Hike #1625: 9/29/24 Hacklebarney State Park to Pluckemin with Jenny Tull, Diane Reider, Robin Deitz, Professor John DiFiore, Dan Lurie, Susan Predl, Justin Gurbisz, Mike Selender, Steve Sanbeg, Andrew ?, Jack Powers, Jack's girlfriend, Carolyn Gockel Gordon, Violet Chen, Sam Chen, and Everen
In fact, the area covered on that previous hike was the same year as the one I'd repeated the previous week, 2012.
On that previous hike, Metrotrails VP Matt Davis was acting as photographer for a traditional British fox hunt and equestrian group in the area. They have a sort of ramblers rights like in England in this area, mostly Bedminster Township, and their own set of interesting trails. Matt got us permission to use those rights and explore some of these trails, and we worked a hike around it.
Of course, even the roads through this area are beautiful and are worth walking. I loved them so much, I figured I'd eventually come back and hike more of them, probably as part of a night hike.
Of course, the night hikes had to come to an end because of becoming a father, but some of the stuff I'd have considered for that happens to be good for the stroller.
I wanted to do a hike that was entirely different than what we had done the previous week, and in a different part of the state, so I started piecing a plan together for this one, using a sort of framework for what we had done on the one about twelve years prior.
That hike twelve years ago was between Hacklebarney main lot and Natirar, a county park located in the Far Hills area.
Natirar is not a convenient place to start, and there is no way of using it as a greenway. It is only a drive in, walk, and drive out place. It was also the most unfriendly park we'd ever visited, so I was in no hurry to go back.
The main body of the hike would have to be a series of the gravel roads that I'd not walked entirely yet. The main focus on this one was the amazing Larger Cross Road and River Road. All unpaved, this section of two roads would be over six miles of unpaved road ways that are just as pleasant to walk as just about any trail, and actually narrower than some of the rail trails we walk.
I incorporated the trails of the Raritan Headwaters Association into this, as well as some other trails and backroads we'd done in the past to put together a pretty diverse hike.
The meeting point would be in Pluckemin, at the Pluckemin Park on Burnt Mills Road, where there is an art place occupying the old school house.
The old Pluckemin School House, built in 1912, is a four room, two story school that operated until 1958. It was used as municipal offices until 1993, and then found new life as an art center.
After meeting at this location, we shuttled with as few vehicles as possible up to Hacklebarney State Park, at Hunters Lot 2.
The lot is on Pottersville Road, and only a very short distance from the Patriots Path for the first leg of the hike.
We parked the vehicles and I started getting stuff together. It was a rather dreary day, with a slight chance of rain in the afternoon, but nothing terrible. I got Ev's stroller out and got all of the stuff together while everyone else chated for a bit, and we were soon ready to go.
I named this the "Jersey Farm and Gravel Hike" because we would be passing along so many gravel roads and through very pastoral settings. When we were on trails, it wasn't just woods. Much of it was old fields.
Almost immediately, there were little signs along the back roads for cyclists traveling them. One of them even reads "gravel adventure". Apparently there was some kind of race going on the same day, and they chose a similar title for their event as mine, so it was kind of neat.
There are no formal trails going from Hunter Lot 2, although there used to be an orange one that weaved through, but was closed many years ago because it went near to a tenant home that has since been destroyed.
We left the park, crossed Pottersville Road, and made our way along Longview Road for just a short distance. This took us to the blue blazed branch of the Patriots Path.
This section of Patriots Path, known also as the Black River Trail, connects from the main white Patriots Path closer to Chester, down to Willowood Arboretum. The route was developed further, but the initiative had been abandoned.
The father of the local trail system, Al Kent, had originally intended for the blue branch of the Patriots Path to be the main route, but a better greenway was found and used to the north.
We turned right from the road into the trail system and some light woods. Some of the property on the west side of the path is now the state owned Knight Farm, but the rest is county lands.
We cut through a swath of woods to the south, and the terrain at first was a bit bumpy for the stroller. Ev started off walking a bit on the road, but almost immediately preferred to be in the stroller.
Pretty soon, we emerged in the county owned fields and started skirting the edges.
We reached the south side, parallel with Pottersville Road, and then cut to the east a bit. We passed through a line of trees into the next field, and then into an area of woods again.
I was very pleased to see that not only the field edge sections, but the bits out into this woodland section were well mowed off.
In the past, this section had been horrible to go through, and much of the Patriots Path systme in general has been left to grow in badly, so I was really happy to see that most of this was very pleasant.
This next bit must be a maintenance nightmare, because the trees through the entire section had been killed by various invasive species over the years.
