Hike #282 5/8/7
Haycock Mountain and Nockamixon Loop with Jason Itell, Tea Biscuit (Scott Helbing) and Jen Heisey
Climbingg around in the rocks of Haycock Mountain
This is another one where I lost the original hike journal unfortunitely so I have to try to remember it all.
On Haycock Mountain
Top Rock on Haycock Mountain, Bucks County
Climbing around on Haycock Mountain
Haycock Mountain bouldering
Chimneying up on Haycock Mountain
Church north of Lake Nockamixon
A finger of Lake Nockamixon
A very poorly named woman. Mark Moran commented she probably died of embarrassment.
Nockamixon State Park
My Cutlass at Haycock Boat Launch
Sentinel Rock at Nockamixon State Park
Sentinel Rock at Nockamixon State Park
Tohickon view in Nockamixon
Spillway at Nockamixon SP
Nockamixon
Nockamixon spillway
Creek on it's way to the Tohickon near the dam spillway
Nockamixon dam spillway
Lake Nockamixon
Lake Nockamixon
State Park headquarters at southwest side of Lake Nockamixon
Route 313 making it's way over the inlet to Lake Nockamixon
Abandoned trail route at Nockamixon State Park
Giant tree stump
Nockamixon
Lake Nockamixon
Lake Nockamixon from the equestrian trails
Trail in Nockamixon State Park
Creek in Nockamixon SP
The berm of a former dam on a creek inlet to Lake Nockamixon
Old dam ruins at a former mill site, Nockamixon State Park
Former mill site, Nockamixon SP
Historic marker at Nockamixon SP
Trail at Nockamixon SP
Lake Nockamixon
Lake Nockamixon
Abandoned road in Nockamixon State Park
Nockamixon SP
Finishing our hike at Nockamixon State Park, Haycock Boat Launch
We started at the Haycock Boat Launch at Lake Nockamixon PA. Jen Heisey from AMC and my brother Scott "Tea Biscuit" Helbing joined at first.
We walked up the road to a trail leading to a rocky outcropping atop Haycock Mountain. There was supposedly a seasonal view of the lake but we saw nothing. We had a great time climbing around on the rocks, and chimneying up to the tops of them, then we headed down and walked some roads parallel with a finger of the resevoir looking for a good future Highlands Trail route. We only found a tombstone of a woman named "Thelma Fly Odor" which made this side trip worth it.
After getting back to Haycock Jen and Tea Biscuit headed out and I was joined by Jason Itell, and the two of us would hike the entire perimeter of the resevoir, a grand undertaking.
We started walking from Haycock across the bridge and onto the unmarked trail on the northeast side. This one is really nice, and it took us to the dirt road, then down to the outlet near the dam where we saw the giant sentinal rock balancing again. We continued from here to the bridge over Tohickon Creek on the south side, then back down trails where we could see the main dam spillway. We then followed the perimeter, some of which was on something called "Elephant Trail" to the southwest side inlet. We had to walk the highway north to a cul de sac to get to the north side. We were planning on bushwhacking off the cul de sac to the next trail, but this trail was long abandoned. We even found an old foot bridge completely grown over with mulitiflora rose. We had a rough time on trails until we reached a section maintained by AMC. We followed clearer ones along the way, but some were so badly torn up by horses it was amazing. The trailways were covered in straw as well and we could'nt see the uneven ankle twister terrain.
After the main trail area it took us to a multiuse trail section near the ruins of two old dams and a Stover Mill site. There were apparently a few Stover Mills in the area of Tohickon. This easy trail took us to the boat launch area, and we had to get on and off the road as I recall. There was one section where we walked a trail on a frisbee golf course. Our last section were a few abandoned roads that came out directly into Haycock boat launch. I think we ran the last section.
We also ate some of what Jason thought was "St. John's Wart" which was suppoed to make you trip or something, but instead it just made me feel a little queezy...both of us actually.
This one was great exercise to begin the season with.
At the headquarters building on the southwest side of Nockamixon.
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