It's been almost nine years since we hiked here, and after checking out the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Map for Northern New Jersey (#115/116), I noticed
that we could make it to the amazing views at Prospect Rock, on the AT, by parking at Cascade Lake. In fact, this is the closet place to access those wonderful
vistas.
So, we parked in the lot at the lake and headed along the eastern bank of the lake on Blue, which we took all the way to the Appalachian trail for those amazing views. Depending on your speed, you can get to the views in less than 30 minutes. When we reached the AT, we first headed north a hundred yards, for some very nice views to the north and northeast. Next, we headed south along the AT a couple of hundred yards, for a magnificent 180-degree view over Greenwood Lake just east. A weather-beaten American flag flies at Prospect Rock, on a makeshift pole. It's a beautiful spot. After taking in the views, we headed back on Blue, then took Pink south, then north to another blue trail (noted as "A" for azure on the NYNJTC map). We eventually returned to Blue/Pink, then headed south along the Red trail, climbing the mountain on Green, then continuing on Red, crossing Long House Creek, before eventually returning to the parking lot on Red, along the western bank of the Cascade Lake. There seemed to be a small wedding ceremony taking place at the boat launch. There is a free map available from the municipality here, but it's very difficult to tell which trail is which. Total distance hiked today was 4.3 miles, in just over 2.5 hours.
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Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |