Hike #728; Hackettstown Area Loop

 Hike #728; Hackettstown Area Loop

10/4/13 Hackettstown Area Loop with Brandan Jermyn, Steve Levy, Daniel Stone, and Carol Van Giezen

Along Patriot's Path/Highlands Trail on Schooleys Mountain

It was time again for another night hike. I always miss doing them when I don't, and so I posted this one. Brandan and Steve are almost always good to go on these, and Dan could of course handle it because his first one with us was a night hike, as was Carol's.

Steve, Brandan, and I met in Mansfield near the Clearview Cinemas movie theater, and Dan soon caught up, having parked at one mini mall too far. Brandan and I went and bought some drinks at Bottle King before starting off on our way.

We headed up Newburg Road, then right on Schooleys Mountain Road to Cataract Park. We headed up hill on the blue Cataract Trail, then turned right on the Mine Trail and visited the iron mine we had so many times in the past. I used to know the name of it, but I've forgotten currently.

We headed back down to the Cataract Trail and checked out the falls. I posted a status on Facebook about doing a hike here, and Carol saw it and contacted me that she was coming. There wouldn't be a place to meet for some time when she'd arrive, so she's have to wait a couple of hours for us to get to somewhere like that.

From the falls, we climbed up past the split rock with water running through it, then followed the old Cataract Trail that used to come from Heath Village. The village closed the trail and all blazes were painted out. The trail was built by Bob Moss's( builder of much of the Highlands trail) father, a resident of Heath Village. It's sad to see it in such disrepair. We turned right off of this and onto a vaguely blazed connector trail that leads to a power line, formerly the route of Patriot's Path. We followed it right, up hill to Quail Run, where the current Patriot's Path and Highlands Trail run. We turned left onto it, then left on Winay Terrace, and right on Sparrow where the trails re-enter the woods. We continued down this section of trail, which I'd been following for years, to the newer section down to the former route of Mission Road. We passed the old lime kiln and walked the section built by Jillane's girl scout troop out to the corner of present day Mission Road, Reservoir Road and Spring Road, and turned left on Reservoir. We soon picked up the new Patriot's Path route down hill through the woods, which took us out into the development by Pegasus Place. We followed this to Candour Court to Heron Drive out to cross Rt 46. Carol met us at the Target, just after dark, and gave us all glow sticks to wear.

We continued to East Avenue by way of the abandoned roadway that connects it from Target, and then followed the trail route up to abandoned Mine Hill Road. We followed this to the Highlands Trail and Patriot's Path, which took us over the hill and down into Stephens State Park. We continued from there to I think Willow Grove Street and walked into Hackettstown.

I believe we continued from there on past the hospital to Seber Drive, and picked up the paved pathways from there. It was super dark, but we made our way through on the paths to Sand Bar Park. I had done the one closer to the water, but this one section was new to me.

When we got out in the open, we headed close to the Musconetcong, and continued along the water. As we walked through the Alumni Field area, a vehicle was driving through the park nearby. We ran off, down next to the Musconetcong and onto informal paths in what used to be the Gruendyke Dam slack water area before it was removed a few years back. We had to quickly hide the illuminating light of our glow sticks within our shirts and such as not to be seen. We laid low out there for a bit, maybe 15 minutes, then I headed back up to see if there was anyone around. When there wasn't, I had everyone follow me back up the hill and along the park paths making a bee line for the exit. We soon reached Rt 46, the main street, and followed it through town.

When we got to the North Hackettstown area, we headed onto the Florence Kuipers Park section of the Morris Canal and followed it west for a while, to old Cuff Lane. We came down Cuff Lane, then got on the railroad tracks, and followed them to Allen Road, where rather than going through the underpass, we turned into the apartment complex lanes and followed the parallel pathways to return to the movie theater.

Thinking back on this hike now, I find it hard to believe all this was one night. We certainly covered more the 15 miles I think, and recounting the events in my head just doesn't seem like we could have done all that. With all of the memories that I'm making every week, for whatever reason, this night didn't stand out until I started thinking about it.

This hike makes me realize how true it is that some things really never change. We're not just taking a hike in the woods, we create an adventure, complete with glow sticks and drinks, and and a little bit of risk. We were in the weeds, hiding from potential authority figures who might tell us not to be there after dark, but we managed to elude them like we had a decade ago and more. And we weren't causing any trouble, just having silly fun at no one's expense, the way we always have and hopefully always will.