Hike #1346; Stockton/Raven Rock/Sergiantsville Loop
8/13/20 Stockton/Raven Rock/Sergeantsville Loop with Justin Gurbisz, Jennifer Tull, Professor John DiFiore, Carolyn Gockel Gordon, and Shane Scanlon Blische
At Zega-Lockatong Preserve
This trip would be a big loop down in southern Hunterdon County, which I put together most specifically because I knew there would be some swim spots.
Spotted Lanternflies on an Ailanthus tree
It was another hot night, and I wanted to get out and do a really good hike, but also try to cover at least a little ground I’d not done before.
I came up with a route that would take us from the town of Stockton on the Bridge Street, up along the Bel Del Railroad bed, through Prallsville, and then the Lockatong Greenway upstream. From there, we’d cut away from the Lockatong and follow back roads and paths east to the Wickecheoke Creek greenway. We’d return to Prallsville there and double back a bit on what we’d already followed.
After meeting in Stockton, Justin, Jenny, and I continued north on the old Bel Del Railroad bed. Everyone else that wanted to join was running a bit late.
We made our way up past the Prallsville Mills, across the Wickecheoke Creek, and John parked up at the Bulls Island parking area to meet us. He started walking the rail bed to the south, and after Prallsville we took a break at the Lockatong Creek crossing.
The Delaware and Raritan Canal ended its northern leg at Bulls Island, but the trail more closely follows the Bel Del, not the canal, north of Trenton. It just doesn’t get much promotion.
At this point, the Lockatong spills into the old canal below, where there is a spillway off into the Delaware River on the other side. It makes it a great spot for a swim.
White Oak Trail
I swam around a bit, but the other two didn’t feel like coming in yet. I decided not to make them wait too long, and once I was cooled off I got out.
John met up with us soon, and we all continued to walk the rail bed north to Raven Rock, where Bulls Island is.
At the former station site, we turned right from the rail bed and started walking up the unpaved Quarry Road, which skirts the side of an old quarry to the right. The first bit of our greenway we would follow is the White Oak Trail, which starts at the south side of the quarry and then crosses over Quarry Road up the hill.
Old spring house at Zega-Lockatong
I had actually done scouting for this hike when I worked for Hunterdon County Parks. The two other segments to the northeast were already in place, and I figured it would be good to connect down through the state land. I posted it also through Appalachian Mountain Club and even though it went over pretty well, I never heard back from anyone about doing any of the work. Eventually, the trail went in and was completed before I knew anything about it. It wasn’t marked well, but it was wide enough to get a utility vehicle through much of the way.
Zega-Lockatong Preserve
I covered some of this trail last year, and it was in horrible shape.
The section from Rt 29 up around the quarry was completely impenetrable. The White Oak for which the trail was named could literally not even be reached. It was terribly overgrown.
This time, I chose not to even try to walk that lower section, and did Quarry Road instead.
When we got to where the trail crosses Quarry Road, last year it was terribly overgrown and not fun to get through, but this year someone had cleared it off quite well.
The trees were cleared that had fallen over it, and someone did some serious trimming.
Along the Lockatong
Just as we had started walking up Quarry Road toward the trail crossing, a loud voice came barreling up on us.
“HEY ASSHOLES” I heard, and Shane pulled up on his mountain bike. He decided to ride down from his home in New Hope to join us for a little while.
Wescott Nature Center
Shane decided not to go onto the White Oak Trail, although it would have been fine, and he instead went up Quarry Road to Federal Twist Road and turned left. We walked the trail uphill and over a couple of little gullies, then came out on Federal Twist Road and reconvened with him.
From there, the trail route turns onto Raven Rock-Rosemont Road for a short distance, downhill to the crossing of the Lockatong Creek on a through style truss bridge, in a very pretty little area with an historic stone farmhouse.
My then and now of the bridge
We paused for a few moments at the entrance to the Zega-Lockatong Preserve, where Mimi’s Trail heads up into a meadow where there are experimental American Chestnuts planted, and then goes back down along the Lockatong Creek.
