Hike #635; Furnace Hills

 Hike #635; Furnace Hills PA

 7/1/12 Horseshoe Trail/Furnace Hills with Jason Kumpas, Amanda Murphy, Derek Baker, Lyz Hagenbuch, "Naaron" Young, Joe Tag, Michele Valerio, Jason Itell, and Nilam Shah.

Group shot at Eagle Rock on Horse-Shoe Trail

My next hike would be a point to point trip in the Furnace Hills of PA, the next section of the long distance Horse-Shoe Trail I needed to complete. I now only had five hikes left in order to complete the trail. We'd already done many hikes on different sections, covering it from Valley Forge west to just beyond French Creek, and I'd hiked it completely from Stoney Valley in Saint Anthony's Wilderness to Colebrook in PA Dutch Country, as well as a section from near Lebanon PA to the beginning of the Conestoga Trail. This hike would lead us between Denver PA and Pumping Station Road where the Conestoga Trail breaks away, where I had last left off on the trail (two more hikes will connect me with the French Creek area on the trail, a loop at Governor Dick Hill will take care of a section I'd skipped while backpacking, and a short section at the western terminus in St. Anthony's Wilderness will complete the trail for me.).

It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. Before the hike the previous week, I was hospitalized and diagnosed initially with some sort of tick borne pathogen. I still have not heard as of this writing from the hospital or a follow up doctor's appointment during the week what exactly is wrong with me. There have been two rounds of blood samples sent around.

Regardless, doctors put me on doxycyclene which is the common treatment for Lyme as well as many other tick borne diseases. I began the rounds of medication on Monday after the hike, and my high fevers almost immediately stopped, though I still feel a little off. During the week I hallucinated and thought a parking bumper was a blue rooster. I then saw an iguana run across the road in Voorhees State Park. I thought I was crazy until my co worker Bruce told me "no, that's the park Iguana". I thought he was joking at first, but apparently one does run loose there.

I was still feeling a bit out of it, but much better. I carpooled with Derek out to the meeting point, and picked up Naaron along the way out in Easton. It was funny for me pulling up to Derek's place, where he used to live in high school (he was staying there temporarily since his move back up from Florida, and is now working at Lehigh Valley Hospital). We spent a lot of time talking about the past, where we have been and where we are now, and how it's sad that some people are just living in the past, unhappy with where they are; they have lived out the curse placed on us in school that "these are the best days of our lives, it's all down hill from here". We counted ourselves lucky to have such good lives currently.

We arrived almost on time, with a group of ten. Jason K and Amanda met us in Denver because they were a bit behind. We left the cars at the beginning of the Conestoga Trail on Pumping Station Road and then shuttled in Lyz and Jason Itell's cars out to Denver. We had to take some nice back roads, and came to a detour spot where a bridge was out. It looked like the detour was through someone's driveway, and so we headed toward the bridge to figure it out. A police officer pulled up, and he looked friendly with a covered bridge on the side of the car. I liked it already.He told us where to go and how to get into the town of Denver. I told him I loved how they had a covered bridge on the car, and he smiled and laughed. As we pulled away from him, he bid us farewell by saying "Be happy!". I was blown away at the sound of someone saying the exact phrase I have said to people countless times, and it was coming from a man of the law. I liked Denver from the first impression. I didn't expect to like it, because I thought it had a rather dumb name. The town was originally called Union Station, but the towns people didn't want to be named after a railroad station, so they changed it to Denver? Why? Because some guy looked into names for a town and there was only one other town with a post office that read "Denver". Stupid. It's the most non-heritage named town I can think of.

A short detour took us into town. We found parking on the main street, and were able to walk on down to the Turkey Hill store on the corner for some snacks. I had forgotten to bring my medication, but it was still earlier than I usually take it anyway, but for some reason my hands were shaking uncontrollably. I felt weird. I'd had pop tarts before leaving Hackettstown, and then I'd had a protein bar on the drive, as well as some green tea. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I bought two candy bars thinking it was low blood sugar and scarfed them down before we started walking, but it wasn't helping at all.

