Hike #1108; Holland Brook to Flemington

Hike #1108; Holland Brook to Flemington

2/19/18 Holland Brook to Flemington with Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Captain Soup (David Campbell), Jennifer Berndt, Kate Flood, Sue Bennett, Celeste Fondaco Martin, and Shayna Michaels.

This next hike would be a point to point on President’s Day because I was off work. I had a hike in mind that I’d done almost the same as a night hike in the past, with a few new things here and there. The thing was, I had never seen a lot of it because they were night hikes.

Near Holland Brook School

Readington Township has come a really long way with their trail system, and when I started getting more bold about the night hikes, I started posting all sorts of new stuff, even though I’d still never seen them during the daylight.
Now, I’m left with tons of trails that I know I did, but I hadn’t really experienced during the light hours. For that reason, doing almost the same thing over again was worth it for me.
I made the meeting point the Taco Bell in Flemington, so we could get some tasty food at the end point. From there, we’d shuttle as few cars as possible to our start point.

Amazing clouds over Lachenmayer Farm tract

Captain Soup was upset that there’s be nowhere to get beer along the route, and so we made a pit stop along the way at a place that just opened as we left. He was absolutely elated that they had Vanilla Porter that he said he might even hug me (he didn’t).

Pine Bank Road section

We shuttled from there to Readington. My original plan was to park at the road north of Holland Brook School, then start to head south across their property, and into the Lachemayr Farm tract, which heads to the south. While driving out there, I changed my mind, because I remembered a new connection to the trails had been made off of Heath Road just to the south of there. We instead parked on Heath Road a short distance from the intersection with Roosevelt Road, just south of Holland Brook school.

Holland Brook tributary

We started walking pretty quickly, which was great because we literally just started heading into the woods.
The trail took us out into an open area that is a retention pond, and there was some beautiful sunlight shining through the clouds.
We continued around the right side of the retention pond, and then cut into the woods to the right at the end. The trail headed down hill rather steeply to cross a tributary of the Holland Brook, then back up the other side to a farm field.
The snow had been so heavy that the meltoff was making these tributaries run harder.

Holland Brook

I was able to hop the thing, but some of the others went over to the left more.
We got up along the field and started following it’s edge to the south. There’s another side trail in this area that I believe goes to another nearby cul de sac for access.
We continued as the trail passed into a line of trees rather close to people’s houses. We got a dog barking at us at one point when we went by. The houses soon gave way to more fields, where we could go left or continue straight. We opted to continue straight along the edges to the south. We went into a swath of trees near the end, and then headed out to a parking area off of Pine Bank Road. The road is now marked as a trail.

Holland Brook

Pine Bank Road is really a pleasant walk. We were easily able to walk to the west for just a little bit, past a scenic old farm, and across the Holland Brook’s main flow on a road bridge. It was at this point that we left the road and headed to the south a bit more.
The trail reached another small tributary to the Holland Brook, but this one we could cross on large concrete cylinders that had been placed in the creek. We continued walking up hill from here, and on a nice bank among evergreens heading to the south.

Cylinder crossing

This was the area that was really weird at night, because it goes near some houses. The strangest one is one hundred percent all windows on one side. You can see into the entire lit up building while walking by.
We had a choice of going two different directions at this point, but we chose to keep to the right because I was already familiar where that leg went. I’m sure I can find out, but I still wanted to see this part in the daylight anyway. We headed back up hill a bit into a visibly narrower corridor, and then passed back through to wider lands passing a few more houses.

The trail nearing the orchard area

A trail turned to the right, which leads to the power lines ahead and then to Cole Road, crosses, and goes into the Cole Road Greenway. We instead continued straight through what looked like an evergreen plantation, and then turned to the left along the power line right of way.
It was kind of muddy, but not all that bad. We followed the trail along the power line to reach Hillcrest Road near the intersection with Morning Star Road. From here, we had to do a bit of a road walk and turn right on Hillcrest.

Power line section

We crossed a small tributary to Pleasant Run on the way south along Hillcrest, and then we turned the left when we reached the intersection with Pleasant Run Road. We crossed over the same tributary again on this and walked gradually up hill. Captain Soup walked right by our next trail section, and we fortunately caught him. There were various times on this hike we had to call him out on making “AsSOUPtions”, when he assumes where we’re going and keeps on walking ahead. He came back and we turned right into the Pleasant Run Greenway, in a swath of woods between fields and the creek itself.

Tributary to Pleasant Run

As soon as we got on the trail, there was immediately something new; I had followed this trail in the past and we could only go straight. There was now another trail to the right I’d never seen. Even though I’d never done the other one in the daylight, we opted to follow the newer trail instead.
It took us down hill slightly and then into an open field section for a bit. This provided us with some nice views of the surrounding farmland, including out to the main flow of Pleasant Run to the west.

That's me

We continued across the open area, into some more trees, then into another open area as Pleasant Run got closer to us. There was always a dead end trail on the other side of the run that I never bothered to follow, but this trail would take us to the same area without having to do any “out and back” stuff.
It was kind of muddy as we got further into the flood plain, but well worth it for the view. The creek was meandering with openness through the farm fields to the west, which was quite lovely with the remaining snow still on the ground.
The trail continued on the edge of the creek for a bit, until we reached where it actually crosses over. This proved to be a bit of a problem this time. In the past, the water of Pleasant Run is so low that just about anyone can get across without getting wet. There is a rock hop set up acros it using some pretty reasonably flat rocks and cinder blocks. This time, water just flowed over the tops of them. Captain Soup started walking down stream to see if he could find a better way over. I decided to just walk on through. I suggested everyone take their shoes off and try to get it over with.

Farm area in Pleasant Run Greenway

Surprisingly, no one wanted to remove their shoes. Uncle Soup had good boots that would be fine as long as nothing flowed over the tops of them. I helped him across the rocks, and got out to warm up. Even I was freezing cold if I stayed in too long. The fast melting snow kept the temperature of the water way down.
I helped Sue and Shayna across next, and carried one of her adorable rat terriers across for her. The older of the two had been handling the hike a bit worse than the younger one, but he kept up alright overall.

View in Pleasant Run Greenway

I helped Jen and Kate across, and then we watched up stream to see how Captain Soup was faring getting across. He found a log that would get him over alright, if he had balance.

Part of Pleasant Run Greenway

Captain Soup got off of the log, and gave himself a self-congratulatory clap as he hopped down. Just that moment, he fell over. It was quite funny. Fortunately he didn’t fall back into the creek.
The trail was pretty muddy ahead, but we managed to follow it through the next bit of woods and then out to the next fields. Uncle Soup was saying he remembered snippets of this one, including where we came out because he remembered cutting a corner in the field in the same way. It really was odd seeing the same place in the day light. We continued along the right fork down the field.

Pleasant Run

The trail took us down a slight hill and to the end of the field. I fell behind slightly, and everyone turned to the right. I had to call them back, as it actually went left.

Pleasant Run

We reached the next foot path bid, and descended to cross another tributary to the Pleasant Run. This time it was small and easy. On the other side, the trail skirted this tributary on a slope for a bit. We were closer to some homes in this section, some of which had their own private accesses to the preserve.
We continued gradually up hill in this section, parallel with the tributary up hill. It was sparse vegetation, with a few little evergreen groves along the way. Quite a relaxing little area to walk.

Pleasant Run Greenway

Soon enough, we reached an intersection where one trail went straight, the first section of this I’d ever explored, and another went to the left. We turned left to follow that fork up the hill for a bit.
The wider mowed path emerged at the intersection of Summer Road and Hixson Road. From here, we simply continued straight on Summer Road heading to the south. It was a lightly used section, and we only had a very short distance to go before we would turn to the left into Summer Road Park. A berm along the north side is perfect for walking, with evergreen trees planted back and forth on either side.

Pleasant Run Greenway

Captain Soup and I were in the front, on top of the berm, where we zigzagged between the trees on the top. They got a bit too big after a while, and we had to descend off for a short but, but for the most part we were able to follow the berm all the way to the east side of the park.
We turned right at the end, and followed the edge of Summer Road Park to the south. A line of trees separated us from a farm access road, and we skirted the edges of four baseball diamonds to get to the entrance pathway to the park.

Summer Road Park

We walked the paved path around the gate, and then came out to Summer Road next to Profeta Farms stand.
Rt 202 had a ton of traffic at the time, and the crossing wasn’t really meant for pedestrians, but there was a button as I recall. We crossed when the opportunity was right, and headed diagonally over to the Wawa to get some food.
I was not much looking forward to getting food there. Wawa is alright, but I hadn’t liked them for a while because of what was usually avialable.
I usually get premade breakfast sandwiches or whatever when I’m in a hurry somewhere, but Wawa has them where Sausage is always on a french toast, pork roll on biscuit, or something.

Tributary and farm at Summer Road

I didn’t like that there was no real normal choices, so I hadn’t had Wawa in a pretty long time.
I went in and got to the made to order kiosk, and realized that they had chicken quasadillas. I was elated.
Sheetz recently started offering quasadillas and I’d already gotten addicted to those, so I was ready to erupt when I saw this.
My attitude immediately changed and I went to get myself my old “go to” beverage, a Double Dutch Chocolate Milk. I now wanted to buy all sorts of stuff I didn’t previously want.

Tributary from Summer Road

While walking through the store looking for items, a guy came up to me and said “Hey hey! Metrotrails!”!
I didn’t know who it was, but as is typical with me, I at first have to figure out if I knew him.

Readington farm view

It’s always awkward for me to respond. What do I say? “Hey hey!.....who are you?”
I’ve met so many people, it’s really impossible to remember who they all are, even though I pull it off probably better than most people have. Now, it’s much more difficult because I’m constantly having people come up to me that I’ve never met at all. More and more often someone will say “Hey M’ke!”, and I’ll say “Hey! I’m sorry, where do I know you from!?”, and the smiling response is “YOU DON’T!”, and we usually both laugh.

Readington farm view

I was probably recognizable in this situation not just because of my face, but because of the fact that I was hiking in a suit and tie, which has become quite the signature thing.
Once the man introduced himself as Dan Richter, I recognized his name immediately from posts on Facebook, and he’s friends with Shane Blische.
Mr. Richter was out photographing trains and birds in the area, and tipped us off that there was a train moving around in the direction that we were heading, near Three Bridges.

Readington Twp farm view

Maybe as time goes by, I’ll learn to handle the random meetings more gracefully.
I don’t dislike it at all, but it’s to such a point that I can’t even believe how many people know of the group. People have seen me walking down the road and have pulled over to chat, which is among the more shocking. Even police, who stop to see what this crazy looking group is up to, end up knowing the Metrotrails posts and are fans themselves.
Probably the most fun one of the past year was when a friend (whom I know through the hikes of course) gave me tickets to see The Offspring at Garden State Arts Center, and we arrived unable to find a parking space. People moved chairs out of a saves space and motioned us to pull on in. When I thanked them, two girls came up and asked “Do you really run the Metrotrails page?”. It was such an honor to hear people follow it from all over.

Captain Soup finds wood

My chicken quesadilla far exceeded my expectations. I was in heaven as I engulfed every bit of the thing, which lasted not nearly long enough.
While sitting outside, Hunterdon County Park Ranger Carl was going in, and I talked to him for a few moments as well. I didn’t know him well, but he worked for the county while I was there, but he was at the time the post man who would make his stops by the aroboretum.
I went back into the store, still hungry, and decided to try their quarter pound hot dog before we left. Usually, I don’t care for the extra large hot dogs, but this one was outstanding.

Historic image of the Lehigh Valley Railroad station at Three Bridges NJ

We left the Wawa and continued walking along Summer Road. This section was kind of busy, but provided us with some nice farm views. There was a small tributary flowing through an area farm that was particularly scenic.
We crossed over Old York Road, which was the predecessor to Rt 22, the historic route built in the 1700s to connect Philadelphia with Elizabethport NJ. It was originally the “Raraticong Trail”, also known as “Tuckaraming Trail” of the native Americans. It was turned into a colonial road starting in 1711, with completion around 1771.
We turned right when we got to Higginsville Road, which took us up hill a bit with more lovely farm vistas. The road was busier than I had expected it would be, but still less busy than Summer Road. We headed down hill and passed around two ninety degree bends.

Non trail section of the railroad bed

We crossed over the active tracks of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad on the way, and descended more steeply toward the bridges carrying the road over the South Branch of the Raritan River. Just before it, we crossed the old right of way of the South Branch of the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

The side of the old right of way to the west is on private land, and it’s still used when you get to Three Bridges and out to Flemington, but the section from Three Bridges east to it’s former junction with the main line is all gone (it ended at present site of the Somerville New Jersey Transit Station, now the parking lot).

The CNJ South Branch in 2008

When I started work for Hunterdon Parks, my friend Bandit (Adam Johnson) and I both wanted to clear this and get it opened as a trail, but we could never get cooperation.