Tree along Peters Trail
I tried to convince Shane to join us on the trail, because most of it would be pretty easy on his bike, but he decided instead to start heading back home.
I guess it was a good thing he didn’t join us, because on his way home he had a tire blow out on the bike, and he ended up having to walk it the rest of the way.
We followed the trail up past the Chestnuts, which were fewer than I remember, but the ones remaining were growing quite larger than they were the first time I had walked the section.
The trail went downhill and across some puncheons, and past what was probably at one time a spring house. We then emerged on the edge of the Lockatong Creek.
Peters Trail
This is a really beautiful section that was obviously once a road. The property is that of the Hunterdon Land Trust up until a certain point, and is blazed red. After a nice area with a bench and a deeper spot in the Lockatong, the trail becomes orange and changes names to Peters Trail, which was a sort of agreement when it was acquired. That section is the Peters Section of the Wescott Nature Center, which used to only be the section on the south side of the creek years ago, with a loop trail along it.
We stopped for a break at the deeper spot, and I went in for another dip.
Old deer stand
This area used to frustrate me when I was working there. The trail was in pretty good shape, and it was nice to see that the county is somehow still keeping up with a lot of the work there, but the blazing of the trail was always bad. There were arrow markers where the trail didn’t turn, and it sort of went inland as soon as it went to the county land. The Hunterdon Land Trust section was so nice along the stream, and it just seemed odd that all of a sudden it went off into these woods.
There is a cool ruin out there where it weaves away, but I couldn’t find it this time. It’s a sort of stone root cellar that’s hard to see except for in the Winter months.
Pond in Wescott Nature Center
The trail came back closer to the creek again, and eventually reached a rock outcrop where the trail weaves out and around almost onto the creek.
I always thought this was a cool and interesting spot, but it does go under water at times of flood.
When I worked there, I was sent to clear a new path that bypassed that rock, which I wasn’t happy about. We had about gotten it done, and I thought the outcrop was eliminated from the trail system, but I was happy to see that it was not only still there, but reblazed with proper turnb blazing where the trail turns from the creek to head uphill.
Peters Trail
Some of the paint blazes I had done back in 2008 and 2009 was still visible on the trees, which I always get a kick out of.
Hunterdon County pays like $300 per order of the plastic blazes they put up, and the paint blazes I’d done are still mostly holding strong after over twelve years. It just takes a little effort to put them on and make it look neat.
We headed uphill on the trail, switched back and forth, and had to climb over or around a couple of fallen trees, but nothing too bad. We weaved around some stone rows, and the sun was starting to go down in the sky a bit which cast a pretty light on the woods.
Peters Trail
Soon, we emerged into the open field section.
This was always a problem back in the earlier 2000s, but this time it was mowed quite nicely. I was surprised at how good it was.
The trail took us out across the first field, and then through a corner to a larger one that gets wet in the corner.
Here, there is an old deer hunting platform that I used to climb up onto. It was in bad shape the first time I hiked this way back, but now it was getting way worse. The scaffold holding it up is somehow still strong.
A scene along Strimples Mill Road
We weaved around the fields, from north to east to south, back to east into more woods. I pointed out the old farm pond to everyone, which is rather obscure along the trail.
High Falls of the Lockatong
We then came out into one more field and headed back to the north. I was surprised to see a couple other people walking by us here.
When we got to the parking area on Strimples Mill Road, Carolyn was waiting there for us.
Together, we headed out to Strimples Mill Road and turned left.
I’d walked this way I think once before, after accidentally coming out to the road in the wrong place. This time, we followed Strimples Mill Road west to Federal Twist Road, and then turned right, to the north, at the intersection with Stomf Tavern Road.
High Falls of the Lockatong
We had walked south on the road for a bit last year after coming up from the Lockatong in Lockatong Wildlife Management Area, and so this time my plan was to head to that point, and then descend via the informal trail to the High Falls below, but backwards from before.
I had lost a good pair of prescription sunglasses in this area, and I looked for them as we walked, but I didn’t see anything.
