Local walks: Ralston District
October 1, 2005• (0) Comments
In good weather, we enlarge ourselves in perambulation. Walking is healthful, slow, determined, invigorating and instructive. When we walk vigorously, we recharge our circulatory faculties and enjoy a lively pulse. At slower paces, it is our minds that race ahead, taking in the countryside in ways that are impossible from a moving car. I have found that walking with a cigar can be particularly salubrious.
It was in just such a mood that I recently set out from Gladstone to walk to Union Schoolhouse in Mendham’s Ralston District. Savoring a bright afternoon, it seemed reasonable to meet the Raritan River at Union Schoolhouse, then follow it up to where it emerges from the Roxiticus Valley beneath Schiff Preserve. From there, it seemed an easy circuit home along Roxiticus Road where the valley views open up below Chester’s hills and Peapack Brook winds gently down into Gladstone.