Trip report: Shiver Me Timbers and Blow Me Down

[BEHR655]

What can I say? We did it damn it!

Our track:

Length: 4.76 miles
Time: 7 hours
Rating: 8.33

We met at Atsion at 8:00. It was a sunny, crisp morning. It was the kind of day you dream of for a hike. And this was going to be some hike!
For this hike we had Bob, Guy, Ed, Stu, Scott, Jeff, Paul and myself (Bear). We loaded into three vehicles and headed down 206 to West Mill Rd. and headed down to the road that leads to the Swamp Monster. This would be where we would start and end our trip.
We geared up and then posed for this shot just before we headed off.

We headed east to our first waypoint "Sandy" and shortly came to a nice Savanna.

It turned out that "Sandy" wasn't as sandy as I though and we turned northeast toward "Boomerang" and then north to "Lord of the Flies". Now "Lord of the Flies" was where I expected this trip to get tough. Just getting to that point was twice as tough as I thought it would be so I knew we were in for it. With Jeff leading we made it to the downed trees I had hoped to find at "Tree Bridge". The trees made a great bridge but it was a little deep getting to the trees. I think this is where Paul first took on water. Stu and Ed were the last to cross.

After we came down off the "Tree Bridge" I started to truly understand the meaning of "tough". We were in it. We tediously made our way toward our next waypoint "Crazy Eight". Being in the swamp so deep we were getting conflicting gps readings and we got split up for a bit. After a while we meet up again and stopped for a breather. We decided we should quit that waypoint as it was keeping us too close to the Sleeper and going was tough. We made our way to "Tarus" and then onto "Squiggle". It wasn't until we got into the area of "Squiggle" that it started to ease up a little. Very little. We headed straight out to Batsto-Fire Line Rd to take a long needed lunch break.

It was at this point that Ed, having trouble with his feet, and Stu, having trouble with his legs, decided to hike the road to Batsto where they would be met by Ed's wife. You don't know how many times I wished I had gone with them. (Maybe you do. LOL)
The rest of us decided to take a break and hiked the road to a spot adjacent to "Watering Hole" (having bypassed "Swimming Hole"due to time restrictions and fatigue). A short distance off the road we were treated to a beautiful sight. "Watering Hole" was worth the trip, although I can think of easier ways to get there.

A pleasant respite before our next leg. We set course for "Blow Me Down", the waypoint that started it all. We were back into the thick of it again. For the next two hours I think, this is pretty much what we saw.

But we made it through. The last photo shows the dawning of the area we call "Blow me Down", a beautiful, swampy savanna, filled with sun bleached dead falls and cut downs. I was truly too tired to really appreciate it then (so we need to go back).

Guy found a neat fallen tree highway that we were able to balance our way across for quite some distance. This tree highway took us through an island of live standing cedars and maples. Shortly we emerged back out into the savanna. We made our way back to the Sleeper where another tree bridge was found for our crossing. Jeff said he didn't need no stinking bridge.

Then off to "Swamp Monster". I bet we are the only ones ever to approach it from the direction we had come from. We found Ed's Geo Cache there and I think Paul put something in it. The kids sure do like playing with trucks.

We followed Bob through a nice soggy savanna and out to the road which we followed back to our vehicles.

We went back to Atsion where Scott shared some of his home made wine with us. Thanks Scott. And then to the Pic for the beer Bob had promised us. Thanks Bob. It was a great day with great men in the Great Swamp!

Bear

( I designed this trip so I want to apologize to anyone who's body feels like mine does today. My legs have never been so sore and the toes on my right foot are swollen and sore. I also have a slight sprain in my left thumb. Other than that I feel great. )

 

[pinelandpaddler]

Man, I'm missing out! I need to get back to Jersey soon so that I can try to take on a trip like that with you guys. Behr, what is that sandy area next to GS10(?) which looks like it used to be a pond?

 

[BEHR655]

It is a vernal pond (I'm guessing) that was our "Watering Hole" waypoint. The water was only about 6" to 9" deep with a flat sandy bottom. It is where the photo of us in the pond was taken.

Steve

 

[bobpbx]

It is a vernal pond (I'm guessing) that was our "Watering Hole" waypoint. The water was only about 6" to 9" deep with a flat sandy bottom. It is where the photo of us in the pond was taken.

Steve

I notice Steve, that there is an even larger bald spot with water about .3 miles northwest of the watering hole. It appears to be big sandy area (white sand) with water in one corner. Be interesting to check it out next time we are down that way.

 

[Teegate]

Paul (PBX Member) placed my waterproof map in the container at the Swamp Monster for the first person to get there to have. It is a color map of our hike and Paul wrote a few nice words on it. A great souvenir!

To the photo's!

Crossing the Sleeper

Pbxbob

The Path Ahead. Try crossing this all day!

The deep lake

Scott, Steve, and me taking a much needed break at the clearcut area.

War Wounds

Again, the path ahead.

The sun setting at the Swamp Monster

Guy

 

[BEHR655]

I notice Steve, that there is an even larger bald spot with water about .3 miles northwest of the watering hole. It appears to be big sandy area (white sand) with water in one corner. Be interesting to check it out next time we are down that way.

I'm game. Carry me? LOL

 

[RednekF350]

I sent this thread to an older friend of mine and it brought back a lot of fond memories for him.
He is in his late 70's now with 2 knee replacements but still very active in hunting and fishing.
He and his friends made several attempts at crossing the Great Swamp almost 50 years ago on motorcycles!
His early enduro days in the 50's started with Harleys. Imagine trying to slog a Harley through that area.
They were convinced there was a way to cross but they never found one. Obviously, they did it pretty blindly,without the aid of GPS and GoogleEarth!
He looked at the pix in the thread and said he would have loved to have been there but he said he would have needed a helicopter to get him out.
He knows the pines inside and out and used to visit with Dave Amato who lived in a house on Atsion-Constable Bridge Road. The house still sits at the beginning of the privately owned active bogs.
Scott

 

[BEHR655]

Several attempts you say? You'd think they would learn the lesson the first time.

Steve

 

[BEHR655]

This photo needed some work but I like the way it came out.

Steve

 

[RednekF350]

Several attempts you say? You'd think they would learn the lesson the first time.

Steve

I saw my friend Bill last night and he was still talking about the big swamp!
He told me of a hunting trip back there about 40 years ago.
He was driving down the road that leads from Westcoat out towards Atsion and Lock's bridge.
He came across a dishevelled hunter, soaked to the bones and walking northwest towards Atsion.
Bill asked him where he was headed and he said to Pleasant Mills Church, where he had left his truck.
Bill had to argue with the guy to convince him he was walking towards Atsion. Apparently the guy didn't even have a compass.
The guy parked at Pleasant Mills ,shot a deer off of West Mill Road and tracked it all the way across the Great Swamp over to Constable Bridge road near Westcoat. He lost the blood and never did find the deer.
Bill offered him a ride back to Constable bridge and the guy walked back to the church from there.
You have to give that guy credit for going to those lengths to attempt to recover the deer. Its a shame he wasn't successful.

 

[bobpbx]

I give that guy a lot of credit for sticking with it too. I wonder if he was in shape. It must have been a shock to his system to cross that swamp in rain and cold, and being lost at the same time. I say lost, because by walking in the wrong direction.

Guy has a good lost story-the time he got lost over by Atco (?). That was an awful day for him too.

My worst day in the pines was a wilderness boy scout camp I did in the late 60's off of some road South of Medford. There was snow on the ground when we bushwacked in, and then a cold rain started that night. We did not have a lot of money for good clothes or a decent sleeping bag. The bottom of the tent filled with ice water, and we had to huddle by the fire in the cold wind and rain; the fire sputtering out now and then. My fingers and toes were raw and cold the entire time.

 

[wis bang]

He and his friends made several attempts at crossing the Great Swamp almost 50 years ago on motorcycles!
His early enduro days in the 50's started with Harleys. Imagine trying to slog a Harley through that area.
Scott

I learned to ride on my father's buddie's 1953 Harley 156 a two-stroke.

Dad said they all had 'em at one time; be racing enduro's in south jersey this weekend, change sproketts and race scrambles the next weekend...Alot lighter than a big harley [I think they were built in Italy] but nothing like a modern motocross or trail bike...They didn't have much protective gear either! They were Iron men!

