NJ Maurice River Bluffs Preserve

The Maurice (pronounced MAW-riss) River has a section declared a New Jersey Wild and Scenic River on which the Maurice River Bluffs Nature Preserve is located.  The river meanders back and forth once it leaves the pinelands town of Millville and flows past the preserve onwards through tidal marshes to its mouth on the Delaware Bay. 

Tidal guts filling with a flood tide

Named for the Prince Maurice, a Dutch trading ship that was attacked in port and sunk in the river by Lenni Lenape in 1657, this river - like many rivers in the Pine Barrens region - is recovering from centuries of industrialization and degradation. As we hiked nearly five miles of trails that looped through the preserve I was amazed at how hilly it was. For Southern New Jersey hills like this are rare! 

Hilly terrain! 

The Pits (an old sand quarry)

The hilly terrain combines ancient sand dunes and the pits and piles of the old sand quarry. I grew up near a great sand quarry we called "The Pits" that had also reverted to forest and grasslands so I was pretty excited to wander for hours through an almost familiar landscape from my childhood. The dappled and scented pine woods and old sand roads brought back lots of fond memories. "The Pits" made me a young naturalist and though its now sixty-four years later, I still found myself on hands and knees chasing Velvet Ants and lifting slabs of pine bark to check for Milksnakes and Corn Snakes.  

Sori - Ebony Spleenwort

The preserve protects an important ecological link between the pine barrens and the estuary.  It hosts abundant bird life which on a day like this in early fall with a north to south breeze, is filled to the brim with hundreds of small, nocturnal migratory birds who are spending their daylight hours resting, feeding, and preening. Resident eagles screeched and cackled from their perch trees near the river.  A Muskrat cruised along a sandy pebble beach while a Red Fox and her kit ducked into the cement ruins of the old Cargill granary complex. It was a very busy wildlife place for a day hike!

An understory of Ebony Spleenwort

My dog must have thought I was nuts with the number of times I dropped down to my knees to examine something small. Each time I did, Amos dropped his nose to the ground to sniff the place I found so interesting. I saved him from being stung by any number of wingless wasps, Velvet Ants, as he nosed into my attempts to get a close-up picture before one would scurry angrily away.  I dropped down to examine the filaments on patches of Powdered Ruffle Lichen and there was his nose. I squatted down to study the beautiful translucent pattern of Spotted Horsemint in early morning light and there was Amos looking at me from the opposite side of the flower. Such a helper. 

Powdered Curly Lichen

Virginia Pine

The old bluffs, ancient remnants of a Pleistocene landscape, dropped off at the river which was quickly filling with a King Tide made higher still with a wind that shifted onshore and and a surge of rising sea from the Atlantic. This King Tide, however, was forecast to cause extensive flooding along the marsh roads today with notable erosion inland along tidal rivers.  As I stood at the ruins of the old Cargill dock, a chunk of sandbank ker-plopped into the river sending a swirl of yellow sediment upstream with the rising tide. It seemed most of the small bluff, no more than fifteen to twenty feet at its highest above the river, was held in place by interwoven roots of American Holly, Virginia Pine, and Black Oak. In places where trees were scarce, the bluffs were actively eroding. 

Speckled Blister Lichen - common on American Holly

Velvet Ant 

We came upon a small spring, a natural artesian well squirting just a little water up through a pipe. This water comes directly from the large Kirkwood-Cohansey Aquifer lying just beneath the Pine Barrens region. It is recharged by rainfall and snowmelt but having little of either on this end-of-summer day, the water pressure was almost nil. Amos took a few sips from the burbling pipe and seemed quite satisfied. As far as the Eastern Coastal Plain extends in New Jersey, sixty eight miles in all, the water from this shallow but expansive aquifer is rated as the most pristine. The aquifer is stored above a large lens of Miocene-era filter sands and clay that extends from Sandy Hook NJ to inland of Cape May and Vineland, NJ. The same layer of sand is exposed along Maryland's Western Shore on the Chesapeake at Calvert Cliffs and the bluff system there (minus the aquifer) and is full of marine fossils. 

Spotted Horsemint

Not as old as the subterranean sands beneath our feet but much older than the 1950s-era sand quarry is the ruin of the Wheaton Manion along the old sand road on the main trail.  Built by the Wheaton family in the 1700s, the burnt out stone walls are all that remains of the Wheaton Estate which would have had a clear view of the river and the family's docks that serviced the transport of produce to markets and sand to their glass-making factories in town. The last Wheaton family member to own the mansion and estate donated the entire property of 500 acres to the Nature Conservancy in the 1980s and in the early 2000s the old place was torched by vandals. Stories are still shared of Mrs. Wheaton cooking homemade meals for invited troops stationed at the nearby Millville Army Airfield during WWII. 

