Today, inspired by the recent Calico thread, Tom G. and I set off to explore the area.
Before Tom showed up I explored around Martha. It looks like a tree recently got hit by lightning:
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=323&pos=7
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=323&pos=8
The bark was blown clear off the tree in one clean slice. There were sections of it as far as twenty feet away from the tree. It must have happened recently since the wood was still fresh and the tree still green.
I have never seen so many Mountain Laurels in the Pine Barrens. Through the whole area, even up to Calico, we saw them.
The puddle at Calico is really shallow now. The go-arounds are even dry. I still wouldn't bring a truck through the middle of the puddle without someone to help pull you out. It's about knee-deep and gooey mud. But, after looking at Cook Map #16 it appears that Calico was on the left hand side of the road immediately before you get to the puddle. Chances are anything that was there is gone, since there is a huge canal dug through there for one of the nearby bogs. The vegetation is SO thick anyway that it's impossible to search the area.
We then went up to Nash's Cabin to find it still trashed. Tom and I cleaned up all of the glass and cans that had been spilled from one of the trash cans and walked around to find the other cellar holes in the area.
On our way out of the woods to Chatsworth for lunch, we ran into a girl who got lost. She followed us out to Chatsworth Rd. We had lunch and then stopped in at Buzby's. Marilyn has re-arranged the shop a little. Tom and her spoke for a while, while I looked through the books. She has a new ghost towns book out, but it didn't look too different from the old one so I passed on it.
All in all, a good day!
Before Tom showed up I explored around Martha. It looks like a tree recently got hit by lightning:
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=323&pos=7
http://forums.njpinebarrens.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=323&pos=8
The bark was blown clear off the tree in one clean slice. There were sections of it as far as twenty feet away from the tree. It must have happened recently since the wood was still fresh and the tree still green.
I have never seen so many Mountain Laurels in the Pine Barrens. Through the whole area, even up to Calico, we saw them.
The puddle at Calico is really shallow now. The go-arounds are even dry. I still wouldn't bring a truck through the middle of the puddle without someone to help pull you out. It's about knee-deep and gooey mud. But, after looking at Cook Map #16 it appears that Calico was on the left hand side of the road immediately before you get to the puddle. Chances are anything that was there is gone, since there is a huge canal dug through there for one of the nearby bogs. The vegetation is SO thick anyway that it's impossible to search the area.
We then went up to Nash's Cabin to find it still trashed. Tom and I cleaned up all of the glass and cans that had been spilled from one of the trash cans and walked around to find the other cellar holes in the area.
On our way out of the woods to Chatsworth for lunch, we ran into a girl who got lost. She followed us out to Chatsworth Rd. We had lunch and then stopped in at Buzby's. Marilyn has re-arranged the shop a little. Tom and her spoke for a while, while I looked through the books. She has a new ghost towns book out, but it didn't look too different from the old one so I passed on it.
All in all, a good day!
