Hike #632; Millbrook to White Lake

Hike 632: 6/17/12 Millbrook to White Lake with David "Captain Soup" Campbell, Jaque Melo, Joe Tag, "Commando Tom" Petrucci, Laura Cunningham, Teun Ott, Greg Hudis, Michele Valerio,

Group shot on Ridge and Valley Trail, White Lake WMA

This would be my very last hike ending at my home at White Lake. It still doesn't seem real.

I wanted to make this last time something really special, so I called up an old family friend, Wilson Bullivant. Mr. Bullivant knew my grandfather from way back. I attended high school with two of his daughters, Abbie and Amanda, and hung out with them all the time. Abbie even did one of these insane long hikes. After spending so much time with them, I found out during a musical theater production in 1997 that my grandfather had known the Bullivants from back in the days when he lived in Hampton. I have many fond memories of hanging around with them on the bridge in Asbury; and other things like New Years 1998 at their place.I reconnected with Mr. Bullivant unexpectedly during a hike at the Hoff-Vanetta Farmstead where I knew I recognized him, making popcorn the old fashioned way. We got to talking, and he offered then to do an historic tour of Millbrook Village if I was ever interested in doing so. I of course was, and kept it in mind for just this event.Luckily, Mr. and Mrs. Bullivant were free for the day, and I arranged for the hike to begin there.I wanted to give my group something to make this really special, and Mr. Bullivant certainly delivered. We got a full tour of the entire village, and entered pretty much every building. We began with the general store where Mrs. Bullivant gave us a history talk about it. Like many buildings in Millbrook, it had been moved to the site to save it from demolition. It originally was up the road. She told us a lady who used to stay there sometimes comes and sits on the porch.

Mr. Bullivant ushered us from there to the cider press behind the place. There was a lot of stuff stored there, but there was enough room to show us around. We then went to the Garris Mill.Garris was the most prominent name in Millbrook (the most residents it ever had was 75, so it was never that big). The mill was not the original. The original burned down in the 1920s. This mill was a reproduction, and a good one at that, and much of it's framework was the old mill from a nearby town in PA, which I had never known.The inside of the mill had some awesome wooden gears and augers. Very interesting to see. The mill wasn't a true reproduction because it will never have water power, but it's a great demonstration on how these things worked.We then moved to the church; this was actually a full reproduction with no original wood. The original also burned down, but it's a pretty accurate representation and it looks old.The next stop on the trip was an old cabin that was moved to the site from up the road. It was a representation of a poorer family dwelling. The clapboard siding allowed in some light, which certainly wouldn't have been suitable for winter. Beyond this cabin we moved on to a workshop full of all sorts of knick knacks. I think this one too was moved to the site. Beyond that was the school, which was the original church from 1840. The road ahead had washed out four feet deep, making it somewhat inaccessible. I had already been in that one many times though. We turned around and checked out other buildings, including the Garris House, which was a nice middle class dwelling. This one was much more livable looking than the previous. Mr. Bullivant described this as a "comfortable" living arrangement. We then went into another smaller home and got a demonstration on weaving by a woman who was able to attend for the event. There were two weaving machines on site, and we got some interesting history about how this was done. Spinning and weaving was such an amazing process, and people are so passionate about it.We continued on through the more "upper class" home in the village, with each room done over quite nicely.