We followed the road to a clearing, which is parallel with the wildlife management area, and cut through it to the woods. It took me a little while to find the route I wanted to get down, but when I found the path it was pretty easy.
We followed the path down to the rocky outcrops where the lovely cascade is.
We stepped across the Lockatong above the falls, and I climbed down to find a good spot to jump in. We usually jump off the top of the falls, but I didn’t want to make my first jump right off into it all.
I jumped in from below first, just to double check the depth where I needed to land, and then climbed back up the rocks at the falls and jumped in again. I probably jumped off of it more times this time than ever in the past. There was no one around, and so it was perfect for enjoying it. There are often a bunch of kids there.
High Falls of the Lockatong
John and Carolyn also both eventually jumped in, and quite enjoyed it. We hung out here for a break for a while, until it was obviously getting darker. I wanted to try to get out of the woods before darkness really set in, because even though the trail is kind of marked in white, it’s not well maintained and there are several little side routes.
High Falls of the Lockatong
We headed up from the falls and along the trail, and it was muddier than I’d ever seen it before. I suppose that’s one of the reasons that no one is really going back there, and we didn’t see anyone this time. Most people wouldn’t want to walk through that.
Eventually, we came out to the rough parking lot for Lockatong WMA.
We then turned to the right on the gravel access road, and then headed out to Rt 519.
We turned right here, which would be the crummiest portion of the entire hike. There was only a small shoulder on the road, but we managed to keep on it.
It continued to get darker, and we followed 519 until the intersection with Sanford Road.
High Falls of the Lockatong
Sandford was a narrow road, and quite pretty.
There was either Hunterdon Land Trust, state WMA, or NJ Conservation Foundation (all have property in the area) along the road, which might have provided another way for us to walk, but we didn’t bother to explore it this time.
We headed along the road through a wooded section, and the sounds were amazing. Crickets were going crazy all around us, and I walked ahead of the group to enjoy it a little better.
The woods soon gave way to more open fields, and the segmented and individual sounds of crickets and other bugs gave way to an almost continuous buzz of other field insects.
High Falls of the Lockatong
When we went around some ninety degree bends in the road, we got into more high trees, and the field sounds again gave way to the more pulsing sounds of the woodland insects.
We continued gradually downhill here until we came to Upper Creek Road, along the Wickecheoke Creek.
Here, we turned right and soon reached the entrance to the Green Sergeant’s Covered Bridge, the only authentic historic covered bridge remaining in New Jersey.
Next to the covered bridge is a stone arch bridge which provides passage to eastbound traffic, and the covered bridge is only westbound.
The Wickecheoke Creek Trail passes through the covered bridge and is unblazed at this point. On the other side, we turned right on Lower Creek Road, which parallels the creek a long ways. Eventually, the trail turns to the right along the creek, away from the road a bit, but we were walking and talking and actually missed the trail turn off.
We continued on the trail to the through pony truss bridge that carries Lower Creek Road across. There, we stopped for a break and took a swim in the Wickecheoke. Or at least I did. I don’t recall if anyone else came in with me at this point, but I was glad I did. It’s a refreshing, deeper spot on the little creek unlike the other further upstream.
Prallsville Mills
From here, we walked to the ninety degree bend in Lower Creek Road, but turned to the right into a section of mowed field trails. The trail continues along the edge of the fields to the west, then south, parallel but further away from Lower Creek Road. It eventually rejoins Lower Creek Road at the end of the public property.
Lower Creek Road is so lightly used that it’s not really a problem to walk it anyway.
We continued on this out to where there is another trail section, but its too had to try to follow it in the dark, so we remained on the road out to Rt 29. There, we turned left, and then right into the lot for the Prallsville Mills. We passed the old mill buildings, and then through the parking lot to the Bel Del Railroad bed again.
It wasn’t long from here before we got back to where we had parked in downtown Stockton. I drove John back to his car, and Jenny took Carolyn back to hers to close out the night.
It was really a fantastic Summer night hike, and I’m going to need to do more in this area for sure. Amazingly, there are still many more of these trails I have never done.
HAM
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