Hike #948; Pottersville to Long Valley

Hike #948; Pottersville to Long Valley

6/30/16 Pottersville to Long Valley with Lowell Perkins, Sean TheRed Reardon, Marissa Barradale, Celeste, Jim “Uncle Soup” Campbell, Sue Bennett, Joe ?, Euin Gonzalez, and Jillane Becker

Our next hike would be a point to point night hike between Pottersville and Long Valley. I had intended to visit some of the cool old pool sites on the Black River that would be great for Summer swimming hikes, so I put something together that I figured shouldn’t be too hard.
In the end, it turned out to be far harder than I’d anticipated, but overall a great experience.

Hiking Pottersville

We met at the Krauszers in Long Valley, and then shuttled to the start point, in Pottersville where we left Sean’s car at the deli and post office. We then began walking over to the bridge over the Black River, but I realized I’d intended to follow McCann’s Mill Road, so we backtracked and then followed the road to the south.

McCann's Mill pony truss

It was a beautiful road, and it went from paved surface to dirt relatively quickly. We had a really nice time walking which took us down past a sort of camp property on the right, and the road ended at an historic pony truss bridge over the Black River, where it met with Black River Road.
We turned left on Black River Road and began following it to the north.
Once again, this time my plan was to pick up another piece of the old Rockaway Valley Railroad right of way, which was abandoned since 1916. I’d recently done a night hike where we covered a portion of it, and it’s always cool to revisit some of these sites. I pointed out where the railroad was once parallel with the Black River Road, then where it crossed to the Rockabye Meadows Preserve.
The railroad was nicknamed “Rockabye Baby” because of it’s poor grading. The trains would rock and there were many derailments. It failed because it was built in 1888 to haul peaches, but they died in the blight in 1890.

Rockaway Valley Railroad bed

We headed across some open meadows and weaved around looking for the railroad bed. it’s not always easy to see through the mess, but we eventually found it, and then followed it into the woods. The grade is much more obvious when it’s out on the fill beside the Black River.

Belgium!

Euin was heading to join up with us, and he parked at the same place as us before running to try to reach us on the road. He overshot the spot, but fortunately heard our loud selves out of sight into the woods parallel with the road and was able to make his way back to us.
He had just come back from Belgium, and brought me a nice gift of a traditional drink they have there, which was nothing like anything I’d had before! We of course had to sample it immediately!
We took the railroad bed to the edge of the property, then together followed the connecting trail back out to Black River Road, which we followed from here to the north for a bit.

Old rail bridge site

We walked to the north a bit more, and I pointed out to everyone where the Rockaway Valley railroad used to cross the road again. The fill for it and it’s former bridge site can still be seen to the right side of the road, in a relatively manicured lawn section. One could look right at it and have no clue what it was unless someone explained it. The railroad has a newer road built on it just a bit further to the north from that point. We continued a bit further north, past the old Pottersville Church, and then turned left to cross the Black River again and our cars. We continued parallel with the river to the north, and turned right on another Black River Road.

Black River bridge

As we walked, to the right of the road was an old stone foundation along the Black River. I always knew it must have been some sort of a mill site, but I’d only driven by before and not seen that there was actually an historic marker there.
The marker read that the mill was taken down in 1972, and that it was probably owned by Sering Potter in the nineteenth century. It said that his enterprise included the Grist Mill, Fulling Mill, a blacksmith shop, a foundry, and a store. We continued north from this point, and soon reached the old mill race along the roadway.

Old Potters Mill site in Pottersville

I’ve always admired the mill race parallel with this section of road. It’s quite a large one, and it stretches the length of the road to where there must have long ago been a dam over the Black River. All of that is private land today and so I couldn’t really explore for remnants. The raceway crosses over the road where it’s heading up hill, and then follows down below it. It’s dry today, with not one bit of it holding water. Building it must have been some engineering feat. We continued north along the road, which then passed by two homes that sit right on the river in a narrow gorge.

Old mill race in Pottersville

The area along the river is one of a lot of question to me. On maps, it’s shown that it’s all part of Hacklebarney State Park, but it’s run by a private hunting club and has lots of “no trespassing” signs on it. When I tried to hike the other side of the river many years ago, a guy came out and yelled at the group for being there.

Old road along Black River

Apparently there’s some sort of exempted state land or something? I’m not really sure. Either way, the land isn’t open to public.
We walked north on the road, and stopped for a dip at a deep spot where the gauging station is. After our dip, we headed further up to the last private house, then a section where there is state park land signs on the right. I wanted to try to cut into Hacklebarney this way. I’d done it once before in the dark, how bad could it be in the light.
Well, it was bad. We fought through some crappy weeds. Celeste handled it like a champ, no trouble at all, but I’m pretty sure that Sean and Marissa’s friend hated it.
We picked up an odd numbered trail system, not quite in the park, which in part followed very old woods roads.

