Hike #1462; 12/26/21 High Bridge to Point Mountain South with Jenny Tull, Robin Deitz, Professor John DiFiore, Kirk Rohn, Jack Lowry, Sarah Jones, Tamara Sapilak, Gregory Andres, Carolyn Gockel Gordon, Lowell Perkins, Vaught Fretz, Mike Heaney, Heshi, Justin Gurbisz, Gloria Maynard, Robin J., Diane Reider, Violet Chen, Wilma Vargas, ?, Celeste Fondaco Martin, Celeste's son and daughter in law
This hike would be a point to point, and another holiday tradition bringing it back home to where so many of the earliest hikes had started.
Every year in the weeks before Christmas, I have a holiday New York City hike, and a Holiday Home Hike, where we pass by my grandfather's house and/or visit area family along the way.For this one, we met at Point Mountain South and shuttled to our start in High Bridge at the Commons Lot. I wanted to go by my grandfather's place, so that we could say hello, but I didn't want to have any problems with virus related stuff. He's honestly not too worried about any of it at all, but some other family members are, and they get upset if I bring a huge posse of hikers up there from all over the country.
After meeting and shuttling, we convened at the Commons Lot in High Bridge where I went over the plan for this route, which would include lots of stuff we had done before, but also lots of stuff we had never done. This was probably the most exciting north Hunterdon route I'd done in years.
I also started announcing that this would be a celebretory event, where we could sample a large variety of some of the best beers we had had during any of our recent hikes.
This time, I sort of began a tradition that when I purchased a four pack of some strong brew that was particularly good, I would save one of the four and put them aside for a future hike where we would sample one each of this crazy layout.
This time, I had Weyerbacher Enormity, Blithering Idiot, and Tiny, as well as Dragon's Milk, Bourbon Barrel GBS, Founders Backwoods Bastard, Triple Dog IPA, and the one I hadn't tried, Victory Merry Monkey, which was pretty good. I started off with that one. It wasn't as great as I'd hoped it would be, but those Christmas things like Mad Elf and others don't appeal to me as much as some others.
From the parking lot at the Commons, I had in the past walked near a fence at the entrance road, and there was a trail over a little foot bridge and around the property to the north made by mountain bikers. I knew it was clear not all that long ago because I'd hiked it before, but it didn't seem to be there now.
This property was originally going to be used as part of the extension of the Taylor Steelworkers Historic Greenway, but the problem was Bill Honachefsky and the Union Forge Heritage Association were at odds with the town, because they were trying to capitalize on the history in inappropriate and foolish ways. UFHA had done amazing things for the town at no cost to tax payers, but the town wanted to take credit and make more money on it by trying to turn their museum into a bed and breakfast (allegedly according to what they were saying), but that wouldn't work because of rules of green acres funded properties.
The town offered only a five year lease that could be broken at any time, which effectively shut down the non profit. A fifteen year minimum lease is necessary to apply for state and federal funds, and so the town basically evicted them without having to legally say that they did so.
When that happened, dealings with the town for construction of the trail fell apart.
I figured I would still try my hand at laying it out, and I'd already done a scouting hike for it through the property north of the commons, so I knew where I was going.
At first, the town representative I spoke to online was excited and happy to work with Metrotrails to make the project happen. That is until they found out I was friends with Mike and Bill from UFHA. The woman then said that my affiliation with UFHA means it would "make it difficult for us to work with the town.". The interaction stopped just short of sounding like an out and out threat that they did not want mine or any other volunteer help I could bring.
By the time of this hike, I had already been shut out of volunteer trail work quite a lot. A couple of years back, when I was transferred and hour and a half away at work, I was unable to do any work. Then I had my own personal problems followed by now being a new father, I have no time for such things.
Still, the local mountain biking contingent made it happen, but at the point we did this trip, there looked to be nothing at all left of the east side of the preserve's trails.
After walking back and forth and feeling like I was crazy, I went further into the wood chip refuse area, and then found a path into the woods behind a sort of skill track the mountain bikers had made.
It was the wrong side of the preserve to be on for where I wanted to go, but it was alright. We'd find a way through.
The trail took us along the west side of a gully, but then was taking us too far to the west. We turned around and backtracked to an obscure trail that went down through the gully, and back up the other side to the trail I had been looking for. It didn't look like anyone had been riding on it lately.
We turned left when we got to the trail on the other side, and then it seemed to slowly disappear, and there was a large tree down over it.
A woods road went to the right, which we almost followed, but then I found where the trail was supposed to go to the left. This took us to a very bad washout.
This was clearly the reason no one was maintaining this trail any more. The drop was major, and a mountain biker would surely go head over the handle bars to try to get down it. Fortunately, for walking purposes, we could do it with just a little difficulty.
Soon, the trail, which was beat up and almost unrecognizable to the end, came out on Cregar Ave. We turned left on the road to reach Cregar Road where we turned left.
In a very short distance, we turned right onto Fine Road and started heading gradually uphill through a development. This road took us up into Voorhees State Park and Observatory Road. The park was once the estate of former New Jersey Governor Foster Voorhees. His estate was called Hill Acres, and the original road name was Hill Acres Road before the observatory was built.
At this intersection, the Vista Trail crosses with pink blazes that I did several years back. We turned left and followed Vista Trail uphill gradually to a seasonal view over Spruce Run Reservoir. There are two throne benches at the top. One of them was made by the boy scout that first developed the Vista Trail, and the other was made to match it by former maintenance supervisor George Krapf who has since passed away.
We made our way gradually downhill from the thrones, near some homes, then through a young birch forest before descending along an old stone row.
Soon, the trail connects with the tea diamond blazed Highlands Trail, which travels all the way to Storm King Mountain in NY. We turned left on that southbound, which goes to Riegelsville.
We took the Highlands Trail down to where there is a set of steps above a former house site, and onto Buffalo Hollow Road. There, we crossed the road staying on state park land, and followed the Willoughby Brook to the old stone culvert of the former Central Railroad of New Jersey, built about 1853. I walked through the culvert for the hell of it, and the rest of us climbed up the fill to follow the deactivated section of tracks to the north (westbound).
We headed north beneath Buffalo Hollow Road, and over Rocky Run followed by Rocky Run Road. We checked out an old railroad phone booth on the way, and there was an old wooden post that might have been an earlier mile marker post I hadn't noticed before.
There is supposedly a formerly famous rock formation in this little valley I've not yet found, but I'll get back to it eventually.
As we walked this section, Celeste and her son and daughter in law walked the tracks toward us. We could see them from the distance, and some of the group were ahead to meet up with them first.
We got together and all continued ahead, and there was a power line clearing going off to the right, parallel with the tracks for a time. It was somewhat clear by ATVs riding through it, and a group of riders went by us while we were walking.
I later found out that one of the riders was my coworker Austin, but we didn't realize it until later.
After going a little bit further, there was another ATV path that went uphill to the right. This property skirted the Glen Gardner quarry, but was property of the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust.
For whatever reason, I had never gone up to the land behind the quarry. This was just one of those weird flukes, where something that I drove by every single day on my way to work, in an area where I had walked nearly every inch of land, was a spot I had never hiked.
It always seemed that it was just right there, and I would get around to it eventually. Because of the proximity and ease of getting to it, I just never bothered with it.
The offered up a deal; they would "swap" the Natural Lands Trust land so that they could continue quarrying, for a piece of property in Wantage NJ completely surrounded by the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge. Getting that piece of land up in Sussex County would include a piece of the old Lehigh and New England Railroad and make possible a longer trail greenway.
The argument was that the quarry could continue utilizing the land, but that they would implement a "step" process, where they wouldn't take all of the stone. They would take only enough to make it a gradual slope rather than a steep one, and when they had quarried out everything based on that deal, the state would get the land back.
Many folks at the state saw this as a good idea because they quarry would mine out everything eventually, and the state would probably be left with it and all of the liability that came with a sheer cliff and insanely deep lake. The quarry has pumps going twenty four hours to keep it empty for further quarrying.
There is some good to this idea, and I would think it'd be a good swimming area if developed properly. Spruce Run is now full of harmful algal blooms, so it would be a way of having another swimming area. Unfortunately though, the state is not one of vision right now.
The land swap ended up falling through fortunately. The quarry will probably only operate for another couple of years, they'll dissolve the company, and all workers will crop up somewhere else under another company name.
After the break, we continued to climb a bit along more ATV path, closer to the ledge with continuous views of the settlement of Glen Gardner.
The town pretty much grew around the quarry operation. It was a spot along the Spruce Run Turnpike going back to 1813 with an inn, but it didn't really grow until after the quarry was in place. Gardner was the name of one of the quarry owners, and prior to that name, the town was actually known as Sodom.
When we reached the very top, there was a platform and a sort of metal hoist or something, probably used by the quarry for some sort of operation early on, before they had dug down as deep as they have. One of the interesting points of the land swap deal was that the quarry had already quarried out and encroached on Natural Land Trust lands illegally. They probably didn't even realize it. Maybe that's why the hoist was not in operation, because it is likely off of their property.
We hung out at the top again for a while because it was just so nice. We could see down into Glen Gardner, all of the grades used by quarry vehicles, as well as to the fields and hill at the top of Hampton to the northwest.
From this point, we could utilize ATV paths and such to get to the trajectory I was planning, but some of it was going to have to be bushwhacking.