The Wheaton Mansion

The Wheaton Family as well as other regional families of wealth no doubt took inspiration from the Carnegie and Rockefeller families who gifted estates, ranches, and forests to public management from the 1920s through the early 2000s. Acadia National Park, Katahdin Woods and Water National Monument  The Grand Teton National Park  and the National Park Foundation  have all been possible thanks to family legacy gifts and philanthropic funding. Its an important part of our national parks history. On regional and local levels generational properties are often gifted as local parks and to conservation organizations as legacy landscapes. Legacy-inspired conservation is instrumental in safeguarding many local natural areas for ecological protection and community green space, and this preserve is a prime example of that.

Spotted Knapweed

I imagine that the Wheaton family would approve of the old mansion ruin being used as it is these past several years as a roost for vultures and owls who build their stick nests (or no nest at all) in the open alcoves of the stacked brick fireplaces. A sign is posted on a split rail fence "Sensitive Wildlife Area - Do Not Enter" to keep us humans from bothering the big birds in their big, fancy birdhouse mansion. 

King Tide fills the river

Marsh Fleabane

Slender Goldenrod

Groundsel Tree

The Maurice River's lower half was settled in the mid-1600s with two small port towns, a sawmill, a bloomery forge and furnace, and a handful of farms. By the mid-1800s the river banks were lined with larger industries, fish and shellfish processing plants, produce docks, sand and lumber depots. Railroads connected industrial sites on both sides of the river by the early 1900s.  Millville was thriving as a small industrial center by the time WWII began. To stand on the highest bluff overlooking the river today there is scant evidence of its booming industrial past except at low tide when many old docks and bulkheads emerge from the muck. Some are centuries old. 

Cast-off Blue Crab molt

We finished our exploration of the preserve with one last look at the very full river then made a fast exit up the old sand road for a fifteen minute drive along the length of the Maurice to its mouth at the East Point Lighthouse on the Delaware. The roads were beginning to flood so I parked the truck on a high shoulder and Amos and I waded in for a quick visit just in time to witness the Delaware Bay pouring around and through the large sand-filled erosion socks that encircle the remote point of land on which the second-oldest lighthouse in New Jersey still stands. 

A main carriage road in its day.

We walked in from the flooding bridge

King Tide pours around the erosion barrier

At the lighthouse we met a state wildlife area manager who was checking the lock on a gate while a few fishermen called retreat from the rising waters. There's been a lot of ruckus over the management of the lighthouse and he wasn't in a mood to talk about it except to say he felt that unless the state did something to either raise the structure or move it, it could soon be lost. He pointed out how some of the residents nearby had been raising their homes but in the long run "there's nothing we can do to stop what is happening in front of us. It's out of our hands now." The water was pouring over the road by this time and he signaled to the fishermen it was time to go.  Amos and I walked quickly around the house as water began seeping through the barrier and into the yard. I could hear the two large sump pumps in the basement of the lighthouse cycling on and off. 

East Point Lighthouse, c. 1847

The state land manager hopped into his truck and looked back at the king tide now engulfing the sand berm at the end of the road. "We saw this coming years ago," he said. "Four-hundred yards of beach and dune meadows lost to rising seas, storm surges, nuisance tides, and sinking land. We pretended not to notice." 

The walk out

Amos and I walked back to the truck .The water had risen from ankle deep to half-calf in under thirty minutes and now a strong current was washing over the bridge. On our way up the road, safely back in the truck, we forded several other washed out sections while a state roads crew waited  with barricades ready to set up - signs of our times. 

Notes:

The Wheaton Family continues to promote the arts and nature through their philanthropic work in Milltown and the Pine Barrens region. I visited Maurice River Bluffs early on a Sunday and the WheatonArts Center was not yet open. I have to go back for another visit! 

Documenting King Tides is an important tool for monitoring the combined effect of sinking land, higher sea level, and the highest tides of the year. From North Carolina, to Maryland's Eastern Shore, to New Jersey, the impact of higher King Tides are proving the Mid-Atlantic to be one of the regions most vulnerable to sea level rise in the world. https://mycoast.org/nj/high-water

PA - AT Hike #11: Hunters Run to Whiskey Springs x 2 Out-and-Backs

 PA - AT Hike #11: Hunters Run to Whiskey Springs, 10 miles Out-and-Back

Amos and I continued our PA-AT hiking project with a camp-over at Pine Grove Furnace State Park and two back-to-back days starting at the Hunters Run Trailhead parking area on Rt. 34 heading northbound (NOBO) for 10 miles out-and-back (5 miles straight through). Out-and-backs are a little boring  for me which is why to create (safe) loops, but there are so many very busy highways and shoulder-less roads in this area that it means doubling back. 

