Over Mothers’ Day weekend, I drove to New Jersey. Took my kiddo out to dinner on Friday night. Saturday’s rehearsal with Katye Kellye and The Interruption was scheduled for late afternoon. For a change, I had a chance to get a run in before driving down the shore to rehearse.
When I lived in NJ, Lake Denmark Road was my regular roller skiing haunt. Five miles of rolling pavement, it wends through country that’s the antithesis of the tired “Jersey? What exit?” trope. It’s adjacent to Picatinny Arsenal, and on the right day, one’s workout is leavened with explosions as they test ordnance.
Today, I had running shoes instead of roller skis. Many years ago, an ATV trail going into the woods on Lake Denmark Road, near the abandoned Radiation Technology Superfund site piqued my curiosity.”
One spring day, I put on running shoes and took off into the unknown. Dropping into a vale and splashing across a brook, I spent a couple of hours following my nose around a modest network of ATV roads. One of them goes right through a hole in the fence into the Superfund site.
Every so often, I return to what I call The Space Between The Roads. Once, I got lost bushwhacking off a herd path to a pond at what used to be Camp Hudsonia, a Girl Scouts summer camp (It’s now municipal soccer and softball fields). The linked photo is the only information I could find about Camp Hudsonia; there’s a private Facebook page that I’m not about to join.
Gradually, herd paths evolved into singletrack. The trails share a similar design ethic, which leads me to believe that it’s one person putting them in. They’re clean and not too technical. There are, however, the occasional rock garden or an obstacle the designer throws in, and you have to do it. No way around, suck it up, cupcake. By contrast, many of Wildcat Ridge’s trails are wicked technical.
Early on in the lockdown, when the whole world was going stir crazy with isolation, neighboring Wildcat Ridge was overrun with people jonesing to get outdoors. Where I used to have solitude, I found myself fighting for parking with people from New York, Connecticut and beyond. Yet somehow, The Space Between the Roads remained untouched and I didn’t post about it much.
Today, I headed into The Space BTR from Camp Hudsonia, avoiding a road run at Radiation Technology. A few yards into the woods, a wooden sign announced that I was on the Shotgun trail. One of the earliest named trails, the shotgun shell markers were now augmented with painted yellow blazes. Halfway up to the Superfund site was a brand new trail called Low Line. It took me southwest, parallel to the ATV road on top of the ridge, ending where I expected: a water crossing within sight of some houses at Lake Telemark.
Picking my way across the brook, I went uphill to the Iron Spirit trail. This had been a work in progress when I moved away from NJ. During construction, the builder did a good job of concealing the beginning of the trail. Twisting and turning, I could never figure out exactly where I was in relation to the other trails.
The views are modest: from a rock outcrop, there’s a fine view of the Rockaway Township DPW garage. By contrast, one can see NYC skyscrapers from the Hawk Watch at Wildcat Ridge over 20 miles away. Perhaps this is why this spot is so quiet.
I would have liked to continue further into the woods, but it was time to turn back and prepare to play loud electric music. I picked my way across the fast running brook and up to the ATV road, and back to the Fortunate Son.
The Space Between the Roads is bounded to the west by Lake Denmark Road and Picatinny Arsenal; to the south, by Snake Hill Road, to the north, by a power line right of way; and on the east by Green Pond Road. The Ore Land trail connects with Wildcat Ridge, and you can make a huge day with the two of them, by foot or by bike.