Berkshire Valley Wildlife Management Area

Berkshire Valley Wildlife Management Area (2/8/2010)

Though situated in the county where we live (Morris County), and encompassing over 2,000 acres of land, we never hiked in this WMA before today. It's actually not easy to, given the fact that there aren't any blazed trails, and the most detailed map I could find online was this one on the NJ government website. But there is one well-worn path through the central part of the area, the abandoned railroad bed of the Lake Hopatcong Railroad, in business from 1882 to 1935. You can actually see the path on Google Earth; its labeled "Berkshire Valley Management Area Trail". It travels about 2.2 miles from Gordon Road (its southern end) to Minnisink Road (its northern end).

And today we hiked the pleasant 4.5-mile round-trip in less than 2.5 hours. South to north is all uphill, though it's gradual. The reward is the return which is, of course, all downhill. [Addenda: a week after doing this hike, I purchased the book 24 Great Rail-Trails of New Jersey and discovered that this hike is the very first in the book!]

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