Wallkill River Valley

Wallkill River Valley, Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge (8/22/2009)

This is hike #6 ("Wallkill River Valley") in Hiking New Jersey: A Guide to 50 of the Garden State's Greatest Hiking Adventures (1st edition). There was a 30% chance of rain in the forecast, but it was sunny and humid when we left home. An hour later, as we pulled into the parking lot, it started raining lightly. Undeterred, and with our rain ponchos in our backpacks, we hit the trail. Five minutes later it started raining hard enough for us to put on the ponchos. But the rain didn't last, so off came the ponchos (one can become quite hot wearing them) after which we got about thirty minutes of very nice overcast hiking. Oh but the gods were taunting us, because eventually the skies opened, so back on went the ponchos, and it poured continuously for the last hour of the hike. Though the hike description included a 0.6-mile side trip to the Wallkill River, we were content to complete the hike without any additions. My camera, even stuffed inside my poncho, was dripping! Hence, there are only sporadic photos from the last half.

The overcast sky was ideal for photographing the many gorgeous wildflowers in the fields adjacent to the trails. It's a beautiful little loop (about 2.5 miles total) and we intend on going back when the monsoon season is over.

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