M'ke's Hikes

Weird Orange County NY

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 19:23:39 GMT

I have only just begun exploring Orange County NY, and at first I thought the only strange thing I'd find was the fact that nothing rhymes with it, but that is quite to the contrary. I don't have many pics ready from up there yet, but I'm going to have more. Does anyone know of anything interesting on any of the abandoned railroads in the area?

The Gunks: Fringe Touring

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:26:09 GMT

One of the other series of stuff I've been covering as I head off in every direction is the Shawangunk Ridge, the extension of the Kittatinny Ridge into NY state. I had a bunch of stuff on it posted, probably in the "Last Exit in NJ" posting on the WNJ The Magazine forum, but I can't seem to find it lately, so oh well. The search function's been down on here...

We've found abandoned lead mines, trestles, all sorts of houses, an abandoned asphalt plant,...

Weird Chester County PA Fringe...

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:09:02 GMT

In continueing to branch farther out, I have reached into Chester County PA and now have a large enough library of weird places I've visited to throw up a topic...and this place is chock full of them.

Chester PA is actually very VERY much like NJ in it's catalogue of weirdness. It's got caves and abandoned rail tunnels, tons of old abandoned buildings, an abandoned asylum (which a member of my group just got busted for trespassing in) called Pennhurst, and plenty of...

Passaic County Stuff...

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:57:17 GMT

We all know Passaic County has quite a lot to offer when it comes to oddities....I have recently begun to explore the area more in depth beyond the railroads and canals which I use as a framework making my way into new areas. This turned out to be ripe with interesting places!

Does anyone know anything about the large complex that burnt down alongside the Passaic River in Paterson? I thought it was part of the Cold gun factory but I could be wrong.

I've also heard good...

Wanaque reservoir cemetery?

feeds@yuku.com (colortheworld) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:36:22 GMT

When I lived in West Milford I used to find this place on various hikes I would take along the reservoir. Now my mother is asking where it is and I cannot recall exactly how to get there! I know we are not supposed to give directions to some places that are illegal but does that also apply to hiking directions?

The Pine Barrens

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:42:05 GMT

If you're from NJ, and especially if you are a WNJ fan, it seems everyone has this fascination with the Pine Barrens. While it is beautiful and interesting, I've always found it to get rather stale and boring. Searching for the Jersey Devil has never been my cup of tea. I prefer the more tangeable pieces of history forgotten, and other interesting oddities, as well as the nature aspect. I do plan on some more trips down there, and maybe someone may have some info to pass along to...

The Kittatinnies...

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 20:37:04 GMT

There was a great posting started by hxcdanny on the magazine forum which I contributed quite a lot to entitled "Last Exit in NJ". It's one of the areas I am more familiar with than almost anybody. Within that posting, I contributed quite a many pictures and tidbits of info which I'm not really into reposting because it took so much time, but if you want to see all of it follow this link: http://theweirdusmessageboard.yuku.com/topic/1003?page=1

Still, I have tons...

Morris County Meanderings

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 16:38:04 GMT

As many of you may very well know I do spend a great deal of time in Morris County, in my opinion one of the weirdest and most diverse counties in the state. I'm continueing to explore that area, but figure it needs a place on my forum. I've done a great deal of sharing some of the places I've visited on threads within the WNJ The Magazine section, and rather than repost all of the pulp I've put into those threads I'll save this for new stuff and simply refer readers to...

NYC Fringe

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:48:09 GMT

New York City is full of all sorts of crazy weirdness, and it could totally merit it's own magazine for certain...I am planning a trip which will be in part of northern Manhattan next week, so does anyone know of anything that would be cool to visit directly opposite the GW Bridge?

Here's a couple weird tidbits as well: That freedom tower they were going to build at the WTC site...well apparently it got turned down, and it was sold instead to a developer up by Rockafeller...

Warren County Highlands

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:34:54 GMT

I can't believe that there's not a good topic on here that's just devoted to Warren County...there's more here than almost anywhere! I put up the Warren Railroad one which has justification for it's own place, but the rest of Warren is fantastic. The only thing I ever hear about with Warren is the KKK...which I have personally seen. Right next to the "Welcome to Oxford" sign they had a fund raiser one time in full garb...interesting to say the least...

Middlesex Stuff?