We continued to check out the wheelright shop and the tangenberg (?) cabin to finish out the tour. It was the most in depth tour I'd ever had in all the years I'd been attending events in Millbrook Village. It lasted from 10 till 1 pm! It was outstanding. Many of my group members attended for just the tour, and didn't stay for the hike due to different obligations for Father's Day, but those of us who continued in most cases got a ride up the Kittatinny Ridge. I wasn't going to cheat out on my walking, so I ran/walked up to the top, which was an insane workout. We then began following the northbound Appalachian Trail.There were some great views from the ridge, from the power line that was planned to be widened, and off into the valley further. We stayed on the AT until we got to the road system of Pool Colony, one of the planned development sites that never came to be. Along the way we also saw a bunch of caterpillars in a circle on a tree.Once at the woods roads, we turned right and began bushwhacking off the ridge, with a bit of a view of Fairview Lake. My plan was to reach the abandoned section of the scout camp and continue through Blair Creek Preserve. The descent from the ridge was somewhat difficult, but not nearly as bad as in other places I had done.Once we were all down, we bushwhacked through minimal undergrowth of hay scented ferns on out to the camp area. We saw a few building ruin sites, and then moved on to the former mess hall with it's giant chimney. From there we headed over to the betst remaining building, which was looking worse than the previous time I had been in it, but still not too terrible.Next, we got back on the road passing through the main part of camp and began following it down hill. There was an orange blazed trail with a right turn blaze heading off on another one of the woods roads to the side, but I figured we needed to get to the other side of the Blair Creek Preserve and I didn't want to try to re-do trails I'd already done, though I was curious where this orange trail was routed when the woods road ended.We followed this other woods road to a vehicle road near a home, and then continued up hill on the other side of the outlet of Fairview Lake, a branch of the Blair Creek. Once on the other side, we came to a woods road leading to the right and began following it.It was very nice and clear for a while, but it became much less easy to see after a bit. We could still follow it, but then came to where it went right into the swamp. Fortunately, we were able to skirt it to the left, and then come back out to it when it reached higher ground again. We lost the woods road, then found it again in the area ahead. It was rather obscure. This is the deepest section of the Blair Creek Preserve, and it was obvious that no one had come back here in a long while. We continued on the woods road, and it became a bit more obvious as we continued. It then turned and made it's way down through another wet area. My GPS google areal image was worrying me because an open area I feared would be a swamp. Fortunately, it was a high open field, and we were able to get right across. The problem was I ended up following a woods road going the wrong way. We backtracked to the field and headed down hill to another Blair Creek Branch where we waded across. Just after wading, we realized there was a bridge over it from the field just beyond where we turned. The woods road continued! So we followed the road on further, which became much wider and easier to follow, then arced to the right and gained elevation until it eventually came out to Sand Pond Road (I think). We turned right on the road, crossed the power line, and then continued to the intersection of Mill Still Road (Millbrook Stillwater) and Sand Pond Road. We turned left and followed it, up a huge hill which was brutal, and then down on the other side across Birch Run Road. We had a nice break here. Just a ways past that, we turned right up hill on Sunset Lake Road and continued to the Ridge and Valley Trail at Limestone Forest Preserve.We continued on along the trail as we had done in the past so many times, through the beautiful woods of Christmas Ferns, and then to the junction where the trail splits in two directions. The previous times we had gone to the left, on the longer route, so this time I brought everyone to the right on the other more obscure route. We lost the trail a couple times, and I wish I could develop it a little better, walk out there and reblaze more of it, but I just won't have the time.We eventually hit the other trail, and then made our way to the main Ridge and Valley Trail, continuing through White Lake Wildlife Management Area back to Stillwater Road. We crossed the road and entered the county property, and when we got to the blue blazed trail I worked to develop, we turned right. We followed it right out to my driveway. There, the group parted ways, heading back to the parking lot. Tom, Laura, and I continued up my driveway to the woods road to the left, followed it and then down the path to my lake side shack and the dock.

We took some time for a nice swim in the lake. The water was absolutely perfect, and hardly anyone was out, so we didn't have to be bothered. It was just the kind of relaxing thing I needed to finish the day. I just wish more of the group could have to stopped to enjoy it.

The only consolation I had was that I know I can still come back to this spot, and chances are no one will be there.

We left the lake and went out to dinner at The Forge. Joe, Tom and Laura, Capt. Soup and Jaque and I, as well as our old buddy Jim DeLotto who was passing through the area. We laughed and had a really nice time over dinner.

It was just the kind of distraction I needed. In fact it was great. DeLotto paid for my dinner, ever generous guy that he is, and Captain Soup got me a beer. I have such great friends.

I suppose how I'm feeling now is best described as numb. My move doesn't seem too real to me at this point. I had already boxed up so many of my possessions. My maps are all in order in individual boxes. Many of my clothes. Things are nearly ready to go. I thought I had a lot, but in truth I really don't have too much, and I still want to down size from where I am.My new home is going to be costly, and not nearly what this place has been. I will probably have to cut out many of the little luxeries I've given myself, like big breakfast sandwiches and expensive little snacks. My responsibilities will shift from being trail and park oriented back to normal household bills and such. I find myself daydreaming a lot of the places I'm going to explrore, and planning exciting things to look forward to.

The truth is, there are some amazing things coming up. There are also a lot of frightful possibilities. But no matter what, I always have what I had on this day: a great group of friends who make me laugh and forget the world, if only for the duration of a big hike.