Hike #658; North Warren Highlands: Manunka Chunk to Townsbury
10/21/12 North Warren Highlands; Manunka Chunk area to Townsbury with Jason Kumpas, Amanda Murphy, Frank Meloi, Jack Lowry, Michele Valerio, Jaque Melo, Tim Kovich, Teun Ott, and John Spiridon
The group at Four Sisters Winery
Our next hike would be another point to point, this time another very close to my home in Townsbury NJ. Jason and Amanda had been wanting me to do a hike that passed by Four Sisters Winery, something I had not done since the two times I did it in 2002. I put together two of the hikes I'd done back then, and made it into one interesting route that would end right in front of my home on the Lehigh and Hudson River rail trail.
We shuttled from Pequest Road to the A&P north of Belvidere to begin the hike. We got some snacks and such inside first. I couldn't resist but eat my wrap I'd picked up within the first mile.We made our way along Rt 46, and I showed everyone the original road alignment before the 1955 abandonment of the Belvidere and Delaware Railroad in this area (called the Bel Del). We then climbed the ATV path up to the Bel Del rail bed and followed it north on the shelf parallel with Rt 46.When we got to the Manunka Chunk Tunnel, the former junction site where the Bel Del joined the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, we found three guys talking there. One guy had a camera and hip waders on. I got to talking with them, and two of the guys had bought our Warren Railroad book, that Matt Davis and I had put together. They told me the only thing they couldn't find was the old flume system that carried water away from the tunnel on the south side, so I directed them to it. The photographer had friends with him that went and hid in the tunnel, thinking they'd be in trouble! They didn't come out until after I'd left, funny enough. I gave out some business cards, and maybe some of them will join us one day!I was honored to find that they were referring to the Warren RR book, so I had to call Matt right away and tell him the good news. We continued on, over the mountain this time on the ATV paths, and then to the south portal. I showed everyone the tunnel from that side, and we headed up over Catherine's Run on the plank bridge, which was now giving out, and headed into the fields above like I had the previous March. This time, we continued through the fields to the left. It took us up to another field, but it was really tough to fight through this time.We didn't follow the full perimeter as we had planned, but it was alright. We made our way to a clearing along the fields, then down and across a small stream. There was a fire pit built in the middle of the stream, probably from when the water was really low. We turned to the south and came out on the farm lane on the corner of Upper Sarepta Road, atop Mutton Hill with a fantastic view out over the countryside, into the valley of Beaver Brook.We headed down to Mutton Hill Road and followed it, past an old slate quarried area, and then down to Sarepta Road. We turned left and crossed the lovely stone bridge over Beaver Brook, with the ruins of the old mill just down stream within sight. We took a break here, and I jumped in the stream. It wasn't all that cold. The underside of the bridge was covered with concrete for protection. Frank also came down to take some pictures. He was really into it, and commented that he couldn't believe it'd taken him this long to make it out on a hike.Once on the other side, we headed up the road to Rt 519 and turned left. It wasn't far to Four Sisters Winery. John S. turned back here toward his car. The rest of us took the winery tour, and were shown how it was barreled up, where the grapes were picked, etc. It was cool to hear all of their grapes were from the premises, as well as apples, but some other fruits were brought in. Regardless, all the wines were made on site.I tasted every wine they had available, which were quite good, but I was surprised by the taste of the raspberry wine. When eating a wild raspberry, the taste often leaves a feeling in the jaw that is rather unique, but it's usually lost I found when I've had wines with it. This time it wasn't, and so that's what I had.We left the winery, and then followed 519 north shortly to a state easement up to Jenny Jump Mountain. I'd walked through here before, but the fields were now terribly overgrown to the point it was extremely difficult to walk through. It took some time to navigate the field and enter the woods on an old woods road, that I'd used twice in 2002. I found it again, just as before, but it was tough. Once in the woods, the old road was easy to walk, with only a few blow downs to get around. We followed it to the new Jenny Jump Trail, part of the Warren Highlands Trail, and then turned left. We continued on that to a right turn on an old woods road that was the old Mountain lake Trail, and followed it down hill to the right, joined the new blue mountain lake trail, and reached the parking area. We stopped to refill water at the lovely spring house, then turned left along the lake on the road. A piece of Jenny Jump State Park now fronted the water line, which was quite nice. We walked over for a great view of the lake.We continued on the roads around the lake out to Parke Road, and turned right up hill slightly. Google Maps showed public land off to left of the road, and so even though it wasn't signed, we headed into it up hill. On the way we passed a hunter in a blind, but he said nothing. He was probably pretty mad, but I think he didn't say anything because he's not supposed to be rifle hunting on Sundays.It was a long off trail walk up the hill, and then slightly up and down through a saddle in the slight ridge, and further up High Rock Mountain. We hit a vague ATV trail on the way which led us the remaining distance to the rock itself, which was outstanding as always. We took a long break here to admire the view.To get down, we followed the ATV trail for a bit, but then went off trail making our way out to Free Union Road, at an obscure parking area for High Rocks Preserve of NJ Natural Lands Trust. We followed Free Union Road to the right, although my original plan was to go left and head into the Danville Mountain piece.
I knew it was getting too late, and an equal distance road and rail bed walk was smarter. We followed Free Union Road down to Rt 46 and turned left to Pequest Furnace site and then followed the abandoned Lehigh and Hudson River Railroad bed (1886-1986) back to Townsbury, finishing just after dark, a nice easy way to finish off the hike.Rather than get into cars, most of us walked across the Pequest bridge up to the Villa Venice Restorante & Gormet Pizza.Since I live so close to their, we had recently tried all the area pizzas, and even by my landlord's recommendation they are the best one in the area. I found this to be true, and so we had some dinner there.We had a very nice time and some great food, and got discounted so it was even better. For those interested in going, they have some superb specials that I highly recommend.We walked on back to the cars after dinner to close out another happy day.
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