Hike #280 4/29/7
On top of Milford Bluffs
4/29/7
Milford & Rieglesville area loop with "Amish Paul" Hassler, Wyatt Hassler, Jim Delotto, "Action Adam" Stevens, Glenn Oleksak, Paige Foley, Taylor Kappus, Bill "Guillermo" Fabel, Tara Dugas, and Barbara ?
Beginning in Milford
Milford NJ
Milford NJ
Milford NJ
Milford NJ
My next hike would again take me to northern Hunterdon County on what may one day be part of the Highlands Trail system. My plan was to hike from Milford to Tower Hill in the northwest part of the county. I met my group at Tower Hill at 9 am. Joining me here were past participants "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler, Bill "Guillermo" Fabel, Tara Dugas, Paige Foley, "Action Adam" Stevens, and Jim Delotto. We had a few newcomers as well, including Glenn Oleksak, successor to Bob Moss as Highlands Trail supervisor, and Barbara ?. There was also Paige's friend Taylor Kappus, a Senior at Warren Hills High School, and Barb ? who joined my hike mailing list previously.
Weird driveway in Milford NJ
Driveway through a brook
Driveway through a brook
Driveway through a brook
Driveway through a brook
Bushwhacking at Milford Bluffs
Off trail at Milford Bluffs
Fields of Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve...with chop sticks?
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Delaware view from Milford Bluffs
Prickly Pear cacti growing natually on Milford Bluffs
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
View from Milford Bluffs
View from Milford Bluffs
View from Milford Blufs
Milford Bluffs
Milford Bluffs
I'm mooning the world from Milford Bluffs
Mooning the world from Milford Bluffs
Mooning the world from Milford Bluffs
Milford Bluffs
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
View from Milford Bluffs
On Milford Bluffs
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Milford Bluffs Preserve
Climbing down from Milford Bluffs
Climbing down from Milford Bluffs
Creek on the Milford Bluffs
Along Milford Bluffs
Along Milford Bluffs
Small falls along Milford Bluffs
Rock outcrop on Milford Bluffs
Small falls on Milford Bluffs
The narrows along Milford Bluffs
Below Milford Blufs
Below Milford Bluffs
Glenn on the Bel Del line below Milford Bluffs
The narrows at Milford Bluffs
P Fo at Milford Bluffs
Booty Masta P Fo Hollaback
Below Milford Bluffs
Bel Del tracks along Milford Bluffs
Bel Del at Milford Bluffs
Bel Del below Milford Bluffs
Along Spring Garden Road
Wolf Preserve on Spring Garden Road
Creek at Spring Garden
Along Shire Road
Pond along Shire Road
Corner of Shire and Anderson Roads
Snapping turtle off of Shire Road
Snapping turtle near Shire Road
Vollendam Windmill along Ademic Hill Road, Holland NJ
Volendam Windmill, Holland NJ
At the Vollendam Windmill
Vollendam Windmill, Holland Twp. NJ
Vollendam Windmill, Holland Twp NJ
Walking along Ademic Hill Road, Holland Twp.
View from Mt. Joy Road
View along Mt. Joy Road
Along old Bel Del Railroad south of Rieglesville
Swamp just south of Rieglesville NJ
Old Bel Del south of Rieglesville
South of Rieglesville
Farmlands just south of Rieglesville
Old Bel Del line south of Rieglesville
Old passenger car south of Rieglesville
Passenger car on the Bel Del
Old passenger car
Old passenger car
Old passenger car
Old passenger car
Old passenger car
Old passenger car
Old passenger car
Old passenger car
Old passenger car
View of Nockamixon Cliffs across the Delaware, toward Top Rock.
