Hi again! Yesterday Sky was having friends over, so I figured it’d be a good time to explore somewhere new. I’d been wanting to go on a hike in the snow for a while (remember this for later) and the snow from a week ago was still around. I was digging online for some abandoned places around and found this place on an old Reddit post and decided to head out.
It was about an hour drive, but I quite enjoy the drives out to the west end of NJ. Lots of beautiful scenery, foliage, mountains, and small towns make for a great view for my Floridian brain. I pulled into the parking lot, put on my jacket, got my cameras, and headed in. No idea where exactly the mines were, but I figured the trail would lead me there eventually.
First thing I noticed was a little creek with the top layer frozen over, but water still rushing underneath. I know it’s probably a common occurrence in cold climates, but this was the first time I had ever seen it! I walk over to a small ledge (snow covered, as was everything) overlooking the small creek, and hand launch my drone to get some video. I flew over to land the drone on the frozen surface; and to my surprise, nothing bad happened! Solid ice. I clipped a couple of small branches while I was down there, but so far so good. I go to hand catch for the landing; prop blade clips my finger, cancels the landing, hits another branch flying back up, and lands upside down in the snow. It gets BURIED from just the little fall. Fuck.
I end up having to climb down about 15 feet to the creek through thorny wineberry bushes (which I didn’t realize were prickly until I grabbed one) to recover it, but all was good besides some snow in harmless parts. Thank fuck. Time to head in for real :)
The trail is very well marked, both on the trees and the footprints in the snow where everyone else was walking through. I took a left at the fork, which ended up taking me along the titular Hibernia Brook. Not too much to see there. Eventually, it leads in a winding path up the side of the mountain. Due to my inexperience with snow, i was getting pretty tired pretty quick; it’s like walking through thick sand, but slippery!
I video chatted with my parents while I made my way up the hillside, found a good clearing about halfway to the old Hibernia Cemetery. Spoiler alert: since I took the long way on accident, I didn’t make it this time! I hope to in the future though. I plopped down, took my drone out, and went to fly it out over the clearing to get some sunset footage. Welp, some of the snow had made it in the guts of the thing, and it was throwing a downward sensor error and refused to take off. Nothing seemed to be going as I expected it to this trip. I decided to cut my losses and start hiking down since I could feel the night beginning to creep in, despite only having been there for around an hour. Winter sunsets come early and I forget this all too often.
I consulted my phone, and realized thankfully the shorter way down would take me past the mines/bat hibernaculum. I headed back down, following the yellow trail markers until a fork at which I began following the black trail markers. There were some paw prints in the snow; what an adventurous pup that must’ve been! On the much steeper way down, I slipped and fell about four times, recording 3 of them thankfully, but no gear or body parts were injured. I am a bit sore here the day after, but I can’t complain too much. I saw a clearing in the trees and the path splitting to my left; and there it was.
A little bit about the site:
The Hibernia Mine was one of the largest mines in NJ. It was comprised of many smaller mines, all being linked and accessed through a 4000 foot plus adit. The adit was so large that it needed a locomotive in order for the ore transport to be economical. This was handled by the Hibernia Underground railway, the only incorporated mine railway in NJ.
The Hibernia mine is know throughout the northeast not for its rich history, but for it being one of the most important bat hibernaculum around. it is home to an estimated 30,000 bats.
The last 80 years, the mine has sat idle. Despite being vandalized, walled up, sealed, reopened, cemented shut, and dynamited Hibernia’s final status appears to be solidified as a bat home for the rest of its days
— Source: abandonedmines.net
Very cool! So much history here in NJ, just an hour drive away from where we live now. It’s a huge change of scenery from everything I grew up with. Clearwater is practically unrecognizable from 50 years ago; I couldn’t imagine finding something as old as this back home. It was honestly kind of terrifying looking in. It was pitch black, despite the sun still peeking out a little. There was a sort of heaviness in the air too. Maybe it was just me not being used to the silence of nature, but it spooked me. There were signs advising of ongoing research going on by Rutgers University, and what looked like cameras set up looking into the cave, so I used that as a good excuse to get my photos/videos and leave.
The rest of the trek back was uneventful, thankfully. A pretty tame and flat walk back to the parking lot. I got back into the car, made sure all my gear was intact, and headed home. All in all, a pretty fun (albeit short) hike that definitely put me in my place about hiking in the snow. I need to find some good hiking boots with better traction so I don’t have to slam as many times on gentle slopes.
Until next time :)
-autumn