Hike #1461; 12/17/21 Elizabeth/Staten Island/Bayonne with Stephen Argentina, Amanda Lance, Tina Chen, Tea Biscuit (Scott Helbing), Brittany Weider, Serious Sean Dougherty, Violet Chen, Jennifer Berndt, Jack Lowry, Sarah Jones, Justin Gurbisz, Professor John DiFiore, Jennifer Tull, Robin J, Diane Reider, Cory Salveson, Linda Salveson, and Kyle.
It was time once again for our annual Holiday New York City hike. I was faced with the similar dilemma that we faced the previous year, in that the covid craziness was still going on, and I didn't want to have any problems with people congregating or being obviously a group in places.
The previous year, I had two hikes planned, but I think there was an issue with the new Goethals Bridge at the time in that it was not yet open, or maybe because they weren't letting people across. Whatever the case, I ended up putting it off and created a more complicated hike.
I figured the group would still be small compared to what we usually do for the holiday hikes, so smaller wasn't a big deal.
I planned it like I would a regular hike for convenience, where we left our cars at the end point, which was Bayonne NJ along Collins Park along 1st Street. We'd then shuttle to the start point in Elizabeth NJ.
My plan was to walk into Staten Island from Elizabeth and then back to NJ in Bayonne, which I thought was a cool concept, and the only technical part of NY City we would be in would be Staten Island. That would make it a bit easier with all of the issues going on.
Around the time, many establishments were not allowing anyone inside without proof of vaccination for covid. That whole thing was rediculous, because everyone pretty much has a fake vaccine card, and people were using the counterfeit ones, all copies of the same one, to get into state parks for free all year. It was a miserable failure, and checking the cards only serves to promote any spread further. It was poorly executed and frustrating for just about everyone.
I wondered going in to this if there was going to be any issue with walking around or if we would be approached. It ended up being fine.
When I got to Collins Park, I was early so I took a walk by myself out onto the waterfront and set up a few then and now history compilations using photos from my own past hikes of the Bayonne Bridge, which is now raised and looks far different than it did the first time I went by.
We then shuttled to our start point in as few cars as we could, which would be Praise the Lord Plaza next to a little Holland Park.
From here, we were able to walk across up a path to the former Central Railroad of New Jersey tracks, which are abandoned west of this point.
This was not the entire group. I made the meeting point the Elizabeth NJ Transit Station in the posting, but those I knew would be going the entire way met me in Collins Park. I planned to start earlier to walk over to that point and meet everyone else.
The tracks were clear and used to back trains up to this first spot, out to the bridge over Rt 1. Beyond that, they become overgrown.
This was the original Elizabeth and Somerville Railroad built in the 1830s. The Central Railroad of New Jersey formed from the merger of the Elizabeth and Somerville and Somerville and Raritan Railroads as I understand, and then forged on west. It was also extended east to Jersey City, where its original terminus was at Elizabethport.
We pushed west and crossed a bridge over Catherine Street, and it got really weedy. There was a big old brick building below the railroad fill to the left, and a coaling trestle breaking away from the edge of the old CNJ tracks. The tracks ahead were going through a very serious mess of thorns, and I didn't want to bother with it too much more because it was going to make us late.
I couldn't believe that in someplace as populated as Elizabeth, the tracks were not clear from people walking them. It's really kind of disappointing that people stay inside, so sheltered.
We opted to head off of the tracks and down next to the coaling trestle, which meant a little jump down the concrete edge and heading out to Grand Street to go west. We continued on that across Madison Ave and Jefferson Ave.
After passing the police department, we turned right on Commerce Place, and there was an old Jersey Central freight depot still standing, now being used as Elizabeth Parking Authority.
We turned left past the station, parallel with the fill the old tracks are on, and headed west to the stone arch that carries the roads beneath former Pennsylvania Railroad, which is the route now used by NJ Transit to get to Elizabeth. The Jersey Central has been out of service I think since 1986, because that's when the western part of it was taken out. It might be a bit earlier or later here.
I had lots of historic photos of the old Jersey Central station there, which has a beautiful clock tower, but the building was undergoing renovations so it wasn't even worth trying to set any of that up.
There was a nice little common area of pavers just to the north of Grand Ave and west of the former Pennsylvania Railroad bridge where I figured we would meet. It was a little while to get everyone together because I wasn't counting on the construction work to be going on and making it so the area wasn't as clearly visible from any distance.
Fortunately, we got everyone together I think, and we were able to continue on.
I think we followed Elizabethtown Plaza to the south parallel with the active tracks, and eventually through a parking area to reach the next stretch, the Rahway River Greenway.
We crossed the river on Broad Street, and there was new signage going into the trail to the left. A lot of work had been put into it since the last time I had hiked it, because then it was a really big mess.
