We returned to Ringwood, the site of our last hike nearly two months ago. The snow in Morris County has all but melted, so I mapped out a 5-mile circuit beginning at Shepherd Lake, which used some unblazed woods roads that we hadn't hiked previously. I didn't anticipate how much snow and ice would still be here, an unusual sight, given that the temperature nearly reached 60 this morning!

After parking in the lot for the boat launch (the lake was completely frozen, so there were no boats out today, only ice fisherman), we got to the boathouse at the lake, noticed all the ice, and had to return to the car to get our Kahtoola EXOspikes. The Orange-blazed trail, high above the bank of the lake, was a sheet of ice. Bicyclists were flummoxed, as we walked along the top of the ice, invincible. It was so much fun, that we continued on the unblazed path when the Orange trail headed south. We continued east, then headed north up Table Rock a bit before backtracking and next heading to Potake Pond, following unblazed woods roads. We took the one that runs along the south-western bank, with some nice views along the way. We finally met back with Orange, which we took north, then west, before heading north on Red, downhill, all on ice. When we reached the Orange/Red trail we took that icy road back to the boathouse and the car.

Walking on top of the ice, which we did for majority of the hike, was so satisfying! You can see our entire track here.