Hike #176
The group in Pequest WMA
6/19/5
Pequest WMA-Washington with Skyler Jermyn, Fred Hafele, Eric Pace, Julie Satmari, Jennifer Redmond, Chris Metaxas, John Spiridon, Lucia ?, Brian and Russel Rapp.
This was another hike that I lost the original journal entry to the fire...maybe it'll turn up that someone has a copy.
Here's a link to all photos from this hike:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/sneezehorse/hike176%206-19-5/
This hike marked a return for John Spiridon who brought his girl Lucia, as well as Eric and Julie who had'nt been out with us in a while. Newcomers Jenn and Chris came though myspace.com, and Fred Hafele would go on to hike hundreds of miles with me in the years to come!
Pequest Hatchery
At Pequest Trout Hatchery
At Pequest Trout Hatchery
At Pequest Trout Hatchery
At Pequest Trout Hatchery
Trail in Pequest WMA
Trail in Pequest WMA
View from a trail in Pequest WMA
Trail in Pequest WMA
Trail in Pequest WMA
Along a utility line in Pequest WMA
Power line view in Pequest WMA
Horse field in Pequest WMA
Pond in Pequest WMA
Pond in Pequest WMA
Pond in Pequest WMA
Fields of Pequest WMA
Fields in Pequest WMA
I'm a child of the corn
Me in the corn, Pequest WMA
Pequest WMA corn field
Behind the Shippen Manor on the original Warren Railroad bed
Plaque that used to be in the masonry above the Oxford (Van Nest Gap) Tunnel
Shippen Manor, Oxford
Shippen Manor, Oxford
Shippen Manor, Oxford
This hike was a variation on past hikes I'd done through Pequest Wildlife Management Area back to Washington, with a bit of new stuff.
We hiked from a parking area near Rt 46 as I recall, heading along the upstream Pequest River to a water outlet up stream, then followed some pathways out toward the Pequest Trout Hatchery. We toured the building a bit and fed the fish, then took one of their official trails across the street looping through the woods. This led to a successional area disturbed by ATVs. We headed up hill on ATV paths, which were originally just part of the trail system (this one in particular was a beautiful mowed trail when I was little but ATVs destroyed it). We followed along the edges of some old quarries and got off the official trails at a power line, and then eventually came out to the cross mountain road at I think Sykes Gap. Since my previous visit with Tea Biscuit someone had put fencing up for horses alongg the path. A brief jog on the road to the next section of utility line took us out to the road that became Axford Ave in Oxford, passing a pond along the way. We continued across stayingg on the utility line which had an ATV path that took us through corn fields. Eventually it petered out and we were just sort of bushwhacking through corn, which was'nt that high yet. Dr. Jenn (she's a chiropractor, that's why I call her that) had said she always wanted to walk through a corn field. It's neat that so many people have ambitions to do these things I've done my whole life.
We continued out to Pequest Road near a developement where we had to get off of the utility line. Soon, the utility line crossed the road and we were able to get back onto it. We followed it to the old Warren Railroad bed which I think we just followed into Oxford. I pointed out the original 1856 right of way to the Warren line when we got to town and took everyone behind the Shippen Manor, the original rail route, and showed them the plaque that had been removed from the Oxford Tunnel years before.
We then continued down to the Oxford Furnace where we took a break. I remember taking everyone up the street to play on the swings...and I just remembered we walked along a piece of the Oxford Iron Mines Railroad parallel with Mine Hill Road, then we walked up Mine Hill Road, one section of which is collapsing into a pit mine. Eric showed me a second mine I'd never known about just back a bit further into the woods behind it.
We continued to a woods road entrance to part of the West Oxford Mountain Preserve. Eric had explored the area a lot, so I had him lead the way through the woods road system up to the top where more mines had been cappped and fenced in, and soon led to former switch back railroad beds and the buildings from Oxford Mines, now used for storage. We went through some of the buildings.
Oxford Furnace
Oxford Furnace
Oxford Furnace
Oxford Furnace
At Oxford Furnace
Swinging in Oxford
Swinging in Oxford
Swinging in Oxford
Old road in West Oxford Mountain Preserve
Old buildings on West Oxford Mountain
Area around themines in Oxford
Old building near Oxford Mines
Old road near Oxford Mines
Old buildings near Oxford mines
Muddy pond near Oxford Mines
Muddy pond near Oxford mines
Lake Marguerrite
In Griffith Woods
Old stone bridge on the abandoned part of Lannings Terrace
Me swimming around in Pohatcong Creek near the High School, Washington
From here, we followed the Iron Mines Railroad right of way back out to the road. I forget what it's called...and turned left. We soon came to a trailhead at Griffith Woods and took it. We followed this to Lake Marguerrite where we took another break. From here the trail continued back out to the same road near Roaring Rock Inn and Brass Castle Road, but we turned left back toward the direction we'd just come from briefly, and then onto a driveway which was formerly the route of Lannings Terrace, an abandoned road through Washington. We passed the house on it with no problem and then descended down hill passing some cut wood piles, and then to where the road was still used in Bowerstown, first crossing an historic stone masonry arch bridge. We passed the project Excel school and then turned left on Bowerstown Road to the entrance to Fairway Greens Golf Course. We cut across and onto a golf cart path which used to lead as a trail to a bridge over the Pohatcong Creek and a trail system that came out behind Warren Hills High school. The trail was still recognizeble at the time (though it's long gone now, the bridge exists as part of a loop). After crossing the bridge we turned left and followed the trail out to the Warren Hills outdoor classroom, and I took a dip in the creek. We continued on out to where the trail ended near the running track behind the high school. We followed the access road around the school, and then crossed Jackson Valley Road to an ATV path that led to the Warren RR bed (this path is now long gone as well, developed into more school facilities). There used to be a dry path parallel with the rail bed above the cut which we walked at this time. I think we just stayed on the rail bed back out to Washington to finish at the Port Colden Mall.
Feel free to go through the pictures in the link above and steal them for facebook if you'd like!
View of Rt 57 east from the former Warren RR bridge
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