Sourland Mountain Preserve

Date of Hike: Sunday, September 14, 2014

Total Distance: 5.66 Miles

Avg speed: 1.73MPH

Avg moving speed: 2.02MPH

Moving Time: 2:48:23

Total Time:  3:16:00

Conditions: Sunny, 72 Degrees

Difficulty: Moderate to Difficult*

*While the hills at the Sourland Mountain Preserve aren't bad (there's really only one steep hill to climb), the terrain was difficult to traverse due to the rocks. There are a lot of them on the trails throughout the hike and they vary in size from very large to small making walking difficult. There were several areas where the rocks moved under my feet causing my ankles to turn. While I didn't get hurt, I'd strongly recommend that you pay close attention to where you're walking and be sure to wear sturdy hiking boots/shoes. I saw one person trip and take a spill just up the trail from me, fortunately he wasn't injured.

Since my hike at Peace Valley Park a few weeks ago, I started to feel symptoms in my left heel of what could possibly be Plantar Fasciitis so I took last weekend off to give my foot a rest. The pain isn't bad but it was enough to get my attention and I didn't want to take any chances. It seems that either this was building up from previous hikes or that walking on paved surfaces just simply isn't the best idea with hiking boots. My feet were in quite a bit of pain after my hike at Peace Valley and unfortunately, the pain in my heel has lingered. At the beginning of August, I bought new insoles for my hiking boots as well so it could very well be a combination of different factors that led to this. Hopefully, it won't continue to be a problem but this is another reason I cut down on the distance I hiked this weekend.

Yes, I cheated again and went to New Jersey to go hiking but it was well worth it!

Location:
421 East Mountain Road
Hillsborough, NJ  08844
GPS: 40.4719844,-74.6923956

You can get a trail map here but I don't particularly care for this design. It's too small and it's sideways...north is on the right side of the map. Once you get to the preserve parking lot, there's also a small kiosk area where trail maps (same as this one) are provided.  What I did instead was print a trail map by taking a screenshot of the area from Google Maps. I brought both maps with me just in case but used the one I made myself since it was properly facing north. Yes, I'm picky that way!

I started out heading northwest and up the hill to one of the first attractions of this mountain which you'll see in a short moment. This was the steepest climb of the day and it really wasn't a big challenge other than making sure to watch my step. At the trail head and for a short distance, the trail is made of gravel but will eventually lead to natural trails. For those of you who like to wear shorts, you should be ok, most of the trails are in good shape there.

The first of a few bridges that cross over low lying areas

The below sign is a trail marker which you'll see throughout the preserve in different colors. 

Somewhere in this stretch, I ran into a gentleman who stopped me on the trail and advised me of something I hadn't thought about until he brought it to my attention. When I go hiking, I usually carry a towel with me which I hang off the chest strap of my backpack to wipe sweat off my face. It's almost hunting season and the towel I carry with me is white which in his words, looked like a deer's a*s.

So, in order to prevent being mistaken for someone's dinner, I'm off on another adventure to purchase a towel and clothes that are orange (and a safety vest) for when I go hiking during hunting season. I thanked the guy for his insight and continued on my way up the trail.

I'm unsure of hunting seasons in New Jersey since I don't hunt or live in the state but here in Pennsylvania, hunting is not permitted on Sunday but it would be better to err on the side of caution regardless. Make sure to wear clothes that identify you as a human and not someone's dinner!

As you reach the top of the first hill, you're also at the northernmost part of the trail and one of the scenic attractions of the preserve. There are large rocks everywhere and although I didn't see any climbers, some of them are used for bouldering. There are what look to be more trails leading off in different directions but I stayed close to the main ones. Being here reminded me of Haycock Mountain, only much less steep and the trails at Sourland are better marked and much easier to find. The rocks here are large but not as large as what I had seen at Haycock.

I'm not exactly sure where but somewhere in this area, the trail looped around the large grove of rocks (known as Devil's Half Acre Boulders) I had passed and headed south. As you can see, the grove of rocks really didn't come to an end, there just weren't as many of them and they weren't as large as the ones within the grove.

Red trail markers represent the Roaring Brook Trail

There's an old chain link fence in the woods that you'll pass and once you do, a little further down the trail is this opening where another trail will follow the Texas Eastern Pipeline back towards the general direction of the parking lot.

View looking west on the Texas Eastern Pipeline

Looking east on the Texas Eastern Pipeline

I wasn't ready to call it quits and I wasn't interested in hiking a straight line in the sun so I continued south on the Roaring Brook Trail

Fall is quickly approaching!

