Fall foliage is swiftly hitting peak in northern NJ (and has already hit peak in upstate NY), so to enjoy this short annual event once more, I
took the day off to go hiking with my friend Andy. Today we hit three remote spots in Ringwood State Forest and Ramapo Mountain State Forest. Specifically, we
visited three vistas that require long treks (at least 10 miles) from the nearest parking lots. But a few months ago, while eyeing
NYNJTC Trail Map 115 (North Jersey Trails), I noticed a woods road beginning at the end of Spruce Lane, a dead end street south of Upper Erskine Lake.
Perusing the map I saw that this access point would lead to many trails still untraveled because of their remoteness. So off we headed today for that woods road.
Using the aforementioned map, we took the woods road north, then the red-blazed Ringwood-Ramapo trail south to the first vista denoted on the map. It's a seasonal viewpoint with views over the Wanaque Reservoir, Lake Erskine, and the Wyanokies. The Monksville Reservoir dam is also visible from this spot. Next, from the vista, we headed east on the green tulip-leaf-blazed Old Guard trail to the yellow Hoeferlin Memorial trail which we took north to Erskine Lookout, the second remote vista. The views from here are also slightly obstructed by trees and afford basically the same view as the first vista. Right behind this vista is the Green trail which we took east to the Cannonball trail which we took north through Camp Yaw Paw. We then headed NW on White to the best vista of all, Ilgenstein Rock, with views over Bear Swamp Lake and even Manhattan when the sky is clear (it wasn't clear today). I visited this viewpoint back in December, 2006 as part of an 8.5-mile hike. This remote vista is the closest to any parking area. After lunching at this spot, we headed SW on Hoeferlin Memorial, then west on the Blue trail before heading south on Ringwood-Ramapo, back to the woods car and Spruce Lane. Total distance hiked today was over 6 miles in 4 hours.
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Climbing the woods road |
Heading north through foliage |
Foliage not quite peak |
South on Ringwood-Ramapo |
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Crossing, on stones ... |
... High Mountain Brook |
Colors! |
Solid stone path on R-R |
Zig-zagging up the ridge ... |
... on many switchbacks |
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Awesome yellow color! |
Andy at first vista |
Wanaque Reservoir |
Lake Erskine in foreground |
Monksville dam in background |
Wyanokies and reservoir |
Checking the map |
Old Guard tulip tree leaf blaze |
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Second vista: Erskine Lookout |
Wanaque Reservoir |
Monksville Reservoir behind dam |
Planes to and from Newark |
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Turkey vulture |
An inviting Green trail |
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Hurricane Irene blow-down? |
Shelters at ... |
... Camp Yaw Paw |
Clark shelter |
View from Clark shelter |
Andy roasting very low-fat marshmallows |
Leafy path to ... |
... Nature House |
One of several camp signs |
Stream to Cannonball Lake |
Camp reservoir |
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Lovely views of ... |
... reservoir ... |
... at Camp Yaw Paw |
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Keffer Dam plaque |
John Coyle cabin |
Ascending on Cannonball trail |
Reservoir |
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Huge boundary wall |
View north from White trail |
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Views opening ... |
... to the east |
Ilgenstein Rock |
Rocky Mountain from Ilgenstein |
Bear Swamp Lake and Drag Hill |
View SE |
Remote mountains SE |
More very low-fat marshmallows! |
Open cliff on Rocky Mountain |
Interesting roots! |
Bridge to Nowhere! |
Bright yellows |
Lots of leaf drop |
Rickety bridge ... |
... and sturdier bridge |
High Mountain Brook |
Bridge over brook |
Large hawk feather |
Heading south on woods road |
Photographs and content copyright © Dan Balogh Web design by Dan Balogh |