View of Nockamixon Cliffs and power plant
Bel Del tracks north of Milford
Along the Bel Del north of Milford NJ
Falls along the Milford Bluffs
Falls along the Milford Bluffs
Falls along the Milford Bluffs
There was another young asian girl who showed up a bit late, but as Barb and I were shuttling the hikers to the beginning point, she said she could not walk that far before we'd even driven half way! Barb was good enough to drive her back. Along the way, I nearly hit a phone pole along the road (whoops).I suppose it worked out, as this gave "Action Adam" Stevens the time to meet up with us in Milford. It also gave everyone the opportunity to head off and visit stores and such for food and drink. When everyone was together, we began walking out Bridge Street in Milford to Rt 519. We turned left just before this and walked along the Hakihokake Creek behind some buildings. We continued onto Rt 519 and continued north. The walk along Rt 519 seemed longer than it should have been. We wound around a corner with the creek parallel to the left, and eventually came to a driveway which made no use of a bridge, but instead forded the creek. I thought this would be a good place to cross. I instructed everyone to take off their shoes and wade across. I threw Paige over my shoulder and carried her across. Once on the other side, we made our way up an old woods road. It was'nt too badly overgrown, but we had to get away from the area as it was too close to a home above. We continued off trail and steeply up hill until we reached signs showing that we were entering public land. From here, we tried to continue to the west, but it was terribly overgrown. I turned around and tried to lead the group through and around as best I could. Guillermo continued bushwhacking through, the intrepid hiker he is. We did the best we could to get around the area, and soon reached a clear trail. We decided to turn left here. It took us gently up hill through the woods and we could hear Guillermo making his signiture monkey sounds to let us know of his location. We were soon out in a field where Guillermo rejoined us. We were able to continue along the trails through the fields and around their edges. One trail led us to someone's back yard so we turned back, then followed the west edge of some fields. We were soon able to walk down hill a bit across another field where a view was starting to become clear. At the end of the field was another path leading along the ridge. We checked out some of it, and there were some great rocky outcroppings with terrific views. We had now reached the Milford Bluffs. There were Prickly Pear Cactuses growing on the cliffs below us, and we could see further south than the Milford-Upper Black Eddy Bridge, and north to the next bend in the Delaware. There were some great views of some of Bucks County, PA as well. We spent a good amount of time here, and I mooned the world to be funny. We soon continued on along the top of the cliffs and through fields. We ended up bushwhacking at the end of the field staying atop the bluffs. There were some somewhat obscured views, but it was all still nice. We continued atop the bluffs until we reached a creek valley where we had to descend. Glenn and I ran ahead happily sliding down the hillside to the creek. Everyone else followed more carefully. We walked down along the creek along and in the water to the main road along the Delaware. I had to help everyone down from a steep drop off to the road. Here, we all took a break and I climbed through a long pipe and up the creek by climbing a steep rock beneath the road and railroad tracks. After the break, we continued along the railroad tracks and the road up to Spring Garden Road, where we turned right heading up hill. It was a nice road walk, and there were some wolf like dogs in a fenced area to our left along the way. This road led us out to an area known as "Spring Mills" on my map, where there was a convenience store. I bought some more wine here, and Action Adam got some sort of drink with which he could mix a bottle of Gin that Amish Paul gave me a couple weeks prior. He and Paige drank quite a bit of that. There was also a Pizza place we made use of. Once we had a good break, we made our way along one of the branches of Hakihokake Creek (the exact name here I don't know...). The nicely mowed path led to someone's back yard, so we decided not to try to follow. Wyatt and Guillermo jumped in the creek and decided to go ahead that way. Barbara was still feeling good, but decided to turn back to follow 519 back to Milford to be on the safe side. The rest of us turned around and went along the back of the mini mall. We reached the intersection with Church Road where we were able to walk into the woods and parallel the creek a bit more. We walked as best we could along creekside, but it proved more difficult the further we went. Delotto, Tara, and Amish Paul decided to head to the road and follow 519 to meet up with us later. Glenn was able to bushwhack