Hike #383 11/2/8
11/2/8 Lower Farney Highlands/Split Rock with Shelly Janes, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Matt Davis, "Amish Paul" Hassler, Jason Itell, "Commando Tom" Petrucci, Larry Butler, Kyle Zalinsky, and Joe Tag
Group shot at a giant chimney, off trail in Farney Highlands
And here is a youtube video promo put together by Commando Tom. Excellent! Much of this was filmed on this hike:
Hibernia Mine
Hibernia Min
Hibernia Mine
Along Four Birds Trail, Wildcat Ridge WMA
St. Patrick's Cemetery
St. Patrick's Cemetery along the Four Birds Trail
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
St. Patrick's Cemetery in the Farney Highlands
Along Four Birds Trail near Hibernia
Four Birds Trail near Hibernia
Four Birds Trail near Hibernia
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
Graffiti Cliff
View from Graffiti Cliff
Along Four Birds Trail
Along Four Birds Trail
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail. NYC Skyline in view.
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail
Hawk watch view on Four Birds Trail
Descending on Four Birds Trail
Descending to the Maze
Descending to "The Maze" on Four Birds Trail.
Descending
Along Four Birds Trail
"The Maze" on Four Birds Trail
Brook crossing south of Split Rock
View along Four Birds Trail south of Split Rock
Snake on Four Birds Trail
Split Rock dam
Split Rock dam
Split Rock Furnace
Split Rock Dam
Split Rock Furnace
Split Rock Furnace
Split Rock Furnace
Split Rock Furnace
Split Rock Furnace
Split Rock Furnace
Split Rock Furnace
Split Rock dam
Split Rock dam
Split Rock dam
Split Rock dam
Rocks on the Four Birds Trail
Along Four Birds Trail
Along Four Birds Trail
Pond along Beaver Meadow trail
phalic
Amish Paul is rolling a wheel thing on a back road in the Farney Highlands
Fire place in the woods
Fire place in the Farney Highlands
Unnamed path in Farney Highlands
Wetland in the Farney Highlands
Creek crossing on an informal Farney Highlands trail
Off the beaten path in the Farney Highlands
Snake Hill Road
Giant tree tumor in Farney Highlands
Tree tumor
Kyle and a giant tree tumor
Strange purple rock in the middle of the woods, Farney Highlands
Kyle found a balloon
Commando Tom's perch
Hibernia NJ
Hibernia NJ, former bridge site
Hiker/Stripper
Hiker/Stripper
For my next hike I would lead my group once again to the Farney Highlands to cover more sections of the Four Birds and Split Rock Trails. We met in the morning at the Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area parking area off Rt 513 in Hibernia to pick up the Four Birds Trail. Joining this time were Shelly Janes, Jim "Mr. Buckett" Mathews, Jason Itell, "Commando Tom" Petrucci, Larry Butler, "Amish Paul" Hassler, Joe Tag, Matt Davis, and Kyle Zalinsky. We began our hike on the Four Birds Trail, along the former Hibernia Mine Railroad to the Hibernia Mine entrance, now blocked off as a bat hibernaculum (0a-0c). We then moved on as the Four Birds Trail began to make a steep ascent (1). We continued up hill and soon made a side trip to the old St. Patrick's Cemetary.
This cemetary was a real curiosity; it's location on such a rocky and uninviting hillside was quite the surprise. We checked out many tomb stones before moving on (2-8). The trail continued on from here along some sort of raceway which certainly carried water for some sort of works in the area. We continued up the trail, soon reaching the side trail to Grafitti Cliffs. All of us except Amish Paul took the side trail down hill, stopping along the way to swing on some vines (8a-8c).
The blazes ended long before the main view point, but we continued on and were offered good views both of Hibernia to the north and toward Rt 80 to the south (though 80 was'nt in view). We wandered around admiring the views for a bit before turning back (9-17).
