Hike #750; Gibbstown to Red Bank Battlefield
1/26/14 Gibbstown to Red Bank Battlefield/National Park NJ with Brandan Jermyn, Lyz Hagenbuch, Ric Giantisco, Jennifer Berndt, Tom Vorrius, Michael "Lerch" Clark, Christian Alexander, Stephen Argentina, Ed DiSalvo, Gregg Hudis, Anne ?, ?, Nat Ismaeil, Lindsay Haber, and Serious Sean Dougherty.
The group at Red Bank Battlefield
Our next hike would be another in the series to hike the entire perimeter of NJ. Like so many others, this one not only allowed me to complete another section, it made me realize there is still so much more to do.
I've been working to scale off each hike knowing that I grow closer and closer to hiking the entire perimeter of the state, but then we cover a section that shows me just how much more there is to do, and how much more of the perimeter I actually can follow. Prior to this hike, I thought I might have 27 more hikes in order to complete the entire perimeter, but that just went back up to about thirty. It now seems more realistic that I'll complete the perimeter in early 2016 rather than the projected 2015.
I'm fine with it taking longer to do, but I also wonder: what if something happened to me between now and then. Would it be better to just do this first? But then there are so many other things I want to see equally as much. The fear of my own mortality becomes my enemy again. Although I don't feel older, and it doesn't seem like I'll be slowing down any time soon, anything can happen between now and then.
I met the group at Red Bank Battlefield Park again, but this time it was closed off where we met last time, due to the snow cover. We were fortunately able to park right in front of that location at a ball field along the same road. I had a good number of people signed up, but of course a good third of them did not show up. I do have to give credit to Serious Sean though, who did manage to meet up with us late and in an entertaining fashion.
We shuttled in as few cars as possible to the south to begin the hike in Gibbstown. It's always a little more odd for me doing it this way. I like to work away from where I last left off with these things, rather than plop down in some place that I'm not at all familiar with. Everything seems so disconnected and all when I do it this way, and it gets put into perspective for me later. My perception is effected strangely.
I had no idea what to expect of Gibbstown except what aerial imagery had told me. I found a ball field that I'd intended to be our starting point, but with the snow cover just about anything could have happened. We found a spot to park along a chain link fence that was on the north side of the ball field I'd thought we'd use, then we headed south through the fields. We had two newcomers this time, and they both were up for the challenge and had the right attitude for it. The snow was deep in the fields, and I was getting over a bad illness that was really a drag. I wasn't even looking forward to the hike that much going into it.
After the previous hike, I'd gotten a cough that Brandan had had, and two of my co workers were out sick for at least a week each. I never seem to catch illness, but when I went to work on Tuesday, I was coughing badly and had a pounding headache. I was also very dizzy. I did my normal routine, and checked the chlorine level, PH, and other regular water system tests that must happen at Spruce Run Recreation Area, then headed to Bloomsbury in a dump truck to get salt for the big snow storm that was just starting. While driving, it I was getting dizzier and controlling the vehicle became harder and harder. I was stressed already from all too much stuff going on, from my credit card number being stolen on line, other money issues, the death of my Aunt Flo, bad back pain that had been plaguing me for days, and car trouble. To make it worse, during times of snow I could not park on street near my house. I considered taking a sick day and going home while driving back with my load of salt, so I called my mom and asked if I could store my car at her house.
After getting back to Spruce Run, I'd sort of decided that I'd tough it out, but my cough was getting worse, and the constant tickle in my throat was deep and could not be relieved (because the cilia in the upper part of my lungs are the most permanently effected, it's possible that I am now more susceptible to viral infections to my lungs than before).
The guys I work with are mostly wonderful people, and while they of course didn't want to be sick, they do care about me and told me I should really go home and rest this off. I was relieved they suggested it, because I was worried that I was needed. I sort of feel bad because I might have been needed for snow removal. I went to my mom's and rested a bit, then my brother Bobo drove me to my house. Usually, I'd go right on the computer or try to get something done of sedentary nature, but not this time. I was in too bad shape to do anything. I went to bed. I got up later for a little bit, but then went back to bed and stayed there for 17 hours straight, the longest I'd done so since being hospitalized for a week in 2010.
The next day, I felt even worse. I never take medication, but I agreed to take two Tylenol to get me through the night at Jillane's suggestion. I had insane dreams about my bed, the house, and my body rotting away into the ground, and another about a giant arched structure being erected over the house and myself. I even had a dream about the rock star Prince e mailing me about the dangers of taking Tylenol. I woke up feeling slightly amused but even worse than the day before, and so called out of work. There was snow everywhere, and my car was now far away. I managed to get dressed and stumble across the street to the Quick Mart for soup and a snack. The night before, Jillane stayed up and made some homemade soup which also was great. I felt slightly better by night, but that was short lived. I felt just like the fire that nearly took my life was haunting me again, and I was suffering from the same kind of caugh, with the deep numb itch in the lungs that wouldn't go away, and all night long I alternated between sweating profusely and feeling freezing cold as if I were still on the dreaded methylprednisilone. I called out another day from work.
After a little while I started to feel better, called work and told them I thought I'd come in the next day. When Friday came, I was still in bad shape, having sweated again through the night. I got up for work, but knew I had to call out once more. It was on Friday I started to improve. Saturday I was okay, and did a short hike with Samsara Chiropractic and my friend Dr. Jenn Redmond, which went fine.
Still, I wasn't feeling totally up to Sunday yet, and the route didn't excite me a whole lot. Looking at the route on aerial images, it looked far inferior to the previous one from Philly/Camden to Red Bank Battlefield, and mostly all road. I could not have been more wrong. The right people were there to take advantage of the little things that made this hike epic.
But when we started off, trudging through the deeper snow at the ball field did not have me excited in the least bit. We followed some side streets parallel with the railroad tracks through town, and then along Rt 44. I tried to appreciate the little nuances of the town; the water tower that bore it's name, the weird shaped home that stood apart from what I normally see. I still wasn't into it.
We made a left turn on Billingsport Road. This took us up and over a bridge over tracks and in view of tank farms. I was unimpressed with it, and we just moved on. It was cold out, but getting a bit warmer. Movement helped a lot. I even wore a hat this time because I was afraid of a resurgence of the plague I'd had all week. Lerch was getting pretty hot and had to stop to remove some layers.
After passing some tank farms, we turned left onto Delaware Street to Clonmell Road. Off to the left of the intersection was Fort Billings Park. I was unaware of any significance of this site at this time. We walked on into the park, and everyone hurried onto the swing sets. I decided I needed to step it up to enjoy the day, so I slid down the sliding board, and moved much quicker than I thought I would to the bottom. I was covered in some snow, but the rush felt a little better. I followed Ric and Brandan across one of the kids play area things, which had an interesting shaky section of standing red things we'd not seen on playgrounds before. It was pretty cool. Everyone's enthusiasm was contagious. What really caught me was the view toward the waterfront. I continued to that and soon all followed.
I could see well across the river, with Philadelphia and some bridges in view, some docks, and the Philadelphia Airport with jets taking off and landing just across from us. I learned from an historic marker here that this was the site of Fort Billingsport. The fort fell to the British, having not been completed, just before the Battle of Red Bank in 1777, but apparently helped to hold them off. Another very significant point, which I find absolutely interesting, is that this little piece of land where we were playing around, on July 5th 1776 was the very first piece of land purchased by the new United States Government.
A map of the site can be seen here:
We continued from here to turn left on Ferry Road, then right on Riverview Ave, right on Benners Ave, and left on Billingsport Road to Riverview Ave, in the town of Billingsport. We couldn't go far parallel with the Delaware before turning south, on Mantua Ave. I kick myself now for missing the look at the Tinicum Rear Range Lighthouse which was just off to the right. An interesting style light house, I'd only seen pictures and was too busy looking for a turn to catch it.
Mantua Ave became Commerce Street into the town of Paulsboro, which we followed to Rt 44 and turned left. There was a nice old stone house on the road here, and I found it amazing that there was absolutely no historic marker on this place which obviously dated to at least the early 1800s. We soon passed beneath an interesting lift bridge function, across the main channel of the Mantua Creek. Once on the other side, Lerch spotted an abandoned building off the road to the left. We of course had to check it out. The hike continued to get better.
An informal path took us through the woods to the old brick structure which we could not place a use on. Just beyond this first one was a second, more dilapidated structure. We were able to get up into the attic of the extant structure (Stephen, Lerch, Tom, and I), and then Lerch got up on the top of the remaining structure of the second one. We had a little break here. Even I was feeling pessimistic at this time, thinking this'd probably be the last really cool thing we'd see on this trip. Again, I was wrong. Thinking back, my illness must have effected me far worse than I'd thought.
We took Rt 44 east from here, which went over a long causeway and across Little Mantua Creek and some estuaries. We reached a billboard, which Lerch, Christian, Brandan, Tom, and Lindsay all got on. Lerch managed to climb up to the top of it, which I suppose was necessary since Justin wasn't there to do it.
We continued along the road for a while longer into a village called Thorofare, and turned left on Jobstown Road. I could see no the maps that this was no longer a through road, as it led to ball fields and a development. There were no no trespassing signs along the way, and paths that went off from the near end of the road into the woods. I opted to go ahead and follow these and see what happened.
We reached a fenced in retention pond looking area, which had a gate on it. This appeared to be a deer extruder device, which we could close and open simply enough. We just wandered through, then continued through the open meadow within sight of new homes. There seemed to be no hole in the other side of the fence until we got to where a small tributary exited the enclosure. We went around this, then continued through woods up to a berm area. Once on top of it, it was easy to head north parallel with a creek below to the left called "Main Ditch". I suppose this was technically a bushwhack, but it was very easy, and a sort of path seemed to open up for us easily enough to follow.
The path eventually came out to a paved trail, which was part of the Riverwinds Community Center and golf course. I had wanted to use this as part of the hike anyway, but I was thinking it was going to be an out and back along the road. I was totally happy to have found an alternative route through woods that would mean absolutely no backtracking. Just after getting on the trail, Ric and Brandan headed down into a gully to the right where there was a giant plastic pipe. They immediately tried to push the pipe up hill. Lerch joined them to get it to the top of the hill, then climbed in and was rolled back down. Hilarity! Stephen was yelling something about being a Pheasant.
We continued on the trail for a while, until we reached the turn where the trail started heading east. We followed a path down to the Delaware River where the Main Ditch meets it there to have a look around. There was a great ice jam there at the confluence, and we all walked around on it for a while. It was really neat because we could see the level of water, and that the jam was well above that level, probably due to tides. We could safely walk it, and occasionally fall on through several feet of ice when we reached a weak spot, but without the worry of getting wet. The I 95 bridge over the outlet of the Schuykill River across from us, bright blue in color, was clearly visible, at the site of Fort Mifflin, as well as the Philadelphia Naval Yards.
We moved on from here back to the trail, then east to the community center area. We went out to another inlet that separated the community center section of the peninsula with the golf course, with some more great views. Lerch climbed a tree, and we went out on more ice jams and took in the views.
From here, we headed along a pathway that paralleled the main access road, then passed an amphitheater. Another trail led off to the left, where I started turning everyone. Just before we turned, someone was in distress. It was fortunate we arrived at this time, because a man in a wheelchair was caught on the ice and couldn't move along the path out the road. Some of the group ran to his aid and helped him on his way.
We followed the pathway from here, which led out to the golf course. There were no no trespassing signs, so we figured this must be another public path. We followed it, and it turned right through some high grasses, then out along a section of golf course. Some of the group walked out onto the golf course while most of us followed the path to a closed gate and white fence. We climbed the fence to reach Riverwinds Drive and headed south. Some stayed out on the golf course.
While we walked the road, the others started following the golf course to cut a corner directly to us. We spotted a pickup truck out on the course heading to intercept them. He ignored us, probably knowing we'd been in there. When the others still on the course made a corner to head more toward us, the guys in the truck backed up to intercept them further on. They changed their course again heading toward the wood line. I looked on from there, and they were soon coming through the fence and out to the roadway. The guys in the truck were just catching up with them on the other side of the fence as they made their way through. The guys in the truck never got a chance to talk to them! They were barely too late.
I was rather certain they'd come to try to catch us on the road, but there wouldn't be time for that either. To the left of us we reached a West Deptford Township land and a trail on the left, another happy route I was not anticipating finding. It fit in with the route perfectly. We followed the trail through open meadows and then into some woods. It leads in a loop back to the lot, but when we reached the east side, close enough to a new building that had been put in along Grove Avenue, we turned here across the meadow and then out to the building, and followed around their retention pond to the north to reach the road.
