All,
Tonight, Al and I returned to the general area we were in last week to search out and find a stone I have been hoping to find for years. This area is wild country where very few people ever visit, I have to believe it is one of the most unexplored area’s in the Pine Barrens. There is so much water there it is impossible to easily explore without wading as Al and I did again today.
Unfortunately, carrying three frozen bottles of water in my bag, and the high humidity, caused my camera lens to steam up the complete evening. Because of this, many of the photo’s and video’s I wanted to take were impossible to do, and many I took are steamed up. So be prepared for that.
First, the location we were interested in. This tract was owned by J Roger Brick when the state purchased Wharton in the mid 1950’s. Mr. Brick owned, and his heirs still own West Jersey Cranberry Meadow. He was the grandfather of a man I worked with, and I have viewed a piece of the Great Wall of China that he took from it in the 1930’s as he traveled the world. Anyway, the state decided to not survey the property for reasons unknown to me, but it is obvious to Al and I why that may have been. It is a flooded mess there, where one wrong move and you are up to or over your neck in black mud. Why survey such a remote place if it is just water and mud for the most part? However, there is a stone there and Al and I wanted to find it, but that was not to be today. We will return again with a better understanding of what we need to do to accomplish what we set out to find.
The location in the woods behind Atco Dragway. They were racing today and it sounded like the cars were coming right at us out there.
Notice the arced canal. We had to cross that.
Al cleaning himself somewhat after crossing the canal. It was tough getting up out of the water there. Sorry for the misty photo’s
The view of the canal. I was standing in it. The bottom in the center where I was was very hard, but the edges were brutal.
Looking down.
Beavers cause this. We stumbled on their very remote den, well protected from anything by brier.
And this.
There are some very nice savannahs out there. Most of them have been infiltrated by ATV’s. You can see their damage in the second photo.
We searched for the stone for almost a half hour and sunset was approaching, so we decided to walk back to our vehicles by accessing the power lines. On our way we found this Black Rat Snake.
Does Al look a little dirty? That is a towel in his shirt to get the sweat out of his eyes. It was very hard walking today and not feeling the heat out there.
Another view of the canal.
Our decision to return on the power lines was not a good call. There is a long section of it that was not cleared in the past year when the rest was. It is just so wild and wet they must have decided it was way too much trouble. We had to navigate our way through some really serious woods that was taking it’s toll. We stopped every few feet and the sun just kept setting. Finally, after what seemed like forever we made it to the road in the area where we killed Gabe a few years back if you remember. If not, well .....
This area of the power line has all kinds of vegetation, with thousands of Meadow-Beauty and billions of Sweet Pepper Bush. I also found this Turks Cap Lily sticking out above all other vegetation.
We unbelievably took the wrong road back and had to bushwhack again through the woods to get to our cars. On the way out I got stuck and had to fight my way out, just before I took this photo.
Guy
Tonight, Al and I returned to the general area we were in last week to search out and find a stone I have been hoping to find for years. This area is wild country where very few people ever visit, I have to believe it is one of the most unexplored area’s in the Pine Barrens. There is so much water there it is impossible to easily explore without wading as Al and I did again today.
Unfortunately, carrying three frozen bottles of water in my bag, and the high humidity, caused my camera lens to steam up the complete evening. Because of this, many of the photo’s and video’s I wanted to take were impossible to do, and many I took are steamed up. So be prepared for that.
First, the location we were interested in. This tract was owned by J Roger Brick when the state purchased Wharton in the mid 1950’s. Mr. Brick owned, and his heirs still own West Jersey Cranberry Meadow. He was the grandfather of a man I worked with, and I have viewed a piece of the Great Wall of China that he took from it in the 1930’s as he traveled the world. Anyway, the state decided to not survey the property for reasons unknown to me, but it is obvious to Al and I why that may have been. It is a flooded mess there, where one wrong move and you are up to or over your neck in black mud. Why survey such a remote place if it is just water and mud for the most part? However, there is a stone there and Al and I wanted to find it, but that was not to be today. We will return again with a better understanding of what we need to do to accomplish what we set out to find.
The location in the woods behind Atco Dragway. They were racing today and it sounded like the cars were coming right at us out there.
Notice the arced canal. We had to cross that.
Al cleaning himself somewhat after crossing the canal. It was tough getting up out of the water there. Sorry for the misty photo’s
The view of the canal. I was standing in it. The bottom in the center where I was was very hard, but the edges were brutal.
Looking down.
Beavers cause this. We stumbled on their very remote den, well protected from anything by brier.
And this.
There are some very nice savannahs out there. Most of them have been infiltrated by ATV’s. You can see their damage in the second photo.
We searched for the stone for almost a half hour and sunset was approaching, so we decided to walk back to our vehicles by accessing the power lines. On our way we found this Black Rat Snake.
Does Al look a little dirty? That is a towel in his shirt to get the sweat out of his eyes. It was very hard walking today and not feeling the heat out there.
Another view of the canal.
Our decision to return on the power lines was not a good call. There is a long section of it that was not cleared in the past year when the rest was. It is just so wild and wet they must have decided it was way too much trouble. We had to navigate our way through some really serious woods that was taking it’s toll. We stopped every few feet and the sun just kept setting. Finally, after what seemed like forever we made it to the road in the area where we killed Gabe a few years back if you remember. If not, well .....
This area of the power line has all kinds of vegetation, with thousands of Meadow-Beauty and billions of Sweet Pepper Bush. I also found this Turks Cap Lily sticking out above all other vegetation.
We unbelievably took the wrong road back and had to bushwhack again through the woods to get to our cars. On the way out I got stuck and had to fight my way out, just before I took this photo.
Guy
When getting into areas like that it feels good to know you are well off the beaten path. Thanks for the report. Nice black rat BTW. Chiggers?
