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The last time we hiked the banks of Echo Lake was way back in 2007, almost thirteen years ago, when we first purchased a hiking permit for the Newark Watershed. Subsequent to that
one-year pass, we purchased a hiking permit for the year 2012, but didn't hike in the Echo Lake area. This year Sterling Forest has been our go-to place while New Jersey parks
were closed due to COVID-19. We hiked there twelve times this year, but last week we were astonished at how many people were on the trails. We were passing families of 5-6 every two
minutes on narrow trails! I wracked my brain trying to think of more remote areas to hike. Then I read that my friend Daniela had a great idea. She realized that the difficulty
in getting a
a hiking permit for the Newark Watershed, guaranteed that less hikers were on the trails there. So she decided to wait in line for an hour
earlier this month to get a permit, and it was well worth it.
So, on Tuesday of this week I headed to Newfoundland and got Laura and me hiking permits. And today we returned to Echo Lake after thirteen years.
Today we parked in the lot at the office (where I purchased my permits on Tuesday), walked east on Echo Lake Road, past the boat launch, and got on the white-blazed Echo Lake East trail and took that north. We next took a woods road (just south of where the Highlands trails continues east). This woods road we took east , then took another woods road north (which co-mingled with the Highlands trail for a short stretch), eventually ending up on Gould Road. We walked along the road for a few minutes, bushwacking to find the northern end of the Echo Lake East trail, which we took all the way back to Echo Lake Road. A short stretch on that road brought us back to our car. Total distance hiked today was just over 5 miles in three and a quarter hours. And while we saw a few fisherman on Echo Lake, we didn't see a single soul on the trails! Waiting for that permit was sure worth it! Thanks for the idea, Daniela!
(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)
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Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |