Hike #629; Hardwick/Blairstown

 Hike #629; Hardwick/Blairstown

5/29/12 Millbrook Gap, Blairstown, and White Lake with David "Captain Soup" Campbell, Jaque Melo, Lyz Hagenbuch, Jack Lowry, Dave Finton, Cesco Tetto, Giancarlo Tetto, Laurie Davey, "Dr. Greg" Hudas, John Spiridon, and Paula Scheyer.

Group shot

My next hike would be the last for the month of May. It all seems like it's going by too fast. Unbelievably, there are still more preserves that can be done just within walking distance of my home that I have never incorporated into a hike, and probably will not get to the chance to as it would seem. It matters little, because I can always come back, but it's really amazing how much there is. I appreciate this land the more I explore it.We met in the morning at the main White Lake parking lot. It was already a horribly hot day even before we began walking. Laurie was nice enough to bring me a breakfast sandwich from Dale's Market, and Captain Soup brought me some iced tea.It felt wonderful as usual, to have so many friends from way back up till now with me on this one. Captain Soup had started his first hike with me from this same parking lot so many years earlier.For this hike, we would shuttle the short distance to Millbrook Gap on Millbrook Road and then hike the Appalachian Trail to the proposed Ridge and Valley Trail, an abandoned road above Ricks Rocks.We started the hike with some nice blooming Rhododendrons around us, which was really nice. We followed the AT through Rattlesnake Swamp, and then soon turned left off of it, descending. There was a bit of a view we checked out from the top of Ricks Rocks, but it was pretty hazy already. We descended down, then turned left on abandoned Sand Pond Road, followed by the right on Ridge and Valley Trail, the section that was constructed by the camp in the fifties to get up to the AT.The path seems more well defined each time I walk it. We continued down through the swamp and then out of National Park property to reach Camp Mason property. I related the history of the properties as usual, and we continued on through the camp area with it's own trail system. Our first break was a pleasant stop along the Blair Creek where the trail crosses the beautiful swinging bridge, always a favorite spot for everyone.Dave commented how I sound more and more like a politician the longer he knows me. It's interesting to think what being on a recreation board, and being employed by the state has done to me. He was right, and it was crazy to think that the first time Dave hiked with me was was up Mt. Tammany around the same time of year in 2004. Where did eight years go?We continued out from here across Shannon Road, then to Birch Ridge Road and turned right. We did not follow the Ridge and Valley Trail south as we had the previous time, but rather stayed on Birch Ridge past the dam at Camp Mason, then headed out to Millbrook Blairstown Road and turned left.We followed Millbrook Rd for a bit, then made a right turn on Maines Lane, a dead end street. The Maple Farm Preserve comes to the road, an interesting Ridge and Valley property with conservation easements, or trail easements set aside. The trail can pass through, and public has the right to use it, but only to that extent. It's sort of like farmland preservation where development rights are acquired.The trail shown on the map does not yet reach Maines, but we headed into the woods where the map showed it, and had to carefully descend a high ridge. We then made our way into a narrow little gully out to the trail. It was there that I gave the group the option of hanging back while the rest of us headed out to do a lollipop loop. I had not yet explored the western part of this preserve, so Cesco, Giancarlo, Dave, and John I think stayed put while the rest of us headed up hill a bit and into a loop that incorporated woods roads, stone walls, and paths through nice woods. It came closely parallel with Artists View Drive, a dead end paved road, then turned back. We rejoined the group and took a break, then continued on as the trail took us by a beautiful little pond with an old lime kiln sitting on the shore. The trail then turned away and headed down hill along a stone wall, then reached a woods road and turned left. It's difficult to follow this section, but we managed. We then turned right at a fork in the woods road, and continued with high cedar posts where probably a deer extruder fence used to be. The trail then crossed a section of open field, and continued through more woods to eventually reach the private driveway into the property. The trail follows it to the left, then turns right through a formerly quarried area and switches back to the top of the driveway where there is parking.From here, Dave made a left turn to head back to his car a bit early, while the rest of us continued on to the right down Maple Lane.

We followed Maple Lane, and Jack and I sang a bunch of songs, always a good time. We stopped for a break in the shade at one point because it was so terribly hot. We made turns onto Mohican Road, then headed down to Rt 94 close to the edge of Jacksonburg Creek. We only followed 94 to the right briefly to make a stop at Dominick's pizza for lunch. We hung out in the air conditioning, which really didn't help out a lot on this day.From there, we crossed the street and skirted a cemetery, and then walked along the former alignment of Rt 94, now just a side road which comes right back out to it. At around this time, we turned left into a field with a somewhat mowed path around it's side leading to North Warren Regional High School. We turned left here, and skirted their football fields, following somewhat mowed paths along the edge as well as through sections of woods. In retrospect, this really was a very interesting hike route I put together. I don't even realize how it's become so second nature to me to come up with this stuff. After the woods, we skirted a bit more woods, then passed a big table in the woods that someone had left boxer briefs on, and followed a trail out to the Paulins Kill River. We only went to have a look, then turned back on the trail which took us to near a sewage pump facility. We skirted the edge of the school grounds from here, past the building to a one way access road that led back out to the Airport Road toward Lake Susquehanna. We only used the road to cross the Paulins Kill, then turned left into Sycamore Park. We stopped here for a while and swamp in the river which felt amazing.After the break, we continued on a path along the river skirting the park, then crossed the park directly to the other tree line. Eventually we found the connection path leading to the Paulins Kill Valley Trail.I was originally going to lead the entire group all up and through the two Limestone Ridge Preserves, but this would have taken a huge amount of time I was realizing, and we were already going to be late. We opted instead to just stay on the relaxing route of the Paulins Kill Valley Trail to Footbridge Park in Blairstown. Once there, we turned left and crossed to visit Dale's Market. John had spotted his car at Footbridge Park, and so we said goodbye and moved on.Everyone got some snacks (ice cream was very popular on this day) before moving on. Paula joined us here, and then we all continued into town to view the dam on the Blair Creek at Blair Academy. From that point we headed back across the foot bridge and onto Paulins Kill Valley Trail again. I was considering going up to the Limestone Ridge preserve property on the corner of 94 and 521, but opted not to again for lack of time. We instead stayed on PKV Trail all the way to Marksboro. By the time we got there, a guy warned us that there was a huge storm with hail coming. I didn't worry about it too much, but Teun, Dr. Greg, and Laurie took a ride in the back of a friendly guy's pickup truck when we got to the parking lot.We then followed the Ridge and Valley Trail through the ruins of the Marl Works, and out passed the girl scout camp site. We turned off when we got to the unofficial trail leading to my house near the lime kiln.Despite the rain, we all took a dip in the lake for a bit, which still felt great as always, and there was no one around to tell us not to.As usual, I didn't want the day to be over. Some of us had dinner together at Franks Pizza in Blairstown. But the truth is that everything is finite. One of the biggest things I learned from my past relationship with Cathy Fisher was that the secret to longevity is being able to let go. There were a lot of things she was very right about. I've had to let go of so much in just half a life time, there is bound to be so much more ahead. Just as the day came to an end, so will my time at White Lake in a matter of twenty days. So much uncertainty is quite unnerving, but at the same time I know this is all public land, and I can return any time. I cannot and will not let the mismanagement of the property go by without a passionate fight, but I must be wise in the way I go about dealing with it.Surrounded by young seasonal employees at work, I see myself every bit as energetic as any of them, and find it hard to believe they are close to half my age.  Yes, there are a lot of things I'm going to have to let go, but I will not mourn the passing of youth, not just yet, maybe never.