CNJ South Branch today

I was shocked to see that the railroad bed was now fully developed as a trail. Bandit and Keith Monahan and I started the work on this project in 2008, and removed some bad fallen trees from it. Bandit and I wanted to use lumber laying around to redeck the bridge, and I proposed an anchoring technique to do it seen on a bridge near East Stroudsburg.

North span of Higginsville crossing

To further generate interest in the old right of way, I ran a hike tracing the entire route from Flemington to Somerville in May of 2008, and it was really a great time.
I was absolutely amazed to see that it was actually open here.
We made our way ahead on the road to the historic Higginsville Road Bridge, an interesting two span bridge set over a swampy bit of the South Branch of the Raritan.
Actually, although quite similar, these are two separate bridges that share a center pier.

Higginsville north span

The north span is an 1890 7 panel Pin-Connected Pratt Through Truss bridge built by the Millikin Bros. of New York. It’s said to be a rare surviving example of the company.

Island at Three Bridges

The south span is an 1893 through pratt truss, built by the Wrought Iron Bridge Company of Canton Ohio.
It’s unclear why two similar bridges were constructed three years apart by two different builders. Maybe one of another original washed out at a different time, or maybe one at a time was replacement for earlier wooden structures. Whatever the case, they’re quite interesting.
They’re painted a nice cream color which is also atypical of bridges of this area, which are usually a sort of light green in color. The only others I know of in Hunterdon County lke this are Clinton and Glen Gardner bridges, over the Spruce Run and South Branches.

Higginsville bridge

The stone and earthen abutment shared by the two bridges in the middle used to be popular to park on and go swimming, but it’s now been much blocked off from parking in the middle.
We continued to the other side, and could see what was probably a mill race for the Higgens Mill going beneath the south span.
The road turned sharply on the other side to the right, and led us out to an intersection with 3 Bridges Road. The old mill is now a house just ahead on that route. I was originally planning to go that way.

Higginsville bridge

We started walking ahead a bit, and I was watching the aerial images on my phone, when I realized we could eliminate some of the road walking by heading to the left on 3 Bridges Road. Another entrance to Clover Hill Park was just on the other side of some houses there.
We turned back and followed the road just a short distance to an entrance into the field area. From here, a paved roadway, closed to traffic, carried us through.

Likely old Higgins mill race

We were actually now on the Somerset County side. The boundary is up the middle of the South Branch of the Raritan, but then switches to a straight line down further west.

The South Branch at Higginsville

The management of the section is a little weird.
When I started working at Hunterdon Parks, the north section of it was South Branch Wildlife Management Area, which was adjacent to Clover Hill Park. It was decided that the entire property including the state land would be managed by Hunterdon County as Clover Hill Park, even though some of it was over the county line. Some of the gates and such still there today I built with two of my coworkers. We never blazed any of the trails, but they were all just old roadways surrounded by farm lands, so not much was really needed.

Higginsville bridges

This probably was along the Province Line, also known as the Keith Line, which separated the colonies of East New Jersey and West New Jersey in 1686.

Higginsville

The land was woodland, then in agriculture adjacent to Higginsville for many years. In 1930, it was purchased by John P. Case for use as a poultry farm. There was a four story barn for this purpose as well as two metal chicken hatchery sheds. The farm was considered to be the last full scale chick hatchery in the state, serving up to sixty customers per day. The farm was eventually sold to Merck, the pharmaceutical research company a research farm. It remained in their hands for many years until Hunterdon County and the state of NJ purchased the two sections of it.

South Branch WMA, former Merck

We started walking the paved road through the lovely open fields. It was so relaxing, and I was feeling great. We followed it for three quarters of a mile and then crossed a small stream before ascending into some more fields the west. Another three quarters of a mile took us to an intersection near the main parking area off of 3 Bridges Road. We regrouped at this section, because we were separating a bit.
Shayna put one dog into a front pack harnass because he was having trouble keeping up.

South Branch WMA

When we got over near the intersection, there were lots of cables and such laying all over the ground. I was surprised to see them, because they must have a good amount oc copper.

South Branch WMA

Jersey Central Power and Light removed the poles and lines from the property for the most part in 2013, probably the last improvement made to the property since the initial stuff was done when the deal with the county started in 2008.
Captain Soup made yet another “assoupstion” at the corner and started heading down to the road.
I was going to let him go all the way down, but Jen and Kate let him know he went the wrong way.
Along the way, we could see across a regular power line clearing to the railroad tracks.

