Riding the Lackawanna Cutoff. The Start.

Here's the view from a little way in from the start. Frequently when I go on a ride, I ride out, to see what I need to save shots for, and take most of the pictures along the trip back. The first picture is close to where I turned around for the day. This first leg of the trip really discouraged me. What you see here is where the path goes between where the sets of tracks are. The ballast is very hard to ride through, as it is very loose, and undulates up and down. It looks like it would be a blast to ride on a motorcycle, but on a mountain bike, it is torture. It turns out, that this is really the hardest sustained riding for the whole cutoff.

This is a little past 607 in Stanhope, just past where the road had been graded over the railroad tracks, bypassing the old rail overpass.
 

This is the same view as the previous, but looking back the way I came.
 

This is the view off of one of the bridges overlooking 631 in Netcong.
 

Here's the view in the other direction off of the same bridge.
 

Here's the view from 631, the bridge from the previous picture.
 

These two shots are of some small building, moved off it's foundation a bit abruptly it seems.
 

These are all views of the switch house in Hopatcong. This is very close to the train station, right where the cutoff breaks off from the main line, about a quarter mile or so, certainly within walking distance. The switch house is not in that bad shape, if you can ignore the racist graffiti on it.
 

These two shots are from the bridge where (605??) starts in Stanhope. It looks pretty bad, but the riding after this point is not too bad, see Cut Short to see how it goes from there.
 

These are all tunnels in the Byram area going over the cutoff. Just past the last of these tunnels is the spot there I got a flat tire on the next trip, bringing that day of riding to an end.