What a beautiful day for exploring in the pines. Crisp, clear weather. No bugs. Dry conditions. Couldn't have rolled it up better if I had tried.
We started at Ong's Hat and went in on Turkey Buzzard Bridge Rd. Had a look at a large clearing just past the intersection with Mile Ery Brook Rd., and then continued on east across Four Mile, our intention being to cross Bispham's Mill Creek and then head north. The Turkey Buzzards must not have crossed there in some time
. Owing to the state of the bridge we dropped back and took Deep Hollow Rd. south, crossed the dam at Upper Mill, worked our way to the back of the estates and found the big clearing, and eventually the unnamed road that had been our target.
We took this north to what I had thought was the site of Mary Ann Furnace, but after hiking around a bit we decided I had the wrong spot. The part that we did explore is centered in the view below. It's a large area with a lot of dumped building material, which we guessed might have been related to the construction of the housing development.
Google - Mary Ann Furnace?
You can see the road we came up on running off to the south down the middle of the view. Maybe a little narrow in places, but generally very passable.
After this we took Mt. Misery Rd. all the way across to Butterworth, and headed south, stopping to check out a little clearing that I thought might have been a clay pit at one time.
Google - Clearing on Butterworth
We continued south to what I think is Dry Pond Rd. The GPS seemed to be confused here: it labelled what I took to be Butterworth, i.e. the good road across the north edge of that old bog, as Dry Pond, and also showed it running around the back of the area. We took the back way, which was very narrow and awarded us some scrapes, but was otherwise passable. In this view the north way is labelled as Butterworth, which seems right. I think the little road around the back is actually Dry Pond Rd.
Google - Dry Pond
From there we took Dry Pond up to Broken Arm Rd. and had a look at Pomeroy's Crossroads and the marker. Then north on Glassworks Rd. to Mt. Misery and out to Savoy. We stopped to locate Brooksbrae/PTC, which we had failed to find before. Thanks to a comment on the forum we located it and surveyed the site. Really appalling what the paintballers have done to the place. It literally reeked of paint there, so we thought maybe there had been a recent game.
We then crossed Savoy and took Clay Mine Rd. down to Old Halfway, one of our favorite spots and happily free of off-roaders ignoring the no vehicles signs, so perfect for some pictures which I will post later.
After Old Halfway we basically made a dash down Clay Mine to Bryant and headed for the Forked River Mts. The day was amazing for viewing, especially from the eastern outlook. Unfortunately the area is very heavily trashed, and there was the remains of a trash fire smoldering on the tower foundation. Funny how being in the pines makes me appreciate the general mass of humanity less.
Left Forked River Mts headed northeast and picked up the old railroad grade southeast. Two points about this: first, there are no trespassing signs on every telephone pole on that road. We were unsure whether they applied to the road, the poles, or the land beyond them. There was open access to the road, it was sundown, and we were committed, so we continued. Second, this road is in very rough shape. ATVers and bikers have turned it into miles of steep moguls that make for a rough trip. Also, the bridge over the north branch is in rough shape, with the wooden beams broken and a makeshift iron bridge in the process of rusting away. We chanced it and got across with no problems.
From there we picked up Long Ridge Rd. to Bryant Rd, and thus out to 532. Overall we found the travelling conditions excellent, with very little standing water on the roads, and the brush has shrunk back quite a bit with the season. It's an excellent time for travelling in the pines.
We started at Ong's Hat and went in on Turkey Buzzard Bridge Rd. Had a look at a large clearing just past the intersection with Mile Ery Brook Rd., and then continued on east across Four Mile, our intention being to cross Bispham's Mill Creek and then head north. The Turkey Buzzards must not have crossed there in some time
. Owing to the state of the bridge we dropped back and took Deep Hollow Rd. south, crossed the dam at Upper Mill, worked our way to the back of the estates and found the big clearing, and eventually the unnamed road that had been our target.We took this north to what I had thought was the site of Mary Ann Furnace, but after hiking around a bit we decided I had the wrong spot. The part that we did explore is centered in the view below. It's a large area with a lot of dumped building material, which we guessed might have been related to the construction of the housing development.
Google - Mary Ann Furnace?
You can see the road we came up on running off to the south down the middle of the view. Maybe a little narrow in places, but generally very passable.
After this we took Mt. Misery Rd. all the way across to Butterworth, and headed south, stopping to check out a little clearing that I thought might have been a clay pit at one time.
Google - Clearing on Butterworth
We continued south to what I think is Dry Pond Rd. The GPS seemed to be confused here: it labelled what I took to be Butterworth, i.e. the good road across the north edge of that old bog, as Dry Pond, and also showed it running around the back of the area. We took the back way, which was very narrow and awarded us some scrapes, but was otherwise passable. In this view the north way is labelled as Butterworth, which seems right. I think the little road around the back is actually Dry Pond Rd.
Google - Dry Pond
From there we took Dry Pond up to Broken Arm Rd. and had a look at Pomeroy's Crossroads and the marker. Then north on Glassworks Rd. to Mt. Misery and out to Savoy. We stopped to locate Brooksbrae/PTC, which we had failed to find before. Thanks to a comment on the forum we located it and surveyed the site. Really appalling what the paintballers have done to the place. It literally reeked of paint there, so we thought maybe there had been a recent game.
We then crossed Savoy and took Clay Mine Rd. down to Old Halfway, one of our favorite spots and happily free of off-roaders ignoring the no vehicles signs, so perfect for some pictures which I will post later.
After Old Halfway we basically made a dash down Clay Mine to Bryant and headed for the Forked River Mts. The day was amazing for viewing, especially from the eastern outlook. Unfortunately the area is very heavily trashed, and there was the remains of a trash fire smoldering on the tower foundation. Funny how being in the pines makes me appreciate the general mass of humanity less.
Left Forked River Mts headed northeast and picked up the old railroad grade southeast. Two points about this: first, there are no trespassing signs on every telephone pole on that road. We were unsure whether they applied to the road, the poles, or the land beyond them. There was open access to the road, it was sundown, and we were committed, so we continued. Second, this road is in very rough shape. ATVers and bikers have turned it into miles of steep moguls that make for a rough trip. Also, the bridge over the north branch is in rough shape, with the wooden beams broken and a makeshift iron bridge in the process of rusting away. We chanced it and got across with no problems.
From there we picked up Long Ridge Rd. to Bryant Rd, and thus out to 532. Overall we found the travelling conditions excellent, with very little standing water on the roads, and the brush has shrunk back quite a bit with the season. It's an excellent time for travelling in the pines.
