Hike #978; Spruce Run Perimeter

Hike #978; Spruce Run Perimeter

10/20/16 Spruce Run Perimeter with Jason W. Briggs, Sue Bennett, John M. Kosar, Julia from SCA, Dan Asnis, Celeste, and ?

This hike would be so much more fitting than I’d have ever guessed at the time that I posted it.
I have posted the perimeter hike around Spruce Run Reservoir a few times in the past, but t his one may mark my last week of work at Spruce Run ever. I’d been working there for six years, and my situation had worsened to the point where I had been given a temporary transfer to Washington’s Crossing.

Clinton WMA

The next day I think would be my last day of work at the park. And so, it seemed very fitting to do one last tour of the reservoir while I was there.
This time, unlike previous times, we would follow the shore of the reservoir clockwise. In the past, I had always gone the other way, but this time I wanted to see the other side of it a bit more clearly. It ended up being a good thing because it allowed us to walk along some more pathway stuff through Clinton area, and would give me ideas on how we could do the hike in the future, should I ever try to do it again.
We walked from the parking lot across the bridge over Spruce Run on Van Syckles, then along the mowed path heading south along the creek.

Van Syckles Corner bridge over Spruce Run site

We soon picked up the former route of the predecessor to present day Rt 31 (Before that it was Rt 30, then Rt 69, then 31). This section was closed around 1963, although the current highway was already rerouted it seems by the 1930s here. We walked on to Van Syckles Corner, where Van Syckles Corner Road, predecessor to Van Syckles Road went to the right, and Cregar Road went left. The present intersection with Cregar is now up hill to the left. We walked to the right after crossing Willoughby Brook on the old road bridge, and then walked down to where Van Syckles Corner Road crossed the Spruce Run. The abutments to the former bridge are still in place and only visible when water is very low.

Spruce Run finding it's old course

Checking out all of the little ruins through this area gave Jason a bit of time to catch up with us. He wasn’t too far off and I was going to have him park over at Riverfield Medical, but he was so close I had him just come to the start and follow the shore to meet up with us.
We went past the really steep spot, probably the most scrambling we did for the entire hike, and then continued on more level ground heading to the south.
There were actually a few other people out there walking around this time too. I am not used to seeing people walking this section of the reservoir, as it’s more accessible going the other way.

Edge of Spruce Run

We ended up walking through a mess of some sort of small plant, like briars, but I’m not sure what they were. They had these tiny seed things that stuck to every bit of clothing, but unlike the little round hitch hikers, they could not easily be pulled off. They were completely covering my blue and yellow Nikes that Dan Asnis had given me recently (Mets colors of course), and I just couldn’t pull it all off.
The things were also more annoying than the standard hitch hiker because they got up into the clothing. It didn’t settle for just being on the outside of them, it got through to the point where it itched the skin something terrible.

Bottle and plate

I kept having to pull more of them off, and we’d have to get closer to the water’s edge to avoid getting into more of them.
The reservoir had been so dry for so long (since pretty much fourth of July), that these plants had had the time to grow pretty mature.
We walked around, and we found what looked like an old mounted license plate, but it appeared to read “FLECO”. I also found a sort of old looking bottle, but can’t be sure really how old it is. I sat it out within sight along the shore and we kept on going.
When we got just past a house that is close to the shore near the Water Authority building, we waited for Jason to catch up. We could see him running along the shore line, and then he suddenly stopped. Of course, he had seen the plate and bottle I’d left!

Trail at water authority

We continued together from that point out to an access point to the south of the main dam. Here, we had to leave the shore of the reservoir and get out on the paved trail that doubles as an access road to Water Authority.
Celeste and her friend continued with us for a little while longer, and then they had to turn back because they had work.
The rest of us continued along the trail, soon parallel with Rt 31. It’s an obscure trail route, because it truly looks like you’re not allowed to walk along it. The fence line looks like it will say “no trespassing”, but people are allowed to walk back it.

Main Dam, Spruce Run

We remained along the paved trails until we got over by the main dam. We actually got a view of the dam and got a bit closer than I had ever been before by taking one of the trails that goes out of the way a bit closer.
Once we got done with the paved trail section, we walked across a nice lawn section along a chain link fence sort of down stream from the dam. This took us along the back of the somewhat new library building in Clinton. We were able to easily walk along the back of this, which then took us out at the ball fields parallel with Rt 513 heading into Clinton.

A good path

John remembered how their used to be a nice old grand stand or something at the ball field back there, and told us about having been there in the past, and mentioned a couple of people who had played there. I had never known there was any history behind this field, I just figured it was put in there around the time of the reservoir or something.
I wondered while walking, could the berm type of path in the grass that we followed behind the library to the fields be more than just a berm, was it once one of the access roads, perhaps the earlier route of present day 513? It turns out it was not, at least as far back as the 1950s, so I do not know what this roadway was.

Old Red Mill

We walked down 513 across the bridge over the South Branch of the Raritan, with a good view of the Old Red Mill off to the right. We then turned left up through town for a bit to make a trip toward Shop Rite. We stopped for snacks and drinks, and John gave me a half of a sandwich, which was quite good, from a place near where the A&P used to be.
After eating, we headed back through town to the main street, and crossed the old truss bridge with the best view of the Old Red Mill. I chatted with Julia as we walked about her upcoming assignments all over the country for Student Conservation Association.

Old Red Mill

We continued on Rt 173 after passing Old Red Mill, through town and then to the right past a gas station and bank until we got to the Union Road.
Union Road was a very historic road, dating back to the earliest days of the Union Furnace which operated at Spruce Run starting in 1742. William Allen and Joseph Turner purchased the ironworks as well as 13,000 surrounding acreas, called The Union, because it was needed for charcoal manufacturing. The Union Road was described as the road going from William Trent’s House (Trenton) to “The Union”, which was this area on the north of Clinton.
Union Road still exists as a truncated development road on the Clinton side, and to the north it is still paved below the waters of Spruce Run, but usually inaccessible. Only during these low water times are we able to walk it.

Old Union Road

We followed Union Road out beyond the gate into the reservoir lands, and actually got on a bit of it I’d never walked before. Usually, I cut out across a field and descend at one of the levees to reach the edge of the reservoir, but this time we remained on the Union Road and got out around the corner when we cut away as not to be seen out there. It was neat to walk that one bit of it I’d not been on.
There are stories that there are towns down beneath these reservoirs, but the truth is it’s not really true. A few houses, yets, which were demolished first, but no town. The closest thing to a town under the waters of Spruce Run was a settlement known as Cole’s Mills, where the Union Road crossed the Spruce Run, at a bend in the road.

Cut from old plumbing

We headed west along the reservoir from here, heading in and out away from the land at every inlet. It becomes muddy so we can’t just stay walking a straight line most of the way, nor did I want to anyway, because the ruins we can see are usually a bit up higher.
We crossed the ruins of what I believe was the Mulhockaway Farm, as well as by an island section, and where there was once a spring or creek that had rerouted itself because of the reservoir.
At the one barn site, I accidentally walked up against a piece of plumbing pipe that was sticking up and cut open my shin. It wasn’t too bad, but it bled a good amount for a bit.

Assorted sticks

Another odd thing we found while out there were lots of weird dead trees propped up to stand vertically by placing them into the openings of cinder blocks. I was referring to them as “Cinder Block Christmas” every time we saw them.
There were several places for camp fires, and little stick shelter structures built up along the shore. The concept of walking the dry shore has become quite a local novelty for people. Even since this hike took place, The Weather Channel went to Spruce Run to to film about the level of the lake.
The roughest part of this entire hike was the part where we had to cross the Mulhockaway Brook. It’s typically the toughest part of the hike every time we’ve done it, but this time the brook itself was not the problem. We got right across it without an issue; the problem was the thick undergrowth that is now all along the shores of the creek, which has sort of re-established it’s route.
The same crummy plants with the tiny itchy hitch hikers were growing like crazy, and we had to find a way of getting through them without getting covered in them. It was a tough time, we we managed to find a sort of animal path that led us from the thickest stuff out to where we could manageably walk through it.
We continued beyond the peninsulas near the recreation area, past the complex area, and the boat rental. We stopped to use the restrooms and continued beyond the boat launch. I pointed out the old barn foundations at boat launch, and then we continued on the Union Road when it was out of the water.
The coolest part is always the Union Furnace itself. The furnace that dates back to at least 1742, maybe even earlier. It’s always an amazing feeling to stand at the site of something where early Patriot’s unsure of the future stood forging the weapons used to fight for independence. We can’t even begin to comprehend what these people must have felt, and it’s so much stranger that this ruin is usually deep below the water’s surface. Fishermen stand all over it casting off into the water with little or no knowledge of what it used to be. Only the circular base of the kiln itself is even recognizable.

Union Furnace

I had done a “Then and Now” photograph of the site with one taken in 1908, and from the same spot in early October. Most of the furnace stack today is collapsed, but still recognizable at the site.

Union Furnace today

We left the furnace and continued on the former Van Syckles Corner Road, which went from the parking area on Van Syckles Road presently down into the reservoir. The road is still paved and was completely out of the water, though the area around it would not be walkable because it was so muddy and deep. It makes for a really cool spot to walk, out on the old paved road surrounded by stuff we couldn’t walk.

On the jetty

When we reached the Spruce Run, at where the road used to go across, the same spot we were earlier, we turned to the left to get back to the cars. There is a sort of jetty sticking out, but in order to get out to that, there is a horrible mess of weeds.
It was the same kind of weeds we had come across earlier, where it all gets stuck on us and impossible to get out. We tried to carefully fight through it to get to the jetty. From that point, even though it’s pretty badly grown in, we had some sort of a pathway we could walk that would take us back into the parking lot.
This was really a special kind of hike. Completely Atlas Obscura type of stuff.
There is so much to experience out there. It’s like another planet walking the dry reservoir bed, with everything from the odd plants stuck to us that we see nowhere else, to the terrain and structures we wouldn’t see anywhere but a dry reservoir.
I have to take it even one step further; if I were not pointing out some of this stuff, it would have no value whatsoever. The roads could just be driveways, or some other formation. The foundations could be as easily past by unnoticed. The Union Furnace would just be a meaningless pile of rocks that had been there since the beginning of time.
This hike is often a favorite among my friends because of how different it is. I look at all of my hikes as sort of a single body of work, so it’s a bit different for me, but this one certainly stands at as something odd and amazing.
Even if I ever return to Spruce Run, it will be so much different. This was the end of a chapter, and just like the water will soon come back to hide everything we had seen, such will be the case of the work place I came to know over the past six years.