Charlie’s Photo of the Week depicts one of the newly installed information signs at the front entrance to Allamuchy Township’s Nature Trail!

The Trail’s entrance is located on Alphano Road, just north of Panther Valley’s Rear Gate and right across the road from the Allamuchy Playground.

WELCOME & INTRODUCTION:

Come one and all, young and old, outdoor or historical enthusiast, even the casual guest looking for a comfortable outdoor retreat! Enjoy your beautiful and interesting natural and historical surroundings along the Allamuchy Township Nature Trail! Four comfortable benches are placed along the wide walkway. These will aid in affording an opportunity for our Senior Citizens and Families with young children to maintain comfort along the trail. There are two new kiosks near the entrance displaying photos, maps, and information.  There are two more kiosks further along the pathway to ensure a continued interesting visit!  Your journey along our Nature Trail will end upon reaching the trail’s back gate, which is now a new junction, along the old Lehigh & Hudson River RR rite-of-way.

If you go left on the RR rite-of-way, you will be treated to a journey through ‘Mucklands of Allamuchy,’ the vast black soil sod and farm fields. This area was once a glacial lake. The distant mountain is Jenny Jump State Forest, and that ridge was covered by a mile of ice more than 20,000 years ago during the Wisconsin Ice Age! If you go right, you will be traveling through preserved Open Space Lands owned by the State of New Jersey and you will pass by the Allamuchy Freight Depot on the National & State Register for Historic Sites.  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s personal train was parked here for a half day in 1944 while he visited his long-time friend, widow Lucy Mercer, at Rutherfurd Hall.

GATEWAY TO A GREENBELT SYSTEM: 

While our trail is only about 1,000 feet in length, it can be your ‘GATEWAY’ to the entire region, even connecting into other states!  This Nature Trail will provide access to the Lehigh & Hudson River RR rite-of-way, which will become another rails-to-trails corridor through Warren and Sussex Counties.  This is the same rite-of-way that passes in front of The Allamuchy Freight Depot off of CR-612, a State & National Historic Site. Our Nature Trail and part of the RR rite-of-way will eventually also be part of the Warren Highlands Trail, being created to connect Phillipsburg to the Highlands Trail in Allamuchy Mountain State Park. Furthermore, Rutherfurd Hall, another State & National Historic Site, will also be along the Warren Highlands Trail!

By the way, Allamuchy Mountain State Park has six major Green Belts running through it, so you can see we are near the center of the hub!

EXCITING PROJECTS IN THE WORKS: 

The Lehigh & Hudson River RR rite-of-way in Allamuchy has four segments as far as ownership. From South to North are Allamuchy Township (Youngs Island Rd. to Freeborn Lane), Panther Valley Property Owners Association (Freeborn Lane north about a quarter mile to State Property), the NJ Department of Environmental Protection (Pequest Properties to CR-612) and then several Conservancies through Tranquility Farms Open Space Lands and up into Green Township in Sussex County.  The rite-of-way through Allamuchy, for the most part, is clear and well-maintained with a few sections controlled by the State requiring some work. 

Green Township is in the process of opening up the entire rite-of-way with the goal of getting into Andover Borough and hooking up with the Sussex Branch Rails to Trails System. Last fall, Green Township celebrated a Grand Opening for the southern part of the trail from Kennedy Road up to Creek Road. They will now be working their way north and they have a small section to address in order to connect into Allamuchy Township.  Their project is called the County Connector.  All of the previous owners are committed to improving the rite-of-way and have been actively working together.

The Warren Highlands Trail is a Green Belt Trail beginning at the Delaware River in Phillipsburg and then winds its way northeast through Warren County, where it will connect with The Highlands Trail in Allamuchy Mountain State Park along the Musconetcong River.  (The Highlands Trail transverses through the Highlands of New York State and New Jersey and terminates at the Delaware River.) The Warren Highlands Trail meanders through Warren County as it is designed to connect various places of Natural & Historic interest, as opposed to just connecting point A to B!  There are many groups working together to create this trail system, which will travel through State, County, Municipal and Private Properties.  Approaching Allamuchy Township, the Warren Highlands Trail is planned to come out at Ghost Lake in Jenny Jump State Forest and then go along Shades of Death Road to Long Bridge Road where it will enter the RR rite-of-way heading south to Allamuchy Township’s Nature Trail.  Plans are still being drawn up to connect to Rutherfurd Hall and then continue on through Allamuchy Mountain State Park where it will link with the Highlands Trail along the Musconetcong River.

LINKS: These all pass through or are connected to Allamuchy Mountain State Park!!

Warren Highland Trail – https://warrenparks.com/warren-highlands-trail/

Highlands Trail – https://www.nynjtc.org/region/highlands-trail-region

Sussex Branch Trail – https://www.sussexskylands.com/outdoors/hiking/sussex-branch-trail/

Sussex Branch Trail – https://www.trails.com/us/nj/allamuchy-mountain-state-park/sussex-branch-trail

Morris Canal Greenway in Warren County – https://warrenparks.com/morris-canal-greenway/

Morris Canal Greenway – http://www.njskylands.com/hsmorriscanal

Patriots Path – https://www.morrisparks.net/index.php/parks/patriots-path/

Liberty Water Gap Trail – https://www.nj.com/morris/2014/09/group_hopes_to_be_first_to_hike_entirety_of_liberty_gap_water_trail.html

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran

Director Open Space
Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission – Chairman
Allamuchy Historical Society – President