Forked River Mountain
- Thread starter Wick
- Start date
Probably to block the way up to the mountain. The reason the north side is eroding is because of the thrill seekers.
Took a walk up to Forked River Mountain on Saturday night at 8:00 and it was 49 degrees! The stars and moon were out and you could see Saturn and Jupiter. You could see the flashing colors of the ferris wheel in Seaside Heights. All the cement barriers are still sitting up there in the same spot. The north side is so rutted and washed out in most spots you could not drive up it anymore. Originally when they bought the property they talked about shoring the north side up to stop it from eroding more. Not sure what the plan is now. On another note, since it is county property will they allow hunting this year?
So today I decide to take the wife and kids out to FRM. It has been a couple of months since I was out there. They have cleared more edges of the roads leading up to the base. It is at least back 15-20 feet on each side. They also burned the woods from the base of the mountain to the railroad. When we walked up, one of the concrete barriers (post #1) was lying in the trail. I just thought somebody dragged it down with a truck or something. Once I was at the top, I realized they had put some piles of dirt and a concrete barrier to block access to the trail that goes around the middle of the mountain, When I went to go check out the view looking NE I saw this. The smaller drop offs are all blocked. The large one is graded smooth. It is not blocked at the top but has barriers down at the bottom.
Hmmm. I wonder if they unknowingly buried a very small population of a rare plant I knew of down there.
Was out on the mountain on Monday afternoon. The county has 3 pieces of equipment at the "white gate entrance" off of Lacey Rd. Driving by I could see a grader and tree cutter, The mountain still looks the same with the north side still eroding badly. The county seems to be taking their time with this project. They have thinned both sides of the road in front of the mountain (Mountain Rd?) from the Tuckerton Railroad almost to fork with Bryant Rd. They also widened the trail which is now a road that is just pass the mountain and cuts over to Old Rd, up to the Factory branch. They burned from this road all the way to the railroad bed. When you go in the opposite direction or to the left, they widened and burned this area too. For the longest time you could never drive down this road as it had multiple huge and deep puddles/holes. They did not fill or grade over them. They just plowed the trees down and made a road that goes around each puddle. The same goes for the section of Bryant road, they did not grade any of the giant mud holes but made the bypass around them wider.
NJPineBarrens Maps
maps.njpinebarrens.com
These blocks have been there at least 2 years if I recall. They’ve chopped down dozens of trees in the area, maybe more. Instead of grading the roads leading up to the area, they cut down more trees and made small roads around puddles. I’ll never understand this type of conservation. There are other areas nearby (near the dirt road with red sand) that live trees have been chopped down to lay across dirt roads. People made more roads around them so now the road is 3X wider and they killed a bunch of trees as well.
Yes, Going west on Lacey Rd the most common way is to turn in a narrow trail just before the guardrail going over the factory branch. You will definitely be rubbing the sides if you have a full size truck. There are many other ways but this is the shortest way currently. It will take you to the railroad then turn left and then your 2 nd right up what we call mountain road.
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@The Wick - you have posted my same link from another thread. By default, the mobile site does not update the browser address since it doesn't show in the app. Press the URL Pref button on the main menu and enable continuous display you're using the site on a computer, it will then keep the address updated as you move the map and remember your preference in the future.
On Sunday while driving back from Cream Ridge I noticed a large pile of rocks dumped at the white gate entrance to Forked River Mountain on Lacey Rd. Yesterday I went to the mountain for a visit and found the county or state had started to fill in the washed north side with dirt and large diameter tree trunks. The tree trunks had been sitting at the base of the mountain for some time and I thought they would have just laid them across the roads. I think they disturbed more ground and plowed over more trees then needed but I dont think anyone is driving up that anytime soon.
View from the bottom looking up. It is much higher and steeper than it looks
View from the side where the Shoenberg brothers memorial is
View of the bottom
View from the bottom looking up. It is much higher and steeper than it looks
View from the side where the Shoenberg brothers memorial is
View of the bottom
Of course the views are still nice!! On a clear night you can see the beam from Ole Barney and watch the Ferris Wheel in Sea Side change colors
Hanger 1 at Lakehurst
Oyster Creek Generating Station
Hanger 1 at Lakehurst
Oyster Creek Generating Station
They also thinned out Mountain/Bryant Rd. on both sides all the way to the old fire tower foundation just before Jones Rd. The road which is usually pretty bad was mostly graded. I am not sure if they did that to improve the road or not. In the past they would only grade for access for the yearly Forked River Mountain clean-up around earth day. The very deep holes were starting to be filled in with the rocks I previously saw.
Anyone know what their plan is for this spot? Once it’s successfully blocked off, are they going to allow people to drive up, park, and hike around or are they just prohibiting all access groups or visitors?
Is this also the best location to hike to FRM? If so can you just park in the neighboorhood that looks to be across Lacey Road? Or is FRM accessible from Rt 530 near Wells Mills Park? I don't have the luxury of off road vehicle so I will rely on my hand help Garmin GPS and hiking boots!. Thanks, Craig