Hike #699; Point Mountain to Washington Into Darkness

 Hike #699; Point Mountain to Washington Into Darkness Hike

5/15-5/16/13 Point Mountain/Penwell/Changewater/Washington with Brandan Jermyn, Eric Fay, Dan Lurie, and Sue Olivar

In Quick Check

Our next hike would be another night hike, trying to relive to some extent the sort of thing we did when the last Star Trek movie came out in 2009.

At that time, we hiked after the movie back to Washington from Phillipsburg and ended up doing at least 15 miles. This time, we'd begin at Point Mountain and head around a circuitous route, pass my grandfather's house, then head down to Washington where Marco Matteo who runs the Washington Theater was doing a midnight screening of the new movie, the night it came out for only $5!

This was too good to miss out on, and by doing the night hike, the next hike would be #700, which would be filmed again by Steve Rogers for Driving Jersey!

My mom dropped Brandan, Eric, and I off at Point Mountain near the bridge, which saved us from more car shuttling. We hiked the blue trail along the riverside out to Penwell, then through the fields. Someone had taken down one of my trail marker posts unfortunately. I put it near where it belongs, but didn't have the means to get it in the ground. I'll have to come back with a post hole digger. Eric and I talked about trails, about his trip on the AT, and about other trails and what they're like. He told us of how he got to stay at someone's condo at one point, and how he and a group of friends got to take a road trip from along the way. He'd had quite an adventure.

We continued out to Penwell and saw the sad pile of rubble that was all that remained of the Penwell/Rosan Barn, the finest example of Penn-German barn architecture possibly in the state. The county had recently demolished several more historic structures throughout their parks, and more are to come.

We headed down hill, and saw my friend Vance Calvin, who I used to work for, sitting on his porch with his wife MaryAnne. We stopped to chat for a bit. I have to get back in touch with him to call out Hunterdon County for the wrong they are doing by the parks.

We said goodbye and headed to the Penwell swimming hole where we saw all of the rope swings had of course been cut off. We didn't jump in, as it was still rather cold, and continued out on the abandoned road to Rt 57. We followed 57 to Old Turnpike Road, where the historic stone arch bridge had recently been repaired and re-pointed. From there, we passed the Baer farm, then turned right into the parking area for Point Mountain North. Someone had crashed into and knocked down the kiosk at the lot. Very sad.

We followed the white trail through former fields, parallel with the abandoned portion of Hermit's Lane, and on the way up hill turned left onto the blue trail on a more faint woods road. We continued on the trail up hill and around to the red trail, what I call the Stone Wall Trail, and reached the white trail once more. We followed that back down hill and to Penwell Road, crossed and continued on across the brook and up above the fields until we hit the orange blazed Ridge Trail. We continued on that up Point Mountain and out to the overlook where we were joined by Dan and Sue.

The view was probably the most hazy I'd seen it this year. There were a ton of people up there, including two girls blasting music, smoking weed and oil painting. The overlook is just too easy to get to I guess.

We all headed down across Point Mountain Road and continued on the yellow trail to the white trail leading to the Wattles farm. It was in reasonable shape, but not as wide as I kept it when I worked there.

The sun was setting beautifully when we reached the fields. It was the perfect time to be walking that section. We turned left off the trail onto Mountain Top Road and followed it to my grandfather's house, partially on the route of my very first hike from when I was three years old. My mom was still there when we arrived, and we got to have the leftover family Wednesday dinner and chat for a while.

My grandfather is always very entertaining to the groups. We headed out and followed Mountain Top Road to Hollow Road to River Road to Changewater Road. The roads weren't very busy, and it was neat walking Hollow Road in the dark with the sound of Deery Run beside us. I hadn't done that in years.

From Changewater, we were close to the old railroad, and I told everyone the history as usual. We made our way to Washburn Ave, and instead of following the clear right of way, turned to make our way down Railroad ave because it would be easier, then turned left on the former Morris and Essex division tracks into Washington over Rt 31. When we reached Broad Street we turned right into the middle of town, then continued up Belvidere Ave to Quick Check.

We got some snacks and such at Quick Check, but still had nearly an hour before the movie was supposed to start. Maybe more. I had a laugh when Dan headed out of the store and said "I'll be outside lowering property values if you want me".

We all headed back into town, then turned left on 57 to Felix's Tavern for some drinks while we waited. I saw my friend Bill Thomson inside while we were there, and we chatted a bit. Brandan chugged a couple of beers pretty quick while we were there, then we were on our way to the theater.

Marco was busy when we got there, so I didn't get to see him at first.

The movie was pretty great, but not what I expected, as it sort of rebooted a lot of themes from previous movies, but in a different way. It was done quite well though.

After the show, we made our way back to where our cars were at the Port Colden Mall. It was about 2:30 am, and I had work at 7 in the morning. I drove Dan and Sue back to their car, and headed home. I slept very well, but was just too out of it in the morning, and I think I injured my heel jumping between two rocks on Point Mountain. I couldn't even walk around the house without a limp. Thankfully I have sick days for just such occasions! It was worth it though.