Hike #546 3/5/11
3/5/11 Watchung Reservation to South Mountain Reservation (Turtle Back Zoo) with Dr. Jenn Redmond (and Sophie), Marc Sementa, DJ Ray Cordts, Russ "Lord Byron" Rapp, Eric Pace, Alan Eisberg, Sharon Daley Kelly, Al MacLennan, Breda ?, Jim Schlenker, Jack Lowry, Susan Duncan, Amanda Rosenblatt, and ?.
Group shot on the northeast end of Watchung Reservation along Summit Road
My next hike would be a point to point in the Watchungs of NJ connecting between the south end of the Watchung Reservation to the north side of South Mountain Reservation. I met most of the group at 8:30 at the Turtle Back Zoo parking area in South Mountain off of Northfield Ave, and then shuttled south to Union Ave and Rt 22, the McDonalds in Scotch Plains NJ.
I wasn't sure about the parking; I wandered to stores and such, as well as a McDonalds at the north end of South Mountain at Turtle Back Zoo looking for where to go but could find little. I then talked to the guard at the parking garage there who gave us permission to park in it, which was really nice. I gave him a Metrotrails business card and we were off.
View from the Sierra Trail near Scotch Plains, Watchung Reservation
Al, his girlfriend, and Jim were waiting for us at Scotch Plains. I was having trouble with my contact lenses. My right one was good but the left one kept pulling off, which I couldn't understand because they were brand new lenses I had just gotten the week before. I had to take them out prior to starting the hike unfortunately, and then couldn't see.
We walked onto Meadow Street behind the McDonalds and out to the edge of an apartment complex where there was an access to the Sierra Trail, the longest trail in the South Mountain Reservation. This was where we came out on my last trip to South Mountain, though I don't remember going this way. It must have been right though, because there's not really another way out. Probably looks different in another season. We headed to the right on the section of the white blazed Sierra Trail I had not yet seen, and made our way gradually up hill to a nice view over the valley to the north.
Big tree in Watchung Reservation's southwest side, Sierra Trail
We continued in a generally up hill fashion for a while on a wide trail. There were signs that ATVs had been on it which was bad, but there were a lot of giant trees. Particularly some of the largest white Oaks I've seen. The trail continued up, then turned sharply to cross Sky Top Drive.
Giant tree at Sky Top Picnic Area, Watchung Reservation
We entered Sky Top Picnic Area and waited briefly for Jack and Susie to join us under a pavilion. There was another giant tree along the parking area that was quite impressive. Soon, Jack and Susie showed up and we were treated to lots of great music from Jack's carbon fiber guitar.
Evergreen grove along Sierra Trail below Sky Top Picnic Area
Along Sierra Trail, Watchung Reservation
We headed down hill through an evergreen grove continuing along the Sierra Trail. We descended for a bit into a valley of a stream, one of the many tributaries to the Blue Brook. This particular stream weaved around in a dramatic fashion below us. Somehow, Jim, Eric, Al, and his girlfriend ended up going the wrong way over a bridge to the other side of the creek while the rest of us stayed on the Sierra Trail. When we stopped there to wait for them to catch up we were surprised to see them crossing the stream on rocks below us. They made it over alright and we were able to continue.
Bends in a tributary to the Blue Brook, Watchung Reservation
Tree along the Seirra Trail, Watchung Reservation
Sierra Trail on the south end of Watchung Reservation
The trail took us up hill gradually above the brook and then headed sort of east northeast parallel with the main Blue Brook a ways to the south. Somehow Eric had lost the Sierra Trail and ended up on the Orange Trail. I saw on the map that they rejoined somewhere and so told Eric to just follow it through and he'd find us. We were waiting at a trail intersection, and just as I was about to move people onward we saw Eric across the little valley along the trail coming up onto New Providence Road. He decided to continue walking the road while most of us continued on Sierra Trail. The trail took us along some weird turns, then headed down hill across the brook and back up the other side to New Providence Road.
Sierra Trail near Trailside Nature Center, Watchung Reservation
This was the "official" start of the Sierra Trail which makes a large loop. There was a big archway made of logs welcoming hikers to the trail. We were now approaching the Trail Side Nature Center in the center of the Watchung Reservation, and there were a lot of people around.
Sierra Trail near Trail Side Nature Center, Watchung Reservation
We headed along the white blazes of Sierra Trail to the Trail Side Nature Center, a place I'd been wanting to visit for some time. It was a very impressive visitor's center, but I was disappointed that they didn't have maps of any adjacent parks in Union County. The best part about it really was that a high school girl's horse back riding group was having a bake sale fund raiser out front and I got myself a cup cake, and then Al M. bought me a second one.
The inside of the Nature Center also had a giant fake beech tree as well as lots of stuffed animals.
Fake Beech tree in Trail Side Nature Center, Watchung Reservation
We soon left the Nature Center and continued along the trail heading east. Again, there were some more nice giant trees along the way.
Sierra Trail giant tree east of Trail Side Nature Center
Sierra Trail east of Trail Side Nature Center, Watchung Reservation
We continued east along the trail, and along the way Al saw a guy he knew who had been involved in trail work with him. He was an area fire fighter who did volunteer trail work in the area and was in the Watchung Reservation on this occasion for just that. Al invited him on to join the group for the rest of the hike to South Mountain. He was apprehensive to join at first, but Al argued "C'mon! When will you get a chance to do this? Walk all the way to South Mountain and have a ride back?". He was won over and joined us for the remainder of the hike.
Shelter along the easternmost end of the Sierra Trail, Watchung Reservation
Water tower at the eastern most end of the Watchung Reservation
While we were talking, most of the group went on ahead. There was a fork in the trail where they turned left on an unblazed trail while the rest of us followed the Sierra Trail to the right. This took us across Tracy Drive and headed east some more. It was a wide woods road at this point and soon passed by a small shelter. I figured everyone else went the wrong way, and so I called them up. They said they were on white blazes, so I figured they followed the unblazed trail to another section of the Sierra Trail, skipping a section. I told them to stay put and we'd figure out which way to go.
The trail took us to a giant water tower and whipped around it heading back to the west yet again. We could see the route we were just on above us to the left.
The trail soon turned off of the woods road and onto a foot path leading out to the edge of a traffic circle. It followed along the circle and then turned right through woods and onto a larger bridle trail. We soon came to where the rest of the group was waiting for us at a fence.
Sierra Trail in eastern Watchung Reservation near the stables
The trail took us along the bridle path for a ways, and then turned right off of it across a grassy field near a fence, part of the Watchung Stables equestrian center I think. We continued through the woods on a foot path for a while until we reached the intersection of a woods road. There was a giant earth mover sitting on it, so Al and I tried to get in, but it was locked.
Earth mover along the Sierra Trail's northeast end.
We continued along the trail, which remained like a woods road or bridle trail until we got to where the Sierra Trail turned off to the left, on a section we had already done before.
Giant tree along the Sierra Trail's northeast end
We continued straight along the woods road for a ways. Al and I chatted about all sorts of silliness we've been involved with for so many years. It was great to have him back out on a hike.
Trail on the east side of Watchung Reservation
We eventually came to Summit Road. Here, we all posed for our group shot and Jim, Al E, Al M, and his girlfriend cut out early as they had arranged to have cars here. From here the rest of us would follow the same route we had followed on the previous hike we did into Watchung Reservation, only backwards, and this time it would be a bit easier to follow the directions since I was already familiar with it.
Group shot at the northeast side of Watchung Reservation
Crossing Summit Road
Although we were losing four participants, Amanda joined us at this point a bit further down. I thought she was much further behind, so we walked through an open chain linked fence and across Rt 78 on the pedestrian walkway the trail used, then turned right parallel with it. We followed this unblazed connector trail into Hidden Valley Park. We headed down and up hill a bit with Rt 78 to our right and a few little ponds to the left. I gave Amanda directions, and when the trail seemed to be separating from the highway we waited for her. It didn't take long for her to catch up with us and we all continued over a knoll and slightly down hill through Hidden Valley Park.
The trail took us out along another unmarked route to an abandoned road. We turned right and soon got to a bridge site, but it was missing. Like before, we made our way across the bridge and continued along the old road. This sort of petered out a bit, and we began getting closer to a firing range.
Everyone was getting a bit nervous, but I assured them we were in a park. Particularly Eric didn't want to continue through, but I knew we were pretty safe. The firing range was quite a ways above us to the right. The trail took us down hill and across the abandoned railroad tracks to come out behind the Knights of Columbus place. Large vehicles had been using the route since our last visit because it had grown from a foot path to a road.
Briant Park
We turned left and then right out to Orchard Street and crossed onto Briant Parkway, next to Briant Park. We turned right and followed the paved trail along the edge of the park.
Briant Park
The trail took us to an intersection where we turned right and crossed a foot bridge over a brook, then to the left we headed out along the south shore of a pond. We stopped for a short break at the northeast end of the park, Briant Park Drive.
Briant Park
Briant Park
We turned right on this road because I saw a pedestrian path going behind a fence to the right. We walked out there and came to the abandoned railroad tracks again. We turned left on another path and found ourselves on a pedestrian walkway to their left, with the apartments behind a fence to the left. This led us out to a retention pond, but there didn't seem to be a good route through. We ended up turning left and heading through the apartment complex and then back to Briant Park Drive.
