Something as simple as friends walking the lost spaces of Warren County evolved into a weekly hiking group, a public space advocacy group, and even a book on the Warren Railroad.

In 1997, Mike Helbing led a group who walked 18 miles from Portland, Pa., to Washington, NJ, loosely following the route of the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western's Warren Railroad. The event, which coincided with his birthday, was followed by weekly hikes.

After an astonishing 15 years and 619 hikes, on Saturday, March 24, 30 hikers joined Helbing for the 15th time and hiked from Delaware to Washington, following as closely as possible the public lands of the former Warren Railroad. The highlights involved viewing the engineering marvels of the line; the Pequest Cut, the Pequest Viaduct, and the Van Nest Gap (Oxford) and Manunka Chunk tunnels, as well as enjoying a hike across Beaver Brook and Pequest Wildlife Management areas.

Over the years, hikers from every demographic joined the hikes, where the participants took on every environment in the New York/Philadelphia metropolitan area. The 15-20 mile hikes often have themes that involve abandoned rail beds, canals or new trail connections. The passion of the subject matter spurred the formation of Metrotrails, a non-profit organization formed with the purpose of education and protection of 'walkable history.' What was known as The Portland Hike became an annual tradition; Helbing became an expert on the former right-of-way of the Warren Railroad.

Walking the entire length of the railroad is a big undertaking, but the unseasonably warm weather and great companionship made the miles pass too quickly. Most people see Warren County at 50 miles per hour, but the remains of the old rail line are best seen by foot. Helbing and the author of this article even got to putting together a guidebook on the subject.

To get more information on Metrotrails, the hike, or the guidebook, please visit www.metrotrails.org.

