Allamuchy Mountain and Stephens State Park
By Kent Johnson
Together, Allamuchy Mountain and Stephens State Parks comprise 9,200 acres of park lands in Morris, Sussex and Warren Counties. The parks are like siblings: Allamuchy Mountain State Park (as the name implies) lies mainly on the uplands, while Stephens State Park lies in the valley below, along the Musconetcong River. Despite being bisected by Interstate 80, there is plenty of space to find your own special spot in this picturesque landscape.
Deer Park Pond, sitting high above the fray
of interstate transport,
is another Skylands gem,
offering peaceful reward to the casual
forest wanderer.
Stephens is the easier park to find. From north or south, follow Route 517 to Hackettstown, then take Route 604 north for 2 miles to the park's main entrance on your right. From east and west follow Interstate 80 to US 206 north. At Stanhope, turn west (left) onto Waterloo Road (Route 604 ). Follow Route 604 about 7 miles, past Waterloo Village, to the park entrance on your left.
The entrance turns into a narrow dirt lane that leads to the park office across the Musconetcong River. From the parking area, a closed cinder road is perfect for walking or biking with small children, where they have room to wander without getting out of sight. The cinder trail reaches a picnic area, which includes a well-equipped playground and a shelter with bathrooms.
Across the river from the parking area is a great little campground with 40 sites, most with picnic tables and fire grates. Car access is off Route 604. The grass and turf covered sites at Stephens make for great tenting. Some over look the Musconetcong River; others are nestled in the woods.
The
park originated in 1937 when Marsena P. and Augusta W. Stephen's donated
228 acres along the Musconetcong to the state for recreational purposes.
The history goes back much further, as indicated by an old limestone
kiln near the park office. Kilns extracted moisture from the stone,
leaving lime to fertilize farmers' fields.
When the Morris Canal brought a business boom to the Musconetcong Valley in the mid 1800s, farmers brought their grain down from Allamuchy Mountain to be shipped to the city. The farmers bought coal and other commodities at the stores along the canal. Iron ore from small mines on Allamuchy Mountain also traveled via the canal.
Leaving
the park office area, go back to Route 604 and turn right to head towards
Saxton Falls. The first dam here was built in 1831 to divert water
from the Musconetcong to the canal through a guard lock, the remains
of which are still visible.The pools and channels below the current
dam are a favorite spot for trout fisherman.
The Musconetcong River is about 600 feet above sea level. Allamuchy Mountain, rising to over 1100 feet, is just on the other side of the road. However finding the park's main entrance takes some attention to detail. Go south on Route 604 towards Hackettstown. Turn west (right) onto Route 665 (Bilby Road). Follow this a short distance to Route 517, then go north (right). Check your odometer at this turn and turn right in 1.2 miles onto Deer Park Road. The road starts out as a two lane gravel road and narrows down to one lane, so go slow. If you make a wrong turn and find yourself in someone's driveway, just turn around and take the other fork. Allamuchy Mountain State Park entrance is about a mile up the road.
In winter this parking area is the end of the road. In summer you can continue driving another mile and a half along an unimproved single lane dirt road to parking areas 1 & 2 and Allamuchy Natural Area, a preserve for the better part of a century. The area was divided into small farms until Rutherfurd Stuyvesant, a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant - Dutch governor of New York- bought most of the farms at the turn of the century, increasing his ancestral estate to 5000 acres. He established Deer Park, a 1000 acre private game preserve on Allamuchy Mountain, introduced the English pheasant to America and reintroduced deer to his preserve. Fencing surrounded the entire area, sections of which can still be found today. In 1941, Clendenin J. Ryan purchased the estate, adding lands in Sussex and Warren counties. In the late 1960's the state bought land for Interstate 80, splitting the estate in two and later purchased the Allamuchy Mountain sections of the estate with Green Acres bond funds in the 1970s.
Allamuchy Natural Area has two dozen fields maintained to show succession of a mixed hardwood forest. They range from a field cleared a year ago upwards to a forest undisturbed for 75 years and include oak, maple hickory and birch. There are also mixed hemlock-spruce forest and northern marshlands habitats. A total 15 miles of trails, most easily walkable, traverse the natural area and leave from each parking area. A good one for a family with grade school children is the White Trail, leaving from parking lot #2. There is a bulletin board displaying a map, and a box on the board also has park maps you can use.
A sign states, "Foot traffic only" on the gate at the end of lot #2. Just beyond the gate on the left is the start of the white blazed trail, which goes over gently rolling terrain for a 4 mile loop hike. The Red Trail starts off on the left a short way along the White Trail. Taking it adds a mile to your hike. The White Trail meets the red trail once more in the first mile. The White Trail goes straight at each junction.
The trail passes a bedrock outcropping on the left where the hardwood forest gives way to grasses and shrubs. Along here an iron pipe crosses the trail by which Rutherfurd Stuyvesant pulled water from Deer Park Pond to supply his estate. There are probably miles lost in the woods. The trail then starts down a gentle grade, and traffic noise from Interstate 80 starts to replace the bird calls and woodpecker tappings. About a mile and a half from the start, a spur trail takes off to the left. There is no sign here but the trail crosses an old eight foot high fence line, part of the fence that enclosed Deer Park when it was a private estate. The spur trail leads to a Scenic Area off of eastbound Interstate 80, an area suggested by Mrs. Lyndon Johnson in the sixties to be one of the best vistas in New Jersey.
Back at the White Trail, turn left off the spur and you'll soon be in quiet woods again. The White Trail makes a T junction with another trail. On the left a tree has three white blazes, signifying a dead end. To the right the White Trail continues towards Deer Park Pond, and intersects a woods road by the pond's shore. A left turn returns to Parking Area #2 in a little more than a mile. A right turn goes to the Red Trail that winds back to the White Trail. Deer Park Pond, sitting high above the fray of interstate transport, is another Skylands gem, offering peaceful reward to the casual forest wanderer.
180 Stephen's Park Road Hackettstown, 07840 Warren County (908) 852-3790
Comments
26 Mar 2008, 11:42
TOM
14 Jan 2008, 17:45