June 4, 2022; National Trails Day

The Friends of Holmdel Open Space (FOHOS) sponsored a hike on Holmdel’s Ramanessin Brook Greenway. The route followed the Ramanessin Brook (also known as Hop Brook) from Holmdel High School to the Village School. The Leaders of the hike were Larry and Ralph.  Except for the last picture, Larry and Ralph provided the following photos of a delightful walk on a beautiful day.

We started out from the High School parking lot:

 We crossed Crawford Corner Road and then followed a faint and somewhat overgrown trail paralleling the Ramanessin on the former F&F property.  Plans and funding to develop this as a multi-use pedestrian and bicycle trail are progressing.

Then we came to the old farm pond which was covered with spring pollen:

We all posed on the newly constructed bridge over a stream at the end of the pond that was built as a Scout project:

Another opportunity for a group photo was at a Scout installed Greenway sign:

We paused for a lunch break at the bridge over the Ramanessin between Bayonet Farm and the Ramanessin Section of Holmdel Park.  Here and also further along by sifting the sand in the stream one can often find fossils and shark’s teeth.

We passed a number of tulip poplar trees in full bloom:

Soon we reached the end of our walk across Middletown Road from Village School:

SURPRISE: Thanks to donations from the Athletic Brewing Company there was a supply of non-alcoholic cold ones for the participants:

As we walked the Bell Works connector trail, we observed a significant number of discarded and unsightly water bottles.  There were more than we could put in our small packs.  After the walk, Bill did a good deed and went and collected them for this picture and for recycling: