Hike #1481; MorristownArea Loop

 

Hike #1481; 4/28/22 Morristown Area Loop with Jen Berndt and Everen

This next hike would be another weekday trek I planned with Everen based around a doctor’s appointment.

Normally, I would have to take him to physical therapy in Phillipsburg, and I would head out somewhere from there, but this time it was about his helmet he’d been wearing for a few months.

He had a flat spot on his head that we got a helmet specially made to correct, so he wore it much of the time. I had to go and get him checked for the last time to see if he could discontinue wearing it, and he was all good.

It was a relief that he’d be done with the thing before it got too hot out. The location of his appointment was right up the road from lots of trails around the Morristown area, and I had already had a hike planned out that I tried to do with Jillane last year, but she gave up and I ended up walking to the Great Swamp.

This time, I wanted to do the hike as I’d planned it, but with some different stuff added on that I might not have done before.

I headed over to the Walmart on the corner of Hanover and Ridgedale Aves in Morristown, and Jen met up with us there. Kenny Z was going to come out and join us too, but he had a previous obligation and planned to meet a bit later.

We started right from the parking lot, and headed out to Hanover Ave to the left. There were branches of the trees growing annoyingly low but we got by it. We continued along the road and the Patriot’s Path comes out from the community garden to the left. We continued straight toward the crosswalk at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum where we’d be able to cross, but I managed to get over a bit sooner.
It is kind of steep to get up on the side trail of the Patriots Path into the arboretum, but it was fine and we headed up to the right side. We followed the marked Patriots Path route at first, up to the main looping trail through the place, and then opted to take a roundabout side route I had not done in a long time.

We turned left by a big tree, and there are apparently guides available for the big trees of the arboretum, but I didn’t know where to get one.

Frelinghuysen Arboretum used to be the headquarters of the Morris County Park Commission, but they moved to another location a little further out, which I don’t believe I’ve been in yet.

It was the perfect day to be walking through the arboretum because everything was in bloom. Everything was getting green, flowers were growing, trees were blossoming, and it was just the perfect temperature.

 We headed through a garden area thinking I could get through, but then couldn’t find a way, so we backtracked to the Patriots Path again, then turned left at the next intersection to head toward the south side of the arboretum.

We headed through some big trees, then down across a meadow, past a retention pond growing with blossoms, and back into the woods on the Patriots Path once again. It looked like the retention area had been the subject of a wetland restoration project since the last time I had been there.

We entered the woods again, passed along a slope and came into another meadow parallel with a fence leading to some sort of health facility, then went through the deer extruder gate out of the arboretum area. 

The trail turned left along the Whippany River, which was at times hard for me to push the stroller through, then turned to the left after we passed by the parking lot for the first place, we skirted a second one, and entered the woods again.

There was kind of a steep section ahead that was rough to bring the stroller up, and we passed through another deer fence into a sort of growing over meadow area. We were able to push on out and come through the back yard of Acorn Hall.

Acorn Hall was built in 1853 by the Schermerhorn family as a simple two story farmhouse.

In 1857, the home was purchased by the Crane family of New York, and remodeled as the Italianate Villa we know today in 1860.

Descendant Mary Crane Hone donated the building to the Morris County Historical Society in 1971, and it has since served as a museum.

Acorn Hall was so named for a giant Oak that was on the property.

We passed around the handsome building and came out to the corner of Lafayette Ave and Morris Ave.

 

The Patriots Path branch was blazed across the street into the little park in this corner that has a cannon on display. We then turned right on Morris Ave to the west, to the Ford Mansion which served as Washington’s headquarters during the Morristown encampment. There is a statue of Washington on the next corner, before we turned off.

Just ahead, the Traction Line Trail breaks off to the left, and descends past apartment buildings to reach the former Morris County Traction Company trolley right of way. It is a paved trail for a good distance parallel with the NJ Transit line, which used to be the Lackawanna Railroad. Morristown was originally the terminus of the Morris and Essex Railroad dating back to the 1840s, and expansion came from there.

We passed beneath Normandy Parkway, and over Prescott Lane, and then went over Punch Bowl Road before reaching Convent Station.

The Morris and Essex first established a station at this site after petition from the Sisters of Charity for the Academy of St. Elizabeth, founded in 1860.

The Sisters funded construction of their own station at the site, which served until 1876, when the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad constructed its first official station on what had become the main line.

This station served until 1913 when the current brick structure, still used by NJ Transit, was constructed.

We crossed over by the station, and the old Convent, now the Academy of St Elizabeth, was in good view to the left.

The right of way goes into a nicely wooded area after the Convent, which is pretty nice after all of the bright sun on it before that. Occasionally a train would go by, and Ev seemed interested in it. They aren’t loud, so going by just seems like a wispy thing to him I’m sure.

