Sunday was a beautiful day with mild autumn weather. Perfect day for a long run. The plan: 16 miles on an out-and-back chunk of the Lenape Trail from the end of the rail trail in Verona to Brookdale Park in Bloomfield.
I had previously run this section in the opposite direction, for which most of the trail was well-marked (with the exception of the left turn on Alexander Avenue in Montclair). The eastbound direction was not as clearly blazed.
Once off the rail trail and heading uphill to Cedar Grove, I lost the trail for a bit, but knew that Ridge Road was dead ahead, so I kept moving onward until I got there. After a short stint on Ridge, the trail hooks through the woods past the reservoir as it continues uphill into Montclair. For a moment, when there were no yellow blazes in sight and it was a lot harder to figure out where to go. While searching for some yellow, my leg got wrapped up in a downed branch which took me down, lacerating my leg in the process.
I felt the blood trickling down, but refused to look at it. This was only the fourth mile and I was not going to get psyched out by the sight of a large wound with 12 miles to go.
Finally catching sight of a bit of yellow, I accidentally followed it to a link trail which used yellow with a black dot in the middle for its blazes. I did not notice the black dots initially, so I ended up at a trailhead in an unfamiliar spot. Thankfully, there was a map nearby and I got back on the main trail.
By the time of the turnaround in Brookdale Park, I was losing it. Low-8 miles became high-8 miles. Then 9s, finishing the run (back through those thick woods) with painful 10s and 11s.
If I am going to run NYC in a few weeks, I need to plan on a slow, slow race. But then, was that not the point when I first was offered the chance to do it?
No pressure, Daniel. Keep reminding yourself. No pressure.
After five years of running the short West Essex Trail (2.5 miles of
former railroad from Little Falls through Cedar Grove and Verona), I
finally began wondering about the yellow blazes on the trees in its
southwestern portion. Some online research led me to find that the
section is part of a larger entity called the Lenape Trail.
Named after a Native American tribe that once lived in the area, the
Lenape Trail is not always, in fact, a trail. Rather, it starts in
Newark and winds through Essex County, passing through several parks -
sometimes on the roads, sometimes on paths, and sometimes through the
woods.
Breaking it up into four separate runs, I tackled the first 13 miles by
parking at Brookdale Park in Bloomfield/Montclair and taking a bus to
Newark. Starting at Riverfront Park, I worked my way through city
streets to beautiful Branch Brook Park. It was there I started following
the yellow blazes.
Once out of the north end of the park, the blazes followed some more
streets and a few small strips of land between properties in Belleville
and Glen Ridge. It was not always easy to navigate - when you run, you
can miss the blazes. But eventually, I worked my way into Bloomfield and
to Brookdale Park.
The second leg was from Brookdale Park to Fairview Avenue in Verona.
This run took me straight up the little mountain in Montclair, through
lots of steep, wooded areas with rough footing, and down around the
reservoir in Cedar Grove before hooking up with the West Essex Trail
into Verona. At that point, I took a more direct route back to Brookdale
via the roads. If you follow one of the online maps of the trail, you
can see that this section makes a lot of turns, so following a straight
line back to Brookdale made the most sense in order to maximize the
forward movement on the trail.
For the third leg, I did an out-and-back from Verona to West Orange,
including another difficult stretch. After winding through several
Verona side streets, I was faced with another heavily wooded, steep
incline with difficult footing through Eagle Rock Reservation. Coming
down from the mountain and into West Orange, the trail follows along
power lines off of 280 along unkempt terrain - tall, weedy grass with
lots of bugs - before landing back on the road in Roseland.
The final stretch is tricky right now because the trail continues to
follow the power lines, but the sections are closed due to work by the
power company. So I had to find the nearest roads and follow as best as I
could until finally meeting up with the official trail again through
Becker Park and crossing Eisenhower Parkway, finally ending along Eagle
Rock Avenue at the Essex County Environmental Center and the Morris
County line (where the Patriots Path begins). Then, of course, I had to
turn around and get back, too.
Supposedly, there is a section of the trail that breaks off near Route
280. I was going to cover that in a separate run, but I couldn't find
it.
If you run the trail, keep your eyes well peeled for the yellow blazes,
but also have a good general idea of where the route is supposed to take
you, just in case you miss a turn. Also, be prepared to run around the
closed-off section - keep the power lines in sight and know where you
need to end up. It is a fun adventure and well worth it the multiple
trips if you live in northern New Jersey.
