Ringwood Manor



Ringwood Manor, Ringwood State Park (11/17/2012)

Three weeks after Hurricane Sandy made landfall in New Jersey, a huge multitude of parks in NJ and NY are still closed. Ringwood State Park is one of the very few state parks actually open, so we headed there today to "bag" a few trails that we never hiked before.

We parked at Ringwood Manor, a spot we haven't hiked from here since 2004, frist roaming the grounds of this enchanting manor. We took the yellow Hasenclever Iron trail west along the northern tip of Sally's Pond and then the blue Manor Trail south along the western bank of the pond. We visited the family cemetery before heading into the woods along blue. Many huge blow-downs from Hurricane Sandy have already been cleared from the trail. We got a partial view south after popping into the powerline cut when blue continue north, and then hiked nearly all of the yellow Hasenclever Iron trail east in search of the mine denoted on the NYNJTC Trail Map 115 (10th edition, 2012). We never found the mine, so we backtracked west to the Manor trail and continued in the clockwise direction. Instead of continuing all the way back to the car, we made a left on the White trail and hiked its entire extent. This brought us to picnic areas north of Ringwood Manor. We walked through open fields past picnic benches back to the car.

Total distance hiked today was 5.3 miles in under 3.5 hours.

(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)


Heading to Ringwood Manor

Autumn color remains!

Mill Pond

Millstone


View to Sally's Pond

Steps to Mill Pond

Ringwood Manor

Lion on porch

 

Canon on front lawn

Ringwood Manor

Smaller canon

Time capsule plaque
 



Sphinxes

Statues inside manor

Flowers on side
 


Statues in back area

Ringwood Manor from rear

Blue trail on left

Stairs in back of manor
 


Columns

Huge tree in back yard

Fountain

Gate to Sally's Pond
 


Sally's Pond

Manor from pond bank

[Photo by Laura]

Heading south on Manor trail
 


Tributary to Sally's Pond

Cemetery gate

Cemetery

Sally's Pond
 


Cormorant in pond

Chipped gravestone


 


Manor in distance

Waterfall at Sally's Pond

Pines on Manor trail

 


Cleared blow-downs

View from powerline cut


Huge blow-down
 


Close-up on snap

Colorful moss

Some autumn color

White-breasted nuthatch
 


[Photo by Laura]

Stream crossing ...

... Manor trail

Rock hopping
 


Turning on Hasenclever Iron trail

Heading east on HI

Lots of color on HI

 


Tiny dog collar

More rock hopping


 


On White trail

Partial views ...

... off White trail

[Photo by Laura]
 



Rock formations on White

Barbecue pit

Restrooms
 


Neither of us won!

Lots of picnic benches

Bench with a view

Statue of ...
 


... a shepherdess


Decorative posts in manor yard

Back to Ringwood Manor
 

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