The property of Fairleigh Dickinson University was then on the left, surrounded by a giant wall erected by the previous owner. There was an access to the trail from the property, but lots of signs forbidding entry.

We continued on along the trail until it terminated at Danforth Road. We turned left up to the road, and then right across the bridge over the tracks. We continued just a bit further, and there was an entrance to another school property and ball fields on the right.

Rather than continue on the busy road, we turned in to these fields to the right. I had found this route when I was walking by myself with Ev, and found it to be much better than staying out on the road.

We turned left at ball fields, and then continued on the access roads out to Madison Avenue.
Directly across from here was the entrance to Giralda Farms, which is a big property that had pharmaceutical offices and such in it.

I was of the understanding that Morris County Park Commission had preserved the property and that it was going to be something we could walk through. 

I tried going through with Ev, because I knew there was another trail on the other side of the property, but the guard wouldn’t let me through that time. I didn’t even bother this time. There is a paved trail that goes all the way around the facility anyway, parallel with the roads, and it’s pretty nice.

We turned left at this entrance, and then skirted the property surrounded by nice giant trees.

Heading east, this paved trail turns right from Madison Avenue and parallels Loantaka Way to the south. The last time I was out there, I went straight down Loantaka Way thinking I would get into the brook reservation and loop back, but then changed my mind down there and headed to the Great Swamp.

This time, I knew Loantaka Way ahead was not fit for us to be walking. It was scary and I would never bring Ev down a road knowing it had bad clearance like that again. Instead, we turned right with the paved trail, along Woodland Road. I don’t think I had ever followed this segment before.

A little ways down the road, after reaching Dodge Drive, the other side of the main Giralda Farms entrance road, there was a trail going in to the right. This was just a loop that goes up and back that I had never done before. I considered doing it this time, but there was other stuff I wanted to do, and I wanted to be at a convenient location to meet Ken, because I told him we would be around a certain point in Loantaka Brook Reservation.

Directly across the street to the left of this trail head was an entrance trail to the brook reservation, so we went in there.

After a little bit, we came to an intersection of trails, where we turned left to head toward the southern end.

The paved trail brought us right out to a parking area on Loantaka Way again, where it’s much safer to be on. Unfortunately, Ken called me up while we were out there, and he had gotten stuck late with his volunteering event and wouldn’t be able to meet up.
We turned right on Loantaka Way, and headed to the west a bit over the brook on the road bridge. Next to that, there was the pretty old 1834 Gibbons Horse Barn. The owner, William Gibbons, raised thoroughbred race horses at the location.

The main trail crossed over the road just beyond the stream crossing, and we turned to the right to follow it north from here.

To the left of the paved trail much of the way was a nice foot path, just barely parallel in the woods. I guess people don’t like walking on pavement so much.

Ahead, the paved trail turned hard to the right, but the foot path section went through the woods straight ahead and along the brook. I had hiked this before, going back as far as 2007 and loved it. I wasn’t so sure it would be great for the stroller, but we decided to try it.

It turned out to be just fine, and in fact probably the nicer route.

There were lots of pretty swamp lands, and the brook was calm and pleasant. At one point, the trail turned to the right and forded the brook without a bridge at a stony spot. This wasn’t at all a problem. 

The stroller went right through and over the little stones and we were good on the other side. The trail then made its way back to the paved route and away from it again.

We kept to the route more to the left as I recall through everything. It took us out to Kitchell Road across from Kitchell Pond.

I still don’t think I’ve ever followed the branch of Loantaka that goes to the east of this point, on the other side of Kitchell Pond.

We headed north into the park and took a break under the pavilion with the big fire place and a view of the pond. I gave Ev a diaper change at this point because it was a good convenient spot with trash cans, and we headed out to the end of the parking area where the trail went back into the woods to the north.

We kept to the left at all trail intersections, and this brought us out to a meadow area and mowed trail. We spotted an interesting Willow tree that had broken off, and then had re-rooted itself by way of two of the branches that leaned forward.

We continued ahead and then passed through a line of trees out to baseball fields, and then to the northern parking area for the brook reservation on South Street.

From this point, there was no choice but to follow some roads, but we had the lovely Seaton-Hackney Stables on the right with their railed fences and some nice trees lining the road, so we were able to just walk along that to the north a bit.

When we reached the parking area for the stables, Richie’s Country Deli was directly across the street. I wasn’t expecting to find any businesses open at all let alone a mom and pop deli. This was exactly what we were looking for, but I didn’t realize there was anything in the area open. 

We arrived just in time before they closed. They told us the grill was closed, but that we were welcome to order something cold, so we ordered sub sandwiches and were quite happy about it. I got other snack stuff too, but I forget what it was.

