This is the northeastern section of hike #5 ("Columbia Trail") from the book
24 Great Rail-Trails of New Jersey. The Columbia trail is
a 16.2-mile trail following an abandoned railroad bed between High Bridge and Flanders, New Jersey. We did a section at the other end (the southwestern part) on
July 25 of last year when we formed a loop with a trail through the Ken Lockwood Gorge.
Today we started at a parking lot for Schooley's Mountain (on Fairview Avenue) but instead of heading north into that park, we headed south via the Gillette Trail
making a left on the Columbia trail which we took NE all the way to its end. The path can be seen at the bottom half of
this map. After returning to the car, we visited the ruins of the Union Church on Fairview,
alongside the Washington Township Historical Museum.
There is a local legend associated with a one-mile stretch of the section we hiked today. Legend has it a railroad man lost his arm in a railroad accident many years ago. Though his arm was replaced by a hook, he would return to the scene of the accident for years (between North Four Bridges Road and Naughright Road), searching for his arm in the darkness of night, with a lantern. In the decades following his death, residents continued seeing a light orb moving along the same stretch of tracks. Total distance hiked was 5.7 miles in less than 3 hours.
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An inviting trail head |
The Gillette trail ... |
... cut through a wildflower field |
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Swallowtail at work |
Intersection with Columbia trail |
South branch of the Raritan River |
Taking photos |
Raritan River upstream |
View downstream |
Exposed roots |
Pile of old railroad ties |
Lamb's Ears |
Cattle gate |
Heading NE |
Bridge over Stony Brook |
Side view |
[Photo by Laura] |
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Stony Brook flows under |
Stony Brook parallels trail |
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Farm |
Horse |
Horse stables ... |
... on both sides of trail |
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Wildflowers abound |
Symbol of the Columbia Trail at Naughright Road |
Bridge over Raritan |
The Bicycling Nun! |
Catfish in river |
A river with Elizabeth Lane bridge |
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Another farm |
Swamp east of North Four Bridges Road |
Lilypads |
Turtles in swamp |
The last bridge (I think) |
River view |
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House on Bartley Road |
The NE terminus of the Columbia Trail |
Raritan River |
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Wildflowers |
Open field off trail |
Old abandoned farm implement |
Queen Anne's Lace trailside |
A damsel fly |
Another damsel fly |
Gorgeous wildflower |
Dragonfly |
Heading back |
Raritan River |
Horse riding |
Black swallowtail |
Back on Gillette trail |
Busy bee |
[Photo by Laura] |
Tiny beetle |
Washington Township Historical Museum |
Union Church ruins |
It's being restored |
Excavated bottles |
Cemetery in church yard |
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Fungus on gravestone |
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