Eastern Box Turtle

The weather was cool but a little humid so I packed an extra water bottle for Amos. It was terribly dry, though. We need rain. Up we went across an unnamed knob, crumbling quartzite under our feet. We came across some recently dug out yellow jacket nests pretty early on but these were not on the trail. I venture to say that ole' bear we saw clawing out the hillside a few weeks ago on another nearby slope must have a cousin here. Quite the excavation! I didn't stay to take pictures, but there's a real difference in the way an Eastern Skunk does her neat little dig compared to the crater holes left by a Black Bear!  

Here comes Autumn!

Young understory Hickories, Sassafras, and Spicebush were turning yellow and red beneath the still green - but thinning - canopy of oak. I made note of some small quarry pits and many large charcoal hearths, some stacked up the hill like stair steps. This knob and its surrounding forests must have been cut over several times before the need for charcoal as fuel for the iron furnaces at Pine Grove and Boiling Springs subsided. These aren't old woods, but they aren't all that young either. There were many small stump-sprouted American Chestnuts. I can only imagine what this woods looked like before the blight killed the mature trees. 

Wrinkle-leafed Goldenrod

Flat-topped Goldenrod

Amos tracked his eleventh Eastern Box Turtle of the season - fitting since this is PA-AT Hike #11 and as I documented this gnawed on, grizzled old turtle with a few portraits, my turtle-tracking hound let out a tremendous bay. Something big thrashed downslope so fast that by the time I stood up to see what it was, the big something was gone. A southbound (SOBO) hiker passed us and stopped briefly to pet Amos, though he was in a hurry to make it to Pine Grove Furnace State Park for a campsite and a hot shower. His trail name was Breezy coming from Maine, heading to Georgia. Happy trails, Breezy.

No swamp today

We dropped down off the mountain and into the low vales where our turn-around point would be at a bridge over a stream. We'd come almost three miles with another half mile to go when there was a low, deep rumbling boom that rattled the forest so much so that birds scattered and a rainfall of yellow leaves poured over us. Amos looked bewildered. I'm sure he heard it differently than I did. Is there a quarry blasting on a Sunday? Was there an earthquake? 

No water!

We had a nice late lunch of apple slices, cheese, and crackers sitting on the bridge over the now dry creek that only a few weeks ago, according to hikers leaving notes on the Far Out app, had been roaringly high. This is the same bridge I took Amos' puppy picture on seven years ago. Now he's getting that frosted look around his face and it makes me a little sad. But he's having a great day, good pace, drinking all his water. A very happy hiking hound.

Puppy Amos ...

...and seven years later!

We turned back around and retraced our steps and in the low light of late afternoon stopped in a powerline right of way to admire the yellow Goldenrod and Wing-Stem, purple New York Aster, and clouds of Wood Aster. It was enough of a break in the forest scenery that I stood a long time and watched Skippers and Buckeye butterflies float from patch to patch. Back to Hunters Run, then on to camp, we had a gloriously cool night camping out under a bright moon. Barred Owls called to each other in the deepest night and Amos snored, wrapped up in his sleeping bag, next to me in the truck.

Two out-and-backs for a nice weekend camping trip

The next morning we got up early and did a walk-about in the campground where we met Breezy again, enjoying a hot cup of coffee. Amos was excited to see him so of course he let out an huge AROO at 7am and, well, it was Monday morning so who cares. Breezy was on his way as I was packing up the truck while Amos hid in the woods because he thought we were going home, which he doesn't like to do when camping, but as soon as I said "let's go for another hike" he popped out and jumped in the truck. Today's hike would be hard for him, as it involves the Rock Maze just south of the AT Trailhead at Whiskey Springs Road, so I figured I'd let him tell me when he's had enough.

Entering the Rock Maze

Now, whoever originally planned the route through the Rock Maze did not plan an alternative route so we had to navigate the steep, boulder ridge carefully together and made it just over a mile in when we were faced with a huge five foot drop that brought Amos to a full stop. I remember when he was a puppy seven years ago. I was able to lift  him down and carry him around the really sketchy bits but here he is at 75 pounds and there was no way. 

A mile into the Maze

We wandered in and out of the Maze trying to find an alternative way around the big drop but instead climbed all the way down off the ridge to a smaller boulder field below where hikers had made their own walk arounds. Much better. We descended steeply down a set of switch backs and wandered slowly through the woods to where we turned around yesterday. Another lunch at the bridge and a slow return.

The Drop - Amos Shall Not Pass

I love this section and have hiked up here often just to explore around the boulder field. The massive spires and blocks of quartzite here serve as an established bouldering site for local rock climbing, but the several times I've been here it's never been crowded (like Pole Steeple can be).  The rock type is quartzite but it is pebbly and unconsolidated, the kind of formation that signals its origins as a river delta.  I am never not amazed by how time is represented in the rocks of PA, how I can imagine that there were once shallow inland seas, mighty rivers, and mountains as high as the Rockies where I wander through these beautiful hardwood forested ridges. 

