Hike #82
Hike 82
Outside of Hackettstown Mall before all of it except Marshall's was torn down
3/9/3
Only one week after exploring Hackettstown last, I still had more I wanted to explore.
This time, I believe I had Cathy drop Tea Biscuit and I off, at Heath Village so we could
get right to the trails I had wanted to explore.
Along Schooley's Mt. Road, near Hackettstown
View into Mansfield from Schooley's Mountain Road
Heath Village entrance
Cataract Trail behind Heath Village, Schooley's Mountain
Cataract Falls
Tea Biscuit cleaning his shoes out along the future Patriot's Path route
Lime kiln along old Mission Road section of Patriot's Path
Resevoir dam on Resevoir Road, Mt. Olive
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
We began ascending to the Nature Trail after a brief walk along Schooley’s Mountain
Road and through Heath Village. We immediately started following the teal blazed
Cataract Trail, which had surprisingly nice work done along the side of a deep gorge. We
continued to the top of a waterfall, which I would later learn is called Cataract Falls, and
has another access from Schooley’s Mountain Road, at Cataract Park.
I did’nt know where to go from here, so after climbing around a bit, we tried following
the Cataract Creek upstream and through a yard, then out to a developement road. We
walked the roads a bit until we found the Patriot’s Path crossing on the power line. We
made our way along more roads to the next section of Patriot’s Path I had found with
Rich Pace the previous fall. We continued out across the private land to the other power
line, and downhill to the next section of Patriot’s Path to Mission Road, Spring Road, and
Resevoir Road. On the way, we ate the last of my granola bars. Before our grandmother
passed away in December, she had regularly bought me Pop Tarts so I would have food
for breakfast, as well as granola bars to eat as snacks and for during the hikes. I had a
huge stockpile of everything before Grammie died, and the last of the granola was finished
by Tea Biscuit and I at this point.
When we reached the triple intersection, we decided to descend via Resevoir Road. There
was a nice old stone dam and pond along the road, which is probably where the road’s
name came from. Before reaching Rt 46 at the base of Mt Olive, we found an abandoned
house, with a smaller house a ways off the road, so we obviously had to go and explore.
The place was more of a wreck than many of the long abandoned houses we had seen
deep in the Kittatinnies! We went into every room, and then back to an annex building in a
similar state of disrepair. Most interestingly, we had found an antique windshield wiper
blade organizer, something I’d never heard of. We talked about bringing it out for our
dad, but did’nt this time....
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
Abandoned house
When we reached Rt 46, we turned downhill and soon found another abandoned house in
the highway median, and felt the urge to explore again. This house was in better shape,
with an old wooden record player box inside. I took the cover off the thermostat because I
needed one for mine at home. Except for one room downstairs, this house was in much
better shape.
Inside Hackettstown Mall
Abandoned unfinished mall in Hackettstown
We headed down into Hackettstown, and I think we may have stopped at the old A&P,
but I don’t remember. The old Hackettstown A@P was renamed “Food Basic” and
opened temporarily, but it did’nt last. We continued making a left onto East Ave, to
Mountain Ave. We decided to make another trip to the Hackettstown Mall. I took another
goofy picture of Tea Biscuit on a bench inside, after which “Officer George” (Rob
Richmond used to call him “Spooky”), the old security guy (The other one I called
“Officer Friendly”) told me it was illegal to take pictures inside the mall. This would be
one of the last times I’d ever be inside the mall, so hopefully my picture will be worth
money some day!
View from Airport Road, Mansfield
Airport Road view over Donaldson Farm, Mansfield
We again decided to walk through the unfinished mall, and then make our way out to
Wally Mart again. We were pretty tired by this time. We stopped by the Dairy Queen on
our way, each of us getting extra super thick shakes. We continued on, soon reaching
Arby’s. We stopped in here and talked to Jill Meadows, I think that’s her last name! She
was dating our brother, Alex for some time, and she was waiting for Alex to come and
pick her up, and he was already very late. She gave us each Apple Turnovers before we
were on our way. I think we stopped in at Wally Mart as well.
Airport Road, Mansfield
View from Airport Road, Mansfield
Next we decided to walk up Airport Road, passing by the airport and developements
toward Rockport Road. On the way, we stopped to see if our friend, Nigel was home to
give us a ride, but he was not.
After reaching Rockport Road, we turned west heading toward home. Fortunitely, we
found a ride back with Alex, Jill, and I guess it was Aaron Hoffman, but I can’t remember!
Good hike though. We had dinner at Family’s Pizza where I was taunted and Tea Biscuit
and I both decided to try to beat the Pizza eating record. I of course won, eating a large
pie in 14 minutes, 30 seconds! My picture was on the website for some time before I was
beaten by John Walsh for under ten minutes. I would later beat my own record, but it was
not recorded for Family’s record.
Tea Biscuit failing at the pizza eating challenge
Bobo
Me, after beating Family's Pizza's pizza eating record
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