Last week we hiked Bearfort Mountain south of Stephens Road in West Milford, NJ. Today we returned to hike a loop of exactly the same length on Bearfort Mountain
north of Stephens Road. The other difference this week was that nearly the entire hike was during a wonderful light snow which made the
entire forest appear as if someone had sprinkled powdered sugar all over it. Yum ... powdered sugar.
Like last week, we parked in Pequannock watershed parking area P8 and walked west through the gate, beginning a steady climb up the closed part of Stephens Road. We then headed north on the blue-blazed Spring North trail all the way to its end 2 miles later. About 1 mile in, however, we noticed a nicely defined spur trail heading east and marked with beautiful cairns. We followed it for a few tenths of a mile but stopped when it began to descend sharply. Had there not been low-hanging clouds we would have gotten some nice views. But not today. At the end of the Spring North trail we encountered a wonderful swampy area with two beaver lodges. Their intricate dam extended quite a ways around the swamp flooding out part of the trail. We had to walk on the dam for a bit at one point. At the end of blue, we continued south on the red-blazed Terrace Pond Red trail back to Stephens Road which we took east back to the car. Total distance hiked today was 4.3 miles, in 3 hours.
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At parking area P8 |
Pine Ridge Equestrian Center |
Closed part of ... |
Stephens Road [photo by Laura] |
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Last week's trail head |
Spring North trail head |
Stream |
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De-layering |
Woods road wall |
Mine on hill |
Mine close-up |
Descending from mine |
Climbing in snow |
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Gorgeous views of ... |
... semi-frozen lake ... |
... off trail [photo by Laura] |
View east |
View north |
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Rocky stretch |
Mountain Laurel |
[Photo by Laura] |
Blows-down |
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Fire ring? |
Rock lichen and snow |
Cairns on ... |
... spur to the east |
Partial views through trees |
Sun struggling to come out |
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Clouds obstruct the view |
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Woodpecker work |
Oily reflections |
Interesting rock marks |
Colorful oil |
Huge glacial errata |
Erratic toomfoolery [photo by Laura] |
A snowy path |
Nice boulder on blue |
Steep descent here ... |
... to a swamp |
Beaver lodge in swamp |
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Path along swamp |
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Beaver dam |
Trail flooded here |
Walking on dam |
Intersection with Terrace Pond Red |
South on Terrace Pond Red |
Red blaze reflection |
Slippery stones |
Rhododendron overhang |
[Photo by Laura] |
Rhododendron |
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[Photo by Laura] |
Beautiful views ... |
... of a snowy ... |
... Terrace Pond ... |
... Red trail |
Evergreens |
Winter color |
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Pine cones |
Tiny sprouts |
Snow fleas! |
Swamp |
Beautiful narrow stretch |
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End of Red trail |
Stephens Road closed west of here |
House and farm on Stephens Road |
Are they serious? |
Privately owned? |
Fire Tower West trail head |
Stephens Road |
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Mini Palisades |
Horses! |
Riding lessons |
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |