Aw, dam: driving Splitrock Reservoir

If you're like me, when someone offers a chance to drive across a dam, you don't pass it up. That's exactly what I thought over the weekend, when Ivan suggested we check out the Splitrock Resevoir Dam in Morris County. With totally improbable visions of the Hoover Dam in my mind, I gladly took direction over hill and dale on the slim Split Rock Road, woods encroaching on either side.

Right after the pavement on the road stopped, we ran into this sign (click to read, if you don't have microscopic vision):

Then, after a bit of bouncing around, we came upon this:

And then this:

Hoping to all that's holy that we wouldn't come upon a vehicle headed in the other direction, I continued along the rutted road and across a portion of Jersey City's Splitrock Reservoir.

We were lucky to run into no opposing traffic until we were off the dam and the road widened a touch. There's a pretty substantial parking lot for kayakers and canoers on the other side, but I'd wager that they all hit the road from the other side to detour the dam drive.

How was it that I hadn't yet heard of this place? Was it one of those "uh, a bunch of my friends got stoned and drove out to this scary place at midnight" kind of things I tend to ignore in Weird NJ? Or was it just one of those odd things you don't know if you don't live right next to it?