There was a large area that had been Ash trees, and the Emerald Ash Borer had come in and decimated a huge section of it. This had been going on pretty badly through the section for years, but this time it had begun growing back over with a crazy amount of vines. Some of the few dead trees that remain were totally engulfed in them.
We passed into a more dense section of woods, and the quality of maintenance went down a bit, because it was not possible to get a machine through to mow it. Still, it wasn't terrible, and we were able to get through it alright. I had to get some help to get down and up over a little stream gully.
Ev is really funny in these sections because he does almost a cry going "bumpy bumpy", because he doesn't like the terrain in the stroller, but then when I pull my phone out to take a photo of him and I tell him I'm going to, all of the whining stops, he gives me a corny smile, then goes right back to whining when the camera is off!
Fortunately, this didn't go on for all that much longer. We soon emerged at the top of a section of fields in Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center. The Patriots Path blazes lead along mowed old field edges that are no longer in agriculture, but are still maintained in warm season grasses and such.
I think the trail has been rerouted a few times through this area. It used to go, as I recall, right past the education center buildings when I first hiked this, but now it remains out in the fields more.
We actually lost the blazes briefly, but then took some of the mowed side trails to get back on it to the east.
The trail led us along more field edges, and then down to the edge of the Bamboo Brook itself, which the maps show as Herzog Brook. I'm not sure what the real official name is actually.
There is a deeper spot in the brook when the trail reaches it, and so I went over and stood in it for a bit to just cool off a little.
We turned left from here, and pretty soon, the Patriots Path turns hard to the right to cross over the brook. On the other side, it turns left and climbs a bit, and pretty soon we reached the deer extruder fence that opens and leads us into Willowood Arboretum.
I've always loved this place too; it's particularly pretty, and when we did the baby announcement photos, we took them there. Ev and his mother and I have actually had dinner at the place as well.
We followed the Patriots Path into the area, and there were several people all walking around.
I stopped everyone when we got to the barely recognizable historic right of way of the Rockaway Valley Railroad. The trail weaves over it, and then returns to it again a short distance ahead.
The line was built in 1888 for agricultural purposes, mostly to haul peaches because central New Jersey was the peach capital of the world at the time. The railroad traveled from a junction with the Central Railroad of New Jersey in Whitehouse Station all the way to Watnong, on the west side of Morristown. Grading was done even further to connect to the east in the area of the Lackawanna and Morristown and Erie lines, but it was never completed.
Sadly, the blight killed all of the peaches shortly into the life of this railroad in 1890. It struggled to get by, and had bankruptcies, and then was abandoned in 1913. A final owner did some work on the line, and replaced some old stone structures with concrete with the idea of reopening it, but it just didn't come to pass and it was finally abandoned in 1916. Most of the track was sold for World War I scrap.
We made our way along the railroad bed to the east, and I explained how it was called the "Rockabye Baby" because it was graded so poorly when it was built and engines would rock, and there would be a lot of derailments. Limited amounts of ballast were used, and so the treadway remains pretty soft.
It's not like other rail beds for hiking because it's been abandoned over thirty years longer than many of the lines that were abandoned.
Pretty soon, we reached the former crossing of Longview Road. The railroad fill had been cut off here. I'm not sure if this was historically a grade crossing or if there had been a bridge.
We waited or everyone to catch up here, and checked out an interesting trail sign. It was growing totally full with weeds and such, to the point that it was more like a terrarium than a sign.
Obviously, it was not maintained due to laziness at first, but at this point, it is actually a pretty cool nature study so they've probably decided to keep it as it for that.
The Patriots Path continues ahead on the railroad bed, out to Daly Road and Rt 206. From that point, 206 is partially built on the old grade, and then it cuts down almost to Gladstone. The Patriots Path had been partly developed across 206, onto some seeing eye dog property, and then out to the next road. It then parallels Roxiticus Road for a time, partly on the old ralroad bed again.
Eventually, the trail comes back to the Rockaway Valley line before Ralston and pretty much follows it all the way to Morristown.
This time, I had other plans. We turned to the right on paved Longview Road, which is still pleasant. There are no lines in the road, which is sort of my judgement on whether a road is worth walking or not.
We headed slightly uphill and reached the intersection with Daly Road, where we turned right. The name of the road we were following changed to Union Grove Road, and it was still just as pleasant.
We followed this for a bit out to the south, out to Rt 512, which is also known as Pottersville Road at this point, but is unrelated to the one we started on.
This was a crummy section because the road is far too busy, but I couldn't find another better way through it.
We turned to the left, and followed the road parallel with the Hamilton Farm Golf Club.
At the entrance road to the golf club, there was an historic one room school house in northern Bedminster Township, at the intersection road that leads to the US Equestrian Team site.
I'm not sure what the name of this school was, which sat right between Pottersville and Gladstone. It is on the left side of the entrance, and has since at least 1873, as it appears in the F W Beers Atlas of Somerset County that year.
The road ahead was horrible for walking. I wondered if maybe we could get up onto the golf course and walk the edge to be safer, but then I saw golf carts actively using the course close to the edge, so we couldn't just go up and interfere.
In just a bit, we reached the intersection with Larger Cross Road, where we would turn to the left.
This 4.6 mile long road remains entirely unpaved. It is a step back in time, with bucolic farms and stately homes, many of the built before 1900.
I was quite happy to be on it and heading south. We had hiked some of this road in the past, but not all of it, and there was still quite a lot more to see.
We made our way along the road, and I looked closely to the right as we continued south, because there was a spot where a trail comes very close to, but doesn't quite touch the road, and I wanted to cut in there.
This was the property known as Fairview Farm Wildlife Preserve, which is the headquarters property of the Raritan Headwaters Association.
When we hiked this area in the past, we headed to this property to attend the Old Time Country Fair, which is a fundraiser fair that is set up like fairs of the old days before rides and other amusements were commonplace.
The 170 acre preserve has trails all through it, and when we hiked this in the past, I had intended to hike more of them, but we ended up getting caught up in other things that set us behind.
We only covered a little of the property on that trip, and I've been saying ever since that eventually we would get back and hike the rest of it. It sure took long enough!
I never really saw the trail parallel with the road, but we came close to the entrance to the place and cut to the right on it.
Metrotrails follower Jim Todd says that his family settled in the area about 1730, and that four Revolutionary War soldiers were raised there. The property remained in the family until 1840 when it was sold to Abraham Cortelyou.
The entranceway had two tall stone gates with attached walls, but we went to the right onto the first trail into the preserve.
This was fine at first. The trail meandered a lot, and we could indeed see that it was closely parallel with Larger Cross Road.
There were a lot of encroaching invasive plants along the way, and I noticed that one of the Autumn Olives was well blooming with lots of Autumn Berries
Also known as Silverberries, these berries are the fruit of the highly invasive Autumn Olive trees and shrubs that are sometimes the scourge of my existence at work.
The edible fruits often have little silver specks on them. They taste like a cross between a raspberry and a pomegranate.
The plant is also the scourge of the farmer and landscaper, as it grows fast and can overtake a fallow field in just a couple of years. This is deeply troubling when leaving fields fallow after a few years rotation between corn and soy is standard practice in field management.
Autumn Olive and its subspecies Russian Olive are native to Asia, and were foolishly introduced by parks and forests to create deer habitat years ago.
Despite the fact that this and other highly invasive species produce delicious edible fruit, many public land agencies still forbid picking and consuming them, even though doing so might help curb their spread.
Autumn Olive, Garlic Mustard, Japanese Knotweed, wineberries, daylights, and others are all non native plants with edible components we might get a fine for consuming. I know of several parks where patrons were fined for consuming the invasive wine berries.
We ate some of the Autumn Olives, which were a little gritty, but tasted alright, and then continued along the trail.
Unfortunately, this trail was in really rough shape. No one had cleared it in quite some time, and so I decided we would have to turn around and try our luck at some of the other trails in the preserve.
We made our way back out to the main entrance road, and turned left, west, into the preserve farther.
Dan was not amused at the slight joke speed limit signs as we entered more of the property.
Also included in the signage was the fact that Raritan Headwaters Association monitors 1,404 miles of streams. Quite impressive!
Ahead, there was a trail that went in to the right a bit, so we decided to take it. It was nicely mowed, and let it into a field of succession study.
We remained along the edge of fields, and pretty soon turned back to the south to come back out to the same access road we had been on.
Just after a tree line separating the path we had just walked through among Eastern Red Cedars and such, we reached a much nicer trail. This one descended a bit through a field edge with plenty of Eastern White Pines lining the way.
The trail soon led us out into an open field with mowed pathways through it. We kept mostly to the right side of the field, but there were a few interesting things around.
To the left, we could see the former homestead for the property, although we did not approach it this time.
We continued along the field, and there was something of interest out in the middle section, I think some sort of horse statue or something. I can't quite remember because I didn't go out to it.
We continued along the edge of the fields to the north, then passed through a line of trees into the next field. A left turn took us along the trail system to the west for a bit with more splendid pastoral scenery.
We passed through a section of woods after the field bit, and crossed over the Axle Creek. Then, we emerged at the edge of a field. Something didn't seem right.
We walked along some field edges for a bit, but there were no blazes. Still, everything was pretty well mowed. We continued away from the creek a bit, and then to the right along these fields.
I pulled my phone out to check the GPS, and we were well off of the trail. We'd reached a tree with some overhanging branches into the field, and we could see a private house ahead. We were going to have to go back the way we came.
We turned around and retraced our steps exactly, then found where we had gone wrong. It was back by the brook. We had to continue further into the woods without going into this last field.
We continued through the woods. It was a foot path for a time, and then widened out into likely an old woods road. This bit was more overgrown than the stuff we had just been on, but it wasn't nearly as bad as the first trail we tried to get through in this preserve. It led us out along the Axle Brook, and then into some deeper woods, to a sharper corner near the end of the property where we turned left.
Near this area and a trail intersection, there was a tall deer stand. Andrew climbed up onto it while we took a break and I looked over the maps.
We cut to the south and remained on the trail on the outer perimeter of the property. This brought us out along the brook again, and then up a bit of a slope to parallel it for a bit.
The trail was well lined with sticks and stuff and became much clearer for a time. Soon, a side trail to the left went steeply down, while a slightly more faint one continued ahead. It was still good looking enough, so we continued following that for a bit.
This trail had no signs saying not to trespass, but it was becoming evident that we were going the wrong way. We came out to an overgrown field, and we were getting into some thorns and such. I looked at my GPS on Google maps and saw that we were away from where the trail should have been, so again we had to backtrack.
We went to the steep spot and descended to cross the little brook, and then came to another side trail to the left, which looked really inviting with a nice puncheon over a wet area. As enticing as that looked, I still wanted to remain on the edge of the property to head to the east.
This trail was pretty clear. It took us gradually uphill a bit, and then out to the end of an open field where the organization holds events. The old time country fair was coming up, but I didn't plan a hike into this this time because it was pretty expensive, and I figured I wouldn't have many people show up for it if I posted it for that.
We continued along the south side of the field, and then turned to the left when we came to the end. This brought us back out to the main access road to Fairview Farm Preserve where we turned right.
We headed very gradually uphill. It is rather odd that almost all of the roads through this part of Bedminster Township are unpaved, but this driveway is totally paved with new asphalt.
We continued all the way back to the entrance, and there was an electric vehicle charging sign that read "EV", so of course I had to get a photo of my son with it.
We took a little lunch break at the old entrance, sitting on the stone walls and chatting.
I was happy to have good conversations on this one with Sue Predyl, who had been the principal biologist for NJDEP for many years. We knew a lot of the same people and talked about a lot of things. Even my superintendent started off as a seasonal under her.
It's kind of neat that there are so many people around me who are or have been at some time dedicated to environmental protection in some form. Justin in compliance and enforcement, Sue as biologist, and of course Jack worked in maintenance, visitor service, and as a lifeguard. There was a lot going on there.
I also found out that Andrew got hired by the parks, but that he didn't care for the tone of the interview, not to mention the low rate of pay, so he never showed up on his first day.
While we were eating, it was a good time to wait up for Violet and Sam. They were walking through the preserve to catch up with us, and we needed to be still for a bit for them to do so.
Sam didn't stay with us for long, and Violet continued for the remainder of the hike.
While we had our break, Ev climbed around on the stone wall with Justin and was loving it.
Eventually, we were done and headed back onto southbound Larger Cross Road. This was an area we had walked before on the previous trip, and had met with florist company owner Fritz Mueller.
When we were walking before, Mr. Mueller pulled up beside us and asked what we were up to and if we needed water. Joe Tag was there, and asked "got any beer", and he said "second driveway on the left!".
We all ended up going to his house and sitting with him on his back deck that overlooked Cushetunk Mountain near Round Valley. He also played beautiful piano for us.
We ended up walking around the old time country fair with him. It was one of those odd chance meetings that we'd never know what to expect.
As we walked by Mr. Mueller's house this time, it was rather sad to see that the house was for sale. I looked him up, and found out that he passed away this past April at the age of 83.
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| Fritz Mueller playing piano for us in 2012 |
After that hike so many years ago, friends Shelly and Bobbie went to hang out with Mr. Mueller at a bar and good times were had.
It makes me think that one day, all of us will come to that time when our names are committed to print announcing our departure from this life. I am very happy that, although I only knew him for a couple of hours, he provided my friends and I with fond memories that left such a lasting mark. How wonderful that among his contributions in his life, he provided a story told over and over just because of his kindness to a group of strangers.
We continued to the south around two ninety degree bends in the road. We reached Spook Hollow Road, which is another lovely unpaved one I want to one day follow, turned slightly right and then left, and continued south on Larger Cross Road.
We made our way through more fields on a very pleasant section, and paused when we got to the bridge over a stream known as the Middle Brook (not to be confused with the more famous Middle Brook to the east a bit).
Folwer Road intersected on the left, and we continued south. Carolyn joined us somewhere in this vicinity at a point where she could pull off alongside the road to park.
The area was full of cyclists riding, which surprised me since they always seem to hate the unpaved rail trails, but this for some reason was okay!
The walk continued to be very pleasant as we made our way to the south, soon to reach a little community at the intersection with Lamington Road.
This was called Greater Cross Roads, a small community in Bedminster Township, Somerset County.
At the time of the 1873 Beers Atlas of Somerset County, the home on the left of us was owned by D. Dunham Jr. The home on our left (west) was that of D. Dunham. Another home was apparently owned by D. Dunham Sr. Next door to it, on the southwest corner, was a shoe shop, and next to that, a tannery.
I found out a little later that earlier, it was the John Phoenix Tavern, where George Washington dined in 1777. It was built in the 1770s, and added to in 1830 and 1967.
We continued straight across on Larger Cross Road, back into more farmland and pleasant shade. There were some really beautiful estates to see on our way to the intersection with River Road.
River Road, where we reached it, was also unpaved. We turned left on this and began paralleling the North Branch of the Raritan River on this.
In a little bit, we came to a pedestrian bridge on the right side of the road where Kline's Mill Road once came across to intersect with River Road. The previous pony truss bridge on this site was badly damaged when a tree fell on it as I recall, and so it was replaced by a prefabricated pedestrian bridge, and part of the road became a trail. It is named for Kline's Mill, which is apparently just a little downstream from where we were, but we couldn't see it from where we were.
I got a group shot on the bridge, and it started drizzling a bit about this time.
We had to make our way back out to River Road and follow it to the east a bit.
Along this stretch of road, there was an open old root cellar along the left side, which we all peeked into since there were no signs on it. A very neat thing built into the hillside.
We continued ahead, and Cedar Ridge Road came in on the left. This road too was unpaved, and I'd like to come back and walk this one one of these days as well if I can get around to it.
We went straight on River Road, and it became paved in a short distance. Still, there were no lines in it, and it was pleasant with barely any traffic at all. Some of the signs for cyclists in the "gravel adventure" group persisted through this area.
After a short distance on River Road, we reached the western end of River Road Park, where we could cut from the road over into the trail system, which at this point follows field perimeters.
We made our way onto this first trail, and then to the north We followed the west end of the field edges, to the tree line to the north, and then continued to the east.
There was one trail that went into the woods to the north from here, but I figured we would follow that another time. We were close to the mileage I was intending to do, and we didn't need to push much beyond that this time.
We passed through a tree line and continued to the northeast side of the fields, and I thought maybe another trail went into the woods there. We turned to try to follow it, but it was nothing but a dead end to the old farm dump associated with the property. There were tons of old bottles everywhere.
Not all of that looked all that old, but there were definitely some old ones in sight from where I was.
We turned to the south at this corner of the fields, and after a bit, the trail made its way not only on the rest of the perimeter, but into the woods to reach the active recreation section of River Road Park.
We followed this wooded trail section for a bit, and then came out to the ball fields. We continued to the south, and hit the paved main trail of the Bedminster Hike and Bike Trail, which I first did as part of a hike back 12 or more years ago.
We followed the trail directly out to River Road beside the entrance road, and then turned to the left to follow the paved pathway around to Rt 202.
The trail took us across the Rt 202 bridge, and then cut back into the woods to the right. We then had a pleasant walk through to Burnt Mills Park and the ball fields there. We followed the access road out to Burnt Mills Road, turned left, crossed over two bridges over north and southbound Rt 287, and came to Pluckemin Park on the right on the other side.
I was shocked that we had finished this hike by 4:30 pm. We weren't booking too fast, and we did stop for breaks, but we also covered everything I wanted to do.
I was extremely happy with how well this hike went, and how enjoyable and relaxing it was. In fact, we were done so early, I decided not to go directly home after getting back to my car, but rather to go for another little walk with Ev on the Black River Trail near the Hacklebarney Mine and make a history video. We also checked on some hazard trees at the park.
There are so many more unpaved roads through this small area, I could easily get three more hikes out of it, and all of them would be quite good. We also haven't covered all of the trails in the Fairview Farm Preserve either.
I knew I could not wait another twelve years before revisiting this area. It was just too nice a day, and it would be sad if I didn't attempt to emulate that great experience again.
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