When I returned to the main trail, Jason, Commando Tom, Larry, and Kyle already had a fire going (Jason is quite the pyro, 18,18a). We continued on along the trail soon reaching the site of a former Hawk Watch platform that had been burned down by Neo Nazis a couple years before unfortunitely. Still, the view was quite nice, and we could see New York City to the east (19-23). There was a bird enthusiast there who told us about the area, and how the Nazis burn everything (including a kiosk in the area) and drive their quads to leave figure eight tracks. We continued from here as the trail led us into a ravine type area south of Split Rock Resevoir where we turned onto the Split Rock Loop Trail (24-25a). The trail took us down hill into a huge menagerie of large boulders which the trail passed through and between. Joe told us that they refer to this area as "The Maze" (26). We crossed the creek below Split Rock Resevoir (27) and then ascended to the other side where we took a nice break on a rock with some limited views (28). We also saw a snake (29). We continued on as the trail led us to Split Rock Road. We turned left toward the dam (29a). I led everyone down hill off the road below the dam to check out the abandoned Split Rock Furnace and climb around inside of it (30-35). We then made our way back up to the dam, which someone had painted a castle on (35a) and crossed (36,36a). Next, we turned south onto Four Birds Trail on the opposite side of the dam, and passed a cool split rock we had to climb on (36b-36d). We continued on the Four Birds Trail passing where we'd turned off earlier, then making a right onto the Beaver Pond Trail, soon reaching the namesake pond (37-37c). We helped some other lost hikers and continued on the trail out to the road and former railroad bed which was once a spur of the Wharton and Northern line (I'd hiked it previously). This time, we did not follow the rail bed, but instead an old road leading west into a developement (38) where we goofed around a bit, jumping off into the grass every time a car went by, making pipes into phalic symbols (38a), rolling around broken cone bases (38b), and climbing light poles. My arms itched for days after trying to climb a light pole because it was made of fiber glass. Once we reached Rt 513 just north of Lake Telemark, we turned right to a power line where an ATV path went into the woods to the left. The path was shown on a Rod Johnson Map I had, so we followed it into the woods. It led parallel to the road for a bit to an old house site or something, because there was a fireplace and a chimney (38c-38e). We took a group picture on it, then continued on the trail which crossed a makeshift bridge (39) and skirted the edge of a beautiful pond (40). The trail led us behind homes and such, and then behind some sort of small park. From there, we headed into more woods and turned to the west crossing over a small creek (41). We continued along this unofficial trail heading up hill to the west, then at the top we turned south following a small ridge on more atv tracks and old woods roads. A final road turned to the southeast and must have led back to civilization, but we instead bushwhacked up hill to the south some more, reaching a large deer blind up in a tree. We heades south from here skirting a swamp land to the east (42) before reaching Snake Hill Road (43). We walked to the left down Snake Hill Road, then began bushwhacking to the right into the woods while Joe opted to head back to the cars directly. We headed through thick woods, and just before beginning to ascend, we came across the largest tree tumor I've ever seen (44-45).
We then headed up hill and found a purple looking rock among the grey ones (46). We made our way out to an abandoned power line, and Amish Paul was trying to smash old insulators and cut his finger. We bandaged him up good and we were on our way. We headed down hill following a weirdly blazed path to some extent, and eventually came out in a small municipal park near what I think was a church or something. Kyle found a balloon on the way down which he tied to the building I think. We made our way down the drive from this park (48) to Rt 513 near a nice old church (49) where there was road work going on. We could see an older bridge site next to a current bridge from 513 (50). It worked out great that we came out on 513 across from where we'd started. I was quite happy about it. Larry had cut away from the group a bit earlier, which had me a bit worried, but he had gone with Joe and we did'nt realize it. I was finally able to contact Joe to find that he was there.
When we reached the parking lot, Amish Paul was giving me his gin and Commando Tom video taped me stripping while Shelly was sticking dollars in my underwear. It was quite funny (50a,50b). We went to dinner at a place down in Rockaway, and I got in trouble for bringing wine in...but it was a great day.
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