I suppose it wasn't absolutely terrible, but there was a lot of trash and such before, and none of the walkway was really improved. Lights were broken and such. But this time, they had invested a lot.
I had a few of my old photos that just happened to match pretty well with the new ones I'd taken, in early 2011. One was of the underpass at Routes 1 and 9, and the other was looking ahead at the approach to the Goethals Bridge, which is now of course totally different.
The trail took us south across Summer Street, and then closely parallel with Arnett Street. It ended on the road, but I continued walking a bit more on the grass to avoid being on pavement for a bit of time. I knew what was in store for a while, and wanted to be off of it as much as I could.
At Cole Place, we continued ahead on Clifton Street and then right on Trenton Ave. There was a pedestrian route set up with concrete barricades and orange blockers off the edges of the highways here to the ramp onto the new Goethals Bridge. I'm sure there's some sort of long term plan of something that will be nicer, but for now it keeps us from getting run down by cars.
As we stepped onto the bridge, there was a great view ahead to the Staten Island Railroad connection over the Arthur Kill. There was also an abandoned trestle that came into that line from below the new bridge, which broke away from the Jersey Central in Cranford. It looks like it'd be a cool one to walk.
We ascended onto the bridge and saw the Arthur Kill Rail Bridge in the lifted position. Apparently it is almost never down and barely used. This seems pretty crazy since it is a direct route into Staten Island from New Jersey, and would probably serve really well as a commuter line.
There were big container ships parked all along the Arthur Kill in the area, all within view. We soon crossed over the line into New York, and Serious Sean rode one of the supports saying "This Cialis is great stuff, man!".
We got off of the walkway on the Staten Island side, and started following Goethals Road North. It took us under a railroad bridge, past Port Authority, and then to where Forest Avenue veers off to the left. We continued on Goethals Road ahead, and there was a little park in the middle where we regrouped.
Joseph Manna Park is a Triangle shaped war memorial park, first acquired for the Staten Island Expressway in 1958.
The land was found not to be needed when the expressway was completed, and it was assigned to parks in 1991.
In 1992, it was named for Manna, a World War II veteran and Staten Island resident who had come to America with his family from Italy. He volunteered for the war effort at age 17 and died at Guadalcanal in 1942.
Other veterans have markers such as these honoring them around the small park.
We continued ahead through wetlands known as the Graniteville Swamp, and the Goethals Road became less busy in terms of traffic, but much more when it came to parked trucks. It seems that tractor trailers park up and down this for overnights and such, and we had to walk around them on one side or the other. It's only a one way road anyway, and cars only come toward us, so it wasn't that big a deal to walk it anyway.
After the trucks, we cut to the left into a Shitnoco station (Mr. Buckett calls them "Shitgo and Shitnoco" and I've adopted that for years) to get some food and drink. We hung out there for a break for a bit. I think it was here the Stephen Argentina met up with us because he didn't want to do the bridge.
I was a bit nervous about this because supposedly every establishment in New York was supposed to ask for proof of vaccination in order to enter, and I of course didn't get the vaccine. I knew personally of too many adverse effects from people to trust in it, plus I would be fine and it was admitted that it did not serve to stop spread of the virus.
Anyway, no one was asked for anything going into this or any establishment all day. No one gave us a hard time for being in a group. I felt better after this.
After the break, we headed from the intersection on which the Shitnoco sat, onto South Avenue beneath the Staten Island Expressway. There was a little park on the corner of Fahy Ave in a little circle to the right, but we went left on Fahy. In a short distance, we turned right on Felton Street for a bit. We then turned left on Gauldy Ave for just a short distance until there was a pedestrian path to the right. It said it was for residents only I think, but I also don't think anyone cared because we weren't far enough into the hike to be that much of a disturbance.
The path took us across Caswell Lane, then further to Lehigh Ave where we turned left to continue. We turned right on Elson Street, then left again on Lamberts Lane. This led us out to the edge of Father Macris Park in the Graniteville section of Staten Island.
The land was acquired for the Staten Island Expressway in 1958 and remained largely undeveloped until 1998.
It is the first park in New York City to be named for a Greek Orthodox priest. Reverend Spyridon Macris was a native of Brooklyn and served the church from 1965 to 1989. The park was dedicated in his name in 1994.
The centerpiece of the park is the statue of dolphins, closen because the creatures frolic in the waters surrounding both Greece and Staten Island.
There's a bit of a trail that goes through Father Macris Park which I figured we'd use rather than walk as far on Lambert's Lane. I made it to the upper part of the park, which was lined with Canada Geese, thousands of them. Jen and I both commented on how Stephen will probably come running up at them in his signiture antelope run. Sure enough, a few moments passed by, and Stephen came running, as if on cue.
