This is hike #20 ("Ken Lockwood Gorge") in
Hiking New Jersey: A Guide to 50 of the Garden State's Greatest
Hiking Adventures (1st edition) with a short, but very steep side trip to the spectacular dam at Lake Solitude. This figure-8 lollipop uses a nearly 4-mile
section of the Columbia Trail, a 16-mile trail that extends from High Bridge, NJ to Flanders, NJ. At several points along
the way, there were signs indicating "Trail Closed For Repairs. Public Access Prohibited". However, there were bicyclists, walkers and joggers on those stretches. Instead
of turning around at the 1.5-mile mark, where we first encountered the signs, we moved on planning to either turn back if we simply couldn't go any further or bushwacking
around any parts that were impassable. Surprisingly we found a beautiful path the entire way. The only hint of construction was a group of construction vehicles parked
idle at the side of the trail in one place. Perhaps the trail is actually closed only on work days, when the heavy machinery is in motion, and the signs were left up
by mistake?
Total distance hiked was about 9 miles in just over 3.5 hours (it's almost all level) with a spectacular lunch break on a rock in the Raritan River where we let our bare feet dangle in the cool water.
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Main Street in High Bridge |
Start of the Columbia trail |
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Columbia Trail kiosk |
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Boxed-pony-truss bridge (1937) |
[Photo by Laura] |
Mile marker along the trail |
Old growth on side trail |
Glimpse of dam through trees |
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Lake Solitude dam |
Closer view |
Even closer |
Scrambling back up |
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Columbia trail |
Closure sign near 1.5 mile mark |
Power line cut |
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Construction vehicles |
120-foot bridge over Raritan River |
80 feet above the river |
Underside |
Dan [photo by Laura] |
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Walkway at top |
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Raspberries out of reach |
Raritan River from above at 3 mile mark |
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Photographing bamboo shoots [photo by Laura] |
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Bridge on Hoffmans Road |
Goose sign on Raritan River Road |
Canadian geese in river |
Angler in river |
Skunk cabbage patch |
Stone hopping on river bank |
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The Little Mermaid |
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Giant felled trees in river |
Beneath the 120-foot bridge from earlier |
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Giant stone bases |
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Beautiful heron in the river |
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Cascades |
Interesting circle of rocks |
Our awesome lunch spot |
Cooling off her feet |
Angler in the distance |
Dan's wet feet |
[Photo by Laura] |
Angler upstream |
Time to hit the trail |
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Garage on Raritan River Road |
Poison ivy all over |
Beautiful stone house on river |
Lovely house on Cokesbury Road |
Cokesbury Road |
This is someone's front yard! |
Miro-like sculpture in front yard |
Railroad bridge on Cokesbury Road |
Informative signs on Cokesbury Road |
Blooming raspberries abounded |
Tiny toad on Columbia trail |
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Remaining rails and ties |
Old water pump |
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |