A New Experience at a National Park
A hike at Jockey Hollow featured all the familiar sites, plus a new one we're all likely to see more of in the future at other parks.
Last weekend, I went hiking with friends at Jockey Hollow-Morristown National Historical Park (N.J.). With 25 miles of trails both paved and natural, and located in urban Morristown, the park was full of people last Saturday, including our group of 10.
Jockey Hollow is a 1,200-acre site that was the winter encampment for the Continental Army during the “Hard Winter” (1779-80) of the Revolutionary War. It’s believed to have been the harshest winter in recorded history.
Gen. George Washington chose the 1,400-acre Wick farm there as an encampment site because it was covered by forest. During the winter of 1779-80, the army chopped down over 600 acres of his trees (and more on neighbors’ properties) to build cabins and burn wood for heat and cooking. Today, you can tour the fully furnished 1750 Wick house, and meet re-enactors.
But as I left the visitors center, and drove out of the lot to the park’s entrance, I saw about 20 activists protesting the Trump administration’s planned dismissal of roughly 1,000 National Park Service employees. They carried signs “Honk If U Love Parks,” “Protect Our Public Lands from Profit Hungry Oligarchs” and “Save Our Park Rangers.” I didn’t get a photo because I was busy blasting my horn.
Maybe it’s time to keep sign-sized pieces of cardboard and a heavy-duty marker in your car in case you see a protest and want to join. After all, did Washington and his troops, along with the Wick family that provided shelter to them, stick it out all winter so that this sacred historic site should be left to have hours of operation cut, and trails unmarked and strewn with trash? I think not.
Now More Than Ever We Need Outdoorsy Books
Since I wasn’t buying anything last Friday, I was thrilled when I got these on a buy-nothing social media page. Today more than ever field guides to your local outdoors offer outings to look forward to, and a distraction from the attacks on our natural blue and green spaces. Visit a local bookstore, and pick one up for you and maybe one for a friend, too.
