Hike #1035; Sterling Forest to Central Valley

Hike #1035; Sterling Forest to Central Valley

5/6/17 Sterling Forest to Central Valley with Terri Allen, Gina Zuvich, Brad Anesi, Julia Vogelsang, Dan Lurie, and Brandan Jermyn

This next hike would be a point to point covering multiple different things I’ve been wanting to look at for quite a long time.
I was thinking about the 63.4 mile hike we did in a day a couple of years ago and the reasons for doing it. There are too many things we leave undone in life, too many loose ends, too many things to look back on and say “I wish I had done that...”. Through Metrotrails, all of my hikes are sort of a series of connections, and now I have all of these different thematic things going on at once.

Falls in Doris Duke Preserve

There are so many different trails to do, and it’s crazy that I haven’t finished some of them. There are also tons of other trails that are being added all the time that I will certainly never keep up with.
Such is the case with the Highlands Trail.
It was proposed in the mid 1990s when a lot of attention was coming to the geological province known as the “Highlands” due to the controversial water protection act. New York/New Jersey Trail conference thought it prudent to have a trail to showcase the area. It was laid out and done rather quickly part way through NJ. I was very much involved in the trail toward the completion in New Jersey and even into the planning for PA for a while.

NYNJTC Highlands Trail map

I’d hiked the entire trail from it’s northern terminus below Storm King Mountain on the Hudson River as far as Schunemunk Mountain, and I’d hiked all of it from the Delaware River in Rieglesville to Fitzgerald Falls on the Appalachian Trail....but I never got around to doing the section between, much because there was a long road walk section.
Instead, I hiked the AT to Harriman State Park, as well as the Long Path north to Schunemunk, so it all connected, but there was official Highlands Trail I was missing. I just never bothered to get around to it.
Additionally, the Orange Heritage Trail, which used to be the Erie Railroad, was another I had never done. That route is coaligned with both the Highlands Trail and the Long Path at times. Further, the Doris Duke Preserve, with new sections of trail constructed by my friend Edward DiSalvo had recently been opened. I had a lot to see.
If I was to do something in Sterling, I wanted to make sure my friends Brad and Julia, who literally live within the forest area, could go. When I was sure to have a date they could join for some, I posted it.
We met at the end point in Central Valley. Only Terri and Gina showed up there. It was rather disappointing that no one else would want to do this, which looked to be a really cool hike. I got past that fast and we headed south to meet up with Brad and Julia who were only doing the first part.

View on the Doris Duke Trail

The Doris Duke loop trail is a very nice wooded route that makes a loop with the Highlands Trail and Allis Trail on the Sterling Ridge.
We started our hike by walking onto the trail which gradually ascended a bit. There was a sign that read “Double D Loop” for Doris Duke.
Duke was a tobacco heiress and philanthropist who led a controversial and quite reclusive life. She was considered a celebrity, but didn’t fit the mold. Some of her policies were not what we might consider a suave environmentalist today (like feeding deer), however several preserves bear her name and were associated with her land holdings. Duke Gardens and Duke Island Park in NJ are the most famous, but Doris Duke Preserve in Sterling Forest is another.

Doris Duke, 1936 from CSU Archives/Everett Collection

Even since her death, her lands and assets have been subject of much controversy. Groups using broad interpretations of her will have made much criticized decisions regarding her properties since her death in 1993.
In this case, we did get a nice trail out of it, and hunting is not allowed in this section so it’s safe to walk even during that season. We followed the trail to the left when we got to the start of the loop section, because that way had the more overlooks on it.

