Hike #81
A pond on Schooley's Mountain near Flocktown
Hike 81
3/2/3
My hikes were jeopardized in the recent months, as Tea Biscuit had come into problems
as a result of his trespassing in the vacant Acme building. He was now doing community
service every Sunday, at Dr. Blease’s Common Sense For Animals shelter of all places,
which made it tough to do a lot of the new section hikes I had planned. At this time, I was
again having trouble finding participants, and relied on Tea Biscuit to give me company on
my crazy treks.
Upland Meadow Trail, Schooley's Mountain Park
Upland Meadow Trail, Schooley's Mountain Park
Upland Meadow Trail, Schooley's Mountain Park
Fortunitely, this time we were joined by Ian Labrie, another friend from our Boy Scout
days in Troop 1954. Ian would be going away to college the coming fall, but was
interested in joining the hikes immediately after I had brought it up. Tragically, Ian’s
brother, Scott (aka ‘Stanly’), who was also a friend of mine, passed away suddenly, and I
talked to Ian for the first time in years the day after Scott’s death. It was then that I invited
him hiking.
Rock outcropping, Schooley's Mountain Park
The plan for this hike was to scout out trails between Schooley’s Mountain Park and
Hackettstown. Since the three hikes I had done over the mountain in the past months, my
craving to find more was growing.
View from the rock outcropping Quarry Stone Trail, Schooley's Mountain Park
View from the rock outcropping Quarry Stone Trail, Schooley's Mountain Park
Rock outcrop on Boulder Gorge Trail, Schooley's Mountain Park
Our mom dropped the three of us off at the main parking lot to Schooley’s Mt Park
around noon, and we began walking the trails, beginning with I believe it was the Upland
Meadow Trail through beautiful meadows. Walking was still tough due to the snow cover
on the ground, but it was getting warmer which made it bearable.
After looping around a bit on the Upland Meadows, following several little criss crossing
trails, we made our way to the Grand Loop Trail, which paralleled Naughright Road to
some extent heading south. Other trails connect the Grand Loop with Patriot’s Path and
the trail along Electric Brook; the Highland Cut Trail, and the Quarry Stone Path. We
made our way along these trails to a rock outcropping which was marked on the map. The
outcropping was very cool, a series of large boulders, perhaps glacial erratics. There was a
nice seasonal view of the farmlands in Long Valley. Long Valley was originally called
Dutch Valley, but was settled by Germans later, and changed to German Valley. It was
changed to Long Valley when the Germans fell out of favor during the Wold Wars.
Gorge in Schooley's Mountain Park, and Electric Brook falls
Loree Chapel in Schooley's Mountain Park
Across Camp Washington Road, an undeveloped section of Schooley's Mountain Park
After climbing about on the outcroppings, we headed out to the Patriot’s Path, and then
down into the gorge of the Electric Brook. We made our way downstream and across a
wooden bridge, then followed the trail along the creek north. Soon we reached a great
waterfall, flowing well due to the snow meltoff. The trail led us uphill, and to the Loree
Chapel, an outdoor church setting. Continueing uphill, we made our way past the
Schooley’s Mountain Lodge building, and crossed Camp Washington Road to another
undeveloped section of the park, walking around the fields looking for more trail
developement. I was hoping to find a connector trail to nearby Rock Spring Park, but
found nothing. After goofing off a bit, we headed back to the Lodge for a break on the
porch.
Across Camp Washington Road, an undeveloped section of Schooley's Mountain Park
The Lodge, Schooley's Mountain Park
Lake George, Schooley's Mountain Park
Floating bridge, Lake George, Schooley's Mountain Park
Along an unmarked woods road trail, Schooley's Mountain Park
Pond trail north of Schooley's Mountain Park
View from the knoll overlooking Hackettstown
Water tank on the way down Schooley's Mountain
Behind Heath Village, near Hackettstown
Next, we made our way down to Lake George, crossing the body of water on a long
floating bridge. We then made our way to the Patriot’s path, and followed it north across
Springtown Road. On the opposite side of the road, we took a parallel trail to the patriot’s
path, which forked soon to some sort of an outdoor study area. The one fork took us
close to some homes, so we took the other one, which took us across the Electric Brook
on a bridge, then crossed the Patriot’s Path into a field. This was the only time we passed
any other hiker, who took a picture for us. We continued to the north, which ended at a
cul de sac. After walking a short distance on the road, we turned onto another multi use
trail which took us along the south side of a pond, one of the sources of Electric Brook.
The trail led us out behind what I think was some municipal property building or
something, and then to Rock Road.
We turned north on Rock Road, to Flocktown Road, and then headed to
Flocktown-Kossman School, and across the scoolyard where we goofed off on the
playground equipment. We soon made our way to Patriot’s Path and descended
Schooley’s Mountain on the north side along the power line.
I think it was this time that we found that the Patriot’s Path route does not follow the
power line, but breaks off to the right heading downhill. We followed the blazes near some
homes, and into the woods and a knoll overlooking Mansfield area. The blazes ended
abruptly just before the view. We crossed a stone wall and looked around, but could find
nothing. Our next move was to begin descending the ridgeline. There was a large blue
water tank within plain view below, and we walked to it. We soon reached an obvious
trail, which we followed to the left. We also checked out an abandoned Iron Mine ruin
before making our way down and around the water tank.
After passing the water tank, we followed the woods road to the Heath Village Nature
Trail (as it was marked at the bottom) and headed out to a nice view of Hackettstown
area. We walked down the nature trail and into the developement of Heath Village,
following the roads down to the main office. We went in to inquire about the trails system,
but they did’nt know anything. I played with the piano a bit inside, then we were on our
way. As we followed the road out, there was a cool tree Tea Biscuit and Ian climbed up.
Tree at Heath Village
Abandoned mall that was never completed, Hackettstown
In the abandoned mall that was never completed, Hackettstown
Soon, we reached Schooley’s Mountain Road, after crossing yards and different buildings
in Heath Village. I’m not sure, but I think it was on this hike that we talked to an older
gentleman along the road who told us about the trail system within the property. Bob
Moss, who was president of the Highlands Trail system for the New York/New Jersey
Trail conference, had told me that his father, who lived at Heath Village, built these trails.
I believe the old gentleman told us that when we talked to him.
We walked a bit further, passing Hastings Square apartments, and I think we stopped for
Pizza at the little place there before heading out past the golf course and then Golden
Skillet Restaurant. Soon, we reached the abandoned shell of a mini mall that was built in
the 1980s and +never finished. I had wanted to go into this structure for some time, so this
time we went in. Most of the floor was done in nice concrete, and some of it had been
apparently used by skaters. Some parts of the floor were a wreck, very uneven. After
wandering through all of the rooms we headed out and crossed the parking lot of
Hackettstown Mall. The mall was doing badly; K Mart had recently pulled out (I bought
34 pairs of shoes at the closeouts of this and the Phillipsburg Store, and even more at later
Ames closeouts bringing the total to 41 pairs of shoes, many of which only cost me 49
cents to $1!
Hackettstown Mall before most of it was torn down
Hackettstown Mall before most of it was torn down
Hackettstown Mall before it was torn down, JoAnne Fabrics side.
We headed across the parking lot and into the mall, and went into a few stores. I can’t
remember, but we may have eaten more at Roman Delight Pizza, which was pretty good.
Cathy always called this “Flirty Guy’s Pizza” because there was a guy there that would
constantly ask her out. Many stores were already closed, and more had closing signs. Even
the dollar store had marked down merchandise. I think we bought dirt cheap candy if I
remember correctly.
The mall was scheduled to close soon, to be demolished in favor of newer buildings. We
were in the dark as to exactly what was to happen. I have some good memories at the
mall, hanging out, shopping, and working at both Radio Shak and JoAnne Fabrics.
We headed out of the building on the east side, and then walked out to Mountain Avenue.
We then crossed the street and walked down the strip of every fast food store we could
imagine. I thought it would be funny to hike through all of these places on the way back
toward Wal Mart where we were parked. It was particularly funny at places like
McDonalds and Burger King because we could walk in one door and out the other, and
we would literally ‘hike’ through the buildings, getting some strange looks!
We continued through all of these businesses until reaching the eastern terminus of Rt 57.
We continued on 57, and Ian noticed there was a “help wanted” sign at the Riverstar
Diner. He had previously been working at the Laundromat next to the Mansfield Shop
Rite. I believe he actually got hired at the Riverstar, strangely enough!
We continued along 57 to Shop Rite, where I believe we must have stopped too...in fact
this might have been one of the times we got in trouble with the store manager who at the
time looked kind of like an evil Ben Kingsley....
As we walked on we went back out to the highway, passing fields, then to the newer strip
mall where the A&P used to be. I don’t remember which stores we went in here. That was
just about the end of the hike anyway, and we had a great time.
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