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 18:08:34 GMT

I'm looking at doing some hikes through Middlesex County, trying to follow many of the different greenways along the rivers such as the Rahway and such...I've found a lot of awesome stuff so far, but does anyone have any other recommendations?

There is an awesome pipe on the south side of the Rahway River (which I think is the border, I forget) which you can walk long over a meadow for example...

Union County Oddities...

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 18:32:45 GMT

I did a search and could'nt find a post completely dovoted to Union County as well!

There are plenty of weird things there...old bridges, cemetaries like the famous one in Linden, and abandoned original Merck building I think it is...

What I do want to know though, is there a way to walk around the east side of the Newark Airport out of Union County? I'm trying to walk the state's perimeter with most interesting route closest to the waterfront. Is there anything...

On The Fringe in Bucks County PA...

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:13:55 GMT

Yet another great location for fringe area stuff. I was reading the 49 other states forums and saw Bucks County for UFO sightings on there and it triggered my memory of all sorts of stuff I've found. I have some particularly fun stories from it, but one in particular...

I'm on the steering committee extending the Highlands Trail beyond the Delaware into PA, and I've led many scouting trips, many of which are in Bucks County. The route originally planned (but later...

Strange Somerset

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 09:28:14 GMT

There's a hell of a lot more interesting stuff in Somerset County than the Devil's Tree...and amazingly that's all I ever hear about really!

Did anyone here ever get to the Duke Estate before they began dismantling the "Gardens of the World"? I tried to get in, and we even bribed them with cash, to no avail.

One of my buddies made a video detailing our last trip, a big loop between Somerville, Bridgewater, and Martinsville. We did 19.5 miles! I'll...

Hudson

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 22:27:25 GMT

Hello all...

I'm continueing a series of hikes to walk the Hudson waterfront, beginning with Jersey City...I want to walk the waterfront on both the east and west sides to make for a loop on my next one. I've explored a lot of it, including the entire route of the Liberty-Water Gap Trail, but does any one have any recommendations for anyplace on the peninsula south of Liberty State Park?

There are a lot of interesting places there I can share, old churches, stuff...

Fringe: PA's Weird Poconos...

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 23:04:02 GMT

Yet another thing for a Fringe topic! The reason I bring this up is because there is a place called Seven Pines Mountain in the State Game Lands...it's not the mountain itself that's so weird, but the gorge below it, also on public land.

The gorge is known as "The Devil's Hole". There is a waterfall back in there and some nice cascades, and the ruins of a very old road. Deep in this hidden gorge lies the remains of a prohibition era speakeasy. Most of the...

Essex Stuff

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 21:47:47 GMT

I'm planning on doing a hike series across Essex County from south to north, completely crossing in that fashion. I've already done west to east on the Lenape Trail and a few other things....

Heading north, some of a branch of the Lenape Trail will take me through some of the preserves and a bit of road walking, but does anybody have any recommendations on where to visit of the places in between, and how would be the best way to head north from either Eagle Rock or Mills...

Weird Fringe Philly Area Stuff

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 10:46:57 GMT

If anyone is interested, I'm doing a trip tomorrow in the Philidelphia area heading north...the trip will include an abandoned railroad tunnel, who knows what kinds of buildings, and exploring off trail at Valley Forge.

The Philly area is full of weirdness that could obviously fill an entire issue of the mag, but I thought I'd share some of the stuff I've found on here.

We recently found yard along the Schuykill River filled with Wind Chimes..like twenty foot...

NJ Canals

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 23:33:27 GMT

It's surprising to me that more of the Morris Canal has'nt found it's way into the WNJ world...it's got everything on it's route...there's everything from folk lore to history, to underground, to abandoned...you name it! I'm leading a series of trips across the state to cover the entire length of the former canal which includes a lot of cool stuff. We just finished Phillipsburg to Washington which includes a lot of weirdness. Here's some of the stuff you...

North Hunterdon Weirdness

feeds@yuku.com (sneezehorse) — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 22:07:20 GMT

There's a ton of stuff in Northern Hunterdon that has'nt been tapped yet...and more info on other stuff that has...

For example, the house at Tower Hill Reserve...the house was owned by Thomas Edison's book keeper, but his wife is the really interesting one. She fabricated the world's first movie screen, and was the voice of the world's first talking doll. Unfortunitely, the house is scheduled for demolition this winter. It was deemed "not historic"...