Hike #630; White Lake/Hardwick Loop

 Hike #630; White Lake/Hardwick Loop

6/3/12 White Lake/Hardwick Loop with Chris "Cupcake" Kroschinski, Darlene Perez, Greg Hudas, Lyz Hagenbuch, Michele Valerio, Irina Kulikovskaya, Sue Bickford Martin, Stephanie Koles, Carol and Rob Creamer, ?, ?, ?, and ?.

Group shot at Gnome Hollow

My next hike, one of the last of my time at White Lake, would be a very nice trip, but also an emotional burst. Reality has become a dreadful enemy to me as I spiral in despair at the thought of leaving a home that I've cared for in the hands of mediocre land management. I cannot fight a deceptive entity in which the truth is only revealed to those in close proximity. My departure, as I see it, may very likely lead to the place being destroyed by vandals. Already the trails have begun to grow in beyond control with the healthy amount of spring time rain.If this, which has been bothering me for the past two years, wasn't enough, I was hospitalized the night before for a concussion and neck fracture. While cutting invasive Autumn Olives and thick vines at Spruce Run Recreation Area for late shift at work, one vine unexpectedly caused the dropping of a dead tree, directly on my head. I crashed to the ground, and it knocked me literally right out of my shoe.I can't quite describe exactly what I felt; I was loopy and couldn't focus at all. I had a headache, and soon after an ear ache. Pain soon came to the left side of my neck. My great co-workers were insistent that I go to the Emergency Room, where I was given two MRIs and several X Rays. The doctors felt at first that I had fractured my neck, but it turned out to be a sprain.My work buddy Bruce Hockenbury was good enough to show up at the hospital late and drive me back to Spruce Run. I managed to drive myself home from there. I was offered prescription strength medication, but I didn't feel it would smart to take it.I still managed to get up to hike, though I ran quite a bit behind in the morning. I was still having trouble focusing and was terribly sore. I opted to medicate myself with lots of booze which friends offered me, and it definitely worked. It was almost like the pain was gone.I intended for this hike to be a loop, and to be rather relaxing in comparison to other area hikes. Rather than a point to point, we'd explore some other random spots and and take a bit more time to enjoy the little swimming spots. Further, Matt Davis had told me recently that he loved how I used to be so into giving the history of a place, which was something that I'd gotten away from, when the mood of the hike became more "frollicky" than informative. I had wanted to find a point somewhere between, and I've felt that I had done that more recently. The hikes were also becoming more educational as I told everyone about invasive species and the history of the properties, as well as how conservation easements and land acquisition worked.I also feel better about imparting all of this to everyone.We started the trip by following the blue blazed trail out toward the barn, then onto the red blazed trail to Squier's Corners. This was a lollipop loop at the beginning, and I showed everyone the Ailanthus forest I worked on with the land steward, and the trails I blazed. We moved on and came back to the parking lot where we were joined by four more friends Cupcake had invited.We continued across Stillwater Road to the Vass Farmhouse, past the barns, and then bushwhacked into the woods near old farm fields. I had wanted for some time to explore this route back to the Ridge and Valley Trail. We managed to pass through woods and overgrown fields with briars until we came to a nice little hidden pond near a clearer field. We then crossed the field and reached a small ridge, which we followed heading northeast.I was surprised at how long it took us to find the trail. I brought a backpack full of slate Ridge and valley Trail markers to put up, and the weight of the bag was driving me nuts. I had to turn the pack around backwards in order to handle it. Michelle and Greg both offered to carry some of the heavy blazes as we continued on. I eventually found the trail and guided everyone else to it.It didn't take too long before all of my blazes were gone. I used a small hammer and larger nails to put more of the markers up, and they just didn't last. The trail was in really bad shape, and was very tough to follow through the huge amounts of Japanese Barberry that lined the way.We made our way through, then climbed the steep ridge section to the top. I found a couple more blazes in my bag, and slapped them up at a turn point, then we continued out over another couple ridges to reach Sunset Lake Road. From this point, we followed the road a little bit to the other branch of the Ridge and Valley Trail through the Limestone Forest Preserve, one of my favorite sections of the trail.We had a nice lunch break at the junction of the loop within Limestone Forest before continuing on. We then continued out on the trail to Stillwater Road again in White Lake WMA.At that point, Sue, Michele, and I forget who else turned back to the cars to meet up a little later, and Cupcake's friends all left to cut the hike short. The rest of us turned left on Stillwater Road to the intersection with Mallard Pond Road, which as per the mesed up sign reads "Lard Pond Road", and it even says it on Google because of the sign!

There was a new Ridge and Valley preserve up Mallard Pond Road known as Mountainwood Spring. I hadn't checked it out yet, so we took a break, and some of us walked up the road. I didn't have the map on me so I didn't know where to go. We turned right at a turn around and had a look at Schuster Pond, but didn't see the trail. It turns out we didn't go the right way unfortunately. I would have to go back another time to explore it once more.We continued from here down Old Orchard Road. I showed everyone the gun strapped to the back of the tree near the corner of Primrose. We continued down hill and checked out the abandoned house, which had some nice old paintings in it. We then headed down to cross the paulins kill on the road bridge, and headed up hill. The road changed names to Hess Road.We turned right on another Stillwater Road, and Sue met us at a private parking area near the trail. We walked from there to Paulins Kill Valley Trail and then followed it north. We bushwhacked through private land to get to the Gnome Hollow Preserve, then followed the trail through it over lovely moss covered ridges. As we reached the former christmas tree farm section, we saw another box turtle as we did the previous time we had been there. When we got to Stillwater Road again, we turned right. As we headed down, Sue continued back to the car while the rest of us cut into the woods to the left to bushwhack to the Paulins Kill Valley Trail again. We followed the trail to the southwest across the nice through style truss bridge, and Cupcake and I each climbed a side, which was fun. We then went for a nice swim in the Paulins Kill. Michele, Stephanie, and Irina I think went ahead at this point.After our swim, we continued on to Marksboro, and turned onto Ridge and Valley Trail to the Marl Works. Once there, we all went to the shore and I told the history of the place, and pointed out what Marl was, as well as the naturally growing pitcher plants. There is really so much to present when it comes to the White Lake property, I really didn't even have time to tell it all. I went on briefly about the girl scout camp site, but there wasn't really enough time. We were originally going to go to my house to swim, but after getting to the parking lot, it was decided that wasn't such a good idea and we'd go and get pizza at Franks in Blairstown. Everyone was very hungry.I spent the evening feeling crazy and confused, as well as stressed and in pain. 17 days remained until I had to vacate my home, and so much work to do. I don't want to face it, and right now I can't face it. I'm not even supposed to exert myself for two weeks at all and I'd just done a full day hike. The next day I tried to get up and do stuff, but my head and neck pain became left lower back pain as well. I managed just to go down to Dale's Market for a breakfast sandwich. I sat down on the bed just to rest briefly and blacked out for several more hours.I was obligated to go to a meeting that night, and dragged myself out, trying not to look in pain. As per my doctor's note, I could be out of work for two weeks, but I went back the next day and worked through it. I then went to my new home, paid my first month's rent and picked up my  house key.The reality of this move and so many more potential life changes are pushing so uncontrollably, and I'm becoming numb to everything. I've been at points like this where I could just break down, but I've been through so much at this point that I can't articulate the the emotion.Maybe my move, and the change in scenery will inspire something else in me. At this point, all I can think is "I'm tired, and I just don't know". Turn the page.