Moi in Sean's hat

From there, we were able to take a side path up, which took us to the border monuments at the far end of the former Main Trail in Hacklebarney State Park. It was cool to come up on them from the other way. We then turned right onto the Riverside Trail, red blazed, and headed down to the edge.
I got myself wet pretty quickly at the first opportunity. I needed it after that sweating mess of a bushwhack we had just gone through. We remained along the river heading up stream for a while, and then when we got to where the red blazed trail went up hill, we continued along the head out to the old pool site, built by the CCC in the 1930s.
When Adolph Borie made the initial donation of Hacklebarney State Park to the state, the entrance was off of Hacklebarney Road, by his house. After a while, Borie didn’t want the entrance there and he asked the state to give it back, and he would donate more land for a proper park entrance. The state agreed, and the original entrance was blocked off, the land reverted.
In that time, the CCC had apparently already built a swimming pool into the river. The site has a dam, sort of opened, a former foot bridge site, and steps down into it. It’s a great place to visit.

We had a really nice time hanging out and laughing. Sean was trying to talk to Lowell about trading peanuts or cashews or something for knowledge. A hilarious banter ensued in which Lowell tried to explain something about how if we were in a state of chaos there would be no deals.
The exchange of dialogue was such that I could never do it justice even attempting to emulate. It was pure intellectual comedy one simply must experience in order to appreciate fully. Sean did get cashews or whatever it was anyway.
We continued from here back the way we came along the Black River, to the large old hemlock log that spans it to the new trail that was being put in by Student Conservation Association.

Log crossing

I had been working with SCA on a project to rehabilitate the old orange trail out of the first hunters lot at Hacklebarney. It was sort of a mess to get up it because there was a huge washout and a giant Beech tree over the way.
We made our way up the slope and then out through the parking lot to the corner of Pottersville Road and Lamerson Road. We turned left on Pottersville, then left again when we got to the red blazed Conifer Pass Trail, which crossed there. We headed along that for a while, and it was much farther than I’d remembered it being back through there. There were some ups an downs and a little bit of a ridge.

Old building site...

Sean and Marissa’s friend hurt her ankle on this one stretch, but she was fortunately okay enough to continue on. The trail headed down hill a bit, then eventually, after crossing a smaller tributary, reached the edge of the Black River. This section of the river was more turbulent I believe than the Hacklebarney section, and the trail was narrower above it.
We took to a side path which led to an old fire place I’d never bothered to go down to before, so that was cool. Yet another discovery I’d not seen in the past. We continued down stream and were soon to the Kay Pool. Elizabeth D. Kay, early horticulturist, used to own the land that is now the Kay Environmental Education Center, and her pool, built into the river, and pool house are still there in ruins.

Kay Pool and house

It’s really an outstanding spot, and so we stopped to check it out again. It was getting dark, so it was pretty creepy this time. Still, it was fun, and Lowell and Sean climbed up the dam.
They went over to check out the pool house ruins, and then we were off down the trail. We continued on the green blazed trail, which is obscurely marked, and eventually got back to the blue blazed Black River Trail, and followed it north. There are some lovely natural falls in the area that are well worth checking out, but we’d have to do that another day because it was getting far too dark!

Kay Pool house

Elizabeth Donnell Kay (1894-1987) was the only child of James J. Donnell and Ann Leeds Warden. Her father emigrated from Northern Ireland with his parents in 1850 and eventually became a leader in the business and financial world of Pennsylvania. Her mother was from a prominent Philadelphia family. As a young woman, Elizabeth attended the Master’s School at Dobbs Ferry, New York. In 1915, Elizabeth Donnell married Alfred G. Kay, a stockbroker from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Kays moved to Chester, New Jersey in the 1920’s where they spent their springs, summers and falls. The couple wintered in Florida where they were involved in many community activities and worthwhile causes, which included the founding of the Palm Beach Day School and St. Mary’s Hospital. The Kay’s also presided over the Palm Beach Civic Association and Everglades Club, and led the rescue of Pine Ridge Hospital, the area’s only health care facility for African Americans.

Historic view of Kay pool house

Elizabeth Kay’s greatest fascination lay in the flora and fauna of the world around her, an interest which deepened to a dedication encompassing conservation, ecology and education in natural science. Accordingly, in the early 1960’s, Mrs. Kay donated the architectural plans for the Pine Jog Environmental Science Center in West Palm Beach, Florida. In the mid-1960s these same plans were used as a model for Morris County’s Great Swamp Outdoor Education Center in Chatham, New Jersey.
Mrs. Kay was a woman with exceptionally broad interests and diverse abilities varying from nursing to literature. She was instrumental in establishing the Seeing Eye Center in Morristown, New Jersey, and remained involved through raising many of the dogs. Mrs. Kay was the initial founder of an experimental arboretum located south of Palm Beach which imported and tested many tropical trees and flowering shrubs to determine if they were suitable for use in South Florida. She was past president of the Garden Club of America and gifted writer who penned numerous horticultural articles. Mr. and Mrs. Kay ghostwrote an autobiography of David Fairchild entitled; “The World Was My Garden.” Additionally, the couple edited “The Plant World in Florida”; a book based on the notes of Dr. Henry Nehrling.
The Kay’s bequeathed their 233-acre “Hidden River Farm” in Chester, New Jersey, to the Morris County Park Commission who, in 1994, dedicated the property as the Elizabeth D. Kay Environmental Education Center. This peaceful estate encompasses many diverse habitats including field, deciduous forests and a magnificent hemlock gorge on the Black River. Down at the bottom of the hill and along the river is where they built their “pool house,” where they would cool off on hot summer days.

The group in Milltown

It was quite the relief when we got off of the messy narrow trail and back onto the regular Black River Trail. We followed it up stream a bit, back along the river, and soon it picked up the right of way of the Langdon Mine Railroad, then after that the Hacklebarney Mine Railroad. It’s a good section along the Kay Pond, then out to the Cooper Grist Mill.
Jillane planned to meet up with us, and so she parked at the nearby bar and met up with us on the trail by the mill. Unfortunately, from there we had to walk a section of Rt 24/513 because there was no good way of getting through the next section in the dark. We followed the road carefully, with cars whizzing by, to Coleman Road where we turned right.
We took Coleman Road down hill to the former Chester Branch of the Central Railroad of NJ, of which part is now a bit of the Patriot’s Path. This was originally intended to be the main trail, but there are too many problems with it. For one, the easement for it goes right through people’s yards that will fight it tooth and nail just to the east. There’s also the problem with Coleman’s Cut, because it can get so wet. In the railroad days, it used to drift shut with snow like crazy.
We followed the railroad bed pretty easily past a couple houses, and people were outside, but fortunately no one gave us a hard time. The rest of the section was really nice and quiet, with a bit of a view of the valley to the north. The trail turned slightly off the railroad bed when we got to the one side of the Ort Farm. Here, we had to skirt their fence to get out to the next road.

The trail turns left on the right, then right along 24 again where there is a wider area to follow. A truck pulled out around the Ort farm and sort of checked us out, and then went on it’s way along the road. We continued on up the road the short distance to the Krauszers, the proper end of the hike.
Everyone got rides back to their cars after laying down feeling exhausted along the parking lot briefly, and Jillane and I went to do some bonus miles just the two of us.
We headed over to the Gillette Trail, just a bit from the Krauszers, and headed down through the old orchards.

Long Valley cemetery

It wasn’t long before we reached the South Branch of the Raritan. It’s a really nice spot with a bench and and old farm bridge which carries the trail across. We sat down and enjoyed the sounds of the crickets and peepers from here for a bit. I actually dozed off for a while.
I woke to hear some weird sounds. It was yipping and barking of sorts. I soon recognized the sound unmistakably as Coyotes. They were all behind us on the south side of the river. We listened to them for a few moments until I realized they were getting closer and closer every second. They actually got very close. I couldn’t see them, but I knew we had to get out of there.

Old church in Long Valley

We hurried across the bridge, then made our way up just a little to the old High Bridge Branch of the Central Railroad of NJ. We turned left on that and were soon behind the metal fabrication place. We couldn’t hear the coyotes here any more, and it was much more light. They wouldn’t bother us there.
Coyotes are getting more and more aggressive as time goes by, and I don’t want to be the first case of a death from something like that. Our friend Bob from RVC told me a story of how he was treed by coyotes up in Wallkill, because they’re getting more aggressive and less afraid.
In my life, I had only seen two coyotes up until 2016: one at Point Mountain maybe in 2008, and then once more running along a farm road in 2010.

Long Valley

In 2016 alone, I saw two coyotes at Spruce Run Recreation Area, and then two together while backpacking the Mid State Trail in Pennsylvania. The amount of coyotes I’d seen doubled in this year alone, and I spend more time outdoors than most anyone.
I wanted to be sure to stay away from those animals as much as possible!
We followed the trail south around what used to be Welch Farms facility, where my dad used to work years ago. The facility was torn down and there were houses there now. The trail turns onto the old Chester Branch of the CNJ briefly, then turns off to follow another route around the development.

Camera effects

We then headed out along the railbed when the trail regained it to Fairview Ave in Long Valley. We turned left there and checked out the old cemetery and church ruin that sits near the intersection.
After reading some tomb stones, we headed further into town, across the old stone bridge over the South Branch again, past the old tavern building that used to be a coach stop, and then back to the left on 513. The dim lights on all of the buildings made it look especially cool to be walking around.

Jillane

Save for a bit of fear with the coyotes, I was really glad that we went to do a couple extra miles, because it was such a perfect night to be out. The temperature was nice, and got a little bit chillier as we finished, but it made it more comfortable.
We got back to the Krauszers soon, and I drove Jillane back to her car at Milltown.
I’d have to go back to the Kay Pool and check out the cascades and such sometime soon. There is an easier way to get there, and I want to see all of the deep watering holes along the way while it’s still warm.