Canada Geese, with few natural predators especially in city settings, are very overpopulated and can spread parasites to water supplies through their feces.
A single, well fed goose will excrete two pounds of poop per day. Because they seldom migrate anymore, the problem increases. The geese seen here will produce thousands of pounds of feces in just a week. Just one pair of geese can make a water body un-drinkable for years.
So, Stephen running them off is a pretty good thing.
The trail ended at Lamberts Lane, and there was still a good swath of grass to walk for just a bit further, but then we were forced back to the road to walk. We continued across Richmond Ave on Christopher Lane past the Expressway Plaza. We walked through the plaza instead of the road, but I don't recall that anyone wanted to stop in there. If they did, I didn't go in and we waited for them.
A bit further down Christopher Lane, we reached a development where sidewalk paths went off to the right. We were mostly able to follow these sidewalks to the south across Parkview Loop to Morani Street, out to Victory Blvd. Directly across Victory was the terminus of the Staten Island Greenbelt's white trail in Willowbrook Park. We regrouped where there was a nice big Oak tree.
Some of the group had to leave at this point due to previous engagements. I think Jack and Sarah had a gig they had to play that night. I can't recall who else cut out here.
It was unfortunate because this was right where it started getting woodsy, and very unlike what anyone would suspect of a place like Staten Island.
The trail was an improved surface at first along the edge of Willowbrook Lake, and there were lots of interesting big trees.
The white trail used to take on a different route than it does now through the area. I noted where some of it had been "junked up" and newer blazes brought us a different way. We ended up getting over to a parking area and restroom building that was open, so it was a good stop for a lot of the group to go that way anyway.
The trail took us out behind the Carousel for All Children, and into the woods on what I think was initially also new routing.
There were lots of little bridges and puncheons in these woods we passed through, as well as an old chimney where there was once a home or cabin.
We continued along the trail through the New Springfield area, and eventually crossed Forest Hill Road. We continued on the trail through more woods, and then came to Rockland Avenue. We crossed there and followed the white trail only a bit further, and then went to the left on a blue trail I think with an "N" on it, for Nature Center. This took us to the building of the Greenbelt Nature Center where we took a short break.
Now, I had a plan that I was originally going to take following most of the Greenbelt Trail system, but I had never seen the Staten Island farm colony property, and Justin knew it pretty well. I instead decided that we were going to alter course and visit this, and I figured out without adding a lot more distance how we were going to do it.
Back across Rockland Ave from the Greenbelt Nature Center is an improved and unblazed trail that leads across what is known as the Great Swamp, and comes out at Greenbelt Recreation Center, a place that has some indoor stuff, as well as tennis courts and a large soccar field.
We walked the trail, came out, and then continued up to the Soccer Field. We made our way to the northwest corner of that, then cut into the woods directly to make our way out into the magnificent ruins of the New York City Farm Colony.
The land was established as the Richmond County Poor Farm in 1829, and the New York City Farm Colony in 1898 when Staten Island became a borough of the city. It was merged with the Seaview Hospital which was created as a tuberculosis quarantine and treatment area.
Residents of the colony, which were often seniors, were required to do farm or orchard work until policy changes in 1924 lifted the requirement.
The creation of Social Security and domestic programs alleviated the need for the farm colony, which closed in the 1970s. Initial plans to sell off the property in 1980 were thwarted by public outcry.
Today, the ruins sit in a sort of limbo. Part of the Staten Island Greenbelt but well off of the established trails. A recognized historic site with no interpretation, and visitation discouraged.
Talks of redevelopment of the site have started and stalled multiple times over the years, and the future of the site remains uncertain.
The campus was amazing, with the first buildings we reached made of stone and brick lined windows. The roofs were missing, but they would have been gabled to match the old Dutch style that are often found in the area.
We went into each of the buildings as best we could. Some of them could just be walked into, and some of them had some remnants of stair cases we could barely get onto and that was it.
One of the buildings had a long concrete bridge leading out to it, and the ceiling was still somewhat intact. We went all through that one to have a closer look. We went through all levels of that building, then exited and started following one of the former roadways to the north a bit. There were several smaller buildings that probably would have been residences of some sort for maybe more independent folks.
Just beyond there, we came upon the old frame of the greenhouse structure, with no glass remaining. The surrounding area had ivy growing all over the trees in the most odd way.
There was another two story building, then a couple three or four stories that had a very collegiate look to them, made of brick and with peaked roof main sections, and flat roof wings. We went into and up to the top of a couple of these. One of them we even went out to the roof, which was pretty cool. There was a slanted area over the peak where we could go up to the highest point as well.
The buildings were set up in corridors with what almost seemed to be cubicles. I am not sure of these were work areas or living quarters, but I'm somewhat inclined to believe the latter.
