember when I first led a hike on the McDade Trail from Bushkill heading back to the Delaware Water Gap, a lot of this was not yet in place. Some of this trail along the river I believe I had never done before also. Where it approaches the Turn Farm was I think the first section of it heading westbound that I had been on besides the bit at Bushkill. I had done all of it to the north of there, unless something else had been rerouted.
We took little side trips to check out some of the old ruins along the way as well. One of the spots was a set of steps all the way down to the Delaware River lined with Hostas. This was an area we believe was known as the Shangri La.
The Turn Farm Trailhead was just after that, and there were people hanging out and swimming there. There were signs there warning of the deadly river and cautioning against swimming, but of course no one heeds that.
The pleasant walk ahead was interspersed between being shaded and in the hot sun. We checked out a hellgrammite crossing the trail in the area, which is the earlier stage of a Dobsonfly.
We made our way to the west a bit, and the trail meanders from the edge of the river and out into the fields. It continues back to the river then again, and I pointed out when we got to a good vantage point an island of trees in the middle of the field, in what was once the Theune Farm. That island of trees is an old cemetery.
There are tons of old cemeteries through the national recreation area, which would have been under the waters of the Tocks Island Dam lake had it ever been built. There were really just too many of these old family plots for them to have been moved.
A little ways ahead of here, we reached the Theune Pull Out.
This was a little boat acces spot. Maybe at one point it might have been a ferry. There was former Van Campen property to the south of here, so it could very well have been a ferry. The site was marked by a giant old Sugar Maple.
This would be our hidden swimming spot. No one really goes down there, and it was just a great spot to take a dip. I was surprised that hardly anyone wanted to go in. A lot of the time, only John and I are enjoying these great little spots.
We continued ahead from here, and emerged at Smithfield Beach. We went by the boat launch, used the restrooms and trash cans, and continued through the park area to the west. The McDade Trail went back into woods on the other side.
It's amazing to me that this entire area remained so undisturbed.
The Delaware Valley from Bushkill up to Matamoras PA was never pierced by any railroad or canal. Only the rudimentary roads made it through in the early days, and it took until the 1930s for present day Rt 209 to be upgraded to anything like what it is now.
The Delaware Valley Railroad did make its way from East Stroudsburg to Bushkill, and aside from a little grading that never really went anywhere, it was never built any further, then completely abandoned by 1939.
After leaving Smithfield Beach, we made our way through what was once known as the Vallardis Tract. The trail weaved around a lot more, and went down a rather steep slope across a brook, then climbed again to a much higher height above the river.
It was rather soon after that the trail made it sway into Hialeah Picnic Area.
The McDade Trail officially ends at the picnic area, and the gravel road that accesses it is a good route to head to the west further. Because this was a weekend day, in busy season, the national park service has the area entirely closed to public access, so we were able to just walk on through pleasantly.
I watched closely along the left side, because my official use maps had shown that this picnic area was the site of a cemetery. There was very little information about it, and Jillane and I had searched for it in the past while walking through, but I never found anything.
Some friends commented on the area and confirmed to me that there was indeed a grave stone. I would end up finding it on my next trip out there, but more on that in a future journal. This time, I just watched the grass looking for it, but didn't find it.
At the end of the picnic area, there was more national park land, and a bit of a path along fields just to the west, so we opted to skirt those on the unofficial route.
This took us out behind the McManus House, one of many historic abandoned buildings within the national recreation area. I don't know the date of construction on this one or any other significance, except that it is indeed old. It had been lived in somewhat recently, and all of the yard and around the house was well mowed and cared for.
The house was obviously vacant though. It's a shame that this is left as such, because it would be a wonderful place to live if only it were maintained.
It would be a great opportunity to get someone to maintain the nearby picnic area for a reduced rent. Unfortunately, government these days doesn't want to be landlords, and in the wrong hands, it can be a night mare.
We continued from the house, which Justin and Brittany checked out more closely, and walked River Road to the west for a bit.
We soon started to reach the homes on the right side that are part of the settlement of Shawnee on Delaware.
When there was a good swath of grass that wasn't someone's back yard off to the left, we descended and started following it to the west.
A small trail took us to a parking area just ahead of here, and then there were some sidewalks and pathways between buildings heading to the south, out closer to the Delaware River. We followed these through, and then descended across Depuy Road to a series of mowed trails that pass through meadows.
We followed the mowed paths to the one that was closest to the river to the south, then turned to the right and followed them to the east for a bit.
There was a little river access site, and a small parking area just ahead after a section where the mowed trails passed through a swath of trees. Some of the trails had trees fallen over them and hadn't been maintained well, but this got us through a bit more.
