Hike #244 10/22/6
10/22/6
Kittatinny Ridge & Valley; Mohican Outdoors Center-Marksboro with Scott "Tea Biscuit" Helbing, Fred Hafale, Jude Shabrach, Laurie Ellicott, Ron Phelps, Bill "Guillermo" Fabel, and Mike Boguski
Group shot at the beginning
Here's a link to all of the photos from this hike:
http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/sneezehorse/hike244%2010-22-6/?action=view¤t=012.jpg
The journal entry for this one was also lost in the fire so I'm going from memory again.
We met in the morning at our end point, the Paulins Kill Valley Trail in Marksboro NJ. Just before I arrived I was told that two past participants, Mike Boguski and "Amish Paul" Hassler had a history as former best friends but could never be in each other's company, so Amish Paul backed out of this one. I got to talk to him briefly when we reached our beginning point, Mohican Outdoors Center.
This was one that coincided with another of the "Mohican Weekends" AMC was putting on, so I figured what better time to do one of my silly themes. This time I'd make use of my old baker smocks I'd gotten from Shop Rite and pass them out to everyone, as well as some bakery department hats. My ex Cathy used to work in the bakery there and got me a bunch of them.
We started out walking along with Jim Catozzi's, another prominant AMC leader's hiking group. In that group were a lot of great hikng acquaintences and friends I'd known from before that I got to chat with.
We started out walking the Mohican Camp Road to the AT, and as soon as we started going up my group just could'nt go slow enough no matter how hard we tried to stay with the others, so we went ahead. We continued on the ridge ahead to the great view point and the other group still had'nt caught up. Somewhere in here we passed by Andrea Deaton who was on the AMC executive committee leading a backpacking trip! She could'nt believe we were walking the AT dressed as travelling bakers...of course.
The group along the Kittatinny Ridge
We continued on along the AT and stopped for a bit at the Catfish Tower. From here we took the woods road down to Millbrook Road, then continued on the AT past a little beaver dam spot. We then turned slightly left and then followed an old woods road over a knoll along the former route of the AT in the area. I could see some painted out blazes and always wanted to follow the route. There was even a nice seasonal view on it.
Mohican Outdoors Center
Mohican Outdoors Center
Mohican outdoors center
Along the AT above Catfish Pond Gap
AT above Catfish Pond Gap
Along the AT
AT view
AT heading toward Millbrook
AT view
Along the AT
A group of travelling bakers on the AT!
Along the AT
Catfish Tower
Catfish Tower
Catfish Tower view
Catfish Tower view
At Catfish Tower
Catfish Tower
Along the AT
Along the AT in Millbrook Gap
Along the AT in Millbrook Gap
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Beaver Pond near Camp Mason
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
View back into Millbrook Gap
View from a power line
Power line along the AT
Power line along the AT
Power line view of Beaver Pond
Extreme difference near Pool Colony on the AT
Along the AT near Pool Colony.
Off trail view of Fairview Lake
Off trail view of Fairview Lake
Descending Kittatinny Ridge near Fairview Lake
Yum.
Blair Creek Preserve
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Abandoned camp near Fairview Lake
Blair Creek Preserve
Blair Creek Preserve
Blair Creek Preserve
Old mill waterwheel site in Blair Creek Preserve
Blair Creek Preserve
Blair Creek Preserve
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Blair Creek Preserve busted puncheons.
Coming up from Blair Creek Preserve
Power line
Power line
Ascending power line from Blair Creek
Foliage
Along Sand Pond Road
Along Millbrook Stillwater Road
Lime Kiln along Millbrook Stillwater Road
Lime kiln
Old car along the Ridge and Valley Trail in White Lake Wildlife Management Area
Abandoned house at White Lake
Old Vass farmstead befoe rehabilitation at White Lake
Vass Farmhouse before rehabilitation.
Along Ridge and Valley Trail, former spur rail line.
Marksboro on Paulins Kill Valley Trail
Ron in Marksboro
We continued to the main AT and got to a power line crossing where we decided to climb around a bit. It was really a fun time, then we continued on along the AT to where it met up with woods roads nearing the Blue Mountain Lakes area. We bushwhacked off the trail here to the right passing a great off trail view of Fairview Lake and then headed steeply down the ridge. Soon, we came to signs denoting the Blair Creek Preserve, my next destination. This was better than expected because we also found an abandoned camp with a few buildings remaining! We of course had to go into them before we could continue on. When we were ready we had to descend to follow Blair Creek as best we could. We followed the west side of it which seemed the easiest to do, and there were even flagged off trail routes that had'nt been blazed yet. We continued as it got thicker and ended up going through some thick swamp land in a big meadow. Once we got out of the wide flood plain we also found the foundation of an old mill, even where the water wheel would have been. We continued from here to the power line we'd crossed earlier up on the ridge, and to our surprise there was a plank bridge built over the wide swamp and creek here! We of course had to cross this structure, which was in poor shape and even collapsed partway across. Still, we were able to manage crossing well enough and reached Sand Pond Road where we turned right.
