Back then, I wrote reports for all members, whether they made it or not that day. I've included the notice before the report:
The title of our next Exploring Trip is; “Four Watersheds in One Day”
Get all your Christmas shopping done early, and get out of the malls, because the date of this trip is Sunday, December 19th.
This trip will be in the highland headwaters area of Greenwood Forest and Pasadena Wildlife Management area. This area harbors portions of headwaters for Cedar Creek, Rancoacas Creek, Oswego River, and the Wading River.
My plan is to stand in a headwater cripple of each of these river systems all in the same day. A cripple is supposed to be an intermittent stream, but in this case they are always dry, except under the ground. However, there will be no mistake about it as we reach each cripple. There will be an unmistakable dip and funneling of the land as it starts to collect water for these streams.
This trip is right about 7.5 miles long, and since there is a lot of bushwhacking, it promises to be a bit grueling. See attached Word document. However, I have been to this area many times, and there is a lot of open, large oak type woodland, without a lot of heavy tall underbrush.
We will be going right by 2 of the hidden lakes, or clay pits as my generation used to call them. We will be going by the third (and smallest) pit, which remains elusive to most out-of-town visitors to the bigger pits.
I realize this trip comes close to the holidays, but I wanted to take advantage of a busy schedule I have. The Sunday was chosen for a couple of reasons, one being that this area has quite a few hunters stalking the woods after the turkey, pheasant, and deer found in this area.
We will meet at 9am at the same meeting spot of our very first trek, 5 years ago. The Chamberlain Branch of Cedar Creek crosses Rt. 539 at 3.6 miles North of Route 72, and 8 miles South of Rt. 70 in Ocean County. At ¼ mile North of where the creek crosses the road, there is a large cleared area on the West side of Rt 539. That is where we will meet and park our cars.
Hope to see you there. If this trip proves impossible because only I would show up (Ha!), I’ll reschedule it. Let me know if you plan to attend.
Bob
Trip Report for “4 watersheds in one day”
Participants were;
Bob M.
Guy
Paul
Steve
Ed
Well, we did it. It was a “leg tiring” 9 miles, but we reached the Cedar, Oswego, Wading, and Rancocas Creek watersheds in turn, and all within a span of about 5 hours.
The day began with ground fog, a first for this exploring club. After a bit it warmed up nicely to about 45 degrees with intermittent sun. We promptly reached the Cedar in under 45 minutes and got our first commemorative PBX card.
After that came the Oswego, the way there was marked by stands of dark and somber oaks. We were in real high country, over 180 feet most of the way. We picked up the second card at the Oswego.
The next leg was over to the Burlington-Ocean County line. There were some thick pines in here, and it really felt like we were moving into the pygmy pine type of ecosystem. After reaching the line, we headed North on it and quickly reached the Wading. This river system had the most flowing water in it, which was somewhat surprising. We picked up our third commemorative card at this point.
Moving North along the line, we entered a thick, imposing gum swamp of the Wading River system that we dubbed “Bwana Land” The briars were thick and the gum trees huge. It was very interesting though, and a very wild area, infrequently visited.
At the other end of the swamp we came upon a deer stand area that has evidently been in existence for generations. We could see nails in all the old dead tress, and there was a large clearing where deer would congregate and do their mating dance.
After that spot it was on to the point in the county line where Lacey and Woodland Township converge. Guy showed us a strange marker at the line that is evidently very old with initials carved into it (E U) is what it seems like to me. We then made a bee line past the third clay-pit to the middle clay-pit where we took a lunch break.
After lunch it was on to the Rancocas, where we picked up the fourth card. We headed upstream along that cripple until it petered out on a road. Bear then showed Ed a very old grave from the 19th century. We then headed back towards the cars through the rye fields. At one point we went through the highest point in the pines below route 70. There is a plateau here reaching 218 feet on the maps, but our GPS’s read this area at around 225 feet.
All in all it was a decent day and a good accomplishment. We gave this trip an 8 out of 10. The attached file is a scan of all 4 commemorative cards. If you want a set, I have about 4 sets left. But, there is only one way I will give you a set. Guess what it is you have to do. Ha!
Bob
I was looking at that area when I made my newest LIDAR map and thought it was interesting to see a large area at high elevation (for the pines), yet it is still very flat. You can see this very well on the map, along with the drainage areas you have traced