Hike #700; Allamuchy to Mount Olive

 Hike #700; Allamuchy to Mount Olive

5/19/13 Allamuchy to Mt. Olive with Matt Davis, Brandan Jermyn, Gregg Hudis, Stephen Argentina, Julie Valasquez, Mark Norman, Michele Valerio, Steve Rogers, Giuseppe De Caro, Ted Wright, Ted's daughter Wright, Dan Lurie, Timothy Kovich, Sue Bickford-Martin, Ira Hays, Jaque Melo, Chris Herbig, Steve Levy, Louis C. Hochman, and Jillane Becker

The group at Rutherford Hall while Steve films

Our 700th hike was up until pretty much the last minute uncertain. I had talked about having a celebration at Crivellero's in Easton for it, and although I still want to try to do something like that, other things came up that made me change my mind for the time being.

My friend Steve Rogers, Director of the show "Driving Jersey", now being aired regularly on PBS, was working on a new episode on decay, and was going to be doing some filming at an old rail terminal in Hoboken. He wanted a contrast shooting that would involve more abandoned structures, for both this and a possible future project. We talked about it a few months in advance, and agreed to think about where would be best to shoot.

I determined that Allamuchy would be best for everyone across the board. I could help showcase some of the great revitalization stuff going on in Warren County, while at the same time show the decay of the outer areas for which not enough funding will be available. The area also fits in with promoting my Warren Highlands Trail efforts, as part of the route we'd follow will fit in with the route of the Warren Highlands Trail from Allamuchy to Phillipsburg. I had done a hike recently on part of the route, but this time we'd do something almost entirely different.

I met the group in the morning in Mt. Olive, at the Dunkin Donuts off of Rt 46. There's not enough parking on Station Road, where the park comes out, or at least I didn't think there was (Now in retrospect it would have worked, but I didn't realize that). Matt dropped his car, which holds seven, off there, and I shuttled Steve to Waterloo where we could leave his. We then all shuttled to Rutherford Hall in Allamuchy.

The day before I talked to Amy Hufnagle who works at the site, and she agreed to come down and do a presentation on what's been going on at Rutherford Hall, and let us tour the building. It works out to be a great promotion for everyone involved.

We had a fantastic little tour of the building which everyone loved, and Steve did some filming with Amy solo while I kept everyone quietly in other rooms or outside. The Rutherford family has donated several period pieces that were originally kept in the building back, and they are now on display at the mansion.

After touring the building, we continued on Allamuchy Pond Trail, where it closely paralleled current Rt 517. Some of the trail follows the original abandoned route of the road, closer to the pond for a while. The trail is really wet and tough to pass through, so we ended up heading up to the road for a bit, then cut in to the Weirtown farm, which is also abandoned.

We checked out the abandoned buildings, mainly the old farm house at the site before moving on. Some people went the wrong way, and Matt helped to usher them back to where we all were. Once we were back together, we continued on the Allamuchy Pond Trail to the southwest end, then followed the old woods road up hill to the Deer Park section of Allamuchy Mountain State Park. We turned right here, and continued to the Birch Trail where we turned left. The trail was really nice with Mayapples and such growing. It was a gloomy day, but not raining, which only added to the effect of the abandoned structures.

From the end of the Birch Trail, we turned left and headed to the abandoned house along old Deer Park Road. It was almost completely covered in branches. On one of Sue's first hikes with me, February 26th 2006, the house was still lived in. It's hard to believe that it's only been abandoned for seven years. It was already abandoned when Jillane and I visited there on New Years Eve, 2008.

We checked out the house, which was in the worst shape I've seen it, but still standing strong. We continued from here along Deer Park Road to the unmarked narrow path beside the farm pond, and then down to the power lines and beyond. There was a guide wire in place to help people down the path next to the pond. The trail petered out, but we managed to bushwhack from that point on to the old Mattison junk yard. We had visited here on the last Allamuchy hike, but I wanted Steve to be able to see and film it. I'm hoping to use the old Mattison Lane for the Warren Highlands Trail route, to connect at Colony Road.

Mattison's junk yard as it appeared to us in February 2006. Note the house in view beyond, still occupied.

Mr. Mattison too was till living at this site in February 2006. His junk yard as it appeared to us on that hike is pictured above. We saw steam coming from the building's hot water heater as we approached, so bushwhacked the same route we came down on this hike.

Mattison's switch back road junk yard, where cars were tightly parked to where we had to walk on top of them.

Mattison's switch back road junk yard, where cars were tightly parked to where we had to walk on top of them.

I explained how on the previous visit we had to walk at times on top of the cars because they were parked so tightly on the way to the top of the driveway. Mr. Mattison was forcibly evicted by Park Police some time before 2010, after which the place deteriorated very fast. All of the cars were scrapped as I'm told, except for one or two that are still sitting. The place is still littered with an immense amount of tires as well.

We headed down hill on old Mattison Lane, then crossed Waterloo Road to another abandoned house off of Colony Road. The Colony Road development was built in the 1940s along the Musconetcong, utilizing properties following the abandonment of the Morris Canal. The canal's demise meant more riverfront real estate that was taken advantage of, and the towpath berm along the river became private access points until they were purchased for state park land. Now most of the houses are either gone or close to it.

We continued on the Highlands Trail route on Colony Road, another weird route, out to Waterloo Road again, then on to the old Lock tender's house at Lock #4. I used this opportunity to show where the Morris Canal used to come in from the causeway at Saxton Lake. This area was also called the Guinie Hollow Guard Lock, and prior to even the canal's existence there was a settlement known as "Musconetcong", but no traces of these buildings remain today.

The canal beyond was overgrown, and we followed the Highlands Trail and canal greenway as it crossed the road and followed the original route of Waterloo Road that was abandoned in the 1930s. Jillane joined us where the canal crossed Dennis Road. We continued on the canal greenway from there to near Waterloo Village, then made our way onto abandoned Waterloo Road, which was re-routed when Rt 80 was built. Along this route we passed a basketball hoop in the middle, and checked out another abandoned house. Mountain bikers have put a trail through it, with a ramp on the stairs. Oddly, we found a recently expired bottle of hershey's syrup in the bathroom.

From here, we continued through the giant pipe under Rt 80, which I've been using for hikes since 2003. We then reached Waterloo Village. We passed Steve's car so he could see the village. Mr. Jim Braun, one of the great volunteers who does a lot around the church, and whom I was just talking about, just happened to be working at the village when we arrived, weed whacking around the church grounds. It was great that we were able to catch him there and illustrate the dedication he's had at the site.

We passed some of the buildings, and I think it was clear Steve would need to come back to do some more filming. He turned back to his car, as he had to be back in Red Bank by 5 pm, and the rest of us continued through the village and out along Waterloo Road to International Drive. We crossed the Musconetcong here, then turned right on the trail that cuts into the woods, which Jillane and I had recently explored. It forms a loop with the Morris Canal, but this time we went to the right only, past the ice house which I missed, and then on to Inclined Plane #4 West. We continued beyond and explored the other abandoned house on the former route of Waterloo Valley Road from before Rt 80.

Now, a trail was cleared, but not marked away from the road and down below the house. it passed beneath Rt 80 on the south side, then made it's way back up to the abandoned Waterloo Valley Road. I was surprised to see yet another giant pipe under 80 on that side. I'll have to go back to explore.

We followed old Waterloo Valley Road up to the current alignment of it, and Jillane turned to go back to her car on Dennis Road. The rest of us headed up to the abandoned former westbound right of way of the Morris and Essex Division of the Lackawanna Railroad, and turned left for a bit. We then climbed up and across the active former eastbound track, now NJ Transit, and continued up hill on old woods roads climbing up hill on what I guess is part of Mt. Olive. The woods roads seemed to go all over the place, and I watched my GPS with surprise as we ended up closer and further away from out destination, near the 95 Mile Tree Fire Tower. We eventually hit an old woods road that took us very near to it, and we bushwhacked the final leg to the hill on which the tower sits. Brandan and I got there first, and climbed the tower. The view wasn't great, but we could see Budd Lake despite the drizzly cloudiness.

We took a break while everyone checked out the view, then made our way down the green blazed trail, partially along the power lines back to the Station Road parking lot. Matt shuttled some drivers back to the Dunkin Donuts, and some of us went out to dinner at Budd Lake Diner.

I didn't say much on the hike about this being the 700th hike. There's been too much drama within the group, and too much of a diversion from the light, fun thing it's supposed to be. I wanted the focus not to be on a "celebratory hike", and have some mess of people chugging champagne, or feeling like we have to live up to something. We were going to be filmed, so I wanted it to be natural. The focus needed to be living in the moment and having a truly good time like we always do.

I think we absolutely accomplished what I wanted. I didn't feel like anyone acted unnaturally, and even when there was no camera the hike continued much in the same fashion the rest of it did. Just a really fun, nice time.

Metrotrails is a lot of things; we can't quite put a definitive tag on it. I've been telling everyone that it can be whatever you want it to be, and that we can choose our roles and how we all fit in, in the same way that everyone gets what they personally get from the hikes. "Take what you need and leave the rest".

In some ways, Metrotrails is the same entity it was when I started the hikes: a group of friends having fun, being silly, walking, talking, exploring...and we somehow manage with my hikes to walk the fine line between being a bunch of lunatics and being a serious hiking group as it has always been.

Of course, it has grown into a resource website, and being a sort of government correspondent to trail systems through my work, and a conduit through which I can get trail work done with official agreements.

Apart from all of these things, the constant is that my vision with this group is that the world keeps getting larger. Each hike is connecting with a previous hike, and my appreciation for these places continues to build as a result. Those who have been hiking with me for a long time now will understand how the world seems more tangible, knowing they have walked between far away points; as they drive and see a mountain from afar, they know what the highway looks like from the top.

Just as we connect points on maps, we connect as people. With every week, we meet newcomers and our worlds grow and become more tangible in different ways. We can see a point on a map that we previously had never visited, and now say "I have a friend there". Even better, some of us can say "I know how to walk to my friend's home town from here".

I do the best I can to nurture all of these connections. Just as I try to protect and promote the trail systems I hike or build, I try to foster the friendships the hikes have spawned. Unfortunately, some thorns must be cut lest they end up in your side. If problems are allowed to grow, they may overtake us like invasive barberries closing in on a beloved trail, and our world grows smaller.

I accept that some things are out of my control, both environmentally and personally. I can only do what I feel is right. My world continues to grow beautifully, but I can't help looking back wondering if I took the best route.

Metrotrails will continue to grow. There may be some stumbling on the way, but nothing can outweigh the positive experiences we've built so far.

“Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road.
Healthy, free, the world before me.
The long brown path before me leading me wherever I choose.
Henceforth, I ask not good fortune, I myself am good fortune.
Henceforth, I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing.”

-Walt Whitman; Song of the Open Road.