along the creek, while Paige, Taylor, Action Adam, Guillermo, and I kept walking in the water. Guillermo soon found his way up to the road and joined the other three, while the rest of us continued up stream. We came close to one house, but then were back in the woods. It got so thick that there was really no choice but to walk in the stream. It was taking us quite a long time to pass through this piece of land, and there was some private farm land as well with some people talking nearby, so after it too long I had to make the exectutive decision to cut the hike short and somehow make a loop rather than going the planned route. We had to double back on the way we came and cut up along a field to get out of the private land. We saw some private homeowners in their yard and asked them politely how to get out, and they directed us across the field to Church Road, which would lead us to Shire Road, our goal anyway. We made it to the road, then up Shire Road, passing by some of the public land I had originally intended to cross. We paralleled the creek for a bit, then turned a corning heading north. I contacted Delotto on the cell phone and directed him to follow Andersen Road, as he was up in Riegle Ridge and it was a good place to turn to meet up with us. We walked to the corner of Shire and Andersen, and waited for the others to show up. While there, we saw a giant snapping turtle crossing the lawn across the street, which we had to check out. When the others showed up, they took a break, then we continued back down hill to Ademic Hill Road. We followed this road across farm lands to the Vollendam Windmill, an authentic reproduction of a Holland style windmill, ironically in Holland Township. We turned right at the next intersection, making our way gradually down hill. Wyatt, Action Adam, and I ran down the hill making insane noises as if some mob of wild Pumas was attacking us while cars went by. Not everyone thought it was funny, but we did. We also screamed and made all sorts of noises as we headed down hill to Mt Joy Road. We turned left here on the hillside above the Musconetcong River. We followed this out to county rt 627, turning left, or south. Many of us headed down to the now abandoned former Bel Del Railroad and continued walking. Glenn, Delotto, and Tara decided to keep with the road, while the rest of us stayed on the tracks heading south. I got way ahead of everyone else and was walking alone for a while. Action Adam and Paige walked together a lot, and Taylor and Wyatt chatted a ways in front of them. I ended up having to wait for a while for them to catch up. For a time, I could see Glenn up front parallel with me, with Delotto and Tara just behind across the fields. Soon, the railroad led us into a more overgrown area, then we made our way to the abandoned passenger cars on the siding across the river from Nockamixon Cliffs. Taylor was particularly amazed by the old car, and we all went inside to have a look around. It was fortunitely early enough in the year that the wasps were not out yet, which had been a problem on our previous visit. We continued on reaching the access road to the power station. We were going to head out to the road, but Guillermo convinced us it was still clear anough to walk. We continued on, and did'nt have to leave the tracks until we neared a house where an ATV trail got us to the road quickly. We continued along the road toward Milford. As we walked, Paige kept bugging me about wanting to go for a swim. We finally made a stop along the river where the tracks and the road closely paralleled again. Across the street was a tributary leading into the river, and I caught a glimpse out of the corner of my eye of what appeared to be a waterfall up on the hill. I yelled to everyone to check it out. Only Guillermo, Taylor, and Wyatt followed me up. We were able to walk behind this great falls without getting very wet, and the sight of the cascade was absolutely breathtaking. Meanwhile, back on the road the landowner had pulled up to talk with Glenn and the others. Fortunitely, she did'nt have much a problem with us having a look at the falls, and continued on. Action Adam and Paige headed down to the river to go for a swim. I soon joined them; we stripped down to underwear, and only Action Adam, Paige, Guillermo, and I went in. The water was very very cold, so we did'nt stay in for long. We soon got out and continued walking south along the road. Paige and Action Adam layed down in the road, too tired to go on. The rest of us went ahead to get the cars. I went back to pick up Action Adam and Paige, and by that time just about everyone had returned to the parking area in Milford. Action Adam and I took everyone back to the beginning point. Though I wanted to go to dinner with everyone, most everybody decided to cut out and go their own way. Overall a pretty good hike, though I wished the group was a bit closer.
hidden waterfall
Photography by Mike Helbing and Paul Hassler (PH) unless otherwise noted.
