Great Swamp
I was so out of shape around this time...but the hikes were still good. Such a different time to look back on...
10/7/7 Great Swamp; Lyons-Madison with "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler, Russ Moyer, David Noble, "DJ Ray" Cordts, Lucy Ruinge, Adam "Death" Coughlan, Alyssa Capo, Jean Fletcher, Dave "Captain Soup" Campbell, Major Tom Conroy, Marguerrite ?
Lord Stirling Park
Path in Lyons NJ
Path in Lyons NJ
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Lord Stirling Park
Along White Bridge Road in the Great Swamp
Bald Eagle in the Raptor Trust
Raptor Trust
White Bridge Road
Interesting sign on White Bridge Road
Former White Bridge Road, now a trail in Great Swamp
Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge
Great Swamp
Great Swamp
Great Swamp NWR
Great Swamp NWR
Great Swamp NWR
Great Swamp NWR
Taking a break at the northeast side of Great Swamp
Just out of the Great Swamp in Green Village
Horse near Green Village
In Green Village
Green Village
In Green Village
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Wyatt flipping out in the water
Loantaka
Loantaka
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Loantaka
Loantaka
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Loantaka Brook Reservation
Loantaka
Baby snapping turtle in Loantaka
Loantaka Brook Reservation
In Madison
Madison NJ
Madison NJ
Madison
Madison NJ
Madison NJ
Madison station
On the train
Train ride from Madison back to Lyons
Happy train!
At Lyons Station
Tree climbing in Lyons
Pizza place in Lyons
Pizza place in Lyons
Lyons NJ
Dinner in Lyons
Powdered sugar din din
Goofing off at dinner in Lyons NJ
My next hike would bring us to Morris and eastern Somerset County in the Great Swamp and it's watershed between Lyons and Madison. We met in the morning at the Lyons train station. Joining me here were "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler, Jay Shah, "Amish Paul" and Wyatt Hassler (who actually ran behind and met up with us along the road a short distance away), Russ Moyer (who spent the previous night at Mohican Outdoors Center), Dave "Captain Soup" Campbell, David Noble, Jean Fletcher, "Major Tom" Conroy, and newcomers {name I can't remember and I lost the trip report copy}, Alyssa something, and a woman named Jane from Brooklyn. We began walking out of Lyons (some of us in Wal Mart vests again) heading north on South Finley Ave where I'd walked before with Cathy, on a paved path that followed the road slightly into the woods, and we turned right into a school area. Amish Paul dropped Wyatt off and parked at the school to join us. We crossed the school yard and headed down to Maple Ave I think it was, then headed onto Lord Stirling Road which led us to a parking area. We turned in here and waited shortly for DJ Ray to show up and join us. We consulted the people working there, and they told us this area would not be locked later in the night when we would come to retrieve the car.
DJ Ray brought one newcomer, his friend Lucy Ruinge. We headed onto a trail that led into 1770s fest at Lord Stirling Park (named for "Lord Stirling", the title of a man named William Alexander.). Here, we had some apple cider and saw some of the sights, and got some colonia flags, then made our way onto the Lord Stirling Park trails. Jane decided to turn back because the hike was taking longer than expected. We headed out along the trails reaching the west observation tower overlooking some of the swampland and followed the trail north following the perimeter of Lord Stirling Park. We headed through the woods soon coming out to a long puncheon over a bog which was very scenic. Much of the north section of the park had to utilize puncheon bog bridges in order to get the trail across the wet lands. We continued looping around the north side and then south alongside part of the Passaic River. I considered jumping in the cool off, but it was way too muddy to be enjoyable so we continued on. We stopped next at the south observation tower for a break, then continued to the south side of the park where there was a large observation blind. We checked that out and then headed out to Lord Stirling Road, which was dirt at this point, and headed east over the Passaic River and to an intersection. We continued ahead where straight became White Bridge Road leading us to the Raptor Trust. Most of the walking, while mostly on roads in this section, was in Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. We followed a short trail into the Raptor Trust and checked out a lot of birds including a Bald Eagle and other Eagles, Owls, and hawks. We talked to a young girl there who had just started volunteering there that day, and she was somewhat interested in the hikes. We continued through the Raptor Trust and headed back out to White Bridge Road and continued east. We crossed another intersection and followed White Bridge Road to a dead end where a trail started up in Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, probably the former continueation of White Bridge Road. We followed the trail through, which had some side trails we did'nt take this time, using a couple short puncheons, leading us out to another road in Green Village vicinity. We followed it to Green Village Road and turned right, passing by a horse and buggy and some sort of a village festival at their firehouse. We continued down the road, stopping at a yard sale along the way. The woman running the yard sale got a kick out of us being there. Captain Soup and {the woman who's name I can't remember} cut out early here to go to Madison train station. The rest of us turned left from Green Village Road into the Loantaka Brook Reservation on a paved path. We followed this path for a ways and soon turned off it to the left onto an unimproves surface hiking trail alongside Loantaka Brook. We continued north to the lake at the north end of Loantaka reservation. Here, we were joined by Adam "Death" Coughlan, and we all turned back to the south, crossing the dam of the lake, onto another trail in the reservation. We continued to the paved path and followed it further to the junction with the side trail out to Loantaka Way. Death found a baby snapping turtle on the trail which was pretty cool.