We started walking on the railroad tracks from next to the Turkey Hill north out of town. It was already brutally hot this early in the morning. Derek commented how this reminded him of the first hike, walking on the tracks. It did seem similar to Portland PA in this area. We continued north across a  road and then along the shore of the Little Cocalico Creek, a tributary to the larger stream I had followed south of this area.

We continued on the tracks until we reached Miller Road, where the Horse-Shoe Trail crossed. We'd follow the trail all the way to the end from here.

I still wasn't feeling better. The candy bars should have kicked in faster, so I tried some of Lyz's wine and it seemed to work very fast. The shaking stopped completely within a half hour. I just had to watch it because I can't have so much of that stuff on doxycyclene.

The road was wide open and far too exposed to the sun. It was so hot and humid. The trail followed Miller out to Ridge Road and across on Horseshoe Trail Road. We followed it up hill into the beginning of the Furnace Hills. It was brutal.The trail eventually turned off of the road and into the woods to the left, then headed down hill some more.The trail took us out to Horseshoe Trail Road and cut off a corner in that road. The trail then followed the road to the intersection with Swamp Bridge Road and turned left. We followed this across the Cocalico Creek, where I promptly jumped in the water to cool off. I also wet hats for the other hikers.It felt great, and I was now in much better shape to begin the up hill to the right on Greenville Road. The trail soon turned left off of that onto a gravel driveway, then headed into the woods to the right. I love how trails do these weird things like this. The trail needed some cutting back, as there were a lot of thorns hitting us, but it was okay.

This section took us out at the end of a cul de sac, and followed that road out to Wollup's Hill Road. It then cut straight across on another driveway with two sections. It went to the right, then off into more woods. It was an interesting route as it took us across Mountain Road I think, and Cocalico Road. It led along driveways, and came out along the edges of yards. There were a lot of "no trespassing" signs, but the trail passed through. We made our way out to an open area, through a cleared trail, then right out next to someone's house and along their driveway. We then ended up going through a nicely cleared section out to another private road.I thought this section was really interesting. We walked along one section that went right across someone's back yard while he was mowing his lawn. He was a bigger bearded man who looked like my college English professor, Dr. Garner, wiping his brow and not even looking up once to see ten hikers come across the bottom of his yard.

We entered the woods and passed this weird cylinder shaped thing with fencing around it, made to spin on a stick like a rotisserie. We couldn't figure out what it was, but either Kumpas or Derek joked that it was hillbillby bingo. It actually looked like it had a cage on it.The trail eventually took us out on Netzley Drive atop the Furnace Hills, and we had more than a two mile road walk ahead, which was brutal. Netzley wasn't so bad, but when we got to the right turn on Girl Scout Road it was up hill, then left we had to go more up hill on Furnace Hill Road.We eventually got to where the trail turned off to the right into State Game Lands. We were relieved that we would be crossing the Middle Creek in less than a mile, and so we took a long break which everyone needed. We were all sweating like crazy. This was hard work.We continued on a good dirt trail heading down into the state game lands, and when I got to the Millstone Trail I turned right to check out a nearby viewpoint. Lyz soon followed. There was some sort of beetle bugs eating a dead animal at a trail intersection, and the trail led on to an overlook. There was a bench made of a rolling log atop three other logs. I had to stand on top to see the view, but it was nice.

We continued back to the Horse-Shoe Trail and headed down hill to reach Millstone Road. There was supposedly a famous mill stone left up on the trail, but we didn't see it. Back in time mill stones were cut from the rock on top of these hills and hauled to the mills, and one was left.Near the dam of Middle Creek Reservoir, where Kleinfeltersville Road intersection Mill Stone Road, I found the group. No one went in the water because it was so brown and mucky looking. It was a big disappointment. I actually got in and cooled off a bit. Jason used a filter and treated water coming to the creek from a spring for those running low.It was going to be even more brutal up ahead. The steepest climb of the hike was ahead of us as the Horse Shoe Trail ascended Black Oak Ridge, part of the Furnace Hills. We moved on, and indeed the climb was gradual but long.We took a few breaks on the way up. At the top the trail crossed a power line with limited views. There was also a side trail I checked out to another view. Joe was filling somewhat sick, and he got better but opted still to take a side trail down to Middle Creek Visitors Center. In retrospect I should maybe have started the hike in this preserve with other trails looping around rather than try the entire Horse-Shoe Trail section. There seems to be a lot to see at this site. I'll have to do it in the future.

Michele cut out with Joe, and the eight of us remaining continued on the trail, which at this point was a wide woods road. After the turn off they took, it became a wider, more open woods road as it ascended to the highest point on the Black Oak Ridge. It then became more shaded as it continued, and soon turned off on a foot path. There was a side trail that also had yellow blazes which was confusing because we thought the trail had been re-routed.We were treated to a very nice dip spot when we descended to Segloch Run, at Segloch Road, a gravel road. There was a nice deep hole near the bridge, with cold water. Most everyone got in. The water was so freezing it was enough to keep us somewhat cooled down for nearly an hour after getting out.There were a few people there when we arrived, but they left. We weren't going to let anything stop us from getting in that water at this point.After the dip, we continued on the trail which was a good foot path heading up hill. It then hid woods roads and continued to the left. It was unfortunately pretty wide open yet again, and the game commission appeared to have widened many of these roads substantially making it difficult to see blazes. We circled Cannon Hill, where a prominent nineteenth century resident had a cannon that fired when he welcomed guests. We eventually turned off on another good foot path to descend to Furnace Brook. The trail paralleled it for a bit which was very nice. I took another dip in it at a deeper spot. I think someone else did too but I forget. From there, the trail paralleled Rt 501 a bit into the meadows, then it turned right on Fox Road. The trail guide was different than what was actually on the ground here. We soon turned left on Lake Drive. There were "no trespassing" signs everywhere, but the yellow Horse-Shoe Trail blazes continued through as we passed Spring Lake on the left. I saw painted out blazes from where the trail had been re-routed, but we continued on the gravel road through a small community. We said hello to a lady in her yard, and she replied, but didn't look too pleased to see people walking by. The road had a couple of turns, and there was a tarp blocking one of the blazes. We found it and continued out to Rt 501. The trail crossed here at a restaurant known as The Pretzel Hut. We needed food and drink badly, so we stopped.I had a great cheeseburger and Lyz bought me an ice cream sandwich. This was a great stop. Jason had an awesome pile of chicken, rice, and vegetable stir fry which he let me try. This was a great relaxing time.Soon, my old buddy RJ/Anders Morholt showed up. He was having his thirtieth birthday celebration in the Furnace Hills at a friends place he refers to as "The Land". He had been inviting me up there for some time, but I never got around to attending. This time, i saw where it was...when I saw "Pumping Station Road", I thought to myself "...it can't be". I looked it up, and sure enough, he was at a place I had become very familiar with from backpacking. I quickly arranged this hike to pass through there so I could visit my old friend.RJ had been having ankle problems from an injury years before, and so couldn't join us, but he was good enough to help us out and pick up Joe and Michele, which gave us the time at the end of the hike so we could visit his encampment.Nilam also cut out with RJ, and the eight of us remaining followed the blazes, which took us up hill behind the Pretzel Hut, which surprisingly was a petting zoo for farm animals. There were many chickens and rabbits, and goats. It was a neat little spot. The trail then took us into the woods and began climbing the Furnace Hills once more.The trails in this section were very nice. Easy to follow and cut wider than most anything we had been on all day. It felt more like a regular hiking trail. A lot of it was sandy. There were many side trails which connected. This was all a boy scout reservation. I knew we would have to come back to explore the other trails.The top of this section was an overlook known as Eagle Rock with a very nice view to the north. We stopped here for a bit before continuing on along the hills. This section was like a rocky ridge crest.The trail began to descend it seemed from here. We continued on as it took us down hill through the reservation and eventually to the Hammer Creek. The creek was named for the giant hammer used in the furnace of Peter Grubb used during the American Revolution, who's sound was said to be heard in towns far away. It was cool for me to be back along this creek, which I had hiked all the way from where we were parked to it's confluence with the Cocalico Creek about a year before.There was a nice swimming hole at the ruins of the old dam, all that was left of the Pumping Station for which the nearby road takes it's name. I stopped for a dip at a shallower part of the creek one last time before returning to the cars. Joe was waiting on Rt 322 bridge for us when we emerged on the trail, and walked with us back along Pumping Station Road to the parking lot.This was the longest single section of the Horseshoe Trail of the five day hikes I had yet to complete. I was glad to have finished this piece. The others will certainly be easier, and only a couple would be suitable for Summer hikes.

Joe took Michele, Jason and Amanda back to Denver with him, while the rest of us went with Derek up Pumping Station Road to RJ's encampment.His place was outstanding, with every amenity needed for a simple, enjoyable life. He had just rigged up a shower fed with rain water by gravity, which was awesome. Jason Itell and I both took showers which was great.

We hung out for a bit around the fire pit, with a few embers still cooking a bit. It was far later than we'd intended to finish. I felt like I could have stayed all night, but the others had work in the morning. I was getting spoiled with having Mondays off lately.But I had now gotten to see this amazing place. I hope to coordinate with RJ in the near future for other trips that could be focused around the site. There are so many other trails in the area, it would really be easy to connect another one. I would love to camp out there, spend an entire weekend.

I commented to my friends as we were leaving that it was amazing on this, the most brutally hot and humid hiking day we had had all year so far, that we still managed to make a good time of it. The jokes, laughing and funny noises kept going all day despite the weather trying to bring us down. Physically, it was a heavy day, but mentally the mood was very light. During the drive back to Denver, Derek maneuvered around the tight corners as he always has, with the finesse of a Euro cross country racer, and we all laughed about ridicules things. For about a mile straight there was the reek of pot smoke in the area around one particular farm. I don't think any of us had ever smelled such a powerful waft of the stuff for such a long stretch of road. We were all giggling in the car about whatever, I don't remember what it was, but we passed a cop on the way through one of the villages. Thankfully we weren't pulled over, because it would have looked bad having a Hyundai full of giggling people in a car that still smelled of pot from driving through these stinky fields. We soon drove through manure filled fields which killed any smell of anything else, but the giggling continued all the way to Denver.

This was such a long day. I passed out for a bit in the car ride back with Derek and Naaron, but not for long. After that tiny nap I was feeling energized, but really stiff.The stiffness went away pretty quick after getting up and walking a bit. It was a day I didn't want to be over by the end of the hike. It began to cool off, and there was a full moon. The final stretch of the trail had been so incredibly pleasant. It was such a different kind of hike than the one we had done the week before. A totally different experience. It was exactly what I wanted, save for the sweaty exhaustion stuff.I went over to the quick check and ordered myself a custom made sub, and felt really relaxed. I then travelled home and stayed up until after 3 am. I actually posted all of the pictures from the hike before going to bed, something I never do that late.The lessons I learned from this hike are:1. Summer hikes need more swimming spots. One or two will not suffice.2. Circuitous hikes with more corner cutting options are smarter during times of high heat/humidity. That could have alleviated some of the problems with this hike.3. Great friends and great conversation, and of course plenty of laughing can overcome almost any hardship and turn what most anyone could define as a miserable day into something very special. I think it can only get better.Can't wait for next time.