Hike #1179; Clinton to Jutland
11/29/18 Clinton to Jutland with Janet Lynn McCourt-Finsen, Justin Gurbisz, and Brittany Audrey
I planned another night hike that would be something I could get to easily from Spruce Run. It would be a variation of one I had done a few years back with Dan Lurie and Dan Stone, only this time I would not make it a loop. It would be a short car shuttle from a Clinton Wildlife Management Area lot near the intersection of Route 173 and Van Syckles Road, our end point, out to Clinton at the old A&P.
The art museum mill
Only Justin, Brittany, and Janet showed up for this one, and no one wanted to meet late really. It wasn’t really all that cold, but the night hikes have been surprisingly lightly attended.
Once we got to Clinton, I bought some drinks, and we continued on along 173, the main street, heading to the west. We cut through Dickens Alley, a nice little spot, and then headed out to the yellow through truss bridge over the South Branch of the Raritan at the old mills.
Clinton was originally known as Hunts Mills until Archibald Taylor, son of the original High Bridge ironmaster, took over and renamed it for the former governor of New York that developed the Erie Canal.
Bridge in Clinton, photo by Janet
We checked out the bridge and the two historic mills. The old red mill is the most photographed structure in the state of New Jersey, so I figured Janet would want to see that. Justin and Brittany I am sure had seen it before.
We turned back and cut through an alley out to Route 173 again where we went across to the Krauszer’s for a bit to eat. I got some cheese as I recall.
From there, we headed across the South Branch of the Raritan again on the highway, which was the former route 22. We continued to the west for a bit until we got to the entrance to the Fox Lumber yard. There, the old Lehigh Valley Railroad Station is still used by that business. The former Clinton Branch of that railroad is now the Landsdown Trail. We turned left to begin following that to the south.
Clinton photo by Janet
We didn’t have much daylight left from the start. This is just the shortest days of the year, so I can’t plan really any of a hike that would require daylight.
We passed beneath Route 78, and then continued along the South Branch for a bit and crossed Ramsey Road. Just as we were reaching the road, a cop drove by and headed toward the water authority place. He was going out there to get gas. Fortunately, it wasn’t dark yet, so we could easily just walk on and have no probem.
I pointed out where there was a stupidly placed drain area on the trail that was a constant maintenance nightmare while I worked there.
We continued past the Landsdown Meadows and into some swampy woods. We eventually emerged at Lower Landsdown Road.
From here, we crossed directly over and continued on the Clinton Branch toward it’s junction with the main line. There was a wye at this point where tracks went to connect with both east and westbound Lehigh Valley Railroad. At the point of junction, there used to be a lovely three story station.
Under Rt 78, photo by Janet
Just as we were arriving, a freight train began to go by, which was cool to see. It passed by really fast. We crossed over the tracks at the grade crossing to Landsdown Road. We crossed, and then turned right immediately onto the old Pittstown Branch of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, which had it’s junction on the other side. This is now the 3.7 mile Capoolong Creek Trail, named for the tributary it most closely follows. It’s within Capoolong Creek Wildlife Management Area, and so because that state department manages it, it’s far less over maintained and developed.
I’ve always loved this trail section more than others for it’s less is more feel. This time, it was quite a bit muddier than I’m used to it being, but it was good.
We crossed Rt 617, Sidney Road, and continued through woods along the creek. We crossed Lower Kingtown Road a couple of times, and Upper Kingtown Road followed by White Bridge Road.
Old Clinton Station
It was totally dark by the time we got to the end of this trail section in Pittstown. I showed everyone the huge old outhouse located across from the old station. They finally got a reasonable tarp on the roof of the historic station, but no work has gone into restoring it yet. I really hope someone gets on that soon, because it’s really a lovely piece of history.
We headed out the driveway access to Route 513, Pittstown Road, and turned right through the settlement. We continued down hill to the historic Pittstown Inn, formerly known as the Century Inn.
I posed the question whether or not we wanted to stop in. It was decided that yes, we would, and so we went in and had a little break.
Pittstown Inn
The place is really beautiful, and a nice place to stop. We each had one drink and Janet gave me some quesadilla she ordered. I forget what Justin and Brittany ordered, but we finished our visit off by pretending to call whales by making sounds into a vase or something we found in the front of the place.
Old Clinton Station
From here, we turned left off of Rt 513 onto Bloomsbury Road. This was probably the crappiest of the road walk stuff we did, but it wasn’t all that busy anyway. It was cool for me because we still did it somewhat differently than I’d done in the past. We continued until we got to an open field, where we turned to the right, directly across, to reach Groom Road. We’d done this road walk before, but we could cut corners a bit more here. We turned left on Wyckoff and turned left again to head out to Cook’s Cross Road.
78 underpass
We turned slightly right and then left again to head down on Finn Road. This was a much more pleasant, little used back road. We headed down hill and over a creek, and near the top on the other side we cut across yet another field. This field though was part of Finn Road Park. We were able to walk through the fields out to the access road into the park. We crossed that, then headed over another field when all of a sudden a car was pulling into the park behind us.