View on Sterling Ridge

There were some lovely cascades through the woods, because it had recently rained rather heavily. I noted red efts walking over the trail for the first time in the season as well. It was not too terribly warm a day, and I managed to get through it still wearing my suit and tie. In fact, this Spring season was probably the latest I’ve ever gone with wearing suits and ties on the hikes. Usually it’s too hot earlier on and I can’t stand it an more.
We reached one south facing overlook, which was nice, and continued to where the Doris Duke Trail joined the Highlands Trail/Allis Trail on the ridge. We walked just past where Highlands Trail turned off to check out another north facing view.
There are several good views on the Highlands Trail on Sterling Ridge, mostly north facing toward Mombasha Lake

At the AT intersection

We descended a bit on the trail and soon reached the junction with the Appalachian Trail, which had a teal colored trail register box at the intersection, I assume because the Highlands Trail is teal.
From here, the HT follows the AT for a ways to the west. The sections on the AT are not co-blazed because the Appalachian Trail Conservancy does not allow for it. We continued down hill further, on quite a washed out section of trail heading toward Fitzgerald Falls.
When we got close to the creek, we left the public land and wandered a bit, and I waded in the water.

Creek

We got back on the AT and started heading further down hill, soon very close to the creek Fitzgerald Falls is on.
From that point, the trail was no longer washed out and eroded, but it used to be a few years back. Since the time, the Jolly Rovers Trail Crew with my friend Chris Ingui were out there and created some outstanding stone steps. The first one was at the spot where we crossed over the creek, a ways above the waterfalls.
There were a few smaller waterfalls up stream from the Fitzgerald Falls themselves.

Falls above Fitzgerald Falls

The stone steps became the most impressive when we got further down, right by the top of the Fitzgerald Falls. They hugged the edge of a vertical rock face to the left of the trail, and remained further away from the falls themselves than the old AT route did.
Stepping back away from the steps, I could see that the original AT steps were left in place, parallel with the new ones. There were a little more rough construction but still pretty obvious. We all headed down and took a break at the bottom.

New steps at Fitzgerald Falls

I took my pack off and went over to cool off in the falls. I found a spot in the middle where I could actually stand right between two sections of the flow of the falls.
The falls tend to dry up by the end of the Summer, but this was really the perfect time to be out there. They were running the strongest I’d ever seen them.
We continued from here on the AT heading southbound, which is actually west at this point, across the brook below the falls, then through some woods heading out toward Lakes Road. I was texting Dan Lurie as we walked, and he said something about it raining. I picture messaged him the sun coming through the trees to show that it was fine. Most canceled this one due to rain prediction.

Fitzgerald Falls with the new steps, and old ones to the left

We headed out soon to cross over the Troud Brook on a foot bridge, and I seem to recall someone tripped and fell when we crossed the power line right after, but were okay.

Fitzgerald Falls

Just past there, we reached Lakes Road. The Appalachian Trail goes across the road ahead, and the Highlands Trail turns right to follow the road.
The HT used to continue on the AT ahead to climb Bellvale Ridge, but I missed my chance to hike that section. It was closed shortly after my first time hiking the AT through the area due to land owner issues. It’s been a road walk ever since.
Brad and Julia were going to turn back somewhere in this area, but I convinced them to walk to the north with us to check out the old Fitzgerald Cemetery.
I had found this cemetery with Jillane while we were driving up this way one day. We parked across the street to head over and look around.
This time, I figured we’d have to walk the road, but I found a parallel foot path just within the woods from Lakes Road that was perfect to follow heading north.
Soon, we had to come back out to the road, but only right before the cemetery.
The cemetery reads “Fitz-Gerald” and that it is private. The dates on the graves date back to mid to late 1800s mostly. I’m not sure any of the history, and I recall other names more so than Fitzgerald. I also could not find it on the inventory of cemeteries of the area.

Fitz-Gerald Cemetery

We had a good look around at all of them. Brad even uncovered the bottom of a broken grave when he noticed a remnant. It was still legible, just under a layer of dirt.
After the cemetery, Brad and Julia left us to head back, and we continued following the designated Highlands Trail route, up Lakes Road. This was by far the worst part of the entire hike because it just dragged on. We continued north until we got ot Camp Monroe Road, which is where the trail turns to the left.
The road led down hill and was far less busy, which I liked. We passed some sort of old spring house on the left, and then an historic marker noting that this was once the Salem Village of Chester, one of seven villages established 3/22/1845. It had only a Methodist Episcopal Church, a School House, and farming, no other trade.

