Black Ash Swamp

High above black ash swamp - Cold and wet working with plenty of mud and snow to slosh our way through this seven mile loop in Harriman state park. Begin on White Bar @ Johnsontown road circle and ran parallel to seven lakes drive to unnamed shelter following white bar all the way to the victory and white cross intersections. From there we headed back around through Black ash swamp to an unnamed pond, which would be a nice place to stop in the summer. Climb to top of mountain was vigorous and we didn't make it as far as I wanted before we stopped for lunch. Took a nap in the sunshine until the late afternoon clouds rolled in bringing colder temps. We packed up from our resting place and within 200 feet passed through again at Claudius Den from last month only this time we were accompanied by a rock climbing group heading straight up the face! Wish I had the strength and equipment to climb like that but uh uh. Final place worth mentioning other than view from Pound Mountain on the blue disc trail was "elbow Brush." Which is like a mini lemon squeezer worth a trip too our first visit here in three years. All in all it was long cold and wet but good company with H & her brother made it worthwhile.

Jambalaya in the Raw

Photo of the "mis en place" for the classic Cajun Jambalaya done up in a cast-iron Dutch oven.

Hasenclever Mountain

Set back out to Harriman State Park to attempt to reach Burnt House landmark,

Fingerboard Mountain

Living fourteen miles from New York City with an elevation of 60 feet above sea has a way of hiding the snow levels for the hiking destinations. For the second week in a row we left the snow shoes behind because I figured we could boot walk through the expected 4-6" I thought would be present above 1200 ft in mid-march. Well - wrong again! Made a visit to familiar Tiorati Circle to complete a 2.5 Mile portion of the AT that we bypassed on last summers section hike. Plans changed quickly once we found that Harrimans snow pack was over 2.5 feet deep in drifts and at least was 12 inches or more in the shallow spots. We considered taking the drive back to fetch up the big shoes but opted to instead head south on the A.T. for only a mile to reach Fingerboard Shelter.

Swaaammmpp!

This Saturdays adventure was a alternate season re-visit to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. We had been here once before ( July 7th 2002 to be exact!) Back then we said "It's too damn hot, too many bugs, too darned wet!" So after going less than a mile into the muck we retreated and vowed to return someday perhaps in the winter when it would of course be less hot, no bugs, and frozen. All those things held true but unfortunately we left the snow shoes behind and the snow was too deep to make any real progress. similarily we got about just as far down the orange trail as we did 2.5 years ago. I think we'll come back to wrap up the Great Swamp in the spring or fall when conditions are perfect! - yeah right!? There is about 4 - 7 miles of trails within the refuge that are blazed orange, silver, green, blue, beige, yellow & ivory. The refuge is located near Basking Ridge, NJ Exit 30A off Route 287.