Lake Somethingorother

Lake Carasaljo, Lakewood, NJ

3 January 2026

With every day between Christmas and January 5 off, I'd figured I'd get some riding in, maybe even lead my 20th for the year.

Nope.

We got an ice storm late on Boxing Day, and there hasn't been a day I've deemed safe or warm enough to ride since. 

I wasn't alone. Tom invited us to walk around a lake on New Year's Eve, with pizza at his house after. I put the seats up in my 10-year-old Prius and carpooled to Lakewood with Heddy, Martin, and Our Jeff.

Jack H and Dorothy pulled in, then Tom. Everybody but me was wearing special thermal hiking pants, which I do not own. I was wearing jeans. We were all bundled up; the air temperature was in the high 20s and there was wind.  

The path was around Lake Carasaljo, one of the feeders of the Metedeconk River, which empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Mantoloking. (I didn't know any of this until I geeked out on a map two minutes ago.)

Anyway, Jackson and Lakewood hardly got any ice at all. The gravel and dirt path was clear. We started by crossing a wooden bridge over the tributary at the head of the lake. We were walking through the woods, uphill, towards a busy road that bordered the north side of the lake. We turned east.

"I want my money back," I said. "I don't see a lake."

Eventually, the path led downhill and we saw water through the trees. We came to a floating bridge that crossed the water.

I brought my Canon PowerShot with me so that I could take pictures without having to bare my fingers.

There was a great blue heron on the northern shore.

A pair of swans floated along the southern shore.

By the edge of the water on the south side were herring gulls.

There were some mallards in there too.

We continued east on the southern side until we reached Route 9. There was ice trapped between the branches of some shrubs by the water. I didn't get a good picture.

We turned west, into the wind. Soon we came to a boat launch, where one could rent swan-shaped paddle boats.

I fell behind because I was taking pictures.

The path included a boardwalk that went under a small pavilion.

Near the western edge of the lake, there was an inlet that led to the grounds of Georgian Court College.

"This looks like the site of a murder mystery," I said. "A groundskeeper finds a body floating in the water.

A detective goes through that door over there. He finds blood, but it's not the victim's blood."

I've been watching too much murder-mystery TV over break. But really, come on. Look at this.

Soon we came to the floating bridge again, and crossed over to finish the walk back to our cars on the southern side. On the way, we passed a dilapidated house with new windows. Jack H took one look and said, "They were fixing it up and ran out of money."

"This is where the kids hang out," I said, continuing my mystery plot. "There's blood on the walls."

We followed Tom to his house, where he and Lori had set out loads of food for us, much of which Lori had baked herself. For the second time in a week (the first being at Terry and Gordon's for Christmas), I said, "I need to learn how to cook."

The pizza they ordered for us was good too. We hung out until mid-afternoon. 

Jack and I had no plans for New Year's Eve. We ended up reading books until midnight, not aware of the time until the firecrackers started to go off all over the neighborhood. 

I didn't think 2025 gave us a damned thing to celebrate. Maybe folks were elated that they made it through.

New Year's Day was another sub-freezing, high-wind day. I looked out the window to find a coating of snow. All that was needed was to push it out of the way with a shovel. My neighbor came out with his leaf blower. "I know this looks dumb as shit," he said, "but it works!"

Our Jeff scooped me and Jack up at 11:30. We had to wait for a salt truck to do its thing on Heddy's street before we reached her driveway. Jeff knew how to get to Frank and Elaine's house in Newtown. I hadn't been to a New Year's Day party in almost a decade. I ended up at a table with a handful of other Free Wheelers. A few hours in, Dave S and Heddy managed to get me to say that I would consider going to the Dory in Italy with them in 2027. The minute that trip threatens to take over my life, I'm out.

I also think maybe that won't happen this time.

I took Miss Piggy to Hart's today. She hasn't had a tune-up since JasonAtHalters called her worthless in 2023. Ross was in the shop. We talked about his impending retirement. The store already looks empty. I'll be bringing Kermit and Janice in soon too, one last spa day for the fleet before he closes his doors in March.

Pete has talked us into taking our gravel bikes on the road tomorrow for one of his neighborhood zig-zags. It'll be almost above freezing when the ride starts!