The AT Trailhead on Whiskey Springs Road marks the Western Terminus of the Mason Dixon Trail that runs 200 miles from Chadds Ford PA. My hiking buddy Kim and I completed the MDT in 2016 after three years of section hiking. Across the road is the NOBO trailhead to White Rocks which will be our next section. 

Notes:

South Central Pennsylvania Climbers for the Rocky Ridge Whiskey Springs Boulder Field

Hiking vlogger Wandering Woodsman's  "Rocky Ridge Rock Maze" 

PA - AT Hike #10: Chestnut Ridge Trail and AT Loop/ Pine Grove State Forest

PA - AT Loop #10:  Pole Steeple/Chestnut Ridge Tr/Hunters Run Lot (15 miles)

My goal is to hike every mile of the Appalachian Trail in PA using circuit loops and out-and-backs only when necessary. I started this hiking project with my hound dog during the pandemic in 2021. It was during one of those longer circuits that I noticed Amos having trouble with steep uphill sections and limping on our return. Later I noticed several small pea-sized, hard bumps on all four legs embedded within ligaments and muscles. He was diagnosed with Mast Cell Tumor Cancer in 2023 and it took almost a full year after surgery to recover his trail legs.  I was afraid he'd never be able to do long hikes again, but this past weekend he hit his famous coonhound stride after months of shorter day hikes to rebuild his strength. Big AROO for the Hiking Hound! 

AROOOO! for Pole Steeple

So with all that behind us, having completed 50 AT miles and as many miles making loops on roads, fire roads, and connecting trails we finished all of Michaux State Forest yesterday. I broke section #10 into two hikes here, an out-and-back (Part I) of 6 miles and the main loop (Part II) of 9 miles.  

Part I - 6 miles O&B

Heading south

We started Part 1 for an out-and-back from the Hunters Run AT parking lot (six cars max) to see how Amos did on the rocky, steady slope up heading the mountain going south along the AT into Michaux SF towards Pole Steeple. Thankfully it wasn't as hard as the Mid-State Trail section we did a few weeks ago. It surprised me that on Labor Day Monday we only met two section hikers and no day hikers at all. But we did see a bear both going up and coming down (the same bear) browsing heavily from a slope. The bears are hungry this time of year so he really could have cared less about us.

Thank you MCM!

Beautiful new bridge over Tagg Run 

Rock steps

Woah! Nice!

With the goal of making it to a forest road/ fire road intersection on the AT at  3.2 miles for a turn-around, we completed six roundtrip miles in under three hours. With plenty of stops and a nice snack break, Amos wasn't as slow or hesitant as he has been these past six months. I felt pretty good about planning to complete the loop the following weekend but I was still a little worried about having to potentially assist him coming off the mountain if he got hurt or was to sore to continue. I shouldn't have worried because he did great, but I did pack his handle carry harness to place him in if he needed "a lift." 

Part II - 9 miles loop 

Fire and logging roads made for easier hiking

Colors are starting to pop on the ridge

Pole Steeple overlook is 4 miles up the Chestnut Ridge logging road

Pole Steeple Overlook 1250'

Fossil time - marine worm burrows in Antietam quartzite

After spending some time admiring the views from the top of the cliffs and driving away a few people who were trying to meditate in the clear, cool morning light with his hollering, we headed down slope off trail a little bit to check out a part of the talus slope that I knew had excellent marine fossils. We dawdled around some more looking at some really nice specimens (photos only, no collecting) we continued on to the northbound section of the AT across bluffs and blocks of rock to the intersection where we left off last weekend. 

Back on the AT for the return

 A sidewalk of blocky boulders for the next three miles

I made two full-body face-plants as I tripped on tree roots and fell not with much grace into the leafy, heathy shoulder of the trail. Both times Amos (who is attached by his 15 foot leash to my backpack) came back and offered his 80 pound self for a support to help me get upright again. No harm done but I continue to maintain my trail name "Bones" with these spectacular trips and falls I've become somewhat known for with my hiking friends. It just surprises me how I can be vertical one second and horizontal the next. Thankfully no crashes on the rocks today!

Completing our loop

We met one day hiker near the intersection where we left off last time and I explained our little loop hike  project. "Max Packer" explained that he can never get the time off to do a longer section or LASH hike and so he was pleased to write down the name of my blog for ideas to complete his goal of the AT in Pennsylvania as well. I get it, Max. I do. We said our goodbyes and turned down an old forest road. Checking our time and pace I discovered that Amos had regained his famous hiking hound pace and I was so proud of him. Now I can start to plan some more hikes to continue this project!