We stayed on the road out across Woodbury Creek, and it started to snow a little bit. Just after crossing the creek, there was a sort of pathway and a gate to the left, leading up onto a berm. I'd seen this on the maps and had no clue what it might be, but when there was no sign warning us not to trespass, I opted to follow it with everyone. This looked like it'd connect us directly to Red Bank Battlefield Park.
We headed up hill, then turned left on the berm. This appeared to be some sort of large scale retention pond, but I had no idea what it might have been. All I knew as that it looked really interesting.
I would later find out thanks to research by Lyz that this was called a "Dredge Spoil". In the Delaware, there is a dredged ship channel to Philadelphia and points further. Of course, ships would run aground in this silt filled bay waterway if such were not done. The "spoil" is hauled to spoil ponds like the one we were now walking around. I suppose a lot of it is contaminated and would therefore need to be contained in an area like this. A document Lyz found stated that these spoil ponds are not open to public, but that birders were permitted to go there. Whatever the case, there were no signs so we were there.
As we continued around the shore, I looked back to make sure we had everyone. While looking through the faces I saw a friend's face who I recognized, but was not with us earlier: Serious Sean! I had to do a double take for a minute.
"Wait a minute!! SEAN???" I shouted out. He smiled and said he was just going to continue in the group until someone noticed he was there. He'd run really late and decided to try to catch up with us. We were almost into the town of National Park, and was disappointed with how much of the hike he missed, but he managed to join us with a great section left.
We soon came to a giant metal structure that we couldn't quite place the usage of. We of course had to climb all over it. The framework stretched over the lower wet area, but it didn't seem to have anything to do with dredge spoils. I still don't know what the structure is about, but we know it must be somehow related to dredge spoil ponds because I've seen them on other similar ponds through aerial images to the south.
After climbing, we continued around, then reached the edge of the Delaware. We descended from the dredge spoil pond berm and down to the lowest path along the river, and then along the river itself heading up stream.
We soon reached a fenced in area, the edge of Red Bank Battlefield Park. We made our way through an opening in the fence to enter the park, and continued along the water. We made our way to a nice dock area out into the water, and the last people in the group were approached by a Gloucester County Ranger. Fortunately, he was really cool.
The ranger let us know that the park was officially closed, but after I explained what we were doing, he said we could continue to do the perimeter of the park to finish out the day, and that he'd open the gate to let us out when we were done. He only asked that we stayed on those perimeter pathways. That was all I wanted to do, so we were happy.
We got some nice views along the water, climbed the steps to the memorial monuments, which the ranger explained had authentic cannons from the Battle of Red Bank. We last passed by the Whitall House which served as a hospital for both British and American troops in the days after the battle. The friendly ranger opened the gate and we were off along Hessian Ave.
We had dinner at Pat's just down the street where we were the previous time. At least that's the one I think it was, which was quite good. The cars were all close to it so it was perfect. Ed and I split a pie, and I got lots of leftovers from others. Stuffed up really well.
I was also still feeling off, and had a bit of a scare. For the first time in a good while, while laughing at a silly face Ric made, I passed out. I felt a pressure in my head and everything went black. I'd had this problem regularly during the Summer of 2009, but it disappeared. Following dinner, I felt it in the car, different than extreme exhaustion, and again that night while showering as everything slowly started to fade to black. Again, my own mortality became the subject of concern in my own mind. If I were to suddenly be gone, how many things would I leave undone? I found my own consolation in knowing that I'd do my best to keep doing as I am, and know that if I met my end, I've done pretty well.
I felt better soon. The events of this hike made me look ahead again at the future perimeter of NJ hikes. The Dredge Spoil Ponds for one threw a wrench into my plans, but in a good way. I found the possibility of continuing on these future hikes using some of these, which in part were now managed by NJ Department of Fish, Game, and Wildlife with easy legal access. My originally planned 15 mile hike between Gibbstown and Penn's Grove would now be as much as 21 miles if we're able to do this route. We'll also have a more direct route for the hike after that into Fort Mott.
I'm infinitely excited at the next hikes in this series. I feel humbled by the grandeur of the lower Delaware River valley and the wonders it has to offer. I'm constantly learning more about the rich history of this area, from it's role in the American Revolution to it's role as a foster home for unwanted silt material and the process by which it's stored. I've got fond memories of this overlooked wedge of NJ that no one but those of us who have actually gotten out of a car and walked it could ever imagine.
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