Tributary to the South Branch
I changed trajectory a bit because I figured for sure it would be police coming in. No one really goes into the park at that time of night. It went straight on beyond the regular parking area and near where I had been planning to get on the trail. Instead, I headed out to the tree line near the north side of the park where we waited for just a bit, then turned to the east out to reach the surfaced trail to the east, through another line of trees. We turned left on the trail, which skirted the open areas, and headed to a farther north bit of the park.
Landsdown Trail
We turned to the east when we hit the corner, and then cut down hill, off trail, out to Perryville Road.
We followed the road to the north, which soon paralleled the former Lehigh Valley Railroad main line we had crossed earlier. When we got to the grade crossing at the intersection to Main Street, we turned right and then left to the tracks. We then followed them north for a bit. It was a more welcoming way of going than following more roads.
Landsdown Trail
We followed the tracks until we got to Route 625, then climbed up after passing under the bridge. There, we turned right immediately from the bridge into the south side of Hoffman Park. This entrance is an access road that leads all the way across the park. It was a nice and easy route through woods. When we got to the first obvious road from that main road to the left, we turned onto it and headed through more woods, past a couple of the many ponds, and then past the main big pond.
A passing train; photo by Janet
We weaved back and forth up hill, turned left into grass to go up one of the old sledding hills, and then hit a second road. I asked the others if they wanted to see one of the abandoned buildings that was still standing there, but no one wanted to, so we moved on.
The Hoffman Farm house was an amazing place when it was still standing. I was involved in an effort to save it years ago, which was not fruitful. Before I became caretaker at White Lake, I was aiming for creating a Natural Resource Library. My dreams were a big long shot, but I’d already lost everything at the time, and other things were coming together. I thought it might work out.
Sadly, Union Township opted to demolish the house rather than try to save it at all. There were absolute lies involved in the whole situation. The “estimates” for what the place needed, and the numbers presented to other non profit organizations who came to look at it were such that basically no non profit would be able to take the place over.
It was just a way of the township to cover their bases, as if they made an effort to save it. Only one guy on the council made a motion to resubmit the RFP (request for proposal) to save the building, specifically to the non profits that already looked at it, with the new and drastically less expensive numbers. When no one would second it, the next motion was to put it out to bid for salvage and then demolition.
Pittstown Inn
We headed out from here to the main parking area. We then walked out the access road toward Baptist Church Road. I noted that the giant Ash tree out in the field that I’d first seen when I worked for Hunterdon Parks was still standing there.
We turned to the right on Baptist Church Road, heading down hill a bit and over a brook. When we got to the other side, I noticed the driveway to the abandoned house on the right. I had wanted to see it many years prior. I was out doing a tour of the old Hoffman Farmhouse with Mark Moran, Rusty Taglierini, and Christina Matthews, and I pointed the place out.
Calling whales at Pittstown Inn
We decided not to go for it for reasons I don’t remember. Just said that there was some kind of voice alarm that went off at the place at one time.
This time, we decided to have a look.
We walked the driveway to a bride over a brook, which was partially just beams because the deck was rotted. We went across anyway, and then only Justin and I encircled the building to see if there was anything open. They had secured the place pretty well, so we didn’t bother to mess with it. It was cool to just have a look at it. It’s much bigger than we’d anticipated it would be.
At Pittstown Inn
We headed back and continued on Baptist Church Road under the former Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks, and then out to the ruins of the Baptist Church itself.
We walked up to the thing and admired the remains of it. I’d seen it countless times going by throughout my life, and the first time I actually ran a hike by it years ago, we met up with historian Doug Martin, who maintains the grounds.
Martin told us that when the church closed down, someone came out and stole the gutters and flashing or something, and that soon after the water came in and then it wasn’t long before the roof collapsed. That is why it’s just the wrecked stone frame of a building today.
Martin told us that when Route 78 was being built, the construction workers asked him if they wanted him to come over and knock down the rest of it to alleviate the liability. Martin thanked them and so no, he would rather see it left up. It was apparently his family’s church (he’s descended from the early Van Syckles family, for whom Van Syckles Road nearby is named).
Dark group shot
It’s sad that it’s just a ruin, but it’s a pretty cool thing to see standing there.
We turned to the left for a short distance out to the bridge over Route 78. From there, we simply turned right on Rt 173, where for some of the way we could walk in the wide grassy swath between it and the superhighway, back to the parking lot. I turned to the left and cut through the Clinton Wildlife Management Area field rather than walk the road because it was prettier.
The hike turned out to be really pretty good. We didn’t finish too late, and still had a great break stop an an historic site. I love that every hike we do is somehow very different in it’s own way. It can be the same place I’ve been so many times and take on different meanings in different situations. It’s like looking at my own life over and over through a different lens, which is interesting in it’s own way.
HAM
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