This is hike #19 ("The Black River") in
Hiking New Jersey: A Guide to 50 of the Garden State's Greatest
Hiking Adventures (1st edition). We hiked along the Black River way back in May, 2005. At that time
we did a 3.5-mile out-and-back from the gristmill to the environmental center and back. Today we covered much more ground via a nearly 9-mile lollipop which incorporated, as
one part, the path from the earlier hike. This time we hiked much further along the Black River and took the spur to visit the remains of Elizabeth Kay's cottage. We
arrived at the Kay Environmental Center from the south this time before heading back to the gristmill along the Black River trail. We had lunch on the bench inside the
Butterfly Garden at the environmental center, where we watched bumble bees flit from flower to flower.
|
Turbine outside the gristmill |
Cooper gristmill |
Millstones |
View from tunnel |
|
|
16' high waterwheel |
First view of the Black River |
Gristmill from the trail |
Central Railroad bed |
Kay's Pond |
Path along the pond |
Reflections in Kay's Pond |
Dam at Kay's Pond |
The dam |
Dam waterfall |
Black River |
|
Tiny trail mushroom |
Bridge to Natural Area |
|
Descending to Kay's cottage |
Inside Kay's cottage |
|
|
|
[Photo by Laura] |
|
Rear of remains |
|
View through arch |
|
On the dam [photo by Laura] |
Waterfall dam at cottage |
Steps at cottage |
Red Patriot's Path blaze |
Abandoned bathtub! |
Black River |
|
[Photo by Laura] |
|
Beautiful pines |
Where are we? |
Tangled trees |
A car door! |
Busy bee |
On someone's front lawn! |
Entrance to Environmental Center |
Squirrel |
Farm nearby |
Road to the center |
Private residence |
|
|
Kay Environmental Center |
Fountain |
The Butterfly Garden |
Two moths |
Our lunch spot |
A bee's lunch spot |
|
Cone flowers |
Butterfly Garden and center |
Moth |
Patriot's Path post |
Bird house in rear |
Self portrait |
|
Remains of bridge |
Black River |
|
Kay's Pond |
|
RR bed and pond |
Lots of tree roots |
Cooper gristmill |
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |