Washington Valley Park, West



Washington Valley Park, West (8/4/2013)

The last time we hiked in this rugged area was nearly six years ago, when we followed a hike in the newly-released 3rd edition of 50 Hikes in New Jersey. At that time we traversed trails in the middle region of the park. A recent examination of the park map revealed an expanded network of trails that begged to be explored. So back we headed today. Like last time, we parked in the lot on Newman's Lane just south of Middle Brook. It should be noted that the bridge that crosses over that brook is currently closed to traffic due to construction. It's impossible at the moment to get to the parking area from the north; the only option is from the south.

We first headed west on Blue (right across Newman's Lane from the parking lot) and then stayed right at each fork (Blue is a network of trails west of Newman's Lane) paralleling Middle Brook. It was our intent to get on the white-blazed Middle Brook trail (MBT) at Newman's Lane but we could only find Blue, which we took west until it merged with the MBT. Our next hope was to take the MBT as far west as Argonne Farm, then turn back. But when we reached Crim Road, we encountered a sign announcing that the MBT was closed west of that point due to unsafe conditions. So we turned back at Crim Road, skirted the Crim Road soccer fields and then took the most southern and western Blue trails over the mountain and back to Newman's Lane.

Total distance hiked today was 4.5 miles in about 2 hours and 45 minutes.

(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)


Kiosk at parking area

Huge parking lot

Newman's Lane closed at bridge

Heading into woods on Blue


First view of Middle Brook


Middle Brook

Gorgeous narrow path

 

Igneous basalt along parts


Continuing west

Now on the MBT
 


Bench over Middle Brook

Sturdy bridge over Middle Brook

But there's no path!

Middle Brook from bridge
 


View east

[Photo by Laura]

Beautiful purple damselfly

 


MBT wet in spots

Boardwalk in wet area

Heading to Tullo Road

Busy bee
 


Gate on Tullo Road

Bridge over stream

Middle Brook west of Tullo

View north
 


[Photo by Laura]

MBT blaze in park

MBT map

MBT closed west of Crim Road
 


Crim Road soccer fields


Tullo Road bridge over Middle Brook

Golden rod
 


A cicada! But not Brood II

Middle Brook


 


Amorous Japanese beetles


Climbing Blue

 


Ascending on Blue

Red cedar

Lovely ...

... meandering path
 



Huge uprooted tree


Short boardwalk
 



Tiny stream

JORBA obstacle

JORBA bridge
 


[Photo by Laura]

Basalt

Beautiful ...

... boulders
 


Abandoned car

Interesting rock patterns

Construction sign

View to pedestrian bridge
 

Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh
Web design by Dan Balogh