Things are going pretty good despite all of the rough weather!
The snow took us by surprise...the largest single accumulation in my lifetime left us unprepared, and caused us to reschedule the first hike in the September 11th National Memorial Trail series. We had over sixty signed up, and had just under forty come because our snow reschedule date was Superbowl Sunday.
Still, we had a really nice time! There was a pretty good showing, we completed the hike, and some of us even continued to cover twenty miles!
The Metrotrails crew was complimented by Morris County attendants brought in by Mr. Tom Edmunds of Morris County Park Commission.
The group segmented a bit when we hit the Hudson River Waterfront, as some of us did all fo the piers, others did not, but in the city it doesn't matter so much.
For February, a few things have changed, but we'll keep with a lot of the plan, then continue to move forward from there!
This Saturday we are doing a difficult scouting hike on the Warren Highlands Trail proposed route early in the day hosted by me. Sunday's hike will be on High Tor and Hook Mountain hike in NY along the beautiful Palisades.
The following week, Feb 21, we will return to the 911 Memorial Trail series, this time with the opposite side of the Hudson, heading down the NJ waterfront of the Hudson to Hoboken Station.
For that, we will take the train in to NY Penn Station, head to the subway north, then walk across the GW Bridge as a group, visit Fort Lee Historic Park, then follow the waterfront south. It's much different than the NY side, but equally as interesting. When we arrive at Hoboken station, we simply take trains back to our start destination.
It will be easier to keep people together for that one, because the route is a bit more straightforward.
If anyone wants an early out on that one, after we reach North Bergen, the light rail leads all the way to the end point easily.
On Saturday, February 27th, we will do something very different, but also part of a series we've been working on already...
The September 11th National Memorial Trail mostly follows the East Coast Greenway through Maryland and Delaware, but many of these sections are long road walks. After many of our members indicated concern that most of the Pennsylvania section of the proposed trail was simply a designated route on paved roads, intended more for cyclists than hikers, I started looking at the entire trail more closely.
It turned out that at least forty days of the proposed trail route would be mostly walking paved roads if we followed it as shown on line, but this is of course still a work in progress.
Many of these road walks can be partially if not completely eliminated by following nearby trails.
One such place in particular was the Maryland/Delaware border. The 911 Trail is shown superimposed on the Mason-Dixon Trail through Elk Neck State Forest MD, but then follows large highways from there east. This is easy to overlook, because the Mason-Dixon Trail guide is not available on line, it is only available for purchase. While this is not all bicycle friendly, it is the best route for hikers.
Rather than do the 911 Trail sections 100% in order like I had originally planned, I decided it best to jump around a little bit, because our hikes could benefit the study altogether. The hike we will do on the Mason-Dixon Trail passes several historic sites like pictured Iron Hill Park, past the site of a famous battle, as well as other interesting points. This section breaks away from the East Coast Greenway and returns to it once more in Newark, DE.
Apart from showcasing some of the designated 911 Trail route and a potential alternate, this is also one of the only missing sections of the nearly two hundred mile Mason-Dixon Trail we have never hiked. One more hike in Maryland, one in Delaware, and then maybe three in Pennsylvania will complete the trail for us.
The next 911 Memorial Trail hike as scheduled will be on Sunday March 20th in Jersey City. That will also kick off more of the Morris Canal series again.
Also mark your calendars for our group's 19th anniversary, which is the twentieth annual Warren Railroad hike scheduled to take place the day before Easter, Saturday March 26th! Details to come on that!
Still nothing new on my work schedule, so this is why you see no hikes on the Metrotrails schedule after March (typically I'd have items posted for the next six months). I'll report back if I get any further news.
Upcoming hikes are posted at www.meetup.com/metrotrails
Also, everyone follow our facebook page at www.facebook.com/metrotrails for constant photos and information on places we've visited over the past nineteen years!
Best Regards
M'ke H
