Five and a half years ago
we visited this park after a snow storm to find every parking lot unplowed except for the one on Limecrest Road at the southern tip
of Lake Aeroflex. We managed to walk across the lake to the trails because it was frozen solid (when the lake is not frozen, access to the trails from this parking
lot is impossible because of the airport). Today we returned to do a larger hike covering trails that we
didn't cover on that day. Today's hike was Hike #6 ("Sussex Branch Trail") in
Nature Walks in New Jersey, 2nd edition. This is the hike we were trying to do in January, 2009 but failed to do so because we couldn't find the Orange
trail. This is because there is no Orange trail. Presumably the trails were reblazed since the book was published in 2003. Instead of parking on Route 206 where
the Sussex Branch Trail crosses (as indicated in the book), we parked in the lot south of Twin Lakes on Goodale Road.
Following this map we crossed Goodale and took the short trail to the Sussex Branch RR trail taking that north. After paralleling Goodale Road we crossed it once again and entered Kittatinny Valley State Park following the White trail along the northern edge of the parking area, then Yellow, passing the beautiful visitor's center before continuing once again on White heading south along the western bank of beautiful Lake Aeroflex. After reaching the northern tip of the airfield, which is also the southern tip of the lake, we took a break to watch a World War I-style biplane take off before we continued west to Yellow which we then took to Red. Here we headed south all the way to the Sussex Branch Trail which we took clockwise all the way back to the parking area. We explored the southern tip of Twin Lakes and then ate lunch while some karate convention took place on the lawn near the parking area. Total distance hiked today was 4.4 miles in just under 3 hours.
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View from parking lot |
[Photo by Laura] |
Eastern Bluebird |
Entrance to the trails |
Engulfed in green |
On the Sussex Branch trail |
Swamps along rail trail... |
...which parallels Goodale Road |
State Park entrance |
Gate to White |
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Strudy stone wall along trail |
View back to park lot |
Visitor's center |
US and NJ flags |
View from center steps |
Yellow follows meadow |
View back |
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Heading to... |
...Lake Aeroflex |
Laura on the dock |
Fishing |
White trail along the lake |
[Photo by Laura] |
Lilypads abound |
White trail |
Trail wildflowers |
Old camp barbecue? |
Lake Aeroflex |
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Fishing |
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View SE |
View NE |
Old fireplace |
Picnic bench on white |
Laura saw a garter snake |
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Cloud of bugs! |
Bird hotel |
Brown-headed cowbird? |
Northern tip of airport |
All Vistor's Must Yield to Aircraft |
Aircraft |
Lake and airport border |
Biplane... |
...taking off |
Silo |
Abandoned building |
Gorgeous old growth... |
...on Red trail |
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Spur off of Red |
Field of wildflowers |
Beaver lodge in swamp |
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[Photo by Laura] |
Swamp filled with water lilies |
Water lilies |
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Drowned trees |
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Wildflowers from above |
Back on Sussex Branch trail |
Swamp off RR trail |
[Photo by Laura] |
Cat tails |
Two turtles on log |
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Water lilies |
Gorgeous swamp |
Snapping turtle |
Cat tails |
RR bed at swamp |
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Beaver lodge |
Mute swan |
RR trail |
View of Twin Lakes |
Path to Twin Lakes |
Mowed path at Twin Lakes |
Great Blue Heron in lake |
Karate circle |
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |