Hike #142
Hike 142
At Blue Mountain Lakes
Looking back on this so many years later, it's amazing to think that just a couple months prior I was having trouble finding people to attend the hikes. I had posted it once after joining AMC and only had a couple participants show up, so I decided not to go through with the entire hike and reschedule, something I probably should'nt have, but whatever. I would not have to worry about having no one show up for hikes for the rest of the decade, and at one point I was told that my hikes were among the most popular of all chapter activities in terms of attendance.
This particular hike is an excellent example of how eclectic my hikes were. The age range was 17 to mid 50s. A few newcomers in attendance were Appalachian Mountain Club members new to my hikes, Skyler and Steve Buschemi came through one of my original high school contacts, Joe Millionaire through my brother Tea Biscuit, John came through Skylands Visitor, and Bob was a longtime friend of my grandfather. Even today, the source of participants amazes me.
Along Hemlock Pond
8/8/4
Near Mid Kittatinny, Buttermilk Falls Trail
Swamp on Buttermilk Falls Trail
View from Rattlesnake Hill
On Bird Mountain
For this next hike, I decided to repost a hike I had last done in June of 2002, the Blue
Mountan Lakes section of the Kittatinnies. Since it was in the Delaware Water Gap
National Recreation Area, I posted it as a Delaware Water gap hike, and of course got a lot
of participants. We met many of the participants at the Port Colden Mall in Washington,
then headed up to the beginning at Blue Mountain Lakes. The parking lot had been paved
since our last visit!
Joining this time were hike vetarans Cathy, Skyler, Joe Millionaire, John Spiridon, and
Hsin Chien Tai. Newcomers were Nathan Carrol, Polly Janson, Chris Verry, Julie Satmari,
Dawn Britton, Jeff Daniels, Bob Koppenhaver, and Dinah Rush. Nathan, whom I call
“Steve Buschemi” due to his uncanny resemblance to the actor of the same name, I met
when I was in high school when he was working at Babbages in the Phillipsburg Mall. I
was now working with him some nights at Wal Mart in the photo center.
Bob Koppenhaver I knew through e mail contact, and he showed up with Dinah Rush, who
I’d worked with when I was a 4-H councelor when I was 18! Julie Satmari, Dawn Britton,
Jeff Daniels, Polly Janson, and Chris Verry came through the AMC posting.
Atop Bird Mountain
Bird Mountain
Atop Bird Mountain
In Tillman Ravine
Tillman Ravine
Along Mountain Road, near Wallpack Center
Mountain Road
Buttermilk Falls
Atop Buttermilk Falls
Old abandoned Buttermilk Falls Trail route
Steve Bushemi slips from the old Buttermilk Falls Trail
We walked as we did in the past, along Blue Mountain Lake out to Hemlock Pond, then up
Hemlock Pond Trail to the AT, and down to Crater Lake. I thought for certain that someone
besides me would want to swim in the lake, but they did’nt! I took a nice swim in the lake,
then came back to the group, he seemed to just want to move on. Here, Skyler, Bob
Koppenhaver, and Dinah Rush decided to turn back, as they were only planning on doing
part of the hike.
We headed uphill near the tower areas to the AT, then headed down Buttermilk Falls trail
to Woods Road Trail back to the AT on Bird Mountain. We continued along the Blue
Mountain to Brink Road, and into Tillman Ravine. There were nice views along the way as
it was a clear day.
After coming out of the ravine, Steve Buschemi was running low on water, so we gave him
some more. At one point, Cathy asked “Steve Buschemi, is that all the water you
brought???” pointing at his single bottle of Poland Spring water with only a drop left in it.
His reply was “Oh, no, it was full when we started”. I could’nt help but laugh at how he
took that question.
After walking a bit of Mountain Road, we came to Buttermilk Falls, which was running
pretty dry. I decided that I wanted to run up the staircase of Buttermilk Falls trail to the top
of the falls and then try to follow the route the trail used to take before the stairs were built.
Jeff Daniels was first to decide to run up with me, followed by Steve Buschemi, Polly, and
Chris. On the way back down, we lost where the trail used to go, and ended up on deer
paths. Steve Buschemi almost took a fall over a steep hillside, but caught himself.
The last part, the abandoned road up to Donkey’s Corners was a gradual slow uphill to the
main road. I had a few cars left there so we could bring drivers back to the beginning.
Everyone was pretty tired!
Farmland view from Mountain Road
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