Hike #685; Central North Hunterdon Loop

 Hike #685; Central North Hunterdon Loop

3/1/13 Spruce Run/Tower Hill/Hampton Loop with Carol Van Giezen, Frank Meloi, Laura Danforth, and Carla ?

The group on the CNJ tracks near Hampton

Our next hike would be another night trip looping from Spruce Run. I arranged for another one I hadn't yet put together for one of the night hikes, but it didn't really cover anything I hadn't done before. Still, it was a good route to do for a night hike.

A good amount of interest earlier in the week seemed to dwindle to no one but Carol the day of the posted event. Frank was going to show up a little late. Then, during work I got a call from Laura, saying she was coming from "a ways", asking if the hike was still on. I told  her it was, and she was on her way. Also, Carla, who originally backed out because another woman who was going to do an early out with her, called me about attending.

It turned out, Laura drove all the way from Nassau on Long Island. That's quite a trip for a night hike! I got a very nice compliment though, regarding why she chose my hike over others. She cited that I wasn't too  pushy with "gear", like boots and such, but also was doing something more substantial in terms of distance.

Carla was also very interesting, with a strong background in historic preservation. She knew a lot of people I'd been involved with including Mike Margulies who does a lot of work in Warren County.

We started by following the shore of the reservoir, which was still a little low from the drought, but fast coming up, on to the Highlands Trail. We skipped the Union Furnace Nature Preserve section because it would add a lot of time.

We turned onto the trail from the second Van Syckles parking lot, and followed it through Spruce Run out past the office, then through Clinton WMA.

Glenn Oleksak, the Supervisor of the HT must have been out recently, because so many of the trail blazes looked very new, and some were added. The trail was a bit muddy, but it was alright. When we reached the final leg parallel with Van Syckles, heading down to the old former Van Syckles Tavern, there was a smoke cloud on the horizon. I wondered if someone might have torched the old Hoffman House, which was scheduled to be demolished. Hunterdon's lack of foresight is causing them to tear down countless historic buildings, much to my dismay, and it was the topic of long discussion.

We took the road walk section of the Highlands Trail from there up to Tower Hill where we met Frank. The road walk sort of sucked, but it was okay. It was starting to get dark around this time. We hiked the east side of Tower Hill, to where the viewpoint is at the power line, but we couldn't see much. It also flurried a bit, when they really weren't calling for any precipitation.

We followed Mine Road to Iron Bridge Road steeply down hill, and Frank talked about how crazy the railroad overpass was along it. Indeed, it is a steep grade and a sudden turn and bump at the bridge. It looks as though a car would bottom out if driven over it.

We descended from the bridge and to the former Central Railroad of NJ tracks, now pretty much unused, though it looked like some new ballast may have been added. This section of it had a lot of houses along it, used somewhat as a driveway. We followed it from here into the dark shelved area on the north side of Musconetcong Mountain with the lights of the buildings across the valley in Washington Township were visible.

As we walked, an ATV passed  us with it's lights, and we for a moment thought it might have been a train. It was a little freaky. We then entered Hampton and passed over the main street, and under Rt 31 and the new highway bridge that was being constructed. The old one was crumbling really bad, so the new one was put next to it. The tracks were covered in a strange board type of thing for some reason, maybe to keep the concrete off of them.

Carla really needed a break by the time we got to Glen Gardner, and Frank told me he heard something sounding like kids screaming behind them, which was sort of unnerving, so when we reached Bell's Crossing, we turned down hill into Glen Gardner (This spot was historically called Clarksville on some maps, though I don't know when the last train was).

In Glen Gardner, we stopped at the Glen Gardner Inn, a fancy bar that occupies an historic stage coach stop. I really like places like this (we stopped at the Century Hotel on the previous night hike). Frank bought me a beer, I forget what kind, but it was very good, and strong as I recall. I was glad we had three more miles to burn it off!

It was good to relax a bit, and Frank is always good for conversations as well as a laugh. This time, he told all of us about his family history, and how he is descended from nobility in Spain several generations back. The way he told the story was very captivating and well spoken. We definitely had a good break.

Carla didn't feel well enough to go on at that point due in part to a bad knee condition. She did very well for the majority of the hike, but didn't want to mess it up more, so Laura picked her up at the end (and I forgot my backpack so I had to go back too, though there were no more drinks for me!).

This hike was definitely justification that the interest in my hikes is continuing to grow. Another night hike brought in two newcomers again. Even when the group was very tight knit, with more common regulars, I never had so many interested in doing the night hikes in addition to the day ones. The groups that have been assembling spawn newcomers who are fast becoming regulars, and the group will very likely be stronger than ever in the coming year.