I had never been to New Jersey, much less the Pine Barrens. The thought of 1.1 million acres of unique forested landscape between Philadelphia and Atlantic City, seemed interesting, and something I've always wanted to explore.
The spring NESRA expedition would take place there, in the Wharton SF...within the NJ Pine Barrens. I made the 7 1/2 hour drive there, after work in the the overnight hours. I was pumped up with instant energy drink, but that did not make driving through almost 90 miles of thick fog from Binghamton to Allentown, any better. AAA can shove their trip ticket, as I found a much better way to get into Jersey, than through the heart of Philly....and the 6 hour time estimate, is not for anyone using cautious and defensive driving skills, at night. I missed the exit I wanted, and came into the forest from the south, which turned out interesting, to see the pigmy pined forest on each side of the Atlantic City Expressway.
In the town of Hammonton, I experienced a lot of hurried (ride your bumper) type of drivers. I was in no hurry, and was just making sure I was following the right roads in. At a stop sign, I had to pull out left onto a divided highway, that had a fair amount of traffic. While waiting for my chance to pull out, I heard the constant horn of the driver behind me, and upon looking in my rear view mirror....saw him waving his arms and flipping me off, from his convertable sports car. Apparently, he thought it was Ok to pull out into on coming traffic with my big, loaded boat....and that I was driving like grandma (?) I could feel myself starting to get pissed, and when I finally did get the chance to pull out, I pulled over to let the jerk by me, and if he wanted to discuss the situation...all the better. My anger turned to amazement, as the dude drove by in the weird looking orange colored Lamborghini, and continued to throw me the bird...but didn't have the nuts to stop, and put it in my face, and tell me what he thought of my cautious driving. When I looked at his face, it was like a blast from the past...the splitting image of punk rock icon, Iggy Popp. Right down to the eyelashes, mop hair, short bangs style, no shirt, facial features...a dead ringer (a saw his act twice, on stage). It obviously wasn't the real "Iguana", as Iggy is well into his 60s now. So, for most of the weekend, I had this song buzzing around relentlessly, in my head (ever had that happen ?) :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4hPnZUMBwA&playnext_from=TL&videos=wA7YkHY6O_U
I wonder if two roadies had to carry this dude into his leather bucket seat?
Conclusion, the closer you get to the megalopolus near the Atlantic (Beantown, NYC, Jersey, Philly, Baltimore,Washington).....the more aggressive and impatient, the drivers. All the more fascinating, that there is a large tract of wild forest left preserved, within this mass of humanity.
I arrived at the ranger station early, and walked around a bit. I took a nap, and then met my NESRA contact (Mike), who was the only one that would be at the meeting location, for this expedition. We got the skinny from the forestry people, and proceeded down the narrow white sand duned forest roads , to the heart of the forest, and parking area. We hiked into the primitive camp, and set up our tents and organized our gear. This was truly a large and beautiful area, next to a branch of river, that had very red-brown and slow moving to still waters. It turned out to be the norm, for this area, as we encountered the same in all of the water locations we visited. An explanation for this can be found here:
http://www.bcls.lib.nj.us/pinelands/water.shtml
We hiked and scouted out a large open area, that we thought suitable for our first night operations location, where we would observe this area from a hill, with night vision.... and listen, with our audio setups. We had no success in finding any unusual tracks, accept for a couple questionable depressions...that could have come from many sources. I also did a test run on my new helmet cam, that seemed to need repositioning forward on my helmet, after my partner (Mike) pointed out that the angle of the video, was probably pointing up in the lower tree branches. Dinner was fast, as we were assaulted by mosquitoes (at dusk), that seemed to like flying into my mouth, and following the trail of hot Bush beans and giant hotdogs, from hand to mouth. Just one of the things you have to put up with, in a boggy environment. When my partner went to pick up our third member (John) at the ranger station..., I waited by the vehicle, and just listened in the dark, before the mosquitoes drove me into my vehicle....that was also filled with mosquitoes.....nice ! The good news was, I don't recall getting many bites...just constantly buzzed and annoyed. The tropical insect repellent I used overseas, seemed to do well here, also.
After John arrived, we let him eat, and helped get him set up in camp. The other two guys that were camping in the other end of the area, came down and talked while we were setting up, and asked Mike for a ride to their vehicle, claiming the forest station folks had not told them how to drive to the parking spot, where we were parked. The guy offered to buy our ice (that I needed) and anything else, for the ride. Possible... yes, but I found the story and the guys...a little far fetched. Just a feeling (survived , so far...with my gut feelings) I had about these guys. One was doing all the talking, while the other was looking a bit like Egor (a nutty, kiss ass, tag along type) that just grunted and looked around all crazy eyed. The shirt he was wearing "White Trash and Proud of It" gave the rest away...to me, anyhow. Other than this rather bold (but well ending) encounter, they kept to themselves...so, absolutely no harm done.
Our night opps took place on a hill we scouted out earlier, that overlooked a large open sandy area. We got a little excited when I heard and recorded a set of 9 distant knocks...that after further review and talking to John (he listened to the recorded track) back at camp...turned out to be our neighbor buddies chopping up more wood, for their fire. We were about a mile and a half out of camp, and well with in the pickup range of my dish and mics. The ongoing sound of Whippoorwill courtship (or maybe nesting?) could be heard all around in the forest. Other than that...a dead calm and silence, that was rather eerie. We were out, and up till 4 AM, but did not have any other results. While driving back to camp on the sandy narrow road, Mike's headlights revealed... none other, than our camp neighbors walking in the opposite direction. After talking for a bit, we found out, that they decided to walk (in the pitch black darkness) back (Lord only knows, how far) to get their vehicle. The Egor looking dude was sharing down at me, and saying nothing (like usual). That's when it hit me, that he really looked just like the older kid enforcer (Malachai) , from the first Steven King horror flick "Children of the Corn". There was something strange there, and I didn't want to find out, what. A comfortable distance between us , and them.... is what I wanted.
The Whippoorwill activity got rather intense, a couple hours before dawn. I think these recordings will attest to that, recorded from my tent set up in camp. I even got some owl action along with the whippoorwills. Some of the close up Whippoorwill events (within our camp) can be heard here, at these two links :
http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/155-clip-whippoorwill-courtship
http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/155-clip-whippoorwill-upclose-and-personal
The following day we hiked along a trail that followed the river, but after a while, we realized that there were no muddy or sandy areas (or riverbank) to speak of, to look for tracks...only an immediate drop off from the forest, into the red-brown water. We heard a dog barking, and then saw that a family had taken the dog along in the boat, for the canoe adventure. We turned around and hiked back, finding more spots to check out, away from the river...than near to the river.
We scouted out our 2nd night opp spot by vehicle, before we made an ice run. Our Saturday night position was next to a large pond and forested area, where we set up with chairs and our equipment, and silently viewed the pond and forest with night vision goggles.... and just listened. While Mike was test tapping trees for a set of wood knocks, I had heard what sounded like a whistle (through the teeth) coming from the forest on the east side of the pond. We walked up the road near the area, and scanned with the goggles (and saw nothing), and even tried a couple of our own whistles, to maybe provoke a response...but nothing. After I got home and reviewed the entire recording, the "whistle" turned out to be a deer blow. The clip can be heard here, and there are actually a few deer blows, and the sounds of a deer bounding around:
http://soundcloud.com/imonacan/pinebarrens6-19-10-clip-nghtopps
The next day, we packed up leisurely, and could tell it was going to get hot. On our first night there, we actually had the heat cranked in the vehicle, and bundled up in the tent.... as the temps went down much lower (clear sky and calm), than forecast. While hiking out of camp with full packs and equipment, we came across 3 younger guys that asked us where they could find the pump toilet, and some water...as they were running low (and probably had to crap). They also, did not have a vehicle anywhere nearby, and looked very exhausted...with a story of how they hiked all day, and didn't find this campground, slept out in the forest, and didn't seem to know exactly where they were. One of the guys followed me up and asked me (politely) if it would somehow be possible to catch a ride out of the forest, and if I owned the big vehicle. The three of them were all around my son's age (early twenties) and looked like... they'd really had enough. They also had a dog, that was thirsty. We gave everyone some water, and I rearranged my vehicle to accommodate sitting everyone for the ride out. Although I was happy to help out these guys, it did distract me from doing my own gear check, and the usual things one would do, before leaving a camp area.
We got everyone (and my vehicle) out of the forest without incident, and I ended up taking them to the nearest store, so they could eat, drink, and wait for their ride, in comfort. I said my goodbyes to Mike and John, and proceeded to drive to one of the famous area mini marts in this region (on Mike and John's suggestion), to check it out, and get another large cold drink for the long ride.
It was at the Wawa store, that it hit me like a hammer....my f@#%ing recorder was still in a tree and recording, from where I left it, near the parked vehicles for the last overnight.........damn. After multiple awe shits, and curses....there was no doubt...I Was going back for it. At least I was not yet out of Jersey, or even worse ...back home in NY, before the thought had occurred.
It took another 3 hours, before I was back by the same Wawa (where I stopped again for more drinks, and a sub). I did not go all the way back, to where we parked near camp, because of the fear of my big rear wheel drive"burban" getting stuck in them sand dunes, with no one around to help me. On the very hot and sweaty walk back in , I spotted a lizard sliding through the white sand dunes...very cool, and the only highlight of this little unplanned return. And after researching it..... came to the conclusion that it was definitely, this:
http://www.enature.com/fieldguides/detail.asp?recNum=AR0077
So, what is with this Wawa thing here, I'm hearing.... and just what the hell is a Wawa ? It's Jerseys and Eastern PAs (and elsewhere in the region) version of our Seven Eleven.
Anyway, I thought it was a nice store, and it had it all..... and the AC was blasting. The people were even.... friendly ! I had asked Mike about it, earlier, and he seemed to think that the name could be a take off, on the Beach Boys classic song (Little GTO).
Well, after getting caught in an hour long Sunday traffic jam in the heat, from the Jersey shore crowd, all trying to get on the Turnpike, at once..... I'd really had enough. For the long seven hour plus ride home, I had That Beach Boys song (to replace the Iggy one) buzzing around in my head, relentlessly...but it Was, a damn good sub.
