Its been a while

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millside
Posts: 586
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 6:22 pm

Its been a while

Post by millside »

I took a small leave of absence to get my head together. So I took a nice hike today and thought I would share it with you.
first a little natural history of the area. the north jersey area was a huge iron producer in the late 1800"s and early 1900"s. So if you keep your eyes peeled you can find remnants of this byfone era.
Came across this blocked off mine
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here is the actual mine shaft. it goes down nearly vertical for 1100 feet and then another mile or so. a huge mine.
filled with water now, had 3 large pump systems to keep the miners dry
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and the hoist building that pulled the carts up the 1100 feet with the ore
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then up into the mountains I went. I finally leveled off around 1300 feet. and bushwacked along some top ridges.
flipped a double 5 liner under this rock
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oh yes, forgot to say we started our hike at 6 am. hiked around an hour and a half and we are up to mile 4 now.
in some rocks I was flipping I came within 4 feet of this guy before I saw him. success
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still in the blue
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I was very happy and I headed back down the mountain.
I heard a rustle and was surprised at the size of this garter. I have not seen a bulky one like this in a while
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I had a weird bug fly by and kept track of it
eastern eyed click beetle
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highlight of the trip, while coming over a log at around mile 7. I stepped into a small hole. my ankle gave way and I went down pretty good. lay there in pain(hope the deer aren't upset at my foul language) for about 5 minutes. finally passed and was able to walk again, I really don't like the sound of muscles ripping but it is just a bad sprain. now lets finish the last 3 miles and hope we don't get sidetracked by nice habitat.
made it back to the truck obviously, but glad to be back on the forum.
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Tim Borski
Posts: 1855
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 7:28 am
Location: FL Keys
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Re: Its been a while

Post by Tim Borski »

Ahh...so that's where you've been. Looks like you've been staying busy and having a great time. Nice Timber! Your beetle is an "Eyed Elater' and is (I believe) a huge member of the "Click" beetle family. It's "eyes" on the top of the shell glow in the dark. Honest. (You don't even have to be drinking...) :mrgreen:
Welcome back.
Tim
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