Hike #319 12/2/7
12/2/7 Morristown-Livingston with Joe Tag and Irina Kulikovskaya
On the future Patriot's Path near Bee Meadow
My next hike would take me once again to the eastern portion of Morris County, to finish the main spine of the Patriot's Path east to Essex County from Morristown. Cathy and I had scouted out the section from Morristown to Whippany in the past weeks, but I wanted to finish it. The problem was that we had had the first real snow storm of the year which left us with bad roads and an inch of snow.
Along Patriot's Path outside of Morristown
Patriot's Path in Morristown
Patriot's Path east of Morristown
Patriot's Path in Central Park, east of Morristown
Old dam site in Whippany along Patriot's Path
Whippany River
Along Patriot's Path east of Morristown
Historic marker in Whippany area along Patriot's Path
Historic marker along Patriot's Path near Whippany
Stream near Whippany
Whippany area. This area was developed over the next two years to a condo unit.
Patriot's Path north of Whippany
Patriot's Path without the lettering on the post, a new section north of Whippany
Bee Meadow Park
Bee Meadow Park
Bee Meadow Park
Bee Meadow Park on Patriot's Path
Patriot's Path near Bee Meadow School
Patriot's Path near Bee Meadow School
Troy Meadows Natural Area
Troy Meadows
Troy Meadows
"Octopus Tree" in Troy Meadows Natural Area
"Octopus Tree" in Troy Meadows Natural Area
Troy Meadows Natural Area
Smith Ditch along Patriot's Path
Lurker Park
Old buildings in Lurker Park along Patriot's Path
Lurker Park along Patriot's Path
Near the Passaic bridge
Passaic River from Patriot's Path
Passaic River along Patriot's Path
Board walk in West Essex Park
Board walk in West Essex Park
Eastern terminus of Patriot's Path, West Essex Park
West Essex Park, western terminus of Lenape Trail
Power line in West Essex Park
West Essex Park
West Essex Park
Power line in West Essex Park
The highways were'nt very good getting to the meeting point, the Best Buy store in East Hanover NJ. Interstate 78 was'nt so bad and I kept a good speed, but Rt 287 northbound was terrible, and there were cars in the left lane who had done 180 degree spins. I arrived quite late to the Best Buy, and it worked out because though two participants showed up, they were both late. This time I was joined by only Joe Tag and Irina We shuttled only my car to Ridgedale Avenue in Morristown. We began walking down Hanover Ave to the Patriot's Path south. There was'nt too much snow on the ground, and it was somewhat pleasant. We followed the trail past the community garden once again, and along the tributary out to the industrial area, then along the Whippany River as I'd done with Cathy so recently. We followed the trail as it took us to the road and across Rt 287 to South Jefferson Ave, following it north to Central Park. There were actually a couple people out in this region despite the weather, to my surprise. The trail, paved at this point was a paved path above the south side of the Whippany River. We soon came out to Eden Lane where I walked to the left across the road bridge over the Whippany River while Joe and Irina waited for me. I soon ran to catch up with them following the path straight out to Whippany Road and turned left. We continued to Parsippany Road and turned left down hill into the village of Whippany, then turned left following the road and trail as Cathy and I did to the apparent dead end near the Path Mark on Rt 10. We decided to cross Rt 10 here at the traffic light. When we came to the jughandle on the opposite side, I looked into the woods along the Stony Brook at an old dam, which was rather pretty, and noticed some blue flagging along the creek. I knew this was where the trail was proposed to go, and Joe said it would'nt be right if we did'nt bushwhack a little bit. Irina did'nt mind bushwhacking, so we went on through following the spuratic blue tape on trees along the Stony Brook, and continued to where there were wooden posts across a grassy field parallel with Stony Brook. They looked like Patriot's Path blaze posts, only missing the white blazes. We followed them out to North Jefferson Road where we found a giant post at the road, which looked like another Patriot's Path post, only without the "Patriot's Path" written vertically down it! I was quite sure we'd found the trail still under construction, but I thought we were now at Bee Meadow Park, but we were not. The trail led much farther west than the proposed route on the map did. We crossed the street and headed along a road passing a recycling center and out to a municipal park and Rt 287. I knew we had gone too far when we reached I-287, so we turned back to the road and went left. Soon, we came to another Patriot's Path post, without the words written upon it as well. As it turned out, if we'd crossed the small municipal park it would have come out directly across the street from the sign. We headed into a mowed piece of park land from the blank sign, and there were several little bridges over ditches across the field, so I assumed this was it. There was some sort of improved surface path, though I could'nt see it because it was covered in snow. This path turned right, so I decided we'd go straight on a path following a power line. We soon crossed a small road continueing on the power line. The path took us out to a road where we crossed and turned right heading down hill on a small intersection with Parsippany Road, and I was happy to see there was a new Patriot's Path sign complete with the writing on it. Still, there were no blazes in sight. We turned right on Parsippany Road and turned left on a small developement road, then left again onto a short dead end road leading onto a path to the woods and Bee Meadow Park. We passed a guy walking his dog, and we asked for directions, but he did'nt know where we were. We walked on, soon reaching the power line we were walking before, and we could see where we just had been. We crossed heading into the woods and soon saw one of the lakes of Bee Meadow Park. We followed the south shore of two little lake sections, then crossed a big pipe bridge across a third section into a developed section of park that was open and all mowed off. We walked along the north shore of the lake out to Reynolds Road. The trail had followed the proposed route, only without blazes, for quite a ways now, so I figured we'd try to continue on. We walked across the yard of Bee Meadow School to the left, passed some playground stuff, and then found the end of a paved trail. We began following it into the woods, then out to a power line section again. We followed the trail, which took us to paved trail junction leading into a developement, and then a second one leading to a dead end road along Bee Meadow Parkway to the north. We turned back and followed an unblazed trail east along the power line, which became more and more hard to follow after time. We tried to avoid people's mowed off roads, and soon made it out to Bee Meadow Road which was nice. We turned right on the road very briefly, then turned left on South Beverwick Road. We soon found a somewhat clear spot along the power line we'd been following, with a park seat under a tree. We continued in land and soon found Patriot's Path blazes, which we began following. The trail turned off the power line and followed meadows and then light forests heading generally east in Troy Meadows Natural Area. We soon came out to troy Road, following it only across a small tributary bridge and then back into the woods. The trail led us along the south side of the beautiful Troy Meadows, and by a really cool tree that fanned out like an Octopus. We actually had to climb onto the tree as the trail crossed through it! The trail soon led back out to Troy Road again, and then across another tributary, which I think was called Smith Ditch, and then crossed Troy Road onto a footpath along the tributary. We walked it heading sort of south through some nice stream side wetlands, across a little meadow with a view of the Morristown and Erie railroad's trestle, and then back into woods in close proximity to some houses. We wandered along this trail for quite some time, and I was really directionally challenged for a while, as I thought we were heading south, but were were in reality heading north. We soon crossed Troy Road again, though I did'nt know it was Troy Road, and then turned right following the road to the first left on a dead end street. The blazes then took us along an apparently abandoned section of the street out to another dead end street. There was a blue blazed side trail here that I would have to come back to follow. We continued on the white blazed main Patriot's Path which followed roads north, then east taking a turn. One guy was amazed when we told him we were walking from Morristown. The trail led us out along the road to Ridgedale Ave in East Hanover. Here, there was a Dunkin Donuts and a pharmacy. I bought a giant peanutbutter chocolate cookie and then walked over to the pharmacy to look at their maps determining exactly where we were. I soon found our location being further than I'd thought and we continued on. The trail took us along the east side of Ridgedale Ave on the sidewalks all the way to Lurker Park. The trail led us here across the grassy ball fields and then skirting some trees obove ball fields and horseshoe pits I think they were. Soon, we headed into the woods meandering east. Along the way, we passed the site of some abandoned lean to buildings, probably part of an old scout camp. The footpath soon led us out to River Road near the intersection of Eagle Rock Road. We turned and followed Eagle Rock Road briefly, blazed across the Passaic River into Essex County. This would be my first hike in Essex County. The Patriot's Path led us into the woods here for a bit, then split in two. To the right was a long puncheon while to the left was the Patriot's Path. This led us to the parking area of part of the Essex County Environmental Education Center, and the end of the main spine of the Patriot's Path. The Liberty-Water Gap trail which had been piggybacked on it continued on to the east on Essex County's Lenape Trail system. We checked out the little boardwalk trail, then followed the Lenape Trail heading east to Eagle Rock road out to Eisenhower Parkway where there were a lot of businesses. We turned right on Eisenhower Parkway and saw where the Lenape Trail headed into the woods, then continued south on the road until we found where we thought we could walk a parallel power line. We got on it, then decided to cross it where we found a nice parallel woods road. We followed this and then decided to head into the woods on a small pathway. We ended up bushwhacking off trail for a ways looking for a way out toward the Passaic River, but to no avail. We eventually found an old woods road which was in an Essex County piece of park land. We followed this to the end, then found another woods road heading toward the west. We followed it to yet another power line and decided to try to follow it to the left. It was fine for quite some time, but then became completely flooded over where the wetlands around the Passaic River were overflowing. We walked through some of it, but it just got ridicules so we decided to turn back. We bushwhacked out to the nearest road, then walked back to Eisenhower Parkway. It was brutal walking these roads for so long, but we managed. My feet were actually hurting after this one. Irina and Joe took me back to my car in Morristown and I was on my way, though I forgot ot pick up my backpack and realized it well down Rt 287, so I had a lot of extra driving.
Patriot's Path, Bee Meadow
1.) Irina and Joe on Patriot's Path heading north from Morristown2.) A rather new bridge for Patriot's Path heading north from Morristown3.) On the Patriot's Path with a strange fruit tree!4.) Patriot's Path in Central Park near South Jefferson Ave5.) View of the Whippany River from a bridge on Eden Lane6.) Lucent building!7.) Historic marker in Whippany NJ8.) Another historic marker in Whippany9.) A nice old dam near Rt 10 on the Stony Brook10.) The Stony Brook11.) Unblazed new portion of what was probably to become Patriot's Path. We followed the posts of the unblazed trail to North Jefferson Ave12.) Along a park near North Jefferson Ave13.) New Patriot's Path without the lettering on North Jefferson Ave14.) A lake near the recycling center15.) Another pond, near Rt 28716.) Along a trail section beside the Bee Meadow Lakes17.) View of Bee Meadow Lake18.) Video of Joe and Irina on the proposed Patriot's Path just east of Bee Meadow School19.) On the paved trail from Bee Meadow School, proposed for the Patriot's Path20.) Me on the Patriot's Path in the Troy Meadows area21.) The trail in the Troy Meadows22.) View of Troy Meadows from the trail23.) Fiew of the fields along Patriot's Path24.) Strange tree along Patriot's Path. I call it the Octopus Tree25.) Crossing the Octopus Tree26.) The Patriot's Path in the Troy Meadows27.) I believe this is the Smith Ditch28.) In Lurker Park on Patriot's Path29.) Abandoned lean to's in Lurker Park30.) Patriot's Path in Lurker Park31.) At the end of Morris County, with an historic marker32.) The Passaic River looking north from the bridge33.) Passaic River looking south34.) Joe and Irina on a plank walk near the end of Patriot's Path in West Essex Park35.) On the board walk in West Essex Park36.) The eastern terminus of Patriot's Path37.) Beginning of the Lenape Trail38.) Walking along a power line parallel with Eisenhower Parkway near Livingston39.) Swamp land near the Passaic River40.) A nice woods road near Passaic River41.) Wet area on the power line
No comments:
Post a Comment