Camp Monroe Stuff

We soon reached the entrance to Camp Monroe where the public road turned right. It was now Trout Brook Road. It’s a shame the Highlands Trail couldn’t go through Camp Monroe. Maybe it did at one time. I can’t remember what the maps said.
The place had all sorts of interesting signs up all over the place reading “Shhh NO GOSSIP”, “Speak Like a Mensch”, and “The Best is yet to come”. I can’t say I minded the positive stuff.

Cascades on Trout Brook

We continued north on the very pleasant Trout Brook Road. It eventually came very close to the brook itself, and there were some beautiful cascades within close view of the road.
We continued along it until we reached the intersection with Laroe Road. Here, we turned left heading to the west.
This was the second worst road walk thing we had to do, but it wasn’t as bad as the one on Lakes Road.
We headed along a narrow area but it opened up somewhere where we had some views of the surrounding landscapes.

Laroe Road section

We passed Sugarloaf Mountain Road on the left, and continued along the road with some nice wetland views as well as one promontory ahead. I’m not sure if this was Sugarloaf Mountain or not.
Apparently I did not see any signs of it, but there is a Highlands Trail relocation that would have gotten us off of some of this road walk, but turn blazes and such did not lead to any of it. We simply followed the old route on the roads heading to the north and that was it.
We followed Laroe Road up hill for a bit until we got to the old intersection with Lazy Hill Road on the right, a now abandoned old paved road.

Highlands Trail, old Lazy Hill Road

The old road has probably been abandoned for something like thirty years. The Highlands Trail follows the road exclusively all the way across Goose Pond Mountain State Park north to Route 17M.
Dan texted me and let me know he and Brandan actually were going to come out and meet up with us.
We continued along the old road through some woods, with lots of wetland in view. We descended for a bit and soon crossed a pretty, old stone bridge over one of the tributaries in the area as we approached Seely Brook.

An old stone arch on Lazy Hill Road

We continued ahead with more swamp land all around, and soon reached the old bridge across the Seely Brook.
This was another impressive old masrony structure, a double arch that had deteriorated very badly.
The stone around the arches was holding on alright, but all of the facing masonry has since deteriorated. It looks as though the bridge does not have very much time left before it collapses. Trail workers obviously placed long logs across the top of the bridge so that if it does collapse, at least they sort of have two spans for hikers to get across on.

Seely Brook Bridge

Just up stream from the old bridge is the remnant of a dam that is now purged open. This was an excellent place for us to take a break and have some late lunch.

Seely Brook Bridge

Dan and Brandan planned to meet us at the north end of the Goose Pond Mountain section, and if they got there early they would back track to try to catch us on the old road.

Old Lazy Hill Road

When we were rested up, we continued on the old roadway heading to the northeast.
There were other old roads that intersected on both sides. The area was part of what is referred to as the McNeil Farm, but I can’t find a lot of historic documentation on it anywhere.
We made our way along until we came to an open field on the left side of the trail. There was a sign there that read there was a cemetery out that way. It looked as though it couldn’t be that far, and Dan and Brandan had a ways to go to catch us, so we opted to take the side trip and look for it for a bit.

Trail in Goose Pond Mountain State Park

There was a really nice path through the open field to something called “Tully’s Bench” with a facebook page name and Twitter name attached to it. There was no other historic notation. We continued on along the path, which went into successional woods. The trail was an old road that went up and down a bit, probably just a former farm lane, and then came really closely parallel with Lazy Hill Road again. We saw no sign of a cemetery, nor should there have been one if we were closer to it at another spot on the same road. I’m still not sure where this should be, as it does not show up on historic maps.

Old estate entrance

We turned back the way we came to see if we could find anything at all regarding the cemetery, but again came up with nothing. We got back to Lazy Hill Road and the Highlands Trail and turned left to head further north.
A couple more old roads joined, and to the right were a couple of stone pillars for what must have at one time been some sort of estate. I recall seeing what looked like it might once have been one or two house sites on the hill to the right, which is actually “Lazy Hill” according to the over century old maps.

Lazy Hill

Dan and Brandan came into sight as we were nearing the end of the preserve. They parked at the lot off of 17M. We noted a couple other trails breaking off to the left that Dan had spotted on the way in, but they are not on the official trail map. There’s much to come back to explore.
We skirted a few open fields before the road came to an end at 17M. We then turned left on the road, still following Highlands Trail blazes. We then turned right on Craigsville Road, which took us through a lovely pastoral section to the northeast.

"Trestle tree" where we reached the rail bed

We crossed Young’s Brook on the road, and soon reached the old underpass for the former Erie Railroad, now the Orange Heritage Trail. We headed through the underpass, then up following the trail blazes to teh former grade of the railroad.
Once on the east side of it, I was surprised to see yet another old cemetery on a knoll to the north of the trail. This was the old Oxford Depot Cemetery. This area was known as Oxford Station when the railroad was still in use. The cemetery, like the previous one, is mostly mid 1800s.

Oxford Depot Cemetery

We walked up and checked out this cemetery, which was obviously more well known and cared for. Many flags marked graves of our earliest veterans.
The rail line we were walking was the original Erie Railroad main line, opened as New York and Erie Railroad in 1848 phase to Port Jervis.

This is reportedly the Oxford Depot

The line was a major through route to Goshen and beyond, and ultimately connected with Lake Erie. It was successful until the drop in rail use that befell all railroads. By that time the “Graham Cutoff”, which was actually longer, had taken most service. Erie Railroad merged with it’s rival, the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western in 1962, and lasted only into the seventies when it was taken over by Conrail.

View at power lines

Like so many others, the line was seen as repeat services to other still active branches, because it was no longer a rival to the other ones. Conrail decided to abandon duplicate routes, and so the old Erie main was doomed. The section we were walking was closed in 1985, and the trail plan for it began in 1991 when Orange County bought it. Something like eleven miles of the Orange Heritage Trail are open today, with more “improvements” coming.
I don’t care much for the paved surface, but it’s nice to have a trail there anway.

Erie Lackawanna F7A #6341 leads an E8A and U33C on EL Train NY-100 eastbound down the "Old Main" through Monroe, New York. Photographer unknown.

I suppose the depot itself where we got on must have been just barely to the west of us. I didn’t see any sign of a station where we were, but it could have been to the west easily.

Oxford Depot

We continued walking to the east, and there were some nice views to the south into the vast farm lands where Young’s Brook flows. I spotted an abandoned old house out there too.

Orange Heritage Trail

We continued along the trail as we passed beneath Route 6 and tried to figure out where we would stop for some food ahead. We were talking about getting Mexican, so we were doing searches for it.
The Rt 6 underpass had old stone abutments with new ones capped on it to accommodate the growing of engines over the years.
We passed through another swath of woods and then crossed over Museum Village Road before a large parking area for Orange-Rockland Lake. The area now seemed to have a commuter lot.

Abandoned farm house

It really looked like a spot where there should have been a station, but I did not see any evidence of one directly on the tracks. There was, however, one just up the slope to the right of us. I don’t know if it was an authentic station of some sort or not, or just part of historic ambiance for the area.
We paralleled Orange-Rockland Road and then Rt 17M as we weaved to the south a bit. There were some side trails going off to the left, and a really weird looking Eastern White Pine that a bunch of kids were climbing in.

Erie Lackawanna F7A #6341 leads an E8A and U33C on EL Train NY-100 eastbound down the "Old Main" through Monroe, New York

As we headed into a cut, I watched for places we could turn off. We had located a Mexican restaurant we agreed on, and would have to leave the rail bed to get to it.

Station near Orange Rockland Lake?

When we got close to the underpass for Schunemunk Road, we cut to the right heading up to toward Rt 17M out the back of a garage area. We then crossed the highway to the Tulcingo Mexican Restaurant.
We went inside and were seated, quite excited about food. I felt starving at this point for some reason.
I first pigged out on chips and I believe they brought us extras because they wre totally gone. Then I pigged out on whatever it was I ordered. It was definitely a dish of something, which I was not sure would be enough for me, so I was an idiot and ordered two tacos aside from that.

In Monroe area

I also got some sort of special mixed drink thing that was going on. When the waitress offered it, I asked her if it was strong, and so without any extra charge she made the thing extra super strong for me! It was quite good!

At Tulcigno

Now, if you know me, you know I just don’t bring leftovers home. My plate is clean almost every trip. Even if I hate myself, I end up eating everything.
Such was not the case this time. I had gorded myself so badly with so much food that I felt near comatose when it came time to walk again. Every step was a an agonizing ordeal. I really overdid it. I think Dan went ape shit on a couple of large burritos, but it’s possible that was a different trip.
When we were done eating, we headed back down to the railroad bed and started going east.

Wha? End of trail?

I was moaning and grumbling, but I got through it.
We soon came to an “End of Trail” sign, when obviously it continued on plain as day. This was apparently once the end of the trail and the sign never came down when it was extended! We paralleled Airplane Park, which had a former US Airforce figher plan on display in the middle of it.
We continue along the trail and passed one of those old concrete call boxes, which still had the wood in it from the phone, and headed toward where the station used to be.

Historic image of Monroe Station

It was rather obvious where the station used to be when we got there. There was a good platform to the right, and it had barrier fences and such so no one would fall off.

Monroe Station Fire 1977

The old Monroe Station reportedly burned down in 1977 from what I can find on line. Although the station is gone, they developed a strip mall in such a way that the architecture looks like an old station.

Monroe Station site today

We didn’t leave the trail at this point to check out any stores. We just continued ahead, and found where the steps used to lead down the embankment from the station. Someone messed with the sign so all it read was “Lose”.

Station like strip mall

Just a little bit past the station site, there were bollards and all of the pavement on the line ended, shortly after crossing Mapes Street and parallel with Clark Street.
We were parallel with people’s homes for a while, (and I spotted an angel statue on kid’s lawn equipment) but then were in a rather good expanse of woods. We were isolated from everything by a brook to our right, and swamp lands to the left. There was one connecting trail that came in from the right and an apartment complex or something.

LOSE!

We passed beneath Freeland Street, and unfortunately the rail bed was full of ballast rock for a while, but it was alright. Just a bit of an annoyance to push through.

Old Erie line east of Monroe

There was a pretty long swath of woods, and a wide right of way leading us to where we would finally turn away from the railroad bed.
There was a packaging company to the left as we reached an abandoned bridge over the head waters of the Ramapo River. The bridge was in kind of bad shape, with only ties left. No one had ever re-decked this one, and so Dan wouldn’t cross it. I climbed over the fence and got onto the thing with no problem, then crossed to the other side. Only Brandan followed me over.

Old Erie bridge

We came out to River Road, and the right of way beyond was a bit overgrown. It goes into a bit of another park, but we had covered enough extra distance and were ready to get back.

We turned left, and soon connected with the others coming out of the industrial site on to River Road.
We turned left when we got to Melody Lane, and continued beyond a road block where it became Bailey Road. Another road went right up hill toward the retail complex near Target and Best Buy. We got to the top, then skirted the edge of the lot over to where we could see where we were parked, near the Taco Bell. There was actually a little bit of a view from the height of the land there.

Climbing down Mount Best Buy

When I found a good spot to descend, we started heading down hill between little drainage berms leading to the lower parking lot system.
Once at the bottom, we could easily just make our way straight back to the Taco Bell.
Brandan went in to get a bit to eat, which I don’t know how he did because I was still completely stuffed from the late lunch a couple hours before, and got some more food. He struck rich when they screwed up the order and gave him all sorts of food he didn’t buy.

Nepara

We finished in reasonable time; it was still light out and we did the entire route I set out to do, but there is still so much more. The Highlands Trail still has a section up Schunemunk I have never done. Orange Heritage Trail is also the route of the Long Path west toward Middletown, and I’ve not done that. Several other lines branch off of it and cross it. Just to the east was an old Nepara chemical facility where the main line swiches with the later Graham line. I want to see it all. There’s really not enough time in a life time for all of it, but I want to do as much as I can, and I knew I needed to reign myself in and start “completing” some of these trails and routes I’ve left as loose ends, just as I had the Lackawanna main line to Scranton for twenty years.
There is definitely much more to come, and I hope I can rope more people into joining us along the way.