Military Fox Hole

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,836
Pines; Bamber area
Interesting to look at the topos through the years. The landcover on the Cook map is significant, it shows a pine forest adjacent to the road with a narrow band of wetlands along the stream then a larger wooded wetlands to the North along the Meschetac...(whatever) Branch.

https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.689518/-74.715691/cook/0.00/0.00

Then the 1949 topo shows a huge swamp across that whole area, with no road and no stream. Is this just poor cartography, or was that whole area actually flooded? The earlier maps all showed those features, so it's not like they didn't know there was a road.

https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.689518/-74.715691/pines1949/0.00/0.00



Cool, I see. Of course, elevation contours are just a low-resolution generalization of real terrain, which is much more complex. I used the older 3-meter LIDAR to generate 2-foot contour lines on my 2017 topo but wasn't very happy with that in the end. However, it shows your "foxhole" very clearly.

https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.690055/-74.716839/pinesHD/0.00/0.00
Yes, I think the 1949 is too monotypic (for lack of a better word) for that area. It is mixed in there. Undulating.
 
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Apr 6, 2004
3,620
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Galloway
Then the 1949 topo shows a huge swamp across that whole area, with no road and no stream. Is this just poor cartography, or was that whole area actually flooded? The earlier maps all showed those features, so it's not like they didn't know there was a road.

I assume that the road was out of use by then and thus wasn't depicted. That's a lot of wetlands that the old road passed through.
 
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RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
5,054
3,327
Pestletown, N.J.
Interesting to look at the topos through the years. The landcover on the Cook map is significant, it shows a pine forest adjacent to the road with a narrow band of wetlands along the stream then a larger wooded wetlands to the North along the Meschetac...(whatever) Branch.

https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.689518/-74.715691/cook/0.00/0.00

Then the 1949 topo shows a huge swamp across that whole area, with no road and no stream. Is this just poor cartography, or was that whole area actually flooded? The earlier maps all showed those features, so it's not like they didn't know there was a road.

https://boydsmaps.com/#15.00/39.689518/-74.715691/pines1949/0.00/0.00



Cool, I see. Of course, elevation contours are just a low-resolution generalization of real terrain, which is much more complex. I used the older 3-meter LIDAR to generate 2-foot contour lines on my 2017 topo but wasn't very happy with that in the end. However, it shows your "foxhole" very clearly.

https://boydsmaps.com/#17.00/39.690055/-74.716839/pinesHD/0.00/0.00
I think the 1949 topo is just lazy cartography. From experience, I can say with confidence that although the entire area is certainly wet as s*it, it is broken up by stretches of uplands. See attached NJGeoweb screen capture.
 

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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,836
Pines; Bamber area
How about this happy roadster just to the Northeast. Do you think, when he got out there in sedge land, his sphincter tightened up and he made a hasty retreat? One of two reasons he did an about face: 1) he suddenly got into an area that even he recognized is special and pristine, or 2) he was suddenly afraid because the ground got awfully soft all of a sudden.

1673893414779.png
 
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bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,836
Pines; Bamber area
I need to get out of the house, so tomorrow's a good day to see what I can see there. Just something tangible to do. I plan to be over there near Rockwood around noon if anybody wants to join me.
 
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stiltzkin

Explorer
Feb 8, 2022
540
807
Medford
Far too "sphincter tightening" for my vehicle, to borrow your expression, and my adventures are generally limited to the weekend, but interested to see what you find.
 

bobpbx

Piney
Staff member
Oct 25, 2002
14,658
4,836
Pines; Bamber area
Whoops, decided I should not risk opening the large infected cyst on my back, plus I start a course of Doxicycline for it in the morning. I've never had that antibiotic, so unsure if my stomach will not revolt.

Maybe next week if the weather is good and the water is not over my knees.
 
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