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Hilltop Conservancy Winter Hike January 15, 2005 The weather had just turned, the winter had just set in for the first time all season. A week of mild, rainy weather was, gratefully, giving way to a crisp, clear, and frozen Saturday morning, January 15, 2005. Our group of about 20 hikers waited about 10 minutes past 8:00 am and then embarked on a tour of the southern portion of the Hilltop Reservation. We started from the North Caldwell Mountain Avenue Athletic Field parking lot and climbed up a ridge trail parallel to Mountain Avenue in North Caldwell, overlooking the athletic field to the left and with grassy meadows of the Hilltop property on the right. We walked, mainly single file, over ground that was just becoming frozen after a very wet week. It was interesting footing and made for good traction, without being either too muddy or too hard and this condition persisted throughout much of our 2 1/2 hour hike. Some hikers were not members of the Hilltop Conservancy, but most were. The non-members were mainly North Caldwell residents from near the N. Caldwell Jail Annex area. The hike progressed up the ridge behind the Mountain Ave. Athletic field, and through a wooded slope where Hovnanian's first development will ultimately be placed, which I'm told will break ground later this year. Then, we cut inward toward the East into the Hilltop property toward Verona. We crossed a region of the property that has been cleared of trees and is popular with the deer, who make themselves beds by knocking down the tall grass and laying on it. We spotted a deer carcass that had been stripped clean such that only the backbone, skull, and hind leg bones were still connected--what ate the meat (and ribs!). In still other meadows, the grass was replaced by thickets of thorny, scraggly, growth. As we turned a bend along side the thickets, suddenly we stumbled onto birds concentrated into a small area. The hikers immediately quieted, and listened attentively as a couple of our knowledgeable 'birdwatching' members quietly indicated which species were making calls (about 10 species in total in just a couple of minutes). In the distance, further north, a hawk glided across the meadow where the Sanitarium had stood years ago. The stillness was broken by a jet's low rumble high above, and we continued our hike down the mountain toward the Verona Community center, just south of the abandoned Jail property. Birds chirping was replace by our navigation along barbed wire fencing, the old firing range, Prisoner's Pond, and a lot of old, dumped garbage immediately south of the old Prison grounds. Hardly pristine, with tangled ugly invasive weeds growing between decaying garbage such as old piping, cans, and appliances, we dodged our way around these obstacles and then headed back up the ridge, but this time squarely on the Verona side, overlooking Fairview Avenue. At the 2 hour point, we set back for the Mountain Avenue lot in North Caldwell and parted having a better appreciation for the quiet space that's been saved, but knowing that this land isn't just about conservation, it's going to be about re-habilitation too. We, the members of the Hilltop Conservancy want to thank all the hikers for coming out to enjoy a brisk January morning, and a special thanks to non-members for your interest. The Hilltop Conservancy hopes to hold many more interesting and varied events on the new Hilltop Reservation and we encourage participation of the entire public at these events.
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