Sunday, May 20, 2018

Herrontown Woods, Autumn Hill Reservation and All Saints Preserve, NJ


ABOUT THE PARKS:
Herrontown Woods Arboretum - Princeton, NJ
Herrontown Woods - Friends of Herrontown Woods
Autumn Hill Reservation - Princeton, NJ

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 40.376353, -74.640519
Herrontown Woods Parking

TRAIL MAPS:
Herrontown Woods Map - Friends of Herrontown Woods
Autumn Hill Reservation - NJ Trails Association

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HIKE DISTANCE:  4.8 miles

THE HIKE:
This hike links together Herrontown Woods, Autumn Hill Reservation and All Saints Preserve.  It could have been somewhat longer but after over a week of rain, the trails were so wet and muddy that it did not make for as enjoyable of a hike as it could have been.
The red trail starts to the right of the kiosk.
A short distance in, an unmarked trail splits to the right.  I took the unmarked trail.
That trail leads to the Veblen House.
Continuing out on the Velben House drive ...
... we followed that to Herrontown Road and turned left heading to Autumn Hill Reservation.  I had thought we would be road walking back to the trail on the left but that turned out not to be necessary.
It's a short road walk to Autumn Hill.
Leaves have only been out for a couple of weeks and these trails are already becoming overgrown at times even though the trail is well-defined.
The boards were a nice thought.
But on this day, it didn't much matter since most of the trail was a swamp.
An old picnic table rotting and being overtaken by nature.
Following an old stone wall.
The sign points to an outlook.
This would be it.  If it weren't for the trees, we'd be looking at homes so apparently that outlook hasn't been for quite some time.
Another outlook sign a little farther along.
And this would be the view in the gas pipeline cut.
Heading back.
A really old junked car.
There were so many birds around but between the camera lens constantly fogging up and the poor lighting, this was the only one I got.
At least it was warm out.
Heading back to the parking lot.
It looked like there was a trail into Herrontown Woods directly across the street from Autumn Hill.
Indeed, an unmarked trail leading right to ...
... the blue trail.
Blue ends at red; we kept right.
I would have just waded across to get some of the mud out of my shoes but parts looked to be more than knee deep so the log crossing it was.
No owner in sight.  He eventually caught up to his dogs.  Sigh.
At the All Saints Trail map, right on the All Saints Trail.
This part, if at all possible, was even soggier than what we had hiked so far.  Just too much rain.
At the woods road, turn left.
Then left again to come up the other side of the All Saints Trail.
Is that.... the sun?!?!?!?
Coming back into Herrontown Woods, I stayed straight along the creek on white/green.
Then white back to red ...
... to the parking lot.