We did follow some old woods roads just a bit, but then I had to start following the GPS on my phone in order to get the direction I wanted. The first order of business was to reach the actual high point of Mt. Kipp.
I don't know if the quarry had ever considered this, but the top was supposed to be a native American site. I remember Jillane reading something about it being a spot of some sort, and that there was a rock pile near the very top.
We made our way around a tower near the very top, and then headed steeply down over rocks heading to the north. To the east of this spot was the Hagedorn facility, and I didn't want to get too close to that property, which is now a VA hospital and home of some sort.
As the ground leveled off and we were nearer to the VA, there were some suspected iron mine prospect pits. This was still very much in the iron rich highlands, so there might be more substantial workings in the area. The original mines associated with the Union Furnace nearby were just across Rt 31 from where we were, and the nearby village of Woodglen was originally called Irondale.
As we headed to the north just a bit more, we unexpectedly came upon a veterans cemetery. I was shocked to find this back in the woods, with graves dating from the 1920s to 1970s that I'd seen. There might be older ones back there as well.
The Garret W. Hagedorn Psychiatric facility opened in 1907 as a state Sanitorium for Tuberculosis Diseases, but the hospital closed several years ago. I forget what year the VA opened, but prior to that one of the buildings was used by Freedom House, a drug rehabilitation center I used to deliver to for Taylor Rental. I also had a friend who lived there I would pick up for work in the mornings.
The cemetery is actually not in the preserve. It sits very close to the border of the acreage the state transferred to open space around 2000. There was a trail, marked with blue reflectors, that looked like it headed back to the hospital area, but we had to head out to the north.
We started following a woods road and another path to the north through a large plantation of Norway Spruce, believed to have been planted in the 1930s as part of watershed conservation projects.
We meandered through the Spruces and soon came out on Sanitorium Road, where we turned to the left down hill a bit.
We turned right on Mt Kipp Road, and headed gradually uphill again. I think this road used to continue to the south on the other side of Sanitorium Road, but that it was closed off in probably 1907.
I think Celeste and family cut out around this area.
The church congregation was organized in 1774 and met in the barn of Frederick Fritts, and in his home in the Winter.
The first church was built in 1800, a wooden building known as the Red Church. It was replaced in 1835 by a stone structure, and then replaced again by the current Spruce Run Lutheran Church in 1871.
The upper cemetery was started in 1896, while the lower one across Hill Road dates back to the first church.
We walked along the top of the cemetery and took in the view, and then headed back down on the east side. I looked as we walked for the grave of William Jacqmein Sr, my good friend Bill Bill's dad, for whom I was a pall bearer at his funeral. I unfortunately couldn't find it on the way down.
At the bottom, we admired the nice old church, as well as a glorious giant oak tree out front.
We crossed the road directly at the church into the older cemetery, with its lovely old wrought iron gates with symbols on them. The cemetery was lined on the woodland sides with nice stone walls. These walls were made of the stones of the dismantled second church from this site in 1871.
We continued across the cemetery to the northeast, out to Spruce Run Road where we turned left. This was a lovely, quiet back road, perfect for walking, and it took us down hill and across the Spruce Run itself.
We reached Red Mill Road and turned to the right, parallel with Spruce Run. There was one of the little stone arch bridges near the intersection where a tributary to the Spruce Run flowed beneath. I always tell everyone how Hunterdon County is home to more of these little stone arches than anywhere else in North America, with over two hundred known examples.
A short distance up Red Mill Road was the former miller's house site on the right, which was demolished somewhat recently. There was once an old mill on the Spruce Run at this site, now Lebanon Township park land. The old mill race for this facility is long, and was supposed to be developed as a trail, but it hasn't really happened yet. I thought it would be by the time we did this hike, but it was totally overgrown and not easy to pass through.
Still, I was determined to walk through this property, so we went down and past some of the old mill foundation to the edge of the Spruce Run.
I had not noticed before, but there was some old foundation stone out in the weeds below the foundations I had seen before, just past a little bridge.
We followed the old race for a bit, and then got down lower along the creek itself, which was really nice too. I had walked the mill race before, but not all down along the creek, so that was a treat.
We continued on the creek and eventually came upon the old dam foundation on the creek. I don't know that I'd ever noticed so much left of it previously because I wasn't down close enough to it, but it was rather substantial what was left. From there, we had to meander a bit to make our way back up to the mill race area, and then up to Red Mill Road again.
We continued up the road and then crossed the Spruce Run once again. Another old house sitting directly on the creek is very likely another old mill, and might actually be the red mill for which the road is named.
We passed by an old bridge site with only abutments remaining while parallel with the creek, and then the creek turned off to the left. We continued on the road ahead, which is always a very pleasant walking route.
We continued to Newport Road and turned to the left across the Spruce Run again, and then we passed my Aunt Pam and Uncle Ken's house on the right.
