Blue Mountain

Blue Mountain, Stokes State Forest (7/28/2012)

Two months ago we hiked the Appalachian Trail east of Brink Road and shelter. Today we headed back to this beautiful area to hike the stretch of AT west of the shelter where it climbs and traverses the ridge of Blue Mountain. As extra incentive, NYNJTC Kittatinny Trails Map #122 indicates a northward looking vista on this stretch of the AT. But two months ago we couldn't find another northward looking vista indicated on the very same map, so we had low expectations today. Wow were we suprised! No hidden spur trails were necessary today. The views, all from the trail, are continuous for a bit and then they keep popping up between trees even further west. Moral of the story is that the vista stars on the NYNJTC maps are definitely not created equal.

We parked at the eastern-most parking lot for Tillman Ravine on Dimon Road. There's a relatively nice rustic restroom facility here. We started by heading back east along Dimon road taking the woods road Brink Road all the way to Shay Road trail, eventually crossing Woods Road, passing the Brink Shelter on our left and then turning right on the AT, heading west. After a bit of climbing the magnficent views appeared. It was a bit cloudy but the views were still expansive. We turned right at the next intersection on an unnamed woods road and descended from the ridge to Woods Road which we then took east all the way back to the intersection with Shay Road trail. Here we made a left, taking Brink Road and Dimon Road back to the car.

Total distance hiked today was 6 miles in just over 3 hours.

(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)