Mentantico...A PBX Hike

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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All,

Back on October 1 all members of PBX received this edited email from Bobpbx announcing our first hike of the new season.

Boys, put some new grease in your wheels, cause were heading south! Who amongst us has not heard the backroom whispers regarding Menantico Creek and Menantico Wildlife Management area, and the fabled blue waters created by man. Those who whisper say “stay away, they’ll bust you and cart you off to jail—put you in the hoosegow!
Well, let us test the waters boys! We have to expand our horizons a bit too…see what lies south of us. This trip is being led by our intrepid swamp-tromper and bushwhacker extraordinaire, the fabled big Al (Manumuskin) of Deep Down Jersey fame.
This trip will be on Saturday, 22 October. This is a real road trip for some of us, so we’ll scoot the meeting time a bit, to 9:00 AM sharp…and be ready to go. I’ll give you the meeting spot coordinates very soon.
Get up early for this one boys, and prepare yourselves too, it’s a 7.5 miler!
Hope to see you there my sunny weather friends!
Happy Trails…….bob

So this morning we all met up and after finishing the vehicle logistics we headed off with Al showing us the way. Attending on this hike was ... Bobpbx, Teegate (Me), Jessica, RednekF350, Oji, Hewey, Manumuskin, Woodjin, and Mickey.

I have to admit that we saw so many ruins and cellar holes today that Al will have to set me straight on all of them. So I will just post the photo's if I am uncertain the names.

Bob on the boardwalk with his head down checking on the plants.

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His head still down with others joining in.

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Chimney along the banks of the Manumuskin River.

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Mickey checking out the leaves on a tree. He knowns the names of almost all of the trees.

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More ruins.

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We arrive at the area where Al learned to swim when he was 7 years old.

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The bridge he walked across is still there but blocked off. Here is RednekF350 handing out peanuts to all of us. It was a fine treat!

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Jessica pointing at something.

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Starting to congregate.

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A nice size tree. Mickey made me take this photo. He loves trees.

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There must not be any birds in far Southern NJ.

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Train

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Jessica starting giving us all a hard time so we did what we always do ... we killed her. This shows her seconds before that took place. The wheel almost hit my GPS...it was a close one!

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We left this old Mustang in the woods in the event anyone wanted to bail out early. No takers for some odd reason.

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And our group shot of the hike.

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Almost at the end.

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We traveled 8.7 miles and ended with 1 hour of sunlight remaining. The general consensus was a rating of 9 out of 10 with Bobpbx rating it a solid and absolute 10. Thank you Al for a great planed hike, and we will be retuning next year early summer for a different perspective.

Guy
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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My Track said 9.32.I don't which is right but I am sore.Mostly the feet but a little clean up to the hips.
If I'd of known you would like the second half so much better I'd of tried to throw in a little more cross country.You could actually cross country from barth road staright to menantico crossing a handful of sand roads and the tracks.There are a couple of areas we missed where several tornadoes ripped through in 96.The trees are still tossed about in all directions and they are open glades now.I saw the tornadoe from the mauricetown bridge and did not realize exactly where it was till several months later I wandered into the areas and was in shock and what they did.
I will now identify the places.
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
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I have to admit that we saw so many ruins and cellar holes today that Al will have to set me straight on all of them. So I will just post the photo's if I am uncertain the names.

Chimney along the banks of the Manumuskin River.

OK I DO NOT KNOW WHOSE HOUSE THIS WAS BUT IT WAS OCCUPIED INTO THE 50'S APPARENTLY BECAUSE A DOCK IS VISIBLE ON THE CREEK IN THE 50'S AERIALS.

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More ruins.

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THIS IS ONE OF THE TWO CHIMNEYS AT POTTERS CABIN WHICH I UNDERSTAND TO HAVE BEEN A TAVERN,I BELIEVE THIS MAY HAVE BEEN TRUE BECAUSE IN THE 70'S WHEN I WAS IN CAMP HOLLYBROOK I WAS IN THE CABIN AS A NIGHTIME GHOST TREK TO SCARE US AND THERE WAS A DECREPIT PIANO IN IT.THE CABIN STOOD INTO THE 80'S WHEN I HEARD KIDS BURNT IT BUT I NEVER SEEN ANY EVIDENCE OF FIRE AND I SUSPECT SOMEONE MAY HAVE SALVAGED THE CEDAR LOGS IT WAS MADE FROM.THE CABIN WAS 20 FT AWAY AT THE OTHER CHIMNEY.

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The bridge he walked across is still there but blocked off. Here is RednekF350 handing out peanuts to all of us. It was a fine treat!
FRIES MILL BRIDGE OVER MANUMUSKIN CREEK
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Jessica pointing at something.
THE EASTERN BLUE HOLE OF THE THREE AT MANUMUSKIN PRESERVE
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A nice size tree. Mickey made me take this photo. He loves trees.
BIG CHESTNUT OAK.I'M A TREE HUGGER MYSELF.

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We left this old Mustang in the woods in the event anyone wanted to bail out early. No takers for some odd reason.
A NEW PLACE FOR ME.BEEN WITHIN100 YARDS OF THIS CAR MANY TIMES AND NEVER SEEN IT.

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Almost at the end.
THE SOUTHERN END OF THE LANDLOCKED POND AT MENANTICO WMA

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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,693
4,864
Pines; Bamber area
I like the Jessica spoof, Guy, well done!

I gave it a perfect 10 because it was everything and more to me on a great day:

Perfect hiking weather (sunshine and 60)
Beautiful woods (clean, spacious, quiet)
New plants I have not encountered, and some I have that were more robust than I've ever seen them.
Challenging and fun terrain. Those hills at Tien Shan were excellant.
The little streams entering the big pits were loaded with little plants to check out.
The history of the area was a surprise, and worth going back for more.
The history from Al about that swimming hole brought back a lot of memories of my own childhood.
I enjoyed the snake den and the other accoutrements of that study.
I enjoyed the concrete platforms...gives you something to think about.
I loved the trains, and looking down into them.
I liked the vistas of the Manumuskin from the trestle and the wooded points.
The spring was really cool, and some of the best water I ever had.
The open woods close to the Menantico river were superb.
The comradery and interesting discussions among good friends is always the icing on the cake.

Thanks Scott, for the food at the tailgate. That sopressata was a particularly good batch!
 
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Teegate

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manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
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I'm definitely going back to try the clay spring waters.I want to see if it's as good as the Tuck Everlasting spring and if I don't drink the water I won't be on any PBX hikes a hundred years from now.
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,064
3,341
Pestletown, N.J.
A better day for a hike could not have been made. Crisp blue skies, the pines and autumn air make one thankful to be alive.

The hike was an eye opener for me because this area is familiar to me only as an area I use as a shortcut to the shore. I have travelled Port-Cumberland Road hundreds of times over the years and never knew what beauty, history and solitude lurked behind the treeline.

Al put together a great trip with a mix of the history of industries past and the stark beauty of pines reclaiming the landscape after man's intrusion. I was also pleased with the route selection because although we covered almost 9 miles, it wasn't a difficult hike at all.

Thanks Al for sharing the deep down south version of the Pine Barrens !

Some pics.
A huge sandwash remant. Over a mile in length.
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The tiny Manumuskin far upstream.
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The Woodjin emerging from the woods.
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Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
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Three nice photo's Scott! The one of Jeff may be the best yet of him.

I forgot to thank you Al in my original post for planning this. You did a great job as Scott mentioned.

Guy
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
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Thanks to everyone for coming.I know it was a bit wussy for a pbx hike but most of the places I wanted to take everyone already had trails to em.Those woods really are nice to just straight line bushwack through,very pretty and very little wacking.In summer i even barefoot woods like those,hardly any briars unless you go near the swamps,now Belleplain is a different story.If anyone evr wants to come down here and get trashed southern style let me know and I'll plan a hike through Belleplain:)
Al
 

Y-BUC-BILL

Explorer
Mar 9, 2007
129
26
Hi fellow Piney's

You brought back a bunch of memories..I rode Enduro's for many years on my Yamaha-Husquvarna-Honda and my FASASSSUMBITCHE- on a lot of ground that you hiked.
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=qj...0734&dir=180.77467863179734&sty=b&form=LMLTCC

This is the link to the Tunnel of Love that we missed or I should say i missed.
I was searching on the foundation up the track a couple hundred feet toward menantico (NW)you can see the opening of the tunnels in this shot.You can drop down chest deep in these slots and then hand and knee crawl around under this concrete deck.Sorry we missed it.I hadn't been to that spot in about eight years,memory is goin on me.
Al
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,678
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millville nj
www.youtube.com
Hi fellow Piney's

You brought back a bunch of memories..I rode Enduro's for many years on my Yamaha-Husquvarna-Honda and my FASASSSUMBITCHE- on a lot of ground that you hiked.

Were you ever run out of there by a Bill Smith? About six ft,snow white hair and glasses?Or the ex cop that lives on port cumberland road,six ft and dark hair?Bill is gone now but we saw no evidence of bike tracks out there except for some type of ATV right around the old sand plant ruins and on the main drag in fro schooner landing and i know the biologists drive golf carts around so this may have been it.I think theFASASSSUMBITCHIE riding days are over out there.
Al
 

Hewey

Piney
Mar 10, 2005
1,042
110
Pinewald, NJ
What a great day it was on Saturday. You couldn't have asked for a better day to be in the woods! Thank you Al for setting up a great hike and showing us around your beautiful woods.

The Manumuskin flowing through the meadows.
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The Hickory trees Mickey pointed out to us were at their peak fall color. The contrast with the green of the Pine was nice.
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What is left of the grist mill foundation.
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The Manumuskin.
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A small pond behind one of the old foundation of a house. The old down Jersey answer to a Koi pond.
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Al is a true woodsmen. If he had to live off the land I am sure he would be able to no problem. Here he shows us how to eat the fruit of the prickly pear cactus.
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The fruit of the Prickly pear.
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Looking down the sandwash shoreline towards the the bluffs eaten away by erosion.
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The lack of understory growth gave the woods a very nice look.
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Even though this hike had less bushwacking then most PBX hikes it still left me worn at the end. 8.5-9 miles in any woods is never an easy walk.

Thanks to Mickey who made the long drive down and back from Forked River with Bob and I as passengers.

Chris
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,678
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millville nj
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Those prickly pear are better earlier,they dry out as winter progresses.If you split the skin like I did with a knife and then pop the seeds out with the tip then fold the skin back inside out you can curl your lips up and scrape the pulp out with your front teeth,very good as long as you don't get spines in your lip:)would've been nice we we had some staghorn sumacade to go with it.tastes just like unsweetened lemonade but don't forget to strain out the berry hairs before drinking:)
Al
 

manumuskin

Piney
Jul 20, 2003
8,678
2,593
60
millville nj
www.youtube.com
Super Jeff! I wish I had the photo gift you and several others on this forum have.I don't have the eye to pick out photos from the landscape so I just try to find a spot I like and take a pano of it all which of course is real cool in a way but bring a host of problems with it like exposure,etc.Beautiful pics here of a beautiful day.
Al
 
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