Usually, Aunt Pam and Uncle Ken invite us over and give us the royal welcome, but unfortunately this time Aunt Pam had Covid, and was not feeling great, nor did she want to spread any of that to any of us. She did come out onto the porch to wave hello to everyone anyway, which was more than enough.
My family owns part of the old scout road that used to access the former Boy Scout Camp Watchung, which was purchased by Hunterdon County Parks to become Miquin Woods.
The preserve is named because the lodge there was called the Miquin Lodge, a Lenape word for feather. It had something to do with the Order of the Arrow in scouts as I understand.
Naming the preserve anything to do with "Watchung" made no sense because the Watchung Mountains are to the east, in the Piedmont Province, and this was the Highlands, so it made more sense to redub the property something appropriate but new for its new purpose.
We went back the old road past the old Newport Mill, but hurried by as not to have a problem. Even though my family owns some of the road, I didn't want to have any problems with the land owners. The previous owner had once called me and threatened to sue Metrotrails for having old photos I had taken years ago up on the web page. I was as nice as I could be to the guy, and they were deleted, but the guy was really much more of a jerk about it than he needed to be.
I found out about the time of this hike that the guy had died of covid, making him what I could consider the third person I knew of who died of this virus. I still find it amazing that I don't personally know more of them.
There is still an old nature center building standing out in the woods to the right of the road in this area, one of few structures remaining from the camp that were never demolished yet. I think at this point it will be demolition by neglect.
We continued back into Miquin Woods, and then made a right from the old camp road onto the yellow trail to the east side of the property. I was rather happy to see that the paint blazes I had marked this trail with when the park opened in 2009 were still holding on pretty well, while the plastic ones put up by the rangers or people other than me were all popping off of the trees.
The trail leads back to a sort of rock outcropping area, then turns to the north a bit, then back to the west and picks up some old roads that were associated with the camp.
Pretty soon, we came out to the camp road we had been following before, and turned to the left. This brought us down to the old stone house that predates the camp itself. The old stone home is shown on the 1873 atlas of Hunterdon County as having been the Bowman House.
We turned right at the house down to "Arrowhead Lake", a pond left over from the scout camp. We found it to be in far different condition than how it was the last time I was there.
The area had been completely inundated by beavers, to the point that the Spruce Run itself had been completely dammed over, and it was starting to overtake the lake area as well. It looked like the the dam for this pond was surely going to break if we had one big storm, which would have sent a deluge of water down stream. People like my aunt and uncle who live in the flood plain have rightful reason to be concerned, because they have a lot of infrastructure down from this.
However, this time, it looked like the entire thing was gone. The dam spillway was clear, and the creek had no sign of a beaver dam in it. The old metal foot bridge from the camp used to be possible to still cross, but the mangled mess of it was now in the creek. The beavers had utilized part of this into their dam the last time we were there, but now it looked like most of it was gone. It is hard to say whether flooding came along and wiped out the beavers, or if the countly knew of the pending problem and surreptitiously came in without anyone knowing and exterminated the beavers. Whatever the case, everything was back to the way it had been before, minus the bridge being easy to cross.
Still, we managed to get across the creek here with no problem. I forget if I had anyone go back and take the trail around at the next bridge or not, but I might have. It was not a necessary crossing spot to go the way I was going. I do think everyone followed me though because crossing was easy.
The red trail was on the other side of the Spruce Run, and we followed that uphill on old wooden steps built as part of the scout camp, which led to their lean to area. This brought us to a wider trail that was a former camp road. We turned right there, then a left at a fork, followed by another left on a foot path and past a spring house to get to the official parking area.
We convened in the parking area and I gave a little history before we moved on ahead.
We turned right from the access road onto Newport Road, and then turned left onto Anthony Road. Anthony Road becomes Hollow Road, and we turned left onto Symonds Lane from there. This was a tiny back road that used to be unpaved when I was little, and my family used to push me on it in my stroller, and then walked me on it regularly on other days.
The road took us down to Hollow Road again, and we went across onto Mountain Top Road, where my grandfather is the second house on the right.
I gave him a call as we were getting close, and had him come out to speak to the group a bit before we moved on. It's always great to see him come out and joke around with everyone. I tried to get him to join us for the last leg of it, but he figured he would just stay in this time.
We continued walking down Mountain Top Road, which I always let everyone know is part of the first hike I did with him when I was only three years old.
The sun was setting beautifully as we passed the Adickes Orchard, and then the Born to Run Farm where Jay Garish lived until he passed away somewhat recently. We finished up the hike just before dark.
It was really a fantastic day out. It wasn't the big party that it often could be with lots of family visits, but we did what we could do with it in the circumstances, and I was incredibly happy about it.
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