We ascended a bit out to a much older building, which had a sign on it that read "Depuy Fort".
This was actually an historic home, built in 1785 and named "Manwalamink".
There was a garrisoned, stockaded for just to the west of the location of this home built in 1755 that was actually Fort Depuy, built by Nicholas Depuy, who was the grandson of the original Nicholas Depuy who settled the area presently known as Shawnee in 1727.
We made a left at this house on Depuy Road, past a newer building, and the road turned right, to the north, with a wide open field area on the left.
It was getting pretty dark at this point, but the route to the left didn't look like anything we could cut through. We continued to the north and turned left on River Road again, then turned left once more on Minisink Ave. We followed that down to Lenape Street and turned to the left.
When we came out to Worthington Street, we turned left briefly, then turned to the right on a tiny road known as Palmer Drive, which weaved intimately between buildings. It came out on Shawnee Inn Drive, and we turned to the left there.
After the last house on the right there, there was a wide open field to the right. I think it was part of a now disused driving range. The Shawnee Inn and Golf Resort is just beyond this area, and I planned to follow this route by looking at aerial images. What I didn't count on was that there would be these enormous nets that would keep us from getting through as easily.
Because it was dark, I didn't see that it was so easy. There was a wide hole in the net we were able to just walk right through. We followed the grassy field and then came out at the inn. Our planned stop was the Shawnee Craft Brewery, which was one of the buildings at the inn.
We got to the bar inside the place, and I saw on the menu pretty quickly what I wanted.
There was a 10% ABV beer called "Hair of the Bear", and it was quite great. I drank that, while sitting at the bar, there was a woman who grew up in Paterson. I chatted with her about the area, and she was surprised that I'd hiked and worked in Paterson before.
While I was hanging out with some of the group there, Justin went off on his own to explore around the property. He came back and said something about having found some free booze. I told him I'd go with him mto check it out in a bit, after I finished my Hair of the Bear.
I finished that soon, and Justin led us out of the brewery itself, and then to the left.
We headed into an entrance of the Inn, and then he took us up a couple of flights of stairs, to an area that appeared to be a hotel lobby. Brittany and Thomas both came with us, and I think Kirk did too. We turned right and went down a hall, then around a corner and another hall, and finally into a room where it looked like there had just been some sort of a party. There were lots of candy bars and such out, so we pigged out on a lot of those.
Then, there was a whole assortment of all sorts of opened booze bottles just laying around. There was no one around there at all. So we had the red label, and a whole lot of other stuff. We just walked out again the way we went in, through the lobby, and no one said a word to us about anything, so that must mean it was okay!
We headed back over ot the brewery to find the others, and then continued on our way.
We walked around the back of the building and immediately got on a golf cart path at the end of the lot.
Just a short bit on this, there was an intersection and we went right out into the green. The path ended, but we went to the left, and then picked up another path.
We continued to follow the golf course path out to the west from here, toward the golf course road that leads out onto Shawnee Island, which has most of the golf course on it.
We turned right on this road, and then headed to a line of houses that are rentals or whatever called Shawnee Village. We went around to the back of the last one to the left, and behind it is a lighted trail that leads to the west, just down the steep slope from River Road.
I had followed this before, and figured this would be some of the route the McDade Trail would one day take, if they can get permission to use it.
The trail eventually came out at Ickes Memorial Drive. We descended a bit and then followed that dead end road out to an intersection and turned right at the Shawnee time share areas.
There are other roads that go down to the Delaware from this point, but most of them are private property, and plus it was really dark and late.
Serious Sean had called me a bit earlier asking about whether or not he should both er meeting up. "Like is it really turning into a party or no?" he asked. Oh yes. Definitely yes it was.
We sat there and hung out for a few moments, drinking strong stuff, laughing and carrying on, then we moved on ahead to the west.
Acres Road went to the right, but we didn't bother with that one. Light of the World Church is ahead on the left, but we didn't bother trying to cut through that either.
My plan was to cut to the left on a rather hidden gravel road that leads up through pleasant woods to St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church, built on the knoll above River Road in 1890.
We walked around the church, and I was trying to figure out how to get down to the cemetery associated with it, which sits down much lower than the church itself. We went around the church and then started heading back when I saw the side road I had been looking for that led down to the cemetery. We followed this through it, and then emerged onto Binnekill Lane.
We turned right on the unpaved road, and it led us directly out to River Road again in the Minisink Hills, an area also known as North Water Gap.
We followed the road to the south, and I pointed out when we crossed where the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad used to cross over the road on its way north toward Stroudsburg. Some of the right of way is now Price's Landing Road.
We continued south on River Road, and walked through the grass of a parallel park property on the right before ascending again, and crossing the Brodhead Creek on the road bridge.