We followed this to Millbrook Stillwater Road and turned left heading down to Sunset Lake Road and turned right. Along the way was a nice lime kiln. We continued from here and somehow, as if by some miracle, found the trailhead for some of the Ridge and Valley Trail, marked with slate blazes with a painted symbol on them. I thought they must have been really expensive, but impressive that they'd use them.
Fred opted to walk the road and not follow the trail section, to get back more predictably on the road.
We followed this trail with only a little difficulty heading south. Along the way was an interesting old truck, probably late 1930s. We continued on and eventually the trail, after crossing several little rocky ridges, spit us out on Rt 521/Stillwater Road. We turned right and passed a parking area on the right. I did'nt know it at the time, but the trail did continue across the road to the left but we did'nt see the trailhead.
We walked all the way out to Spring Valley Road and turned left, then headed down to Marksboro in the dark, so it's a good thing we did'nt try to follow a trail! We checked out where the White Lake railroad spur from the NYS&W Railroad used to break off as well, Ron walked over to the junction site. We'd explore more of this at a later date.
GOOD NEWS! Thanks to my great friends, this original journal entry has been RECOVERED! Here it is!!
Hike 244; 10/22/6
My next hike was once I was asked to do during a Mohican Getaway Weekend hosted by Chapter Hiking Chair Jim Catozzi. I was at Mohican the night before talking about the history of the Water Gap area and posted the hike for the next day. My route would take me from the Mohican Outdoors Center to Marksboro on the Paulins Kill Valley Trail, former New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad.
We met at the end point, in Marksboro, then shuttled to the Mohican Center. Joining me were Tea Biscuit, Fred Hafale, Bill "Guillermo" Fabel, Laurie Ellicott, Jude Shabrach, Ron Phelps, and one newcomer, Mike Boguski. There was an unforeseen issue between Mike Boguski and "Amish Paul" Hassler. I did now know they had had issues in the past, and Paul showed up for my hike, and left when he saw Mike. I met Paul at the Mohican Center and he explained the situation.
We headed to the Blueberry Hill Lodge where we met Jim Catozzi, Al Schwartz, and their crews. We were all assembling at the same time. We certainly stood out, as everyone but Fred and Mike wore old Shop Rite Bakery Department uniform shirts we had had for years. Tea Biscuit and I each wore pink shirts underneath with Shop Rite Bakery hats, and Guillermo wore another weird baker's hat!
When we showed up, there were quite a few hikers from the other groups that had some wise cracks to make, but I did'nt mind at all. We talked to Betty Kelley a bit; she had recently just finished hiking through on the Appalachian Trail. Jim and I decided we might as well do the circle talk together at the beginning since the beginnings of our two hikes were the same. We began walking from there down the Camp Road to the AT crossing, then took the AT northbound.
We walked with Betty a bit, and began the walk with Jim's group, but we could not really walk the same speed and make it on time so we went ahead of them. We soon came out to the excellent viewpoint over the Paulins Kill Valley and continued to the Catfish Tower, which we of course had to climb up. We talked to a couple guys from Philidelphia for a bit before we continued on on the AT. We followed the fire road down instead of the AT at some points.
After crossing Millbrook-Blairstown Road, we cut off the trail when another trail broke off to the right, but it appeared to go down hill so we bushwhacked back to the AT. Not long after we returned to the AT, Fred pointed out another trail, an old woods road, ascending to the right, telling us that it was the former route of the AT and that it rejoined further ahead. I decided that it would be better to walk this for a different route for a change. There was actually a nice obscured view south of the ridge from this trail, which remained somewhat clear save for a few logs over the pathway.
When we reached the power line crossing, Ron and I decided to climb a bit. Ron climbed up further than everyone else. We soon continued on northbound till we could see Fairview Lake clearly. The AT was now aligned on a woods road and we decided to stop for the lunch break before we started bushwhacking down the ridge. I was really hot by this time and started wandering around without a shirt. Meanwhile, Fred had put on a hat and gloves! Quite the contradiction!
We began bushwhacking down the ridge with some great off trail views of Fairview Lake. By the time we made it to the bottom, we found ourselves along the edge of a marsh. We were able to walk along it's edge because there was some sort of deer/animal pathways along the way. We eventually came to an old woods road and turned left, because I knew the next stretch of land we wanted would be near the outlet of Fairview Lake. Soon, we found yellow diamond shaped signs reading "Blair Creek Preserve". We were in the right spot.