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
Swimming in the Delaware
North of Milford
Action Nudist Adam and P Fo
Along the Delaware
In the Narrows above Milford
In the Narrows above Milford
In the Narrows above Milford
In the Narrows above Milford
In the Narrows above Milford
In the Narrows above Milford
Sunset
1.) Hanging out in Milford at the parking area. Some woman invited us to church! (PH)2.) Still hanging out in the parking lot (PH)3.) Action Adam at the parking area (PH)4.) Yeah, we're still there (PH)5.) Along the Hakihokake Creek behind buildings parallel with Rt 5196.) At the driveway ford across the stream (PH)7.) Still on the driveway (PH)8.) Crossing the stream (PH)9.) Still crossing (PH)10.) Yeah, crossing (PH)11.) On top of the hill above Rt 519 to the west12.) Glenn and Wyatt reaching the public land border13.) In the fields above Milford14.) Paige and Taylor on the trail to Milford Bluffs15.) In the fields approaching Milford Bluffs16.) Fields near Milford Bluffs17.) Somewhat obscured view from Milford Bluffs18.) Tara and Delotto on top of Milford Bluffs19.) Glenn on top of Milford Bluffs20.) View north along the Delaware from Milford Bluffs21.) View of Rt 32 in PA22.) View down Milford Bluffs of the Prickly Pear Cacti23.) View south from Milford Bluffs of the Milford Bridge24.) View into PA from Milford Bluffs25.) What was probably a quarry in PA, as seen from the bluffs26.) The group looking off from Milford Bluffs27.) The group on Milford Bluffs28.) On the bluffs (PH)29.) More on the bluffs (PH)30.) Me mooning the world from the bluffs (PH)31.) Yeah, mooning the world...(PH)32.) The group on the bluffs (PH)33.) Still hanging out on the bluffs (PH)34.) I'm pointing out places and names from the top of the bluffs (PH)35.) Still pointing (PH)36-38.) Yeah, we're still there. (PH)39.) Up on the bluffs40.) Glenn up on the bluffs41.) Taylor took this one of Delotto, Paige, Guillermo, Action Adam, Amish Paul, me, and Wyatt on the bluffs (TK)42.) View north along the Delaware from Milford Bluffs, further north than before43-46.) Making our way down from the bluffs into a stream valley (PH)47.) Action Adam at a cascade along the stream48.) Descending from the bluffs into the stream valley49.) Wyatt swinging on a vine while Paige and Taylor climb down50.) Glenn...taking a drink? Along the stream51.) A cool outcropping along Milford Bluffs52.) A small falls along the creek53.) The road along the bottom of the bluffs along the Bel Del Railroad54.) Wyatt in the stream below the bridge under the road and tracks (PH)55.) I think that's Wyatt there too...(PH)56.) Glenn sitting on the Bel Del tracks below the bluffs57.) Regrouping at the bottom of the bluffs58.) Paige doing her sexy pose at the falls59.) And now doing her booty pose by the falls...60.) Delotto and Wyatt at the little falls (PH)61.) Action Adam on the Bel Del tracks (PH)62.) On the road below the bluffs (PH)63.) Walking the tracks below the bluffs64.) The group walking up Spring Garden Road65.) Some sort of dog or wolf or something66.) Walking up the middle of the creek near Spring Valley67.) The group walking up Shire Road68.) A pretty pond along Shire Road69.) The group resting on the corner of Shire and Andersen Roads70.) Snapping turtle across from Andersen Road intersection71.) Those things sure are ugly...72.) The Vollendam Windmill as seen from Ademic Hill Road73.) Front view of Vollendam Windmill74.) Taking a break in front of the wind mill (PH)75.) A closer look at the wind mill76.) Another one of the mill, in bad disrepair77.) The group heading down Ademic Hill Road78.) I nice view into the valley79.) Another nice view of the Musconetcong Valley on the outskirts of Rieglesville80.) Along the Bel Del tracks south of Rieglesville81.) Lovely swamp scene along the Bel Del in Rieglesville area82.) The Bel Del tracks south of Riegleslville83.) Along the Bel Del heading south84.) Delotto and Tara across the yards as seen from the tracks85.) Wyatt and Taylor along the tracks86.) Abandoned rail car on the Bel Del87.) Getting into the car (PH)88-89.) View of the inside of the car90.) Climbing around in the old passenger car91-98.) Hanging out in the old train car (PH)99-103.) Paige trying out my glasses in the old rail car (PH)104.) View of Nockamixon Cliffs from the power plant area along the Bel Del.105.) The power plant (PH)106.) The group back along the road (PH)107.) Wyatt and Taylor resting along the road (PH)108.) Beautiful waterfall just off the road north of Milford109.) Another view of the falls110.) Wyatt and Guillermo under the falls111.) Wyatt, me, Guillermo, and Taylor under the falls (PH)112.)
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