Hike #995; Pennington and Hopewell Loop
Our next trip would be a loop around Pennington NJ area, a night hike again after my work out of Washington’s Crossing. I am able to get rather quickly to Pennington from work, and the wealth of trails there make it an obvious point for a jump off.
Fun with Strikesound the night before
I was dead tired the entire day. The night before was Jack’s Strikesound Party, always an awesome night of music with amazingly talented people. This time even Serious Sean joined, and the spirits felt particularly high.
I didn’t even leave the party till well after midnight, and then worked all day. Needless to say, I was totally spent by the time work was over with, but I wasn’t going to give up on a hike.
It was brutally cold out this time of the week. I was wearing a hat to work, which is not typical for me, and layers. Most of the other hikers were offset by this temperature change as well, and so the only one to show up at Pennington to join me was James. I had sort of run it through my head earlier in the day that the hike wouldn’t even happen because it was so cold, but it was a relief when James said he was on his way.
James was running a bit late; I had planned a hike between Pennington and Princeton, but since we got a late start I instead decided we’d try another hike that I’d had planned between Pennington and Hopewell, because we could handle it, as could Red Sean who had texted me that he would be meeting a bit late, about six pm.
Old coal trestle
James and I started out right from the lot, and headed north to Delaware Avenue. We turned right, crossed the tracks, then cut down hill into a ball field heading north parallel with them.
We soon followed Green Street and Railroad Place to the north. It’s a pretty nice walk through this part of Pennington; the old railroad station, formerly part of the Reading Railroad, still stands and is aquite lovely three story structure. After passing the station, we came to an old coal trestle on the left, which broke away from the other railroad grade. I didn’t recall seeing this on past hikes in Pennington.
Old coal trestle
We continued a bit further north, on Main Street, to where it turns and crosses over the railroad tracks on a bridge. I noticed that abutments were still in place for the predecessor to this bridge.
From the corner, there is a gravel drive to a small parking area for Baldwin Lake Wildlife Management Area. We turned in here.
I’d first hiked Baldwin Lake area in 2007, in both February and April. It was then that I’d discovered the connections between the trails in the area. I continued to do more hikes through the area as recently as 2009, but then sort of let it go until my time at Washingtons’ Crossing started.
Pennington Station
James and I followed the trail into the woods, and then along the south shore of Baldwin Lake. It was really cold at first, and I even wore gloves, but after moving a bit, it wasn’t so bad.
We got to the dam on the lake and started following part of the Pennington Loop Nature Trail. We kept rather close to the Stony Brook, and we even headed north to see if there might be a way of crossing and bushwhacking a bit to the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association trails on the other side. In 2009, we crossed the frozen Stony Brook on the ice to reach the Four Seasons Trail, but that would not be possible this time.
Old bridge abutment on Main St.
We followed a green blazed trail out to Kunkle Park at a little tributary to the Stony Brook with a nice outlook, then went left on King George Road. There was a wide area to the left of the road that made it pretty nice for walking.
We continued to the intersection with Rt 624, Pennington-Rocky Hill Road. There was a good walkway on the bridge over Stony Brook, and on the other side, the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail’s Pennington Connector paralleled the road closely, but a bit further back enough that it made it really nice to walk.
Baldwin Lake
The main Lawrence-Hopewell Trail soon came in from the left. It crosses over a field to the right of the road, and then the main route parallels the road the direction we were going. I’d not followed the new section just to the east yet.
We continued along the section that was parallel with the road, and the pavement bisected when a tree was growing in the middle. We passed over the entrance to Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Sean caught up with us. He parked his car just ahead by going up to Arivida Drive, then right on West Shore Drive, on street. He then backtracked to James and I who waited back off of the trail in the mowed grassy area.
Deer stand thing
The trail turned to the let, parallel with Titus Mill Road, but still away enough that it was nice. It then crossed the road and paralleled Wargo Road heading north.
We followed the Wargo section to where it ended. The official Lawrence-Hopewell Trail then continues on the road for a bit. We only continued until a bend in the road where there is an entrance to the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association’s main reserve. It was a woods road at first, which led out to a small pond. There were at least two cars parking at the entrance, which I figured were hunters. I didn’t want to have a run in, but we really couldn’t go any other way reasonably.
Sean pulled out James' toilet paper
Once over by the pond, we had to look around a bit for which way to turn. I had never walked this trail before. On previous trips, we had to walk Wargo Road to the north because there was no connection between the main reserve and the separate section known as Mt. Rose section to the north. Since my last visit, the two had been connected.
We followed the very nice trail through the woods, and there was a long series of puncheons that lined the way to the left hand side. It was easy and wide, really perfect for doing on a night hike. The section led us through to Moore’s Mill-Mt. Rose Road. At the parking area alogn the road, we crossed and entered the woods to the Mt. Rose section.
Nice benches
I’d done the Mt. Rose section before, but not since 2009. This section had been there for quite a long time. We passed through on a nice wide trail, along the edge of overgrown old fields with other trails going off to the left. There was something called Elks Trail or something that goes off ot the left that I’ve still never done, but I’ll have to get to that on another one. It’s definitely worth coming back and revisiting this preserve during light hours in the future. The trail took us through pleasant woods and eventually out to cross over Crusher Road. It then continued on the other side, wide at first, but then pretty rocky.
Red Sean being silly
Sean was being typically odd, which was really funny. James put him in rare form on this hike.
He licked his glove or something at some point too.
The trail went up hill in the rockiest section of the entire hike, and I ended up twisting my ankle badly on a descent. I heard a snap when it happened and it hurt so bad that I was afraid I might have broken something. It’s likely that I tore something, because it hurt for several days afterwards, but I was able to finish the hike alright. I just had to be careful because it’s so much easier to twist a second time. Somehow James twisted his ankle as well near the same area.
There was a nice bench area at the top of the hill on Mount Rose itself. We took a brief break here before making our way down.
Store in Hopewell
The trail used to just go to a certain point and stop. I had followed it like that in 2009 with the group on the way to Hopewell, and could see that the land for the trail was in place. We ended up bushwhacking down to the road when there was no trail on that occasion, but this time it was incredibly easy. We reached the road and turned right, into the little town of Hopewell by following the sides of the road. I checked with James on how many miles we’d done, and determined how far up we needed to go to make the full loop fifteen miles.
Sean accidentally dropped and broke his drink bottle while walking along the road.
We soon came across a little store in Hopewell and I was able to find a four pack of Weyerbacker’s Blithering Idiot. I couldn’t help but get myself some more.
Happy store
We had a nice chat with the clerk inside, and he recommended something that I really don’t remember at all.
We left the bar and then headed into the Hopewell cemetery directly behind, and continued sort of to the northeast. I had done the same thing on the previous trip there, and remembered when we got to the end that thee was no good way around the fence at the end. James and I rather easily climbed up and over when we got to the corner, but Sean had a little bit of difficulty. We all got over and continued up Broad Street to Greenwood Ave.
Cemetery fence
Greenwood Ave went slightly up hill, and soon reached the overpass of the railroad tracks, formerly the Reading Railroad. This was built as the National Railway, which connected New York City and Philadelphia. It was in this area that the Mercer and Somerset, a haphazardly constructed small railroad between the Delaware River and Millstone, crossed one another. It was here that in January of 1876 the Pennsylvania Railroad, which had interests in the Mercer and Somerset line, parked an idling train on the tracks where the two lines were to cross. The fixture where two tracks cross at grade is known as a “frog”.
Hopewell Frog War
The Delaware and Bound Brook Railroad was the portion of the National Railway running the line, and they sent a train down to deal with the problem, and ended up crashing through barriers erected by Pennsylvania Railroad, and Militia had to be sent in soon after.
Hopewell Station
It was a major skirmish for the little town, but in the end, courts ruled in favor of the Delaware and Bound Brook, and stated that the Pennsyvlania Railroad had no right to block the other line. Reading took over the Delaware and Bound Brook soon after, and in 1879 the Mercer and Somerset Railway was abandoned and dismantled.
We walked over to the historic station in Hopewell, which is very similar to the stately old station we had seen just a bit earlier in Pennington. The station was built in 1876, and remained in service beyond the Reading years. Passenger service to the site was eventually abandoned in 1982, but it’s still heavily used for freight.
Hopewell Station
James realized that the station now serves as a Pokemon training area, which he was quite happy about, and he walked around it a bit and said he was going to leave one of his good ones there or something. I don’t understand the Pokemon concept at all, but okay!
From here, we headed down to the right of away and started walking along the tracks back to the south. This led almost all the way back to the cars directly.
I had walked all of this line from West Trenton to Pennington, but not north of Pennington really, so this was a good chance to wander along the line heading between the towns.
Climbing an abutment
It was a really pleasant walk, especially at first.
When we got to either Louellen Road or Van Dyke Road, I don’t remember which, a train started coming by. The line is straight as an arrow, so it’s obvious when something is coming. We could see the lights literally over a mile away. We stepped off and sat along the north side for a while as it passed.
It was near these two roads that the Mercer and Somerset would have crossed over the Reading as well. The exact spot I am not certain of, but I did stop to see it one time during the day.
It was getting brutally cold through this last stretch. The rest of the hike was rather bearable, but we were now out in the open and the temperature was dropping. I had to put my gloves back on.
Sean fell over the fence
James got pretty far ahead of Sean and I. I was incredibly tired. While walking, I could feel myself falling asleep. I tripped several times, and at least once Sean kept me from falling over. I recall at one point stopping and just standing on the tracks. This was not the place to be passing out, I remember thinking to myself quite clearly.
We could see the first bridge in Pennington from very far away. I knew once we got to that underpass that it was only a short bit more until we got to the one where we would climb up, at Delaware Avenue.
The abutment is set up like a ladder along the road to the west side, and so we were able to easily climb on up to reach the road level, then climb over a low chain link fence.
Red Sean's ripped slacks
Sean ripped his pants trying to climb over this last fence before the end.
James was somewhere wandering around nearby getting a few last Pokemon. We made our way into the parking lot just down the road, and back to the cars.
We were totally freezing at this point, so it was absolutely necessary that we get into my car and warmed up right away.
The warmth of the car was just so relaxing, Sean and I both layed back and enjoyed it few what we thought would be a few moments waiting for James to get back. James arrived, and asked if we were okay, and I guess we barely acknowledged him. Eventually he was on his way, and Sean and I ended up falling asleep in my car for an entire hour!
I felt pretty good as soon as I woke up, just couldn’t believe I was out for that long (this is literally the third time Sean and I fell asleep at the end of a hike together LOL).
I took Sean back to his car and we were both on our way home.
The freezing cold seems to have that tiring effect, but despite that and the discomfort of it all, I’m so glad James and Sean came out, because it really was a very enjoyable hike and a beautiful night. I reflect on my thoughts prior to it, where I’d almost hoped no one would come out so I wouldn’t have to go through with it, but it was really quite great and a reminder that all of this walking and exploring really is worth it.
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