Ride - Wharton State Forest, Pine Barrens, Atsion, NJ

My second trip to the NJ Pine Barrens in as many weeks started in the abandoned town of Atsion. Atsion was a thriving small town that held an iron furnace and forge from roughly mid 18th Century to the early 19th. My 18-ish mile ride was designed to give me a couple of hours exercise and get to a few of the ghost towns in the northern part of the forest. My mission was accomplished although I took only one photograph of the old buildings and that was the Atsion Mansion.

From Atsion I rode NE to Hampton Furnace, Hampton Gate and High Crossing. During the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, Hampton Furnace village had its own large mansion, iron furnace and forge, gristmill and workers’ cottages. Towards the end of the 19th Century, Hampton Village was turned into a cranberry growing village. I saw the remains of various buildings but failed to take pictures. I rode on to Hampton Gate at least according to my map. I wasn’t able to find any physical remains of the old Tavern. From there I back-tracked toward High Crossing, the site of a passenger stop in the Jersey Central Railroad. There aren’t any obvious signs of the old buildings but the tracks are still there. I rode alongside and at times between the tracks on my easterly trip back to Atsion. That leg of the trip was pretty overgrown and wet in places and I was forced to push SaMuk through particularly tough stretches.

I rode on a sandy track that paralleled the rail lines for about 2/3 of the journey back to Atsion. These tracks are all sand and in the summer are likely very soft and challenging. At this time of year they are pretty hard-packed, especially on cold days like today. Elsewhere the woods are flooded and tough to get through. I tried a few times to follow trails away from the railroad tracks and often ran into deep water or ruined old bridges.

The lakeviews from the roadside on the journey from Atsion to Hampton are pretty impressive. The ice is at least six inches thick at the edges but I wasn’t venturing out. The clear blue sky is reflected even the orangey brown lake water.

SaMuk performed well in the sand, the occasional (very) deep puddle, low brush where I ran out of trails and the grassy verges alongside tarmacadamed roads and even after a couple of spills trying to jump the steel railroad tracks. The drive-train held up well again and the brakes kept me mostly out of trouble. I tried out my frame-bag for the first time. It held firmly and allowed me to take along spare waterproof trousers, a flask of coffee and a snack, and a book on Pine Barren ghost towns. My new liners worked well inside a pair of ancient REI waterproof gloves. I think they’ll function well at temps hovering around freezing. The coffee and snack is part of a new trial at re-fueling during medium to long runs to see if I can hold at bay the leg muscle cramps I experienced in 2018.