Hike #585; Swartswood area to White Lake
9/13/11 Paulins Kill Valley Trail, Swartswood/White Lake with Jillane Becker
Along Paulins Kill Valley Trail near Stillwater Station
My next trip would be another after work evening hike with just Jillane and I. We would hike the Paulins Kill Valley Trail from the Swartswood vicinity and back to our home on the Ridge and Valley Trail. We left my car at home and took Jillane's to the beginning and started walking.
There were a lot of trees down from the recent storms, which would take the guys from Kittatinny Valley State Park a long time to clear.
Paulins Kill Valley Trail at Swartswood area
Paulins Kill Lake
Paulins Kill Valley Trail at Stillwater Station area
Along Paulins Kill Valley Trail
Paulins Kill Valley Trail in Fredon area
Manicured lawn section with washed out stones near Henfood Road, Paulins Kill Valley Trail
PKV trail near Henfoot Road
Stillwater Road near Gnome Hollow, still flooded a bit
Bad washout on Paulins Kill Valley Trail north of Marksboro
Sink hole on Paulins Kill Valley Trail
Lovely through style truss bridge on Paulins Kill Valley Trail north of Marksboro
View from Paulins Kill Valley Trail near Marksboro
The underside of the Spring Valley Road bridge in Marksboro, with water still high on the Paulins Kill
On the Ridge and Valley Trail, formerly the White Lake rail spur from Marksboro NJ
Marl Works ruins
I'd done this trail section so many times before; we were able to pretty quickly move along each section. From Rt 622 on through the lower end of Paulins Kill Lake the trail was surprisingly rather clear. There were a lot of trees down right near 622, but then they got more spuratic and not so bad. When we reached the Paulins Kill Lake dam we headed down and took a break by it.
We had stopped on the way at Stillwater General Store to get some sandwiches to bring, and so we ate them at this pretty little spot. It also was an area more free of bugs. The bugs on this occasion were absolutely terrible.
We continued on along the trail, across Rt 614, followed by Kohlbocker Road, and then 610. The old creamery ruin near 610 was much more overgrown that I remembered it being on past visits.
We crossed Stillwater Station Road, Wall Street/Stillwater Road, and Cedar Ridge Road. There were some pretty wet, bad washouts through there. When the rail bed went into more substantial cuts, the water flowed right onto the right of way.
The worst spot was probably just around Cedar Ridge Road by a farm. A nice dog came out and followed us for a while here. The trail had a ton of water coming down on it. At one point where there was a cut, a spring had busted through to the east and was now flowing completely onto the rail bed. The right of way literally looked like a river bed.Across the the southwest side of the road, a lovely little pond along the trail had swollen to cover over a bit of the trail. Had we been on this site earlier it would certainly have been all under water.
We continued on and atop a giant fill there was a sink hole. Water was flowing strong into a valley to our left, and appeared to disappear into the ground. There was a culvert under the fill, but it appeared to be dry. This would certainly be a future problem.
We also passed by many signs warning that it was a rough trail ahead. We joked about how it really wasn't that rought at all. I would find out in the following days that the maintenance crew had to put those up because some woman called in and complained that her horse twisted an ankle on the trail, so it had to be closed to horses. This was of course ridicules, because I know that the Horseshoe Trail in PA is far more washed out and much worse for horses than this, on a trail that equestrian use is one of it's designed uses. Furthermore, far worse washouts exist on the Sussex Branch Trail, yet these are far enough away from wherever this person lived that they wouldn't complain.
When we approached Henfood Road, we crossed over the nicely manicured lawn section. There was a guy out mowing the lawn at the time. I would be nervous if I'd been him, since mowers can so easily get stuck. The lawn had all sorts of rock debris on it from the recent flooding.
There was still some water in the road nearby. We actually passed a driveway that paralleled the rail bed that was still completely under water when we got to Stillwater Road. Water was still covering half of the road as well! We continued and the bugs just got worse. We kept spraying ourselves for them, but it didn't help completely. When we got to the lovely through style truss bridge over the Paulins Kill we decided to take a nice break. While we were sitting still the bugs seemed to leave us alone, probably because we weren't moving.
We continued from here out toward Marksboro. When we reached Spring Valley Road, we turned the left, but I first went down to the Paulins Kill and had a look at the bridge. I walked under it, and the shelf was still clear enough to make my way on without getting wet, but the water was still high.
I ran up the road to catch up with Jillane, and we turned right onto the Ridge and Valley Trail on the right of way of the old spur line to White Lake, and past the Marl Works. There were more blow downs on the trail back in there, but we were able to go over and under them. We headed past the girl scout camp ruins and then down through the low area of marsh at the east side of the lake. It was quite wet; much of the trail was under water still at this point. A tree had blocked the route next to the old lime kiln as well. We didn't take the short route along the top of the slope back to the house, but rather continued on Ridge and Valley Trail to a better old road route to get back. I went right down to the dock and did a running jump into the lake to cool off. The water still felt great, and was probably warmer than the air at this point. I swam a ways out and then turned back.
William
Jillane sent me this of the cats
We went into the house to visit our wonderful cats for a bit before heading back to get Jillane's car, which was a pain since the road up that way was still flooded near Swartswood State Park.
Aside from the bugs and the pain of the recently flooding, it turned out to be a really nice night for a hike.
Flooded road in Swartswood
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