Hike #57; Lower Kittatinny

 Hike #57

Taking a break on the AT, Kittatinny Ridge

Hike 57

 

5/19/2

Beginning on Millbrook Road

Ascending on the AT from Millbrook Road

For this new hike, again only a day after my previous hike, Cathy, Tea Biscuit, and Peeps

joined. This time the plan was to walk the lesser used trails in a point to point section from

Millbrook/Blairstown Road to the Delaware Water Gap’s Dunnfield Parking lot. We left

my car at the endpoint and headed to near Catfish Pond gap to leave Cathy’s car along the

way, and Peeps took us to the beginning.

Appalachian Trail heading south out of Millbrook Gap

Along the AT near Millbrook

AT at Catfish Tower

View from Catfish Tower

We began following the Appalachian Trail south to Catfish Tower, where we got

beautiful 360 degree views. Continueing south, we passed many more beautiful views

south of the Lower Yards Creek Resevoir, and then took Mohican Camp Road down the

ridge to Gaisler Road, which we walked through a developement southwest.

Cathy cut out at the cul de sac at the end of Gaisler Road, and Peeps and Tea Biscuit

rode around on the back bumper as Cathy did some loops before leaving us.

Catfish Tower

Along the AT, Kittatinny Ridge near Catfish Pond Gap

View from the AT on Kittatinny Ridge, Warren County

Riding along Gaisler Road

Abandoned section of Gaisler Road

At Yards Creek Scout Camp

Gaisler Road once continued south from here, and we followed it’s route in towards the

Boy Scout camp at Yards Creek. I had hiked this once in the past with my friend Andrew

Hughes and his family.

The route was wet and messy at first, but soon came to an artificial canal on it’s way to

the lake just north of Lower Yards Creek Resevoir. The outlet of this lake was quite

overflowing, and we had to look around a bit for the best place to walk, though walking

through water is never bad for me!

Yards Creek Scout Camp

Yards Creek Scout Camp

Making our way through the camp area brought back many memories of camping here

with the Boy Scouts. There were even some shelters made by scouts along the way. We

made our way out of the camp via Camp Road, and then came to the giant blue pipe for

the pumped storage facility connecting Upper and Lower Yards Creek Resevoirs. The

Pipe ascends the ridge and enters the ridge in a rocky outcropping.

Yards Creek

Giant pipe

Climbing up the giant pipe...so bad

Climbing the giant pipe

Keep in mind that this was only eight months after the 9/11 attacks on the WTC in 2001,

and the Resevoir site was closed to visitors. In fact, most everything resevoir and water

supply body, power plant, and anything else you can think of were being closed due to the

terrorist scare. In retrospect, our next action was one of the craziest things we’d ever done

on any of my hikes given the security situation. The three of us decided to climb up onto

the giant blue pipe, and walk it up the ridge to the top! The paint being used on the pipe

came off on our hands looking like a weird glittery sparkling substance, and I recall

worrying that it might mess up my camera. When we reached where the pipe goes

underground, we climbed down and made our way down an access road to the paved road

to the Upper Resevoir.

When we reached the top, I realized that my NY-NJ Trail Conference map I was using

for this hike was missing, I must have dropped it on my way up. I decided to run all the

way back down to retrieve it. I was able to do so quickly, and sure enough, it was in the

middle of the road.

Climbing the giant pipe

Top of the giant pipe

Along Sunfish Pond Fire Road at Upper Yards Creek Reservoir

We walked along the upper resevoir’s fence on the Sunfish Pond Fire Road, which then

took us to an area of little ponds before reaching the intersection with the Turquoise Trail.

We followed the Turquoise Trail through an interesting open area and down across the

upper part of Dunnfield Creek. We soon reached Tammany Fire Road and headed towards

the water gap.

Upper Yards Creek Reservoir

Sunfish Pond Fire Road, Worthington

We were making such excellent time, that when we reached the “Helispot 2” as it is

labeled, we decided to lay down and take a nap. An unbelievably peaceful feeling at this

point is never to be forgotten.

