Carris Hill

Carris Hill, Norvin Green State Forest (10/19/2013)

We returned to Norvin Green for a second week in a row to hike (or re-hike, since we previously hiked nearly all of the trails in this gorgeous area) Carris Hill and to enjoy its sweeping views. Wow, we thought last week's view of the Wanaque Reservoir from High Point was spectacular. It was, but the expansive view from Carris Hill was even better, certainly one of the great views in New Jersey. And the fall colors were much closer to peak this weekend. It's still a week or so shy of peak. Hopefully the leaves will stay on the trees for another couple of weeks.

Once again we used the map on page 2 of this brochure from the NYNJTC (which is also available at the kiosk at the parking area), this time parking at the southern trailhead of the yellow-blazed Wyanokie Crest trail. We took this trail north to the blue-blazed Hewitt-Butler (HB) trail, which we took east. We continued east on the white-blazed Posts Brook trail until we reached the yellow-blazed Carris Hill trail which we took climbing and climbing and climbing to the many fine views. Next we headed south on the HB and then back to the car on the Wyanokie Crest trail.

Total distance hiked today was just over 4 miles in almost 3.5 hours. That's a slow pace, but this was for two reasons: there is some serious climbing, and second, the views are just too magnificent to breeze past.

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