This was by far one of the coolest events of my hiking adventures this year. As I was walking down the Roaring Brook Trail, no more than about 30 feet away, I ran into this fox. It looked right at me and for some reason, was not even phased by my being so close which actually made me a bit nervous. Normally when a wild animal sees you, they don't stick around for long. After looking at me, it returned to its business of hunting its prey. I stood in place for a while and watched as it jumped into the air towards what I would guess was a field mouse or something similar.

I did my best to snap off as many pictures as possible but most of them ended up being blurry. By this time, several other people who were hiking in the area had caught up to me and were also watching as it casually walked around the rocks in the area. It eventually disappeared behind the rocks and I continued on my way. I've seen foxes before, but usually when driving somewhere or in captivity. This was the first time I had seen one so close in the wild.

After my run-in with the fox, I made my way to Roaring Brook. It's said that when this brook has more water flowing through, it makes a roaring noise which would explain the name. There hasn't been a heck of a lot of rain recently so the brook wasn't much more than a stream of water flowing through the rocks below. This area is beautiful with the boulders stretching down the brook for a distance. Had I been a little more patient and just followed the trail, there was an entrance to the boulders further downstream. Instead, once I noticed the boulders I bushwhacked through the woods to check it out.

This area reminds me of a place a friend of mine introduced me to many years ago called St. Peters Village where a section of French Creek rolls through and there's a long stretch of large boulders similar to this. St. Peters Village is much more easily accessible and the boulders stretch for a longer distance than what I saw here. I plan on going hiking at St Peters soon and will have some better pictures of what I'm referring to. There are some pictures online but they just don't show enough of it.

Update: On September 22, 2014, I finally made it out to St. Peters Village to hike the trails. The above link will take you to my post with plenty of pictures! 

I brushed up against a tree as I was hopping around on the rocks and this stick bug decided to hitch a ride on my arm. Feeling something crawling on me, I reacted with a jerk and at first thought it was a praying mantis. It fell to the rock below and that's when I noticed it was a stick bug.

I always seem to run into these signs just about everywhere I go. On the opposite side of Roaring Brook from the trail and up a small hill, there's a quarry. I did cross Roaring Brook but I stayed on the rocks and didn't go any further.

After exploring Roaring Brook, the trail continued in a southeasterly direction.

As the trail turns in a northerly direction, there are several of these wooden plank type bridges crossing low lying areas.

Below are one of the many examples I considered this hike to be more on the difficult side than moderate. There are long stretches where this is the type of trail you'll be hiking on if you go the Sourland Mountain Preserve. Hiking on surfaces such as this not only puts pressure on your feet and keep your attention in order to prevent twisting an ankle, it also works the legs and your lower back. Even after a few days passed, my legs and back were still sore which for a hike less than 6 miles normally wouldn't cause this after spending the entire spring and summer hiking. Some of this could also be that I took a week off but I wouldn't have expected to be as sore as I was regardless.

These next few pictures aren't the trail I was walking on but a stream bed that crossed it.

Somewhere in here, I ended up missing a turn and found myself at the Texas Eastern Pipeline again. I wanted to turn east on another trail further back and loop to the north on my return to the parking lot. When I ended up on the pipeline, I decided to follow it back towards my car instead of doubling back.

One last shot of the pipeline before getting to the parking lot

That was about it for my adventure at Sourland Mountain Preserve. As you approach the parking lot, there's a pond that I had intended to take pictures of when I got to it but once I arrived there, it looked a bit mucky and I didn't find anything worthy of taking pictures. We've had some rain in the recent weeks but nothing significant so the water level of the pond has dropped quite a bit leaving a ring of mud around the pond...not attractive at all. 

In all, the hike around the preserve was challenging and fun and as always, I'm fascinated by what Mother Nature's fingerprint has to provide. I'm glad to have checked it out and eventually, I'm pretty sure I'd like to return to take a look at some of the trails I didn't hike on this time around. There's also another section of the preserve that I didn't explore and would like to check out. You can find the trail map for this section here.

Sadly enough, after my hike at Sourland, my left heel and foot continues to have pain (no help that the terrain was mostly rock trails) so I'm not sure about what the recent future will look like when it comes to my adventures. I hope this doesn't end up being a long term problem but from what I've researched about Plantar Fasciitis over the last few weeks, it isn't something that heals quickly. The pain isn't bad but it also hasn't gone away either. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it doesn't get worse and if it does, my blog may be taking a bit of a hiatus until the heel gets better. Hoping for the best!

Happy hiking and happy adventures!

Please give my Facebook page a like!

Southeastern PA Hiking