| Hike # 7 Portland to Washington By now the Porland Hike had started to become much more familiar. Joining me again were Conrad Blease and Aaron Marques, and newcomer to the hike Eddie Adieyefeh. This hike started off on the rough side as it rained for the first couple miles. I recall hurrying across the Portland footbridge fearing being struck by lightning. Eddie was pretty unhappy for the first part of this hike, first due to the rain, second at the Delaware bridge. After seeing the holes between the ties through which the river is clearly visible far below, he began saying "NO, there must be another way across the river". "Yes, another bridge" was Conrad's reply. At the Manunka Chunk Tunnel, Conrad accidently immersed his new shoes in the water. When he removed the moistened shoe it becane to steam profously. The tunnel itself was emitting a great deal of fog as well due to the rain earlier. At the sand pit there was a large dirt embankment between 10 and 15 feet high which we spent a great deal of time jumping off of due the fact that the ground below was padded with a soft clay soil. We stopped again at the Mud Pond in Buttzeville and spent some time throwing stones in and watching them sink. Near the abandoned house in Oxford Twp. we encountered a large snapping turtle . Aaron taunted it for a while then we moved on. We also broke a country tape we found and spread it to see how far the tape would stretch. By the time we reached Washington, Conrad and I were supporting Eddie on either arm to the hike's end. Hike #8 Crestmoore-Washington On this second time for the Crestmoore hike I was joined by Aaron Marques and Sandra Boehm. The only change in terrain this time (aside from the foliage) was the absense of coniferous trees at the farm near crestmoore Crossing. When we reached Ken Lockwood Gorge we strayed from the railroad bed down to the South Branch of the Raritan River to wade around. While fooling about in the water, a large Rottweiler dog appeared on the shore. To avoid the dog, we remained in the water for some time. When we eventually built the nerve to go and face it, the dog proved to be very friendly. It had a collar that read "Sampson" on it, and appeared to be left unattended. Sampson followed us back to the railbed, but would not cross the trestle spanning the gorge. Aaron spent a good while attempting to push the dog across the bridge, but finally gave up. We reported the missing dog before eating lunch in High Bridge. We also took time out to visit the dam at the base of Lake Solitude; there is a place where the water is deep enough to jump off. In Hampton we opted to follow the road due to the thickness of the weeds on the railbed. In New Hampton we decided to follow the old Spruce Run Turnpike to Aaron's house, from where we would cut across farmer's fields to Sphagetti House Pizza for dinner. This proved to be more difficult than it sounded, as we found ourselves running and hiding from the farmers. We eventually found a trail back toward Aaron's house and decided to call it quits. Hike #9 Mt. Mohican-Columbia This hike began as what was to be the first Helbing hike to involve overnight camping. However, all of my potential hikers cancelled and it ended up being only my good friend Tara Hardman and myself. My grandfather dropped us off on Mohican Road in Warren Co. NJ, and we followed the appalachian Trail southwest. On Mt Mohican, we saw a Timber Rattlesnake and a Bald Eagle. We stopped to eat and go swimming at Sunfish Pond, then continued on the A.T.(Appalachian Trail) through Worthington State forest, to Holly Springs Trail, then Dunnfield Creek trail through the hollow. Again, we stopped to swim there. Near route 80 we rejoined the A.T., then crossed the Delaware river by way of the route 80 bridge into Pennsylvania. We stopped to eat and play pool at a local diner, then followed the A.T. near Mt Minsi. |
| We set up camp along a small trail just south of Lake Lenape. The next morning we proceeded back into the town of the Water Gap, ate lunch, and visited an antique store before walking down to the D,L,&W railroad. Along the Delaware River we made many stops; because Tara neglected to wear socks the day before she needed to soak her feet. Although the original plan was to continue all the way to Washington, we cut short at Portland, using the footbridge to colombia where my Uncle George picked us up. Hike #10 Portland-Washington Joining me this time were newcomers William Jacqmein (Bill Bill) and Rob Richmond. Rob's unpredictable lunacy along with Bill Bill's more cerebral attitude made for a very interesting combination. Just outside of Portland Rob picked up a road cone and began singing "Ricola" into it. We also stopped near Delaware to climb the rocks above Rt. 46. We again climbed around in the "A Rock", an A shaped rock formation along the railbed where my ancestors played in their youth. A bit later, I made the mistake of telling Rob of the time Aaron rolled a tire down into Rt. 46; Rob felt the need to top it and rolled two down. I ran as I did before. We ran around and climbed a lot just south of the Manunka Chunk tunnel. I got so hot I took my shirt off. Near Buttzeville I found a plastic kid's toy and threw it off the side into a rock pit. Hike #11 Delaware Water Gap-Washington The second overnight Helbing Hike. Bill Bill and I alone were dropped off at the Dunnfield Creek parking lot; we walked Dunnfield Creek Trail in to Holly Springs Trail in Worthington State Forest. We took break for lunch at sunfish pond, then continued northeast along the Appalachian Trail. Not far from the shore we encountered a black bear crossing the trail not even fifteen feet ahead of us. We kept our distance until the bear was out of sight. We then continued along the Appalachian trail to the dirt road to Catfish Pond. There, we turned south following a road into Blairstown Twp. and Jacksonburg. There, we ate dinner at McDonald's and visited our friend, Alyssa at the A&P. She directed us to visit her parents up the road before we went on our way. The original plan was to spend the night inside the Pauins Kill Viaduct (a large concrete railroad bridge in Hainesburg, one of the 10 largest concrete structures in the world) where the ole construction tunnels would provide shelter, but we instead opted to spend the night at Lys's, making use of her hot tub. Also, Eric Schneider showed up and we acted silly. The next morning we began hiking the abandoned New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad near Vail. We then continued on to Hainsburg, past Colombia Lake, all of which is now part of the "Rails to Trails" program which uses abandoned railbeds for hiking, bicycling, etc. Entering Colombia we fought through a thicket of weeds obstructing out way. We used the footbridge to cross into Portland to meet the D,L,&W railroad. There, we met the chief of police and had a nice conversation about our fifty mile hike. We followed the railbed as usual toward Washington, which proved difficult carrying our packs. In Oxford, my Aunt Bonnie even stopped and offered us a ride (she had seen us walking along Rt. 31). Also, we could barely walk through the Oxford tunnel with the weight on our backs. However, we finished, and this was the longest Helbing Hike to date. Hike #12 Portland-Washington Having been on Hiatus for several months, I began doing the hikes again with the standard Portland, along with Conrad, Bill Bill, Conrad's girlfriend, Samia, their friend, Booby, and Conrad's cousin, Ron ( who would go on to doing many more hikes). In Delaware, Bill Bill purchased a Snapple drink, and asked me to hold it as he used the restroom. I drank some of it and thought nothing of it. Soon after we bagan hiking again, Bill Bill got sick. And soon after that, so did I. Climbing to the bush of might was stomach turning this time. After a while Bill Bill and I had both recovered. We stopped for lunch at a Deli in Oxford rather than the usual busy bee. Also in Oxford, Bill Bill and I were the only two to brave the waters of the tunnel. Just outside the south portal to the tunnel, Conrad's keen eye spotted a peculiar shaped tree with three limbs all protruding upward from a low to the ground single trunk; the tree had a space in the center between it's three appendages. Conrad immediately named this the "Tree of Three" and placed his gargantuan walking stick which he had been carrying for miles in the center. This marked the beginning of another Helbing Hike tradition, and many of us would go on to adding walking sticks to the tree in the future. |