We turned left and then right along the paved trail which followed Loantaka Way. Death decided to turn back near the end of the paved path to get back to his car, but would join us again later for dinner. We headed for the most part west, and then turned into the town of Madison. There was some really nice architecture along the way. We walked down the main street in town and then climbed up the stairs to the train station. We were just in time for the train, and used it to get us south to the town of Summit, where we switched trains onto the Peapack Gladstone Branch back to Lyons. The conductors there really did'nt care that we were acting ridicules, and we asked them if we could flip out and run around on the train, and the one guy said he did'nt care, and the other appeared to be eating Chinese food. We even got one of the conductors to video tape us flipping out, screaming, and running around on the train! We continued our ride laughing and singing all the way back to Lyons. I brought Ray back to his car, and the people who told us the gate would be open had lied, it was locked. Wyatt and I managed to break the gate and free the chain and lock, but fortunitely DJ Ray found a way out by driving through fields and out to Maple Ave where we walked earlier! We all had dinner at a pizza place at the shopping center in Lyons, which was good.
Loantaka
End, Lyons NJ
PICS by Mike Helbing and Wyatt Hassler (WH)
1.) Near the school in the Lyons vicinity, in the woods2.) Amish Paul on what must have been an old road or something near Maple Ave3.) Russ, Captain Soup, and Jean at the border of Lord Stirling Park land4.) Amish Paul!5.) At the parking area (where DJ Ray later had his car parked in) at Lord Stirling Park6.) Me at Lord Stirling Park (WH)7.) Along the path leading into 1770s festival8.) The Great Swamp in Lord Stirling Park9.) Along one of the puncheon areas in Lord Stirling Park10-15.) Great scenery in Lord Stirling park including the trails on the extensive system of boardwalk puncheons16.) That's me (WH)17-20.) Along the trails of the perimeter of Lord Stirling Park21.) On the southeast observation tower22.) Along Lord Stirling Road near the Passaic River bridge23.) A Bald Eagle in a cage in Raptor Trust24.) Red Tailed Hawks in Raptor Trust25.) Major Tom in front of a house that says "The Majors" on White Bridge Road26.) Wyatt with an unusual sign along White Bridge Road27.) Along the tail from the end of White Bridge Road in Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge heading northeast28-31.) Scenes along the trail in Great Swamp NWR.32-35.) Shots of the group waiting for the rest of the group to catch up just south of Green Village where the trail exited the Great Swamp (WH)36.) Wyatt and I37.) Wyatt petting a horse in Green Village38-39.) Horse and buggy in Green Village40.) Major Tom41-43.) In Loantaka Brook Reservation44-45.) Wyatt flipping out and splashing around in Loantaka Brook46.) Video of Wyatt flipping out in the Loantaka Brook47.) David, Jay, and Major Tom in Loantaka Brook Reservation48-51.) In the Loantaka Brook Reservation52-55.) Lovely lake views near the north end of Loantaka Reservation56.) Leaving the lake area57.) Wyatt along the trail58.) Baby Snapping Turtle which Death found on the paved trail in Loantaka59.) Heading out to Loantaka Way from the Loantaka Brook Reservation60.) That's me in Madison61.) Amish Paul and Alyssa in Madison62.) Nice church scene in Madison63.) Approaching the railroad tracks in Madison; former Morris and Essex Railroad64.) In downtown Madison65.) At the Madison Train Station66.) Madison Train Station67.) Switching trains at the Summit Station from former Morris and Essex Line to Lackawanna Railroad's Peapack Gladstone Branch68.) The group on the "Happy Train"69.) Video of us flipping out on the train!70.) The group on the train71.) The group at the train station in Lyons72.) Wyatt climbing a tree in Lyons73.) Ordering Pizza in Lyons (WH)74.) Death and Lucy having dinner at Lyons pizza place75.) Wyatt and I eating (WH)76.) Eating...yeah.77.) Wyatt (WH)78.) Wyatt (WH
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