Briant Park
We turned right and came to Springfield Ave and turned right again. We crossed to follow the sidewalk. We then continued down the road and used it's bridge to cross over Rt 24. We were in a very commercialized area on the other side. We turned right briefly on Morris Ave to the corner of Millburn Ave where we stopped at Taco Bell for lunch, as well as the "Wine Library" store for drinks. I got some sort of cheap rasberry vodka.
The Taco Bell particularly was a great stop because it was the final day of the promotional sale of Crunchwraps for 88 cents. Such a great deal, I had to get two; so did Amanda.
Downtown Millburn NJ
We headed back to Millburn Ave and followed that north into the very center of town. DJ Ray had a brown bag of some sort of beer that was 10 percent alcohol, but beer never really goes well on a hike unless you chug it down. Plus he really didn't look too good carrying a brown bag down the street.
I was originally planning on staying to the south side of Millburn Ave to go through the school property and across another park, but we were running short on time, and I think the Sierra Trail earlier took more time than it should have so I decided we'd be quicker to stay on Millburn Ave. The town was rather pretty, so I'm glad we did that this time.
We turned left on Main Street, then right on Essex out to Lackawanna Place where we turned left. We passed beneath the former Lackawanna Railraod Morris and Essex Division and continued north out to and across Glen Ave. It was here we picked up the southern terminus of the southern spur of the Lenape Trail. We passed through the parking lot and began to head up hill to the right. On the way we passed a couple with giant jugs. They were filling water up from a spring at the base of the mountain. They told us it was perfectly safe to drink, but there was chain link fencing around it with signs reading that the water was not safe for human consumption, and that there was a huge controversy sorrounding it.
We continued up hill steeply on the Lenape Trail, which followed soon an old woods road. Some of it had stones that had obviously been placed, and I wondered if some of it dated back to colonial days. I wouldn't be surprised if it did.
We soon reached Crest Drive where the trail turned left. We followed it out to Washington Rock, a popular overlook at the south end with great views of Millburn. This was not the Washington Rock that was a state park, but another similar one.
View of Millburn from Washington Rock, South Mountain Reservation
View of Millburn area from Washington Rock, South Mountain Reservation
Jack and I went out to the view point brain storming on songs to sing; he discovered his new phone application could bring up music to songs, and he hadn't used it yet. The first song we tried was the Beach Boys' "I Can Hear Music", a great old song from the late sixties.
From here we continued back in the direction we came, leaving the Lenape Trail. We followed Crest Drive as well as the parallel trail, Crest Trail just barely into the woods, but also came back to the road to see the overlooks, including one great one over the New York City skyline.
View from Watchung Mountain of New York City, at Crest Drive bike route
We continued hiking on along Crest Trail or Crest Drive; Crest Drive was closed and used as a bike route for most of the way here, which made it a nice walking route. DJ Ray and Eric somehow got ahead of us in here and tried to jump out to scare us along the way.
At the next overlook site there was a guy sitting there playing guitar, so Jack went up to them and they jammed some blues for a bit, which is always cool.
Dueling guitars of Crest Drive, South Mountain Reservation
Crest Drive, South Mountain Reservation NJ
Crest Trail, South Mountain Reservation
We continued along Crest Trail, alongside Crest Drive after where it became vehicle accessible, then turned left onto another trail, called Openwood Trail. We followed this west briefly, and then turned right on another bridle trail which took us out to South Orange Ave.
We crossed the road and entered part of a girl scout camp. We turned left heading up hill on a bridle trail which soon joined with Longwood Trail. We followed this trail along the scout camp, checking out a disgusting two seater outhouse along the way.
The Longwood Trail continued away from the camp with other trails joining in from the left along the way. This trail came to an end at a parking and picnic area accesible off of Walker Ave. We walked through part of the parking area past a couple other trail heads, then followed the short access road briefly to a left turn onto North Trail, another bridle trail. We followed this across Turtleback Trail while Jack and Amanda sang a great version of "Gimme Shelter" by the Rolling Stones.
The North Trail took us gradually down hill along an old woods road, then along the outside of a chain link fence to a second woods road leading out to the parking area at Turtle Back Zoo. Jack sang "Sympathy for the Devil" also by the Stones to a chorus of hikers backing him up, and finished the song just as we reached the parking garage where we would finish our hike, a great way to end this awesome day.
As we figured out how to get everyone back to their cars, I thought how I didn't want the day to end yet. It wasn't the most incredible thing ever, but it was a great day. If this was a taste of what Spring and Summer will be, I'm psyched.
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