Hike #533 12/29/10
12/26/10 Gnome Hollow/Hardwick/Blairstown area with Evan "Joe Millionaire" Van Rossum, Laura Kroon, Rich and Eric Pace, Susyn Mihalasky, Betty Morrison Fatula, Kathy Ruppel, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?,and DJ Ray Cordts.
Group shot along Paulins Kill Valley Trail in Marksboro
My next hike would be a point to point around my new home at White Lake, in Hardwick Township NJ. It would also be a partner hike with my old friend Rich Pace, who would lead an AMC hike joining for the second half.
My meeting point was the end point of the hike, Footbridge Park in Blairstown. Joining me here were Joe Millionaire and Laura. We shuttled in my car from here to the beginning point, Gnome Hollow, a new preserve of the Ridge and Valley Conservancy I had found out about through Bob Canase of that organization.
I could barely pull my car off of Stillwater Road with all oft he snow that had recently fallen over the area, but I managed. This was one of at least three roads with the name "Stillwater Road" (I live on one) in the same vicinity.
We started walking along an access road that used to be part of the Gnome Hollow tree farm. This is how the preserve got it's name. It was such an endearing name they figured why not keep it.
Hiking the Gnome Hollow Preserve in the Paulins Kill Valley
The slate Ridge and Valley blazes started just beyond the clearing where I suppose trees used to be planted. We kept to the left as the trail followed a woods road up and down around the area's outcroppings. We didn't keep in the trail for all that long, as we turned leff off trail heading down hill for a bit. It would be great to have a connector trail reach down hill to the Paulins Kill Valley Trail, but since private land was in between this couldn't happen yet. Still, we walked it anyway.
Old dam just below Gnome Hollow
As we leveled off at the bottom of the hill we went by an old dam site that had been purged. There was no other development of any kind on the area.
We continued heading down hill slightly and came to a field area. We could see the Paulins Kill Valley Trail, formerly the main line of the New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad built in 1881. We turned left on it for a bit until we reached Stillwater Road again and turned right.
We headed up hill a bit and soon turned left onto Hess Road around some lovely little bends. We reached the crest of a rise with a bit of a view over the Paulins Kill Valley and then began to descend.
View from Hess Road.
We headed down hill and crossed the Paulins Kill River. There was an old road going off to the left on the south side of the river with fishing signs, but I'm not sure if it's public land or not. We continued up hill from here and went by an abandoned farm house and barns to the left.
Paulins Kill River from Hess Road bridge
Abandoned farm house, Hess Road
Abandoned farm house, Hess Road
We continued up hill and passed the intersection, then continued straight on Old Orchard Road. At the end of this road we turned left onto Stillwater Road, Rt 521. We followed this for a bit until we came to the corner of White Lake Wildlife Management Area where a woods road went into the woods to the right through a clearing.
We followed this down hill and into some woods, then up a fill steeply, built so that the old road could ascend the top of a mighty outcropping that defines the local geographic province.
The woods road took us out to another field area, from which we bushwhacked further north to the most prominent ridge yet. I recognized this as being the one I wanted to find, and knew that if we turned left we'd find the abandoned old 1930s model truck I'd found in the area many years before.
Old truck just off of Ridge and Valley Trail
Old truck just off of Ridge and Valley Trail.
Sure enough, we found the truck, and then headed up the rock outcropping to pick up the Ridge and Valley Trail sections.
The trail was much more difficult to follow than previous times in the area. Some of the slate blazes had broken off to the ground, and the way it was laid out certainly did not follow the most convenient routes over the outcrops. We had numerous ups and downs, and plenty of times we ended up taking the wrong route, but somehow managed to continue on. the most confusing spot was where we reached the top of a knoll and there was a blaze going left, but then no further markers; we were intended to go right.
Rock outcropping on the Carrizone tract, Ridge and Valley Trail
We soon came within sight of houses and paralleled them across a driveway, then through some woods and back to the driveway again to the entrance to Al Carrizone's property. Mr. Carrizone is responsible for the removal of trees from within the Marl Works at White Lake.
The driveway led us out to Sunset Lake Road where we turned left. We followed the road slightly down hill for a bit past Butler Road, a planned future main trunk of the Ridge and Valley Trail, to a state WMA parking area on the left. It was here we met up with Rich Pace and his crew.
Ascending along Ridge and Valley Trail from Sunset Lake Road
With everyone together, we made our way just a bit further west on Sunset Lake Road to another branch of the Ridge and Valley Trail heading southward. We ascended for a bit to a stand of evergreens where the blazes disappeared. There was ironically a hunter's deer stand very near here, and I'd assumed he must have torn them down to keep hikers from walking by and scaring the deer.
I knew how to get through, and I led the group through a dip to where blazes resumed. There were clumsy paint blazes in the area as well as some numbered signs. I assume these were put in by people from the camp for children with cancer across the street from the trailhead on Sunset Lake Road.
View from Ridge and Valley Trail over North Wind Stables
Ridge and Valley Trail view near North Wind Stables
The trail took us down hill slightly, then sharp right and up to a larger ridge overlooking North Wind Stables and the sorrounding area. We continued along the ridge for a bit, then turned sharply left to descend from the ridge over steep rocks.
Ridge and Valley Trail descending over rocks
At the base of the cliff we had to walk through an area with a lot of undergrowth, but we managed to get through without incident. We continued through woods and then skirted an old field to the right.
Ridge and Valley Trail, White Lake Wildlife Management Area
The trail took us through another section of woods and then to the top of yet another ridge area. It was here the trail joined with the other section of it we had followed to get to Sunset Lake Road earlier. We turned right and descended via natural stone steps with a little wall next to them to the bottom of the outcropping.
Ridge and Valley Trail in White Lake WMA
We continued through woods and then into a low area and skirted another old field briefly before ascending a bit. Just beyond the field section there was a section with quite a lot of blow downs over the trail that made it difficult to see where we were supposed to go.
Ridge and Valley Trail in White Lake WMA
The trail took us out at another parking area for White Lake Wildlife Management Area. We regrouped here, then I led everyone along the unmarked farm road parallel with Stillwater Road (Rt 521) to our left, then crossed at the edge of a field into the Warren County Natural Resource Area on the same trail.
We walked along a section of old woods road, but then turned right across a brief section of puncheon on an unblazed side trail exiting to the right.
Joe Millionaire on a new unmarked connector trail from the Ridge and Valley Trail to my driveway
We followed this trail, which was pretty easy, all the way out to my driveway just off of Stillwater Road. We then turned left down my driveway to the house where we stopped for a break.
We soon descended from the house down to my dock on White Lake. The lake was already frozen and we could walk right onto it, though we didn't opt to take any short cut from here.
My dock on White Lake
We continued from the dock along the shore of the lake, past the summer kitchen building on the same property, and then out along the unmarked trail that leads past the fire pit. We continued on this unmarked path along the top of a ridge that sits above the wetland inlet of the lake below. This was the same route I led my group along my first hike in the area. It's quite crazy to think I accidently happened upon the house I would one day be living at and have to circumnavigate it to continue through.
Lime Kiln in White Lake Natural Resource Area
We soon reached the Ridge and Valley Trail at the nice old lime kiln. We turned right on the trail from here which descended via an old roadway into the small valley between to higher areas, then ascended the other side. All of the Ridge and Valley Trail blazes in this area had been torn down, and missing for quite a long time. Fortunately, the path was easy to follow. We continued on, ascended to the other side of the valley and passed through where the old Girl Scout camp used to be. We then made our way to the old Marl Works, which everyone semed to enjoy quite a lot.
Marl Works, White Lake
Marl Works, White Lake
Marl Works ruins, White Lake
Marl Workds ruins, White Lake
We walked out past the ruins to the shore of White Lake, where ice was once harvested and stored in an industrial ice house complex that also existed at the Marl Works. The "Marl" referred to is a limestone based sediment, the result of the breaking down of shell fish material over time, that lines the base of White Lake and gives it it's appearance. This marl was dredged from the lake by the industry and the lime was used most significantly by cities for their sewer systems, in addition to local farms and lime kilns.
My house across White Lake from the Marl Workds
Vass House across White Lake from the Marl Workds
From here, we continued on the Ridge and Valley Trail across a little bridge and onto the abandoned White Lake spur of the NYS&W Railroad. This spur broke off of the main line in Marksboro below, and the trail follows it's route most of the way to the rail trail, save for a short section along Spring Valley Road where it was obliterated due to road widening.
Along Ridge and Valley Trail, former NYS&W Railroad spur from Marksboro
When we reached the Paulins Kill Valley Trail parking lot in Marksboro, we were joined by DJ Ray for the last leg, who passed out Clementines to the other hikers. At least he was able to catch some of the hike. We turned right onto the trail heading toward Blairstown.
Group shot on Paulins Kill Valley Trail, Marksboro
I spent a great deal of the day talking about work; honestly I was starting to become very bitter towards the place, because so few people employed there truly care about parks. It was looking like my February 16th layoff was imminent and I was just starting to realize this, though I had no plan.
Paulins Kill Valley Trail in Paulina vicinity
We continued on the rail bed past Paulina and the lovely little dam, then continued on to Blairstown to finish the hike. We went out to dinner together right near the trail at The Forge restaurant as I recall, which was quite nice.
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