As Dan Richter had told me, an engine was slowly moving cars along the former Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks in sight across the river valley. I stopped to watch them for a few moments before moving on.
The road to the left led us up hill, and continues for about a half a mile.
Once we got to where the land started to level off, there was a metal building to the right. I’m not sure if this was part of the original farm hatchery building or not. The buildings were locked up like crazy now.

Train going by

When I worked there, the buildings were full of stuff. When one of the employees needed a new desk, we just went to the property and used one from there in the barn building

Train going by

Most of the guys just used their desks as a sort of hang out spot, but I decided to start exact copying my entire open space resource file at home for work use. By the time I lost my home to fire in 2010, I had much of my collection of maps already copied off and in place at work, so I still had a respectable collection despite the tragedy.
I wondered what Merck had going on at the property. The property is beautiful but also has a sort of foreboding feeling about it, with it’s perfect paved roads and metal buildings.

Former Merck road

Merck actually dates back to Germany in 1668 when the Merck family purchased a drug store in Narmstadt, Germany. The American subsidiary of the company started in 1891.

Old wires left along the road at SBWMA

The German parent company still owns the rights to the name around the glove, and is somewhat separate from the giant American company today. In fact, they have some sort of disputes about the name that I don’t even want to get into. I do believe they’re the seventh largest pharma company in the world now though.

Clover Hill

We passed by the first building, and found only one hole in it that could be entered, but we didn’t bother going in.
We continued up hill a bit more, and the land leveled off a bit. I was rather surprised to see a family walking the old roads there. The place really is beautiful, but not welcoming feeling. The wife had a stroller and there was another young kid out near the second building. We walked on by, and this would be the only other “hikers” we would see during the entire trip (save for Ranger Carl to come again).

Abandoned

The pavement continued to just past the second building, which had alien graffity on the side of it, and the words “Stay Weird”. There was also one of the desks sitting outside.

Abandoned

From this point, I let everyone know that without me, they will NOT be able to find the route I had planned for the remainder of the hike. It was a weird one, with mish mash parks, development paths, and back streets to get us out directly behind the Shop Rite to Taco Bell.

Merck Road

When the road turned unpaved and then abruptly ended, I turned to my left and pointed out the tall metal power line tower. We would walk up hill toward the tower, but slightly to the left. That way would get us almost dead on to the next section of old paved road. I recall it used to be a little more delineated between the last building and the other side of the field, but it’s not so easy to tell any more. Most would not bother doing it because the fields were so wet, and we were a muddy mess after passing through it.

The road continuation...

The road was unpaved at first, but then resumed randomly as if it had never stopped, then descended slightly to cross the same tributary we crossed before head head east.

The road...

We headed up hill on the other side, and came out to an open field area again. The road went straight, then passed yellow diamond signs letting us know we were now officially entering Hunterdon County’s Clover Hill Park. As we walked, I saw a figure in black walking across the field toward the group ahead of me.
This turned out to be Ranger Carl, who we’d seen earlier at the Wawa! The others kept on walking, but I stopped to chat with him for a few minutes. We ended up talking about how things were, who’s doing what.

County park boundary

He told me that Danny Bush, long time county employee was to take over for the previous Director, Carol Bodder, who used to be John Trontis’s secretary when I was there.
Craig, the head ranger is still there, and sort of acts Director-like as well, and has since when I left.
The good news I found out was that Bush wants to separate out the parks from the Buildings and Maintenance Division again. There are forty separate parks, and no employees really taking care of them.

Clover Hill Park

It will be great if more attention could be brought on the parks. The Rangers there are really great guys, doing above and beyond what they would be doing in any other county. Just the fact that I saw Carl out there on foot is a testament to their passion for the job.
We chatted more about what had happened with the railroad bed we had just seen. Carl told me that they had just cleared that the previous Summer for trail use, and that they were trying to work with Somerset County to get it opened as a through route. There’s just some kinks to be worked out with some hunters there and such.

Path adjacent to Clover Hill

While I was talking to him, Jen called me and asked if I was coming. We were having such a good discussion it was hard to just walk away. Carl’s wife called him, and so he had to go anyway, but he did offer me a ride to catch up. I thanked him, but wasn’t going to cheat on my mileage. We had been talking for a while, but it wasn’t really THAT long. I figured the others would be waiting up for me when I got out to the next road. I wanted to try to find the abandoned cemetery at the other end this time, but I knew they’d have skipped that part. I continued walking and soon paralleled houses.