Many of the nicer buildings once had windows on the lower levels, but they had been cement blocked in, and even the doors had had this treatment, but were busted back out by vandals.
Tea Biscuit, Amanda, Cory, Linda, and Kyle all decided to head out after this spot, and I think they just took the route out to nearby baseball fields. There was a chain link fence there that had to be circumnavigated, and I'm not sure what they did to get out. When the rest of the group and myself arrived, I tried to go around it to the right and ended up alone in a mess of thorns.
I ended up going south a bit and around the lower baseball field, then eventually out to another gravel road that took me out to Brielle Ave. I turned left and met up with the rest of the group further up, where we went up Friendship Lane to the east. I think they started going without me, which was odd since they had no idea where they would be going or what they were looking for at this point.
There was a little trail that connected roads of the Seaview Hospital off of the end of this, and I recall we found some old blue blazes of the Staten Island Greenbelt blue trail, which then led us down to the main trail again and headed south.
There were more buildings abandoned in the area we passed through, these ones all chain link fenced off. There were trees growing around these sites, which had ornamental little walls built around them. The trees were now outgrowing these enclosures, which looked pretty cool.
We didn't bother going in any more, because we still had a long way to go. Instead, we continued south on the blue trail into Blood Root Valley, and cut off trail to the left when we came close enough to Manor Road.
When we reached Manor Road, we walked it only a short distance to where William H. Pouch Scout Camp was on the right. We turned here, through an open area, and then immediately into the woods on their trail system. It's always cool when you can't see anything at all in terms of buildings when in New York City.
we went uphill a bit, passed other trail intersections, but generally continue to the east. We passed by a little pond, and then reached the Staten Island greenbelt yellow trail where we turned left.
The yellow and blue trails parallel each other closely through this area over terminal moraines from glaciation, and there is a good view down the one of them over the Raritan Bay to the Atlantic Highlands, but I don't think we took that side trip this time because it was starting to get dark much faster.
We continued to the north and skirted development areas, then crossed over the intersection of Ocean Terrace and Todt Hill Road.
The next section seemed pretty near to me, maybe because I don't think I'd walked it to the north before, but also because the trail used to go on across the Staten Island Expressway by way of the abandoned and never completed Richmond Expressway ramps. The cloverleafs are still there, but the highway was never built north to south across Staten Island. The Staten Island Greenbelt was born out of the properties acquired by the Robert Moses plan for this highway. The vacant "greenway" was then used for the trails.
I hiked the old on ramps and bridges only twice, and then they were demolished unfortunately.
Now, the trail skirts the north side of a school property near the beginning of these graded roads. I know I hiked through after the bridges were taken out once, but I think the route even then was somewhat different than it is now.
It was dark at this point, and we followed the trail out to Staten Island Blvd, then out to Ocean Terrace where we turned left. This brought us downhill a bit more, and we turned right on Renwick Ave beneath the Staten Island Expressway.
I think we just stayed on Renwick directly on the other side and followed it north to the entrance to Clove Lakes Park. I'm not sure exactly what road the Staten Island Greenbelt blue trail takes these days to get there, because it used to go up near Northern Blvd. Regardless, it was less about staying on the blazed trail now and more about getting to the end. We would be going over the mileage I was intending on, and the trail weaves a bit through Clove Lakes. I just figured we would stay on the wide trail closer to the lakes, Clove Lake, Martling Lake, and Brooks Lake.
We crossed Martling Avenue partway up through the park, and then continued to Forest Avenue at the northern end of the park. The largest tree in the entire New York City park system is supposed to be up there near the end of the trail, but I didn't notice it to point out in the dark.
We simply turned left on Forest Avenue and walked it for an eternity to the west when we got there. Along the way, there was a Taco Bell on the north side and I think we stopped there for some food. I think they allowed us inside as well.
Just past the Taco Bell was the Stop and Shop grocery store, and my thought was that I could walk up to the back of that and come out on Catherine Street. This was a dumb move, but not quite as dumb as having a street where people could walk directly from their homes to the grocery store and have it blocked off to pedestrian access. We had to walk along the back of the store to the north, and I think we might have had to go out all the way to Barrett Avenue to continue to the northwest to the Bayonne Bridge.
From this shopping plaza, it was about ten blocks to the Bayonne Bridge walkway at Trantor Place. We made our way along the streets, weaving back and forth, until we came upon the walkway.
I started taking some photos as soon as I was out on it, and the others started getting pretty far ahead right away.
There was an amazing haze over everything, and I just took in all of the sight. I was also losing steam, getting tired, and I just couldn't keep moving so fast. I hadn't gotten a full nights sleep in I don't know how long, and it catches up with me.
This had been a really great day. I loved every bit of it, and it was far more interesting than what we might have done if I tried some other traditional route for the hike.
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