Wild West Wading, A PBX Hike

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
8,177
All,

Here is an edited version of the email all members of PBX received back on 11/6. The date was changed from Black Friday until today because of weather concerns on Thanksgiving night.


Boys, while the old lady is digging on Black Friday, let us Pine Barren Brothers hit the woods again! We'll make it our cedar green Friday....I guarantee it!

The title of this exploring trip is "Wild West Wading". At 8:45 AM on the day after Thanksgiving we'll meet on route 563 just below Chatsworth, where there is a fork in the road. From there we'll head southwest through that large field in Chatsworth until we come to the beautiful Eastern bank of the Western Branch of the Wading River. We'll follow this beautiful river south all the way down to where it begins to parallel the Shoal Branch.

This trip is about 5 miles long, with some beautiful cedar trees along the bank in many locations. Bring your camera. I hope to see you there. Let me know if you can make it.

Happy Trails........bob



Attending today were 3 non members of this site:

Mike Baker from Mikebaker.com
His wife Allison
Paul

And from this site:

Bob (bobpbx)
Al (manumuskin)
Tom (oji)
Chris (hewey)
Guy (teegate)

As it says above we started at the intersection on 563 right by the Chatsworth Cemetery and headed to the Wading on the western side. We meandered along it's edges to where it crosses 563, and then continued on. Here is an old tree stand we saw along our way. Complete with a carpet window, it was too old to examine.

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A few views along the wet area's.

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Allison, who is a marathon runner had no problems making her way through all of this, except for the water flowing into her boots at times.

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Bob traveled this area in the past and it was dry; however, beavers have caused it to be almost a foot deep in places.


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Proof they are there.


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Then time for lunch. If you have followed this site very, very, very, closely, you would have viewed posts about the place I will call "Camp Parker Preserve."


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It comes complete with all the comforts of home much like the old Nature Conservancy house.


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Bob and Paul discussing our future on the bench provided.


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And the view is just as nice.


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And it even has a dock like the Conservancy house.


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It was nice!

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Lunch regrettably had to end, and then off to the bogs where we found this fenced in area of Winter berry Holly.


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As I have said before, now is the time to visit the bogs at the preserve. Brier is starting to grow along the road edges and in not too many years these bogs will look like many other old bogs such as Friendship bogs.


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And for those of you who like to follow marked trails, they have just that.


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Do you believe in global warming? Well, it is a few days from December and we found this Aster and other plants.


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This photo shows the route of an old canal. As you can see it ends here. But at one time in the past it continued on through the cement dike in the second photo. An interesting place!


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If you have not explored the Parker Preserve, you are missing out on some of the best locations to explore. By the end of the day we had rated this trip almost a 9 and we traveled 8.8 miles. A great day with great people, and I want more!

Guy
 
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woodjin

Piney
Nov 8, 2004
4,338
326
Near Mt. Misery
Great report. Sorry I didn't get back to you guys regarding today (as opposed to Friday) I was entertaining family all weekend. Beautiful weather huh?

Jack fishing at "Camp Parker Preserve".
watermark.php
 

oji

Piney
Jan 25, 2008
2,096
462
63
Browns Mills
A great day, great folks and a great trip! To top it all off, when I got home I went to my sister's house and my niece's husband made clam,shrimp and snow crab Fra Diavolo for my birthday and after a big hunk of cake I'm ready to hit the sack.
 

Hewey

Piney
Mar 10, 2005
1,042
109
Pinewald, NJ
What a great day to be in the woods! The weather was perfect and almost no briars on this trip. We saw many nice areas today from cedar swamps to savannas.

The first savanna


Allison gets a piggy back crossing from Mike as Guy lends a hand.


The shoal branch


Bob on the dam


cedar


The Wading at Parker


a large cedar we found



Guy and Al in the flooded area


an area Bob calls spring camp


The crew


It was a very nice trip today, looking forward to the next one.

Chris
 
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MarkBNJ

Piney
Jun 17, 2007
1,875
73
Long Valley, NJ
www.markbetz.net
Wow, a couple of those cedars are massive. Looks like a great trip. But what I want to know is, if I ever come on one of these things, will I get a piggy back ride, too? Or is there some sort of double standard here?
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
8,177
Wow, a couple of those cedars are massive. Looks like a great trip. But what I want to know is, if I ever come on one of these things, will I get a piggy back ride, too? Or is there some sort of double standard here?

The reason for the piggy back is after her walking in water over her boots all morning, she had recently changed socks. The photo was taken minutes before the end of the hike and there really was no reason for her to have to flood her boots again. So she got a ride across.

Guy
 

RednekF350

Piney
Feb 20, 2004
4,944
3,080
Pestletown, N.J.
Looks like a great one boys and the weather was golden. Bob made the right call.
Guy, the photos are very nice.

I was sorry I had to miss this one but I did enjoy myself in the high country of the northern Pennsylvania deer woods in a rustic, cigarette smoke filled deer camp with a bunch of smelly, beer swilling guys.
No deer taken by me but there were three killed in our camp. Without the cigarette smoke on our clothes the take may have been higher.

I like the pictures of Bob helping out at the water crossing.
He is such a genuinely nice guy and always willing to help out, especially when there is a woman involved.
:)

I need to explore that area and I may do a solo outing along some sections of the hike this winter.
 

Teegate

Administrator
Site Administrator
Sep 17, 2002
25,602
8,177
I was on the Ives Branch yesterday before getting sick, and we walked right past some ruins on our PBX hike or they have become more exposed since the hike.

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