Roadside at Barley Sheaf Road

When I got out to the road, no one was there. There was an obvious paved trail to the left along the road, so I was thinking they’d have followed that. There are ways of getting into Flemington either way. I wasn’t getting any answers to calls.
Finally, Jen got back to me. They were on Voorhees Corner Road almost to Case Road. They had skipped the next several bits I planned on doing, and I knew there was no way I’d see any of them again. Captain Soup wanted to get back quick for a Poker game and everyone followed.

Path from Ewing Drive

I was annoyed that no one waited, because I had such a cool little route planned for the ending. I wasn’t going to give up anyway; I’d finish the route as planned, and maybe even do some extra.
I turned right along Clover Hill Road briefly, then cut into the township’s contiguous Clover Hill Park, which has a nice little gravel type fo path around the outside.
I crossed that, then crossed a section of soccar fields to a farm fence on the other side. I stepped over and then camem out almost at the intersection with Voorhees Corner Road.

Trail south of Mulberry Lane

I followed Voorhees Corner Road in a crummy section to the west for a bit. That was the only bit that was the same, but only I turned left parallel with Barley Sheaf Road.

Trail at Sun Ridge Homes

A line of evergreens along the east side provided a buffer from the road, so I was able to walk it and feel a bit more secluded despite the large development.
I continued across to the sidewalk on the other side, and then turned to the right on Ewing Drive. Hardly anyone was driving that, and it was starting to rain a bit, but it wasn’t too bad.
I followed the road ahead until I reached a paved pathway to the right. This short trail led parallel with homes and out to another road, Redwood Terrace.

Park in Flemington

I turned briefly to the left, then turned right on Mulberry Lane. I didn’t have to go too far on this one till I got to the paved trail going into a park section between apartments, townhouses, and homes.
There were tennis courts on either side of the park sections, and a little garden thing in a circle near the middle. At some point I turned off to the right between teh courts and then left on the grass heading to the south.

Weird greenway

There was a bridge over a tiny creek on the paved trail, just before I turned off on the grass to the south. This took me out to Sunridge Drive. I crossed the road directly, with more homes to the right. There was no “trail” here, but it appeared to be a common area.
I followed the littles tream, which was flowing pretty well due to the mass meltoff of snow from warm weather, as well as the fact that it was now raining.

Weird greenway

The previous time I walked this section, we went straight and came out at an apartment complex to the west, from which point we could get to more stuff to the east. This time, I opted to turn left and continue to try to follow the stream more closely.
Near the end of the field, I turned left on a causeway bridge with pipe beneath. This took me across and along more grass to the east, and then I turned south out to Hart Blvd.

Weird greenway

I had planned to turn left here, and then get onto a retention pond to skirt it’s edge out to the next road, but unfortunately it was closed off to public access.

Retention pond bridge

I stopped near the intersection with Reaville Road where there was a pavilion to the left. I got a call from Captain Soup, so I stepped under it to take it. He let me know he had made it back, and that he was going back to pick up others that were slightly behind him. I continued from here directly across Reaville Road to continue on Hart Lane to the west a bit. This took me to a spot skirting farm land on the left and more development areas on the right. I followed this until I got to Liverpool Lane on the right.

Stream in the development

I turned right on Liverpool Lane, which led me to another street called Aberdeen Circle. I turned left here only for a short distance before a paved trail went to the right between houses. This took me onto the cul de sac at Devonshire Court where I continued to the north.
The next road I reached was Londonderry Drive. Just slightly to the left of the intersection with this was yet another paved trail that went off to the northwest. I followed this on through to a small parking area off of Wellington Ave.

Farm view near Reaville Rd

I crossed Wellington and continued into an apartment complex. This portion of the hike was all part of what I had planned. The only extra stuff I did was exploring the retention pond a bit further to come out at the other side of Hart Blvd.

The final path

In keeping with the British sounding street names, Penny Lane was the main one into this section of apartments. I skirted it and then cut through a line of trees to come out at yet another paved trail that made it’s way along the backs of other apartments. I followed it out and across Manchester Road. As the path approached another apartment building, I cut left across the grass to an obscure opening in the trees, directly behind the Shop Rite. I passed through and went around the building to the left.
It was disappointing that the group missed some of the interesting little suburban greenways, which kind of make a walk through the area more worth it. It was raining pretty good by this point though, and so I could see them wanting to get back. I could have been happy walking for another couple of hours still, but that’s alright. I got to see all in the daylight that I wanted to. I can still rehash and re-use more of this stuff on future night hikes, because they’re perfect for it.