 

[lgench]

Yes, Italian. Aermacchi. My first bike was a '65 Sprint SS250, along with many others my age. Followed by a '67 Triumph Bonneville, another loser. Then rode through the pines for two seasons on Honda Trail 90's, two-up. Never broke down.

 

[RednekF350]

There was snow on the ground when we bushwacked in, and then a cold rain started that night. We did not have a lot of money for good clothes or a decent sleeping bag. The bottom of the tent filled with ice water, and we had to huddle by the fire in the cold wind and rain; the fire sputtering out now and then. My fingers and toes were raw and cold the entire time.

Poor Boy Scout Bob!
I feel the cold settin' in my bones just reading that.
I had a bad Scout experience in the early 70's too.
3 day camp, 3 days of rain, laying in water in the tent.
Woodstock for Boy Scouts without the music and hallucinogens.
Scott

 

[Teegate]

Swamp Monster Update

I have a timeline on when the Swamp Monster was abandoned, and it was much later than I had thought it might have been. In April and July of 1977 there were serious fires in the pines, with one being east of Paradise Lake in the Great Swamp which burned for a week. Many of the cedars still in good condition fell over because the fires burned under the ground and destroyed the roots. Steve (Behr655) noticed the downed trees in aerial photo’s, and members of PBX visited there in our “Shiver Me Timbers and Blow Me Down” Hike in 2006 that you can read about in this thread.

The area in question.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.67...pn=0.011396,0.023196&t=k&z=16&iwloc=addr&om=1

About 120 acres were then put up for bit to have the cedars removed. The contract was won by Paul Harmanson who owned a saw mill in Mt. Holly. He hired Leon Stevens who owned Stevens Landscaping in Sickerville to harvest the trees, with the state receiving $54.320 for the wood. It was decided that because of the harsh terrain, the wood would be cut, placed on sleds, and pulled to dry ground with .......... a bulldozer. Sound familiar! Harvesting began in the fall of 1977, but complications caused them to stop. (Hmmmm) It resumed in January of 1979.

This was slow and costly, so a new plan was devised where a helicopter would remove the wood in place of driving it out. It was estimated that the vehicles could remove 60 cords a week, and the helicopter could do that in one day. The helicopter flew out of Hammonton airport each day of the operation.

All of the cedars removed were dead trees, and all the live tree’s were not touched. To insure the proper trees were removed, a blue line was painted on the tree’s at the division line between dead and live tree’s. This photo illustrates that perfectly.

It is apparent from this info the reason why there are so many downed tree’s still there, is because even though these tree’s fell in the fire because the roots were damaged, they must have still been alive and were not up for harvesting. You can see them clearly here as Steve noticed when planning the hike.


http://maps.google.com/maps?q=39.67...74.683975&spn=0.001424,0.002899&t=k&z=19&om=1


Using the helicopter caused some hazards, especially where occasionally a log would let loose. Everyone would run for cover as to not be crushed by it. One worker from the 15 man shift was injured by a chainsaw, and was airlifted by the helicopter to the lawn of Kessler Memorial Hospital in Hammonton for medical help.

They averaged about 5 acres per week, and the process was expected to be finished by the fall of 1979. Some of the wood had started to rot requiring them to get it done quickly. In the end the wood was worth over one million dollars with you and I getting $54,320 of it.


Guy

 

[bobpbx]

Excellant research Guy! Bravo!

Very good sleuthing. You must have a direct link to the library now.

 

[Teegate]

It is interesting that we had heard the engine of the Swamp Monster was removed by helicopter, and this makes that scenario much more plausible.

Guy

 

[woodjin]

Very interesting Guy, great detective work.

 

[Sue Gremlin]

Guy, excellent history. Thanks for sharing that! I just read this to my husband and he said the swamp monster isn't a bulldozer, but a steam shovel or something like that, and that he always assumed that it was used to lift the logs with its crane. Would that be feasible to you? That it was used to load the logs onto the sleds?
I am picturing people scattering because of a falling tree from 300 feet up! Yeesh. That sounds like some seriously dangerous work for both the people on the ground as well as those in the helicopter!

 

[whippoorbill]

Another priceless thread -- nice job, everybody. The photos, trip reports, Guy's history. There certainly are some hard-core barrenites on this forum.

Full moon tonight. I'm thinking about tracing this trip's tracks. What are the chances of my survival, ya' think?

Whippoorbill