Immediately after the creek crossing, we turned to the left into Minisink Park, where a crushed stone trail, part of the Cherry Creek Trail system, makes its way along the ball fields and then into the woods along the Brodhead Creek, to reach the confluence of it, the Cherry Creek, and the Delaware River.
We followed the trail to near that confluence, in woods full of Japanese Knotweed, and then turned to the right. We came to a nice spot in the dark very close to the former Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, where with flashlights we could see the bridge over the Cherry Creek.
I had figured it might be best to wade across and then make our way up to the tracks to head through Delaware Water Gap. I started walking in, because I also wanted to take a dip too, and this section of Cherry Creek was far deeper than I'd remembered.
As I recall, we made our way to the east a bit, because the trail goes back to Minisink Park's wide open fields, but we cut to the left to get up to the tracks after a bit. We then turned left and followed them on to the south, over Cherry Creek, and past the old Water Gap station just ahead.
The Delaware Water Gap was once the vacation capital of the world, which made the railroad station established in the 1850s quite the prominent spot. It's sad that the station has fallen into such terrible disrepair, but hopefully it will get preserved before someone destroys it.
We walked by, and then just after we passed beneath interstate 80.
I think by this point, it was apparent that we had gone well over my planned distance. I am pretty sure we were already past fifteen miles by the time we got to the Delaware Water Gap station.
We continued to the south, and reached the falls of the Caldeno Creek to the right. This was the creek that flowed directly through the kitchen of the magnificent Kittatinny Hotel uphill to the right of the tracks there. The falls are quite amazing, even in the dark.
We continued south on the tracks from here, which mostly stayed below and out of sight from Rt 611. It came a little close to the highway at the Point of Gap overlook, which at one time used to be a sort of service station stop, and the Cold Air Cave, which was a tourist attraction for the freezing cold air the spews out even in the Summer time.
It wasn't all that long after that we came to the historic site of Slateford Junction.
This was an important spot because the Lackawanna Railroad used to have to make a long trip down to Washington and switch onto the Morris and Essex Division to head east. The Cutoff was completed in 1911 and cut a significant corner, and it started in Slateford.
The area had changed a lot, and the bridge that carried Slateford Road over the tracks had been filled in in more recent years, but that will have to be repaired in new plans to restore this line.
The most interesting remnant of the junction in my opinion is the old tower to the right. It is now pretty well grown over with all sorts of vegeation, and except for in the Winter months, is almost invisible.
We took a break here and headed up into the tower, which can be accessed by climbing up the adjacent slope to the right, and then going onto a board that leads into the upper level back door. There was once a staircase inside, but where that was is now just an open spot in the upper level floor.
As I understand, my great great uncle Clarence E. Allen used to work in this tower before transferring toward Binghamton NY on the Lackawanna Railroad. C. E. Allen made a fortune operating telegraph, because he had insider trading secrets. At the time, it was not illegal to use the inside info from the telegraph office, and so he did very well for himself before it became a crime.
The moon had risen beautifully over the Delaware River by this point making for nice ambiance.
Still, we pushed onward.
Kirk lost a phone charger somewhere on the section of tracks out there, and he did go out to look for it to no avail.
We continued to the left where the Lackawanna Cutoff used to go to the right.
Rather than the foot bridge further to the south, my plan was to go back across the Delaware River by way of the Lackawanna Cutoff's Delaware Viaduct.
We could cross and then just head down to the road and out to the TA Truck Stop with no problem.
We headed up that and onto the bridge.
The moon was shining over the Delaware River beautifully making this one of the really nicest bits of scenery of the entire hike.
While most of us were on the bridge, John told me that he was behind with Kirk, and that he could not make his way up onto the bridge. Somebody would have to come around and pick them up on the other side on the way back through.
The rest of us got across, and then took the ATV path down on the other side to Simpson Road, which is built on the former right of way of the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad, which has been abandoned in this area since the 1940s.
We turned right to follow that road from there back to the TA Station where most of the group was parked.
Joel asked for some money collection in order to get him to drive us back to the starting point, and I think I probably fell asleep for most of that drive back.
Kirk left his car there and John took him home for the night rather than have any further trouble.
In the end, this turned out to be one of those hikes that ended up getting us home after 3 am.
Even worse, I had to be to work in the morning at 7. And I did get there.
Some of these crazy fun times are so unbelievable, but so much fun I can hardly believe it myself.
Justin I think it was referred to this as the "Great Shawnee Caper", and it was another of the best night hikes of the entire year.
This was getting down to the last five or so night hikes I would organize before my son was born, and I was glad that they were extra crazy and memorable, since I wouldn't be able to do them again for quite a long time.
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