Off trail on the Kittatinny Ridge, Worthington

Off trail on the Kittatinny Ridge, Worthington

Off trail along Kittatinny Ridge, Worthington

Off trail stone wall at Kittatinny Ridge, Worthington

Mt Minsi from an off trail vista on Mt Tammany

Soon, as we neared the water gap, our next route was to try to find the long unmaintained

Yellow Dot Trail, which last appreared on trail conference maps in 1988. We bushwacked

our way down the ridge to steep slopes and reached the bottom. This, an area which

apparently had not had visitors in years, was particularly interesting. Old stone rows

crossed the area, and there were no trails to be found. At some point we decided to split

up and sweep the ridgeline for signs of the Yellow Trail. Tea Biscuit stayed further down

the bottom of the ridge, while Peeps ascended up to the rocky outcroppings closer to the

top with one of my Conair Expedition walkie talkies, while I had the other one in the

middle of the ridge. We kept getting interrupted by truckers using their radios, which was

quite annoying. We would use channel ten at Rich Pace’s request because he told us it is

usually a clear channel. Unfortunitely, being so close to Rt 80 I doupt if any channel would

have been clear. Peeps taunted the other users saying things like “Truckers are gay”, and

joked that he’d soon see a giant tractor trailer barreling through the woods toward him.

talus slope below the Indian Head, Mt Tammany

Talus slope below the Indian head, Mt Tammany

Looking up from the talus slope below the Indian Head, Delaware Water Gap

Talus slope below the Indian Head, Mt Tammany

As we made our way south, I came to an open rocky area with a steep grade, a long

boulder field. Peeps had told me on the radio that he had found some faint old blazes up

where he was, but neither Tea Biscuit or I were willing to head up the crazy grade only to

come back down. Tea Biscuit made his way back up from his location to meet me on the

boulder field. While trying to keep in contact with Peeps, some woman kept interrupting

us, preaching about Jesus via the radio. I politely kept trying to keep her off the channel

while we were attempting to regroup, and she would not comply. I finally shouted “FUCK

YOU” to the woman, to which she replied “You should’nt use that language in the house

of the lord”. Peeps replied to her immediately “Look lady, Jesus is all fine and dandy but

we’re trying to do a hike here so will you please just leave us alone?”, and she

complied...finally.

Along Rt 80, this was was built in part by my grandfather, Delaware Water Gap

Along Rt 80 in Delaware Water Gap

When we regrouped, we began descending toward Rt 80, and I almost stepped on a

Porcupine! The little creature appeared to double it’s size when it immediately puffed up

into a spiny ball, and crawled under a rock. Needless to say, we avoided descending at this

spot, and made our way down ths rocky slope, now more steeply. We had to take extreme

care as the rocks were getting very loose and would surely fall into Rt 80 below if we

were not carful. In addition, it was possible that if one of us fell at this point we could

have tumbled into the highway. We reached the bottom and the end of a chain link fence,

which we walked around to the stone wall on the westbound side of Rt 80. Consequently,

my grandfather was one of the builders of this wall, as he was one of the workers who

constructed this section of the highway, and the wall. We were able to walk atop the wall

through the steep middle of the gap, and beyond on a walkway between the wall and the

mountain. Quite an interesting spot, it’s almost as if you were not walking along an

interstate highway at this point.

Tammany Trail, Delaware Water Gap

Dunnfield Parking lot

We walked the short connector trail between the two parking lots in the gap reaching the

Dunnfield parking lot still in pretty good time.

 

“Well, it’s all good...we stuck it to the man and did what we wanted! That was pretty

sweet.” -Peeps

Here's where you can see all of the pictures from this hike:

http://s132.photobucket.com/albums/q13/sneezehorse/hike057%205-19-2/

Along Sunfish Pond Fire Road

 

 

 

Johnny On The Spot

Talus slope below the Indian Head, Mt Tammmany