Sunday, January 11, 2015

Glenhurst Meadows, NJ

This is not actually the trail sign rather the sign on Mountain Avenue where you turn into the drive for the parking lot.

ABOUT THE PARK:
Glenhurst Meadows - Warren Township (scroll down on page)
Birding Glenhurst Meadows - New Jersey eBird
There is not a lot of information online.  Here are the signs in the parking lot.

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 40.652147, -74.501237

View Larger Map
A circular parking area at the end of the drive.

TRAIL MAP:
Warren Township Recreational Trails Pamphlet, page 11
Pictures of maps at the trail head:
Note:  The trails aren't really blazed, mostly a white marker here and there but that is about it.

Glenhurst Meadows, NJ at EveryTrail


HIKE DISTANCE: 5 miles

THE HIKE:
The trails start to the left of the signs.
Three ways to go right at the trail head.
I took the middle trail to the gazebo.
All trails seem to have this white marker, if they are marked at all.
A very cold bluebird.  It was in the teens when we started so pardon the fuzzy pictures.  It's really hard to take pictures with double gloves on.
One of two posts I saw that actually did sort of jive with the map color coding.
Red-tailed hawk.
And off he goes.
Went to explore a trail to the right ...
... marked with pushpins ...
... all the way to a tree stand.
After retracing to the main trail, the next right took us into county property, I believe.
It's a well-defined trail, obviously used by dirt bikes and ATVs although there were none while I was there.
A thick sheet of ice suspended between three trees.
Thick sheets of ice everywhere (it's been in the single digits overnight).
Wildlife tracks everywhere in the woods.
The Passaic River
Heading back.
Although the sign says NO TRESPASSING, this is where you enter back into Glenhurst Meadows so I think it is safe to say you can ignore that old, outdated sign.
Every now and then there are very old signs with names that coincide with the old black and white map.
Trail along the Passaic River.
Frozen ponds on the left.
Bridge over Cory's Brook where it drains into the Passaic River.
Cory's Brook at the Passaic River.
The Lakeside Trail appears to lead right into the lake but hard to tell with everything frozen and covered with snow.
Here is that other trail marker sign.
This was actually a good time to do this hike.  Without everything frozen the areas near the river would have been flooded and most likely impassable.  There were a few places where I retraced because I did not trust the ice - it was cracking under Shawnee so I certainly would have broken through.  But where lots of people went over the ice, it was solid as a rock and the little bit of snow cover gave some traction so I did not have to break out the Kahtoolas.
Trail along Cory's Brook.
Bridge over Cory's Brook.
Cory's Brook
To Wagner Farm but the ice seemed unstable here so we didn't continue that way.
This bridge over Cory's Brook leads right back to the parking lot on the other side but it was too cold to risk getting feet and paws wet with water rushing over the bridge.
Heading back to the other bridge over Cory's Brook.
Then on the Brookside Trail.
And back to the parking lot.

4 comments:

  1. Daniela, your pictures inspire me. I love seeing Shawnee too....what a trooper! Some day I'll get back into hiking. Thanks for sharing. Joanne

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  2. I found a very crudely drawn 2010 map of it hidden in a Warren Township recreational trails pamphlet. It's on page 11. ( http://warrennj.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/WARREN-TRAILS-SITE-MAP.pdf )

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Kevin. I'll add that information.

      Daniela

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