The Factory Branch

[Ben Ruset]

Yesterday Guy, Jessica, and I met up to do a little exploring of the Factory Branch in the Forked River Mountains.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.877205057682566&lng=-74.2796802520752&z=14&type=topo&gpx=
^ The pointer there is on no specific location. This is just to give an idea of where this river is.

I had been exploring the area using the 1930's maps, and found what appeared to be (what I hoped were) corduroy roads crossing the swamp:

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.85867712109321&lng=-74.30178165435791&z=16&type=nj1930&gpx=

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.861477219116935&lng=-74.29433584213257&z=16&type=nj1930&gpx=

One of the problems we faced was how to get there. To get to that spot we had to cross land owned by The Nature Conservancy as well as (what I assume to be) the giant sand company (Claytons?) in the area. You can get close by taking the road that swings to the left above Aserdaten, but you'll reach a point where you need a good 4WD vehicle to get there. Someone (TNC maybe?) might have tried to block the road, but enough people have gone around it that the blockades have been bypassed.

You'll eventually hit the giant "sand road." We parked my Jeep right there and hiked down the long, straight road towards the Factory Branch.

When we got near where the "road" to the first cut through the swamp was, we found a familiar face:

Pushing down into the swamp, the road disappears, but searching along the swamp led to this:

You could see the stumps of the old cedars still sticking out of the ground, but the road itself was wet and muddy. If there were cedar logs for a corduroy road, they're long gone. Guy was the only one of us who wore waders, so he walked up the road a bit and mentioned how it likely disappeared.

Given the heat and the prevalence of vegetation, we both agreed that searching for a sawmill in the area would likely be fruitless. It's on my list of places to try to revisit in the winter.

 

[bobpbx]

I like that area, especially the other side of the creek from where you were. There is a hill with sand stone on top. Not much, but clearly evident. That dim road you see paralleling the creek is also easy to get to from the road to the FRM on the other side. On the side you were on there are a couple of campsites on the river. One is very far in and small, with non-native rocks for a fire ring and remnants of a dock. There is an area where it looks like someone dammed the creek to create a little pond.

 

[Ben Ruset]

Guy and I were debating if you had been there or not. If we had bet money, I would have lost. I didn't think you'd have been there before.

 

[Teegate]

Never bet on Bob not being there.

We did not spend much time there, but we had a good time. Here is Jessica saving Santa from a certain death.

Here is where the trees block the road through the Factory Branch. You can see the faint traces of where it was.

And Ben found this pounded into the road near the Factory Branch. Some sort of survey marker.

Guy

 

[woodjin]

Nice report. I enjoyed reading it. That looks like one old corodory road! Due you (PBX members) recall a section of the last PBX hike north of the Power lines that looked like a very old corodory road? Mickey and I commented on it but we were seperated from the rest of you guys.

Jeff

 

[Ben Ruset]

Nice report. I enjoyed reading it. That looks like one old corodory road! Due you (PBX members) recall a section of the last PBX hike north of the Power lines that looked like a very old corodory road? Mickey and I commented on it but we were seperated from the rest of you guys.

Jeff

Well, the thing is that there's no logs on the road. So either the logs are all rotted away (unlikely), or they pulled them up after they were done with the road (more likely), or they never put logs down in the first place (most likely.)

 

[woodjin]

Well, the thing is that there's no logs on the road. So either the logs are all rotted away (unlikely), or they pulled them up after they were done with the road (more likely), or they never put logs down in the first place (most likely.)

Yeah, it is difficult to see in the photo if there wasn't more evidence of a cord road. I think your "most likely" scenerio is probably right. One of the reasons I stated that it looked old was due to the fact that I didn't see any timber. I figured they were under the spaghum.

It is interesting that they had a non cordoroy road in such a wet environment. Did the cedar swamp extend quite aways?

 

[Ben Ruset]

Width wise, the swamp isn't big. It's pretty wet, though. Much more wet than the part of the Mordecai I was running around in.

http://maps.njpinebarrens.com/#lat=39.85833121870268&lng=-74.30178165435791&z=15&type=k&gpx=