Hike #559; Perrineville to Mercer Central Park

 Hike #559; Perrineville to Mercer County Central Park

5/22/11 Perrineville to Mercer Central Park with Doug "Snoop Dougie K" Kiovsky, Jason Kumpas, Amanda Murphy, Jason Michael "Jamal" Flintosh, Jack Lowry, Susan Duncan, Dr. Jenn Redmond, Hadas and Simon Schwartz, Krithika Ramas, ?, ?, Chris "Cupcake" Kroschinski, Carol and Rob Creamer (with Bruce), Timothy Kovich, Dave "Captain Soup" Campbell.

Group shot at Assunpink Lake

My next hike would be another collaboration with Doug "Snoop Dougie K" Kiovsky whom I worked with at Hunterdon County Parks Department. We had talked about doing another point to point hike that would connect Monmouth with Mercer County. We came up with a route that would nearly connect with previous Delaware and Raritan Canal hikes between Perrineville and Mercer County Central Park south of Princeton.

The hike would end up being much tougher and farther than anticipated. Even the drive there didn't go as planned. One route had a bridge out apparently, and the other had a race of some kind going on.

We parked at a parking area for Perrineville Lake Park on Baird Road at the head of the Pine Creektrail. We couldn't walk this one because it led in the worng direction and there wasn't parking at the other end.

We followed along Baird Road to a left on Running Brook Road to Big Maple Court. This led us to Prodeling Road and turned left. We then continued to a fork and went left on Perrineville Road. There was an abandoned house along the road stretch.

Abandoned house in Perrineville

Abandond house in Perrineville

Abandoned house in Perrineville

Half of the house had completely collapsed while the other half was still standing. I couldn't resist going in to have a look around. The front door was open so I walked on it. The rooms to the north side of the building I could still walk through, while those on the south side were completely collapsed. Jack joked about how a new coat of paint would be all it needed and it'd be fine.

Abandoned house in Perrineville

Some of the group went up Agress Road instead of Perrineville Road, so I had to call them back. We continued to the road to a secondary unoffical entrance to Perrineville Lake Park of Monmouth County Parks. This was where Hadas and Simon joined us. They parked along the lake.

Perrineville Lake

Perrineville Lake dam

We checked out the dam of the lake and regrouped near the old road entrance at the edge of the park. Once together, Snoop Dougie K revealed that he had found $44 cash sitting alongside the road! It was a good thing he went the wrong way! It looked like a bunch of singles, but when he opened it he revealed two twenty dollar bills! NOT BAD!

Snoop Dougie K found 44 bucks on thhe road in Perrineville!

Ruins in Perrineville

We headed into the park area where there was the ruins of some sort of little stone building. We continued beyond to see the foundation of another stone building, probably an old barn. An unmarked and somewhat overgrown path led through the woods and soon reached the Lakeside Loop Trail within the park. We turned left on it and followed it along the lakeside.

Perrineville lakeside loop trail

The path was well worn and wide, and soon left the woods and entered fields. There were several side trails all over the place through the fields, mostly following their perimeters. We continued through these fields following arrows on pasts as we went.

The trail went from field to field with lines of trees in between until it came to an intersection. We turned left here which took us out to Agress Road. We took a quick break here, and then followed the Rocky Brook Trail north out of the parking lot parallel with Agress Road.

The trail soon crossed Agress Road and skirted the edges of fields again for a while. I was at first upset that I had forgotten to bring my digital camera, but then realized my phone camera was quite good, and took nice pictures.

A hidden pond in Perrineville Lake Park along Rocky Brook Trail

The trail weaved around, and then cut into woods after the series of fields. We then passed by the hidden pond in the preserve and skirted it's north shore, then headed south again.

The trail continued weaving through some very nice woods over rolling hills, and then came out to a long stretch parallel with a field which took us all the way out to North Rochdale Ave

Perrineville Lake Park along Rocky Brook Trail

We turned left on the road and headed down hill. I was originally planning on bushwhacking into the northern end of Assunpink Wildlife Management Area, but Doug had another idea which is probably good since the hike took so long anyway.

We continued south into the town of Roosevelt. We passed by a small school which had an interesting mural along the side of it along the way. Joe Tag had told me one of the buildings had a mural inside, and I was thinking this might have been one, but we didn't have the opportunity to see it.

Mural in Roosevelt nj

We next stopped in a little park and amphitheater next to a school where there was a large bust of President Roosevelt. We took a break here, and sang "Born To Be Wild" while Jack played his carbon fiber guitar, ever present. We then continued on walking and singing Deep Blue Something's "Breakfast At Tiffany's" while Jack played.

Roosevelt statue in his namesake NJ town

While in the town of Roosevelt, we visited a yard sale where I bought Jillane a kitten shirt that said "I Don't Do Mornings"  and we looked at all sorts of stuff. Actually I think I owe Captain Soup fifty cents for that shirt.

Also, just south of the Roosevelt Statue we found a trail that crossed the road in the vicinity. The next hike in the area will have to incorporate it. We tried googling it and looking at maps to find where it went and how it could fit in with our hike, but could find nothing so we moved on.

Captain Soup in Assunpink WMA

Hiking Assunpink Wildlife Management Area

We walked down the road which became much narrower and had a sign saying we were entering Assunpink Wildlife Management Area. There was soon a wide area mowed on each side of the road. We continued walking until we reached an intersection with Clarksburg-Robbinsville Road. We turned right briefly, and then left onto a path leading into the fields. The path was very well worn which was good. We followed it south to the end of the field line where another path entered the woods to the left. Some ladies came by on horses and I asked them where we should go. She gave me some insight and we moved on, skirting the edge of the fields heading west.

Carol in Assunpink WMA

We continued along the path which for a time remained quite easy to follow. i think another might have broken off somewhere, because it soon became more difficult to follow. A very high grass was ahead of us, but the horses ahead beat a lot of it down, so we could see where to go.

A big Sycamore in Assunpink WMA

We walked through the high grass and soon came out to a gravel driveway. A sign said not to go left, so I went that way. Unfortunately it led to what appeared to be an occupied house so we turned back in the right direction, which led us back out to Clarksburg-Robbinsville Road. We turned left on the road and passed by some nice big trees and an old brick style house with out buildings. It seemed like someone was quite active around there but no clue who.

Great big Sycamore in Assunpink WMA

We continued down the road until we came to a point where it turned ninety degrees to the left, then ninety back to the right again. From here, we cut into the fields and walked across a very soft surface. We followed these fields to the end, then turned left through a line of trees to another field.

We followed the edge of this next field south back to the road again and turned right. There were trail markers on the road saying to go across a little bridge and then go left, but this was out of the way for us so we turned back onto the road to head west.

Soon, we came to some fields and turned back to the right through them. We cut through two or three and then came to an access road for Assunpink Lake near a field where they were flying model airplanes. We followed the road to the right and soon reached the shore of Assunpink Lake.

Assunpink Lake

Dr. Jenn's dog Sophie ran right into the mucky water without even stopping. After everyone had regrouped we followed a sandy road to the west following pretty near to the shore of Assunpink Lake.

There were two roads most of the one. One was badly eroded and washed out, and actually skirted the edge of the fields, while the other was just a few feet to the south of it at all times; a more vehicle friendly route to the one that had been washed out so badly.

The road eventually led us to another main vehicle access to the lake. We turned right and followed the road briefly to have a view of the lake. A guy there took our group shot for us.

Group shot at Assunpink Lake

The road we had been following continued on the other side of this main road, so we just kept following it. It was in much worse shape than the other ones, but not all that bad. At one point, a ranger truck or something went by checking us out, but fortunately didn't find my can of Four Loco.

Big tree, Assunpink WMA

While we were walking, a truck went by and then all of a sudden Sophie went missing. We waited for a bit and Dr. Jenn ran back. She wasn't answering calls, and so we were getting pretty worried. Tim went off into the dense woods on the south side of the road, which had a lot of thorns as I saw it, and somehow managed to find her on a good trail that paralleleled the road. Apparently she didn't want to come back through the weeds.

We continued on down the road for a while, with other accesses to the lake near us but none of them really good to swim because everyone seemed to have a fisherman at it.

The road eventually came to a dirt cul de sac. Most of the maps made it look like this road would go through, as well as arial images. It certainly went through at one time, but no more. We turned left off of this dead end and got into another field. We turned right and headed east along it's edge.

Turtle laying eggs, Assunpink WMA

Along the way, we happened upon a large turtle laying it's eggs in the dirt. I hadn't seen a turtle laying eggs since the time at Dunker's Pond on the Highlands Trail during the Summer of 2008.

Turtle

We watched it for a little while before moving on down the edge of the field. As we walked, Carol noticed that there were some really nice wild strawberries growing in this uncultivated field. She gave them to me, and Jack and I ate them. They were quite good. She then came back with a huge mess of them! This were the largest wild ones I had ever seen and they tasted incredible!

Mmm wild strawberries

We continud from here along the edge of the fields until their end, and then cut into the woods. The woods seemed to have some sort of abandoned road running through it, as when we got to the Assunpink Creek, it had a bridge over it. During the walk I was talking to Cupcake about how to meet up with us, as he was nearby.

We soon came to a power line right of way. This power line seemed to have a fill on top of it and I wondered if this was ever some sort of railroad line. Still haven't found anything on it yet, but now that I think of it Doug had told me that Monmouth County was going to develop the Union Transportation Trail which went near Allentown NJ to the south. Thi could very well have been part of it. it will merit further research.

We continued along a path which seemed to deviate from the old road route, and then came out to a small pull off parking area with enough room for a few cars. Just as the first few of us stepped out of the woods toward the road, Cupcake sped by in his "Ska Jeep". Absolutely amazing timing. He whipped around quickly and parked in the pull off before everyone even got a chance to get out of the woods.

The WMA property along the Assunpink continued ahead, but we weren't about to try to follow it because it was far too dense for this hike. We instead continued south along Rt 539 and made a right onto Sharon Road.

New bridge going in over nj turnpike

We followed Sharon Road out to a fork where Windsor Road went right. We couldn't follow this because it was closed for bridge work, so we had to go left on Sharon. No one really was into the bushwhacking I had originally proposed for this hike, so we continued across the NJ Turnpike on the Sharon Road bridge. There was new construction going on here for a new bridge over the Turnpike, and apparent widening of the road as well.

Screwing around near the turnpike

On the other side of the highway there was some construction stuff laying about which we couldn't resist climbing through or in. There was a long pipe made of metal which Dr. Jenn climbed into, so we tried to roll it. It didn't budge.

New construction near the nj turnpike

Jamal layed on another piece of pipe and others climbed on other stuff. When we were done goofing off we turned right onto Bresnahan Road, a tiny road with white lines along it, but looking like a single lane. This road really looked like nothing more than an exit off of the Turnpike, but it continued parallel with it and then turned away to the west in a residential area. All to the right of Bresnihan was public land, but it was too difficult to walk through, and no one wanted to so we just continued walking that road.

Wheat field off Bresnihan Road

Before reaching the end of the road, I decided to cut through wheat fields and take a shorter route out to the next road, Gordon Road. Jack followed me, followed shortly by Dr. Jenn. It was really cool to go through at first. It was dry and felt strange. We left this field section and came to an empty field, but this was not a through route out to Gordon. We had to cut back to the wheat one, and then through a really wet area to get back out to the road, much to the dismay of Jack and Dr. Jenn.

Hiking through wheat fields near Windsor

Field hiking near Windsor

We turned right onto Gordon Road and followed it out to Rts 33 and 130. A lot of the group was getting hungry, but not many wanted to walk the three eights of a mile up the road to the right to get pizza at a place within sight. We skipped it and continued ahead. Dr. Jenn particularly needed some foot so she was donated granola bars and such.

Abandoned rail line, Windsor NJ

Abandoned rail line, Windsor NJ

After crossing, we soon crossed the abandoned right of way of a rail line that went up to Windsor to the north. On the north side of the road there were no tracks, but on the south side there were tracks and cut rails close to the road. Both sides of the road were quite clear and would probably make a great hike, which I noted for future reference.

TKO

We continued walking down Meadowbrook Road, and we were all hungry. I had been talking for years about having a pizza delivered to a hike. Skyler and I had talked about it I think in 2005 or something. I don't know why I had never gotten around to doing it, but today was the day. We googled the pizza place to the north and I called them up. I asked to have it delivered to the walkway along Meadowbrook Road, and they said they could do it!

Dr. Jenn needed food fast, as she was laying down on the pavement and looking like she had just been hit by a speeding car.

Dr. Jenn looking like she she had an all night binge. This is along the pathway on Medowbrook Road.

Cupcake put an empty beer can next to her to make it a funnier picture. We passed Tantum Park followed by Tindall Park and walked along their edges a bit, but didn't really go in. Tindall had a sign for a trail, so I googled it and it said it went a pretty good distance. I have to look into it to make a possible better hike in the future.

Krithika and her friends, who lived nearby, had one of their husbands pick them up, as they were all pretty beat.

Soon, the pizza delivery guy showed up and we all put in our money for slices. I had ordered two pies, and it should've been three, but oh well. It was well appreciated by everyone, although we were still getting sore from the hike.

We continued on, and when Meadowbrook Road turned sharply to the left, we went a little ways and then cut to the right through fields. This took us out onto Robbinsville-Edinburg Road. I didn't really want to go this way, because a short ways up the other road we cold have pickd up the bike pathway, but oh well. We'll revisit that park another time.

Fields in public land just west of the Mercer County Park

We cut across another field from this road to Mercerville-Edinburg Road and crossed to Paxton Ave which is the main road through the County Park. We walked up the road for a bit until we could get on the paved bike trail to the right.

Once on the bike trail we continued on it mostly for the rest of the trip. It weaved around a little bit, and then went over a bridge of an inlet.

Mercer Lake

It then continued on along the shore of the lake which was quite pretty. At one point we crossed a power line which was the right of way of a trolley line that once connected Trenton with New Brunswick. This trolley line ironically went through Davidson's Mill Pond Park where my last hike with Doug ended. Some of it to the north, as it turns out, is a trail, and one that I'll need to cover.

The trail turned away from the water and soon crossed over Paxton Ave. We followed the pathway which took us directly back to the parking area where we left our cars just off of Hughes Drive.

The hike, while flat, ended up being far more difficult than I had expected. We covered about twenty miles, not fifteen. The amount of road walking involved was more than expected, and so it was too painful on the feet.

Dr. Jenn and Captain Soup drove people back to their cars in Perrinevile while I took Cupcake back to Assunpink. He and I had some pizza, and by the end of the evening I had become sick from either allergies, overexertion, or whatever. I am still not used to ever getting sick, but the fire changed everything.

Regardless of the pain and length of the hike, it was pretty interested, and even beyond the first half it was an absolute great time. Look at the good things!