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For more information contact:
Pegi Adam
973-744-6090
Ed
Goodell, 201-512-9348
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‘OFF THE BEATEN PATH’ ACROSS NEW JERSEY
Hiking the Appalachian Scenic Trail, from The
Delaware River to the New York Border
Mahwah, NJ (Oct 1, 2002) -- Within a 100-mile radius of New
York City is a landscape as diverse as any place in the country,
ranging from the southern reaches of rocky New England terrain to
ridges and valleys of the Appalachian Plateau and sandy coastal
plains. In New Jersey, geologic formations seem to date back to the
Precambrian Era, 4,500 years ago, when plate movements formed
mountains and valleys that cut through the state on a roughly
northeast-southwest axis. Those movements continue to alter the
terrain, ever so slightly, but continuously.
One of the best ways to take in the incredible forces of nature
that still dwarf human activity is through hiking. According to
statistics from the Appalachian Trail Conference (AT), some 3- to
4-million people a year use the Appalachian Scenic Trail, that runs
from Maine to Georgia. Interest in hiking is increasing and people
taking to the trails now include more urban professionals. AT
estimates of intended thru-hikers (those intending to hike the
entire length of the trail, from Georgia to Maine) leaving Springer
Mountain, GA, reached 1,000 around 1993. By 2000, the number of
starters had almost tripled, with an estimated 2,900 hikers leaving
Springer in 2000.
Nearly 2-million acres of open space are part of the Appalachian
Scenic Trail that crosses New Jersey in an almost continuous line,
from the Delaware Water Gap, to the Hudson River on the New York State
border. In summer 2002, the Pochuck boardwalk and Suspension Bridge
crossing, between the Pochuck and Wawayanda Mountains, in Vernon
Township, took the Appalachian Trail off a 2.5 mile stretch of winding
and extended it for a mile over a unique area of meandering river and
floodplain.
Now, it’s possible to hike from the Pennsylvania border across
New Jersey, to the New York border. Beginning at the Delaware Water
Gap, such a hike would go through Worthington State Forest. the
Kittatinny Mountains, Stokes Forest, High Point Park, Walkill River
National Wildlife Refuge, Pochuck Creek Crossing and Wawayanda State
Park, to Greenwood Lake and Sterling Forest.
The Pochuck crossing had always been the missing link. Building it
took 24 years and 9,000 hours of volunteer effort, representing one of
the most extraordinary achievements in cooperation among very
disparate entities in the history of the Appalachian Trail and serving
as a model for future public and private joint ventures.
"Seeing this crossing completed, knowing all the sweat equity
that went into it, is one of the most satisfying endeavors of the New
York-New Jersey Trail Conference," says Ed Goodell, executive
director. "It never could have been accomplished without a whole
lot of goodwill from people with many different interests in the
project – and some who definitely did not have interest. Ultimately,
everyone pulled together to make it a reality. Now, we take pleasure
in hearing the kudos of hikers from all over the world who say they’ve
never had an experience such as this provides."
Coming together to accomplish this were the Appalachian Trail
Conference, National Park Service, New York-New Jersey Trail
Conference, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection,
Vernon Township, individuals and businesses, such as General Public
Utilities, the Builders Association of North New Jersey, Purcell
Associates Consulting Engineers, Vernon and St. Benedicts high
schools. All donated time, materials and hard manual labor to make the
project reality.
The National Park Service classifies the 3,000-foot wide
floodplain, covering some 240 acres as an "Exceptional Resource
Value Wetland." It’s crisscrossed by tributaries and a quagmire
into which a hiker can sink waist-deep, even in dry summer months.
Meandering through it is Pochuck Creek, a non-delineated river with a
60-foot wide stream channel that can be up to eight feet deep. During
extreme rains, the creek can rise six feet or more and be
fast-flowing, carrying trees and other debris downstream. Such extreme
conditions necessitated the reinforced suspension bridge.
In flood conditions, the entire area resembles the prehistoric lake
it once was. More often, it is a beautiful marshy bog of tall grasses,
one of the state’s most extensive areas of cattails, bushes and wild
flowers, surrounded by hardwood and evergreen forest. It is a habitat
for a variety of native and endangered species and offers an
extraordinary hiking experience unlike any other on the Appalachian
Scenic Trail -- a unique opportunity to view a floodplain environment.
It’s gaining recommendations and kudos from through-hikers, who come
from all over the world to walk the Appalachian Trail.
The non-profit New York-New Jersey Trail Conference’s (NY-NJ TC)
mission is to provide the public in the nation’s most densely
populated region with the opportunity to directly experience nature
and, by doing so, help preserve the region’s environmental
integrity. The Conference’s four-pronged approach—protection,
access, education and stewardship — is achieved through a largely
volunteer effort guided by a belief that the well-being of our region’s
people and ecosystems depends on our ability to experience unspoiled
nature in an environmentally responsible way.
Founded in 1920 to provide public access to the backcountry of the
Palisades Interstate and Harriman State parks, the NYNJTC now
maintains 1,500 miles of trail corridors and monitors tens of
thousands of acres of adjacent undeveloped land in the densely
populated New York-New Jersey region. With a modest operating budget,
the organization depends largely on volunteers, assisting overburdened
state and county park agencies. Knowledgeable, responsible users of
the backcountry, these volunteers devote 35,000 hours annually to
trail work and outreach programs. In addition, the on-the-ground
presence of trail volunteers gives the Trail Conference the critical
edge in identifying new conservation opportunities and threats.
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