We sat outside and ate our food, then headed across the street into the parking lot, then skirted the Ginty Recreational Area out to Fanok Road across Loantaka Brook. We turned left on the road which paralleled the brook, then took us up to Dwyer Lane.
We went straight across the road and onto the Ginty Trail, a paved trail that skirted the right side of the ball fields to the right. I had hiked this trail only once before as part of a night hike I think back in 2013. We continued to Woodland Avenue and continued straight across to continue on more of this same trail, which made its way up to the Woodland Elementary School on Johnston Drive. School was just letting out, and the buses and people were all lined up. We continued along the right side of the road, and then turned left on Turnbull Lane. This was a dead end road, but the dead end was close enough to Dorado Drive, in the next development. We were able to just hop the curb at the end and get onto Dorado Drive, then followed it to the left.
We went up through the complex, and made our way to the north end. There were construction workers to the right working on stuff, and we needed to really go straight.

There was a parking garage to the left, and a sort of weedy slope that looked like it’d be pretty easy to get through. It was pretty heavy soft grass, and I forgot to strap Ev in before I started going up. I pulled a wheelie with the thing and he slid right out of the seat and into the grass as soon as I pushed him up. He was fine, and a little startled, and I was shocked to the point I nearly had a nervous breakdown or no reason.

I just carried him up the rest of the way and stepped over the concrete into the garage. Jen helped get the stroller up the hill and we handed it over the low concrete barrier into the garage. I strapped Ev in and we were on our way through the parking garage.

This was an interesting little venture, because it felt like the oddball stuff I’d more likely do on a night hike. That sort of improvising stuff from those hikes are what I might miss most about them.

We made our way to the elevator in the garage and took it up. I guess this must have been North Jersey Physical Therapy and Quest Diagnostics.

We exited the elevator and ended up in the lobby of the medical place, then headed out the entrance next to the place on Madison Avenue. We turned left outside, went just a bit, then crossed the crosswalk to the other side into Morristown Medical Center complex.

We continued parallel with the road and then along a pedestrian path with some stairs that I carefully stepped the stroller down. We pushed on through to the north side parking lots and then turned to the left, parallel with and then out to Franklin Street.

We went left and crossed the bridge over Rt 287, and on the other side turned to the right on Ford Avenue. We took this slightly downhill a bit, and then passed beneath the bridge on the former Lackawanna line. Once on the other side, we turned left on Leona Drive behind some apartments. A path led from the far end of this out to Morris Street where we turned left.

Morris Street brought us right out to the railroad station; we passed beneath the through girder bridge over the road, and then went around through the parking lot to the front of the station.

I had several photos from the Steamtown National Historic Site Archives to do comparison shots with, and I had done a few earlier.

The brick station was completed in 1913 to address the demands of growing passenger traffic in Morristown. It had been a station stop on the Morris and Essex Railroad dating back to 1835.

The station remains in use today and reportedly serves 1,500 NJ Transit  passengers daily.

I had a 1914 image in wide angle taken by Watson B. Bunnell, the Lackawanna Railroad’s professional photographer at the time, followed by other shots by him taken in 1915 and 1916 on and around the platform, which amazingly looks very much the same as it did then.

A handicap accessible ramp at the end of the platform is one of the only substantial differences in the platform.

I also had a couple from 1931, taken by the next photographer, William B. Barry Jr.

After walking back and forth several times on the station platform, we headed down to Lackawanna Place and the Morris Farmers Market area. We took a little pit stop in the lot there, and then moved ahead through the lot parallel with the Morristown and Erie Railroad, which broke off near the station to head north and east.

I thought it was kind of odd that below us, a Morristown and Erie engine was tower a NJ Transit engine. Not sure what was going on there.

We continued along the frontage road out to Abbett Avenue and turned left. We crossed over the tracks, and immediately on the other side reached the Patriots Path main route coming out of George Gramby Memorial Park to the left. The trail went ahead a short distance and turned right on New Street, then right on Garden Street. We followed that route.

The trail paralleled Evergreen Cemetery on the left, and then the Morristown and Erie tracks on the right out to Ridgedale Avenue. We crossed Ridgedale, and the trail turned right at the road to the right side of the tracks. This section ahead is one of the most oddball sections of the entire Patriot’s Path that always needs work. When Russ Nee and Al Kent were working for the parks, it was always good to follow, but now no one has been taking care of it.

In order to follow the trail, you basically have to walk the tracks through this bit from the road until it starts to cut off to the right near the local prison.
I had intended to stop in there to visit our friend Dan, but I had a problem with my drivers license. I had ordered a new one online, but it hadn’t come in the mail yet, and all I had was the temporary thing they e mailed to me. With that, I couldn’t go in to visit him.
We did go by and looked at the place thinking about him.
The trail dipped down from the tracks onto the abandoned former access road to the jail from the north. We followed that back up to Hanover Ave, turned left, and then right back to the strip mall with the Walmart to finish off the hike.

The day was a great example of taking responsibility and creating opportunity for a great time based on location and timing. It ended up being a really great day out.