Over the Hill(Slug)s and Far Away

12 October

We lucked out today. The weather was perfect and the fall colors seemed to be peaking in north central Hunterdon County.

The batteries died in both Chris' and Tom's cameras, leaving me with my cell phone camera and Glenn with his real one to take all the pictures.

I'll let my cell phone pictures do most of the talking this time.




Here's a ghost bike, a memorial to a biker killed by a van in 2006 on Oldwick Road:



View from the bridge over the Rockaway Creek at the corner of Rockaway and Pottersville Roads:




I've taken these pictures every time I've passed this spot on Rockaway Road this year:






The bank of Rockaway Creek. The road crosses the stream a handful of times.



"Fucksticks! Who put the fence up?" By pulling into the driveway we still got a view from the top of Hoffman's Crossing Road looking towards the Raritan River:






I attempt to be artsy:



If I'd had a real camera you'd have seen the bright orange leaves reflecting in the water of the North Branch Raritan River at Califon.




As we were leaving the rest stop in Califon I warned everybody about the 440-foot hill we were about to climb: "It does end. Just keep that in mind."

But before we got to the hill Glenn and I had to stop for pictures of a field of ornamental shrubs gone red:






Halfway up Valley Brook, Glenn called out to Marilyn, "She lied! This hill doesn't end! We're going to be here forever!"

At the top there's a view of the next ridge:



The house with the view is already decorated for Halloween.



Then there's the antler house with the cannon out front:



I tried to photograph the red trees on Fairmount at the end of Valley Brook.



Being at the top of Black River Road feels like being at the top of the world.




The Black River through the trees:



Looking back uphill:



One more artsy attempt:



And another shot of the river:



Seen but not photographed: A hand-made sign, white with black lettering that read, "You can steal our sign but you can't steal the election. Obama '08."

On Black River Road, continuing the hay bale obsession:



Glenn and Chris missed the turn at Vliettown Road. I had to chase them down. It's been years since I've had to do that. If I hadn't stopped for this picture of hay bales on a hilltop I'd never have seen Glenn zip past the intersection:



When we got to Oldwick I had to take the picture I always take from the fence in the parking lot. It's getting overgrown out there.



One final note: Do what the frog says.