Ramblings from Moe Mountain

The park is looking good after the hurricane mess last week.
Most trails are clear. The ranger told me today that Pumphouse still has trees down, but she’s wrong,
my friend John rode it today and said it’s all clear. I rode Laurel up to Cherry Ridge and over to Cabin trail,
heading up to the power line. This is how I get to Tombstone trail. There was one tree down blocking
Cherry Ridge by Timber trail, but you can climb over it. I always have a problem getting off Cabin tr and onto
the power line, because it’s uphill and left and then a short steep uphill on loose dirt and gravel overgrown with
grass and ruts. Today I was ready, hit it hard and fast, maybe too hard and fast because my rear tire ripped a seven
inch rock out of the dirt causing me to loose all power and slide out, sending me to the ground and onto some not
very soft rocks. Damn, I thought I was ready for the challenge today. Now how can I hit my left outer knee, left shin,
left elbow and right inner knee all in one fall? Not badly, just skinned and bruised. Shook it off easily and had fun on the singletrack.
Then out to the road for a while. Got my seventeen miles in today, and if I can get another thirteen miles in tomorrow,
I’ll make one hundred miles for the week. Ha, these small challenges, amazing what makes an old man happy!

Entering Tombstone off the power line
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Tombstone trail
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Made a visit to a Glacial Erratic in Wawayanda earlier this week, pretty impressive.
My friend Gary told me about it, so I just had to go check it out.

A glacial erratic is glacially-deposited rock differing from the size and type
of rock native to the area in which it rests. "Erratics" take their name from the Latin
word errare, and are carried by glacial ice, often over distances of hundreds of kilometres

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I did some trail maintenance on my local trails this afternoon.
I came across another Erratic on an unmarked trail off of Banker. these are pretty cool
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This one needed cutting,
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not wide enough for a quad......ha ha
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Go around or ride over, your choice.
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Another one to cut out, no after pic, but it's done
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sweating my ass off, so I went for my favorite beer, Prairie.
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Something different for me today, riding the black dirt region of Pine Island, NY.
It was a great day out, but a little too windy. I had my route written out on paper
and only missed one turn, but one turn up here adds a lot to your ride.
Still fun seeing the farm land and peoples houses.

Roadside art
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met up with some friends
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Did my thirteen mile ride this morning, but it’s such a nice day I decided to go out again and grab a beer at Pennings Orchard.
This is a pretty cool ride, starting at the Wawayanda office and going down Hoeferlin trail and getting onto Old Wawayanda road
which is a great single track down to the paved section and a good ride downhill into Warwick, NY. It’s about eight miles round trip
with almost 900 feet of elevation. So I get to the beer garden and I’m told NY law says no beer unless you buy food too. So I ordered
a Ramstein Summer blend and an order of fries. Perfect day out! Met a guy there with his girlfriend and their motorcycle, a Kawasaki I think.
I was parked next to him. He said “great bike” to me, and I returned the complement. Turns out our bikes are about the same age,
twenty months old. Same mileage too, ha! Just over 7000 miles. Funny. Then it was back on the bike and do the return climb,
I sure wish it was climb to the bar and downhill to get back. Still, it was a great day out.

single track there
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the orchard
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the bar
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my order
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Maiden voyage in the borrowed kayak today. I don’t know if I like this sport or not. It feels kinda shaky to me and unnatural.
My arms got tired within the first half hour. They feel better resting on my legs and paddling than holding them up.
The wind can be a little tricky. Nice views though from the lake to the shore. I actually had a good time I guess. I need
to work on my getting in and getting out of the thing. I’m old and creaky and don’t bend so good. I launched from and
came back to a shallow spot on the lake rather than try the in out from the dock. I did this because it seems that’s what
everyone else does, so it must be the best way. I wore my waterproof socks which worked out great. Rolled up my pants
and all was good. I forgot to start my tracker, but once out on the lake I remembered.
It looks like I did about an hour and went about a mile, around the big island and back.
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Here is Hiker Mike, a fellow I met a few years ago on the trails.
Last year when I saw him he asked me to cut off a piece of dead fall Iron Wood for him.
He told me where it was along the trail. The tree was about twenty five feet long and he just
wanted the upper most part, about eight feet of it, to make a walking stick. I'd never heard of
Iron wood, bur I here it's very hard. (duh). So I cut the piece off one day and told him I did so.
Then he went and fetched it on another day. I saw him today with the finished walking stick.
It made us both happy. Happy trails my friend!
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Kaleidopete said:
Here is Hiker Mike, a fellow I met a few years ago on the trails.
Last year when I saw him he asked me to cut off a piece of dead fall Iron Wood for him.
He told me where it was along the trail. The tree was about twenty five feet long and he just
wanted the upper most part, about eight feet of it, to make a walking stick. I'd never heard of
Iron wood, bur I here it's very hard. (duh). So I cut the piece off one day and told him I did so.
Then he went and fetched it on another day. I saw him today with the finished walking stick.
It made us both happy. Happy trails my friend!
Click to expand...

That's awesome!
 
So, I ventured out to new territory this morning, I wanted to ride the Sussex Branch trail from Waterloo to Stanhope.
It was a nice start, 6:45 AM and dark out at 30° too. I pulled into the lot and was the only one there. Got going right away
and it was looking good, up ahead I thought I saw a pack of Coyotes coming towards me. I stopped for a photo,
it was only a pack of deer. About four miles in I came upon a walker and confirmed I was on the right trail, thanks buddy.
I didn’t know ahead of time that the trail closely follows some roads too and you have to look for the reentry points.
Not too hard really. I went past the Stanhope section and I think I wound up in Kittatinny. I went off on some singletrack
trails which were pretty nice, and then headed back. Stopped at a deli for coffee and some cake. I checked out some other
trails on the way back, most looked too tough for me. Pulling into the lot where I started, someone called my name, I said hi,
sorry I don’t recognize you. He said I’m Dave. He’s riding the tough trails with some friends. I the left the lot and headed
up the road and found a small paved trail running along the road up to a large intersection. It looked like this was a bike path.
That’s it, back home for sausage & eggs.
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Nice ride @Kaleidopete. Soundz like maybe you found your way to Kittatinny Valley State Park (KVSP). I am wondering if the single-track you hit was just after crossing
Route 206.
 
Took a ride back in time, my memories anyway. I paid a visit to Camp Mason in Hardwick, NJ.
This was my grandpa’s farm up until he died, which was around 1954. My father and uncles would
bring me here to play on the farm while they went on little hunting trips. When he died, I was told
that the property (600 acres) was donated to be a camp for children. My grandpa made a lot of money
and thought very highly of the USA. He came here from Italy and made a good life for him and his family.
So I visited the property, the old house still stands only it’s all redone.
From there I rode over to Millbrook Village, a strange little place of old houses and buildings.
It’s along Old Mine Road, which I think runs from out by Rt.80 all the way up to Dingmans Ferry
and maybe even beyond that. It was a lot hillier than I expected. There were a few trails around the village.
I rode one called Donkey Trail, which follows a river and is a wide doubletrack. I didn’t explore too much,
saving energy for the climb back over to Hardwick.
This ride is one of those things I’ve been wanting to do, and today was the day. Now for pizza & whiskey.

The farmhouse in Hardwick.
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The AT crosses Millbrook road
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The start of Donkey trail
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da climb 21%, actually I saw 23% but couldn't snap a pic.
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Thank you for some real, 1st person history.

Have you introduced yourself to the new homeowners?
I'm sure they'd love to meet you.

I met the daughter of the owner of my home - she was biking by with a friend, and they
were stopped (crest of a hill) discussing the home. Loved her perspective on some of the changes i made.
 
Patrick said:
Thank you for some real, 1st person history.

Have you introduced yourself to the new homeowners?
I'm sure they'd love to meet you.

I met the daughter of the owner of my home - she was biking by with a friend, and they
were stopped (crest of a hill) discussing the home. Loved her perspective on some of the changes i made.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I did chat with them for a bit, they were unaware of that part of the history of the property.
They were happy to learn of the history and my family.
 
Strange coincidences today. I slept late and started my ride at 8AM, heading to the least ridden trails in this area,
along Bearfort Ridge. All in all I rode about 15 miles today. So I come home and check my Strava.
There was another MTBNJ rider on some of the same trails today! @JimN . Quite a surprise, we missed each other
literally by minutes on the ridge! His ride was longer and harder than mine, but I would bet these trails don’t see
more than a handful of riders all year. This should either go in the “things that make you frown” thread
or “things that make you smile thread. Very strange indeed.
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