Jockey Hollow(with just the slightest whiff of educational value)

Around here, Sunday's weather was quite pleasant.So My friend Darrel and I decided to go hiking.We settled on Jockey Hollow Park in Morristown,NJ.It was pretty packed and we weren't sure if we would stay, but it was already 1:30PM and we wanted to get started.A quick stroll through the visitor's center(No vending machines?If people are about to go for long walks here, they should be able to buy a bottle of water.You can't carry a drinking fountain in your jacket.)and around an old farmhouse, and we were at the start of the trail.

Historic site or not, this IS New Jersey.SO of course you're greeted with...an outhouse.
Simply delightful.


Someone's been eating too much fiber.(cue rim shot)




Anyway...This is the first time that I've been here.The trails aren't all that difficult to navigate in that there isn't a whole lot of climbing to do.What challenge the trails had was in that it was laid out like an obstacle course.You had to cross bridges over swampy areas.




Even with these bridges, we still managed to stumble into some leaf-covered muck.

The whole area around the trail was surrounded by two small creeks.One was almost nearly drained, but it looked like it probably fills up during the summer.The other had quite a few fun ways to cross.You could bounce rock ro rock across.

Or you could find a log to walk across.

They also had various sets of stepping stones and bridges.

I took more pictures, but how many pictures of water and trees can I show?Needless to say, we strayed off the trials quite a bit and found some more substantial hiking.Sometimes you need to create your own adventure.The area is almost impossible to get lost in.The creeks are pretty big and criss cross the paths in many places.If you don't know where you are, you need only find water and follow it in any direction.

Of course this is also a historic site.Its's one of those "George Washington was here."-kind of places.This guy can tell you more about what's here.This is Plaquey, The Informational Plaque.

Thanks, Plaquey.There are Revolutionary War soldier's huts here.I have read that they are replicas though.Here they are from the outside.

And inside as well.Today, a house like this would be the ultimate in "cozy."

Each place looked like it held between 8 to 12 people in cramped, stacked bunk beds.Each building also had a fireplace.Bathrooms were either outside or where you lay down.It must have really sucked to be the guy on the bottom bunk.(Two potty jokes in one post.I should be ashamed.)

You could also get a sense of history from the LOADS of graffiti carved into the trees.

Look.Someone named Nony(?) was here.And Qana.Good ol' Qana.JD too.That JD cat sure does get around.

One treee also had an inscription in it, but it was too worn away to read.

Damned if I know what it says.If you can figure it out, I owe you a soda.Those of you who drink "pop" are shit out of luck.

And that's it.It was a good time overall.We covered nearly every trail in the 3 1/2 hours we were there and we certainly didn't rush to get through.I'll come back here again when the leaves and flowers start coming out.