Hike #542 2/23/11
2/23/11 Speedwell, Morristown to Summit with Cesco Tetto and "DJ Ray" Cordts
Group shot in Madison NJ
My next hike would be a weekday one; I was recently laid off from my job at Hunterdon County Parks Department and had to keep busy, so fortunately Cesco was free to come out and do some exploring with me. I picked him up in Mt. Olive and we headed to Morristown. We parked at the Patriot's Path parking lot on Speedwell Ave near it's namesake village and headed east.
We followed Patriot's Path parallel with Cory Road, and then turned right into the NJ Transit area where the trail was still unopened. This section was owned by NJ Transit and the county was still in negotiations.
This section took us along the former rail yard and then parallel with Pocahontas Lake out to Martin Luthor King Ave. We turned left under the tracks and then followed the blazed pathway down George Street. Here, we did something I hadn't done on my many past visits, stopped by a Thrift Store that was never opened previous times. The place was big, and full of all sorts of random stuff. I bought Jillane a copy of "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" on cassette for a dollar. They had some nice blazers, but I didn't get one this time.
We next walked through the short park section along the Whippany River out to Abbett Avenue, then across to another road, then right on another onto a path that was caked between the Whippany River and the cemetery on the left. We soon paralleled the Morristown and Erie railroad tracks and came out to Ridgedale Ave.
Morristown and Erie Railroad tracks at Ridgedale Ave crossing and Patriot's Path
Big tree along Patriot's Path near the jail, Morristown
We crossed the road and followed the tracks a short distance. This was always a weird section of the Patriot's Path because it's right along side of the active railroad tracks, and it's most convenient at times to just walk on the tracks. I don't know how they pulled that one off.
The path diverged from the tracks a bit and then descended down to the abandoned access road to the jail nearby. This road took us out to Hanover Ave. Along the way we admired some giant trees.
We turned right on Hanover and crossed over Rt 287 and soon reached the entrance to the Frelinghuysen Arboretum. We left the main white blazed Patriot's Path, and began following the blue one briefly, but then kept on the access road to the visitor's center of Morris County Parks. We picked up some new and updated maps, and then had a break for a sandwich Cesco had made (he was disappointed that the more expensive turkey was not much different than the standard kind).
We then headed over to the main building of the Morris County Park Commission. Inside I asked to see Trails Foreman Russel J. Nee, but he was out in the field already, it being a nice day. I had been hoping to get a copy of Morris's Trail Licensing Agreements so they could be implemented in Warren and Hunterdon Counties. To help me with this, the secretary found Russ Felter, managing park planner. Mr. Felter was so kind as to bring us up to his office and copy off not only the full trail licensing papers, but all of the lease agreements as well. We chatted for a while about some of the county's new trail connections and what was going on with them. I was very impressed with him and thankful for taking the time out to get us these papers and information (he went so far as to digging into the record files and xeroxing what was not on his computer).
I had recently been named Chairman of the Warren County Board of Recreation, and I felt obligated to take a more leading and proactive role in trail development in Warren County; this was just another step.
Giant tree in Frelinghuysen Arboretum
We said goodbye and headed out into Frelinghuysen Arboretum. We headed north and soon picked up the blue trunk of the Patriot's Path and followed it past the rose garden area of the Arboretum, then out along the deer extruder fence to exit. Along the section we passed many lovely large trees.
Whippany River near Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Morristown
The trail then took us out of the arboretum and parallel with the Whippany River along Rt 287. We passed by the parking lot of some sort of business and then entered the woods with large trees, a wide flood plain on the river and high bluffs on either side. This was the site of a 1776 powder mill that served Washington's army during the American Revolution.
Whippany River at the powder mill site, Morristown
Cesco and I climed to the top of the bluff and accidentally got off the trail to the right, but it provided us a really nice view of the bend in the Whippany River with a large island in the middle. I remember trying to picture where the powder mill would have stood, in that flood plain with the island. I wondered if the mill race was formerly one of the channels where the island is, and over the years the river may have carved it to what it is now.
Whippany River, powder mill site, Morristown
We made our way back to the trail and headed up hill parallel with a hospital lot, then along the backs of a couple of yards of beautiful homes. The trail then took us up hill to the corner of Morris Ave and Lafayette Ave where a cannon sat in the middle. The blue trail crossed past the cannon, with the blue blazes on a bench, then utility poles down Morris.
Giant beech tree near Washington's Headquarters, Morristown
We walked further down the road, and there was a giant, beautiful beech tree on the right hand side. I figured it must be at least two centuries old. Up ahead was the Ford Mansion, a large Georgian Style mansion built in 1774 that served as Washington's headquarters during the Winter of 1779-80. Across the street from the mansion was a statue of Washington on his horse. We continued past the mansion and soon turned left onto the paved Traction Line Recreation Trail across the street.
The Ford Mansion, once Washington's headquarters, Morristown.
We followed this trail down hill and soon parallel with the former Morris and Essex Railroad, now NJ Transit. The trail followed the former right of way of the trolley line that once serviced the area.
College of St. Elizabeth
We walked this trail for a couple miles down, parallel with the active tracks to Convent Station and the College of St. Elizabeth. The walk was very nice and easy because this paved trail had been plowed! Since we made good time, Cesco and I headed off of the trail to the south to see if we could find some food and drinks, but as we walked down Convent Road it was apparent there were no businesses nearby, and our google applications on our phones told us there was nothing. We returned to the trail and continued east.
Convent Station
As we walked, there was soon a large concrete wall on the right hand side parallel with us. We chatted with son NJ Transit workers out on the tracks as we walked by, and then came to a doorway in the wall to the left. We couldn't resist looking through, and it led into Fairleigh Dickinson University. We went back through and walked down the right of way a ways and soon passed a kiosk that explained the origins of the concrete wall, a woman who did not appreciate the trolley service coming through.
Historic marker about the concrete wall
From here, the trail led up to Danforth Road and ended. I'm not sure how far the trolley service used to go.
We walked across onto Beech Avenue where a sign read "Bike Route" and headed east. This took us to Cedar Ave down hill to Park Ave where we turned right. We walked for a ways and stopped at a little pizza place where I got two slices. We then headed a short distance to a small liquor store and deli where I bought four Joose drinks.
Foot bridge in James Park, Madison NJ
Big tree in James Park
When we entered the town of Madison, James Park was on the right hand side and had an interesting foot bridge over the NJ Transit tracks. We climbed up to it and drank one of the Joose Drinks while there.
We then climbed down from the bridge and Cesco tried to climb a giant tree in the park. There was still quite a bit of snow on the ground, and he couldn't get a running start to get up, nor could he find any grip areas so we moved on.
Statue as we entered Madison
We passed by a statue in the middle of the intersection with Park Ave and Rt 124, and then noticed there was a thrift store across the street. We had a look inside, and I got a magazine about the town and a brochure about Greystone Psychiatric Hospital (it was in danger of being destroyed). We walked down the street a little bit more and saw a comic book store. This was a shock to us, because we never see stores like that anywhere any more. We had to go on inside. It was neat, and it was different than comic stores as I remembered them. They had no big boxes full of back issues, only more current stuff. I looked around to see if there was anything new regarding Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, which I used to collect like crazy, but there was nothing at all. I talked to the owners, and they said they were only being made as sort of mini series and such. They had made one for the 25th anniversery. I told them how I'd lost all of my back issues to the fire, including every print ever made of issue #1, and the three employees as well as all patrons in the store let out a big "OOOOOHHHHHH!!!!".
When we left the comic shop, DJ Ray met up with us and we continued to walk through downtown Madison. I had hiked into Madison once before, and I have a goal of hiking every bit of railroad mileage in the tri state area, however sections like Madison and others nearby would be difficult to walk since there is so much commuter traffic and we could get arrested, so it's necessary to walk the parallel roads. In this case it took us through downtown.
Supermarket stop in Madison
We stopped at a supermarket, and went in for some food. I think it was a Stop N Shop or something. We got some chocolate and made our way out to the east. Next to the supermarket was the Hillside Cemetery. We were going to try to walk in, but there was no way from the market itself, so we had to go down to Rt 124 anyway.
Hillside Cemetery, Madison
Hillside Cemetery, Madison
We walked along the street, and DJ Ray accidently spilled some of his pretzel M&Ms, to which an older black lady behind us made happy references to the spirits wanted some too, citing we were along the cemetery. She laughed aloud, and so did we.
Church east of Madison
We continued walking down the road and came into downtown Chatham. I had never walked through Chatham before. The railroad was still a block or two to our right, and we stayed on the main drag through town. It was very much like Madison with it's artsy businesses and lack of chain stores. I started thinking about my old buddy Ted from Taylor Rental who had died from cancer a few years earlier. My favorite of all of my co workers at the rental store, Ted had grown up in Chatham, and spent many years hiking and exploring around the Great Swamp. We chatted about the area, and I told him about my plan to hike all of that rail mileage, and I planned on going to Chatham eventually. I had finally made it there, and wish I could talk to him about the interesting things from the area.
Downtown Chatham
We turned right from the main street onto Passaic Ave. I had planned on turning right onto Fairmount, but missed it by a block. We walked up the street, and DJ Ray and Cesco hid in some bushes to fill a water bottle with beers DJ Ray had gotten. We then turned right on 2nd Street past a big tree out to Fairmount and turned left. We followed this out to Watchung Ave.
Big tree on 2nd Street, Chatham
We turned left on Watchung and headed down hill to a Bottle King, and went inside to see if they sold any Joose or Four Loco, but they didn't. We continued on out to Passaic Ave and turned right. We realized it was getting late and DJ Ray was supposed to meet a friend soon. Since we were relying on him to get us back to Morristown, we had to leave with him. It was closer to go ahead to Summit we figured, and so we followed Passaic to a left turn onto Kent Boulevard. We soon came to familiar territory, from when I had walked into Summit parallel with the Peapack Gladstone Branch. The junction between these limes was Summit. We came to the station and bought tickets to get us back to Madison, which for all three of us was only six dollars I think.
We took the train back which seemed pretty quick, and then walked back through Madison to DJ Ray's car.
I went home and watched Pee Wee's Big Adventure with Jillane, and felt very happy that I had had a great day, making the best of my time off by having fun and accomplishing something that will positively effect the parks for which I am trying to serve.
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