We continued along this pathway to a small creek crossing with a little board bridge. There was a chimney within view. We made our way up to explore it and found that it was probably the remains of some sort of camp pavilian. There was a small building standing behind it that I went in. There was also what might have been the ruins of a shower house, as there was a hot water heater full of bullet holes. There was also some sort of pipe along the ground. We made our way out the front of the chimney area to an old woods road where we found two more structures, still standing and in pretty good shape. This was probably at one time a Boy Scout camp or something of the like. We checked out the two buildings then headed on our way back to the little stream we entered near.
We made our way down a woods road along the creek in the Blair Creek Preserve until we came to a vehicle accessable road. There was an orange tape trail, just as it was described in Skylands Visitor Magazine, leaving to our right. We began following it along the Blair Creek heading southwest. The trail was easy to follow even thought it was not conventionally blazed. We followed the trail as far as we could, and the tape blazes seemed to stop where a woods road crossed the stream. I waded through and wandered the other side looking to see if the trail continued on; there were a couple tapes but they ended. I made my way back across and we continued walking along the creek as best we could. It was easy for a while, and we passed some sort of an old resevoir site and foundation. We all crossed to the south side of the creek from here and continued gradually heading down hill.
The creek was soon in a wider valley in a swampy area. There seemed to be some sort of other tributary coming from our left, so we decided to cross the creek on a branch. Fred opted to walk our and around the swampy area while the rest of us continued through a sort of wet meadow. We waited around for Fred to make his way to the other side of the creek. I could'nt hear him for a while, so I decided to go back. I recrossed the log and finally heard him, so I turned back to rejoin the others. Fred was soon visible on the other side, a few hundred feet away, so we all continued on. Our side of the creek started getting weedier, and we followed a deer trail I think. We eventually emerged on a power line, part of the power line we were climbing on earlier.
We were about to continue on the power line when it was apparent there was a bog bridge over the swamp! I led the way walking over the long bridge. At times, it was falling into the swamp. Still, we were able to continue all the way across. This puncheon was certainly not maintained. We assumed it must have been made to access the next section of the power line. Quite interesting. We met Fred at the other side and followed the power line to Old Schoolhouse Road. We then turned right following the road along the preserve.
We continued to Millbrook-Stillwater Road and walked south. Originally, I was planning on heading toward the rest of the Blair Creek, but I knew we would return too late if I followed the planned route. We headed down the road to Newbaker's Corners and continued on Millbrook-Stillwater Road. We soon made a right hand turn on Sunset Lake Road where we would scan the south side of the road looking for the trailhead to part of the Ridge and Valley Trail, a somewhat new trail system, part of the Ridge and Valley Conservancy.
We walked along the road without seeing anything for some time. Eventually, there was a woods road breaking off to the left with a marker. We walked down it to see if blazes continued, and they did. Fred opted to walk the road to get back to his car. The rest of us continued on following blazes, which took us off the woods road and into the woods behind homes along Sunset Lake Road. The trailway took us very indirectly all over the area. There were a lot of what we used to call "PUDs" (pointless ups and downs) along the way. We travelled into a crevace between a rocky area and soon found ourselves walking over a long series of small ridges and valleys, and we commented on how the trail was aptly named. The little ridges were just high enough to give us a good workout, constantly going up and down. From one of the little ridges, we could see an old car of some sort, probably a 1940s model, so we had to go and check it out. Ron and Mike jumped in it immediately.
We continued on generally in a southern direction though it was certainly not direct. There was a marshy open area to our west at one point, and we eventually made our way out to Rt 521, Stillwater Road at a parking area. We turned right and walked a path parallel to the road through a bit of woods, then along a field before coming out onto the road. We continued on the road to White Lake, passing the Vass House, a beautifully built old stone farmhouse in White Lake Wildlife Management Area, as well as another abandoned house. We turned left and headed up the access road to White Lake, and tried to walk along the edge of the lake for a while. It did'nt work out as planned, as the weeds were far too thick, and we started making our way back out toward Stillwater Road. We fought through some weeds and reached the road somewhat easily. A couple of us decided to stay on the road instead of fighting through weeds, I think it was Laurie and Mike, and we came out of the weeds right next to them!
We continued on the road to Squires Corners and turned left on Spring Valley Road, walking gradually down hill. Soon, we came to a level grade to the left. As it turns out, this was the White Lake Branch of the NYS&W Railroad, which I had originally wanted to walk. We were planning on walking the east side of White Lake, but there was'nt enough time. We walked briefly on the right of way, which was soon obliterated by the road. A cut was visible above us where the right of way made its gradual descent back to the main line. We were now in Marksboro, back at the cars. We bid our farewells, and Tea Biscuit, Ron, and I ate dinner at the restaurant along Rt 94 in Blairstown, which I can't currently remember the name of.
Photography by Mike Helbing and Fred Hafale (FH)
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