Today we returned to Wawayanda, a park we visited last year not long after Hurricane Sandy
decimated a good part of New Jersey. Today we hiked a loop which incorporated the southern part of the Iron Mountain trail, a woods road apparently dating back
to Colonial times. A good part of the park is still covered in snow, though with intermittent patches of dry earth. At one point we had to put on our Kahtoolas
but then took them off less than 10 minutes later only to contemplate putting them on again 10 minutes after that! It also happened to be snowing gently during the
entire hike.
We started at the southern terminus of blue-blazed Iron Mountain Road, in the parking lot for the boat launch. We took this woods road all the way north to the AT which, according to the park website, is still closed due to Sandy damage. Perhaps it is, but the setion we used today, just north of Kazmar Pond was open. We were on it only for a short stretch before taking a woods road east to Old Wawayanda Road which we took south passing a picturesque swamp on the left. We took this woods road all the way to the park road, which we walked along back to Iron Mountain Road and back to the car. The park was quiet today, with only one car passing us along the park road. Total distance hiked today was 4.2 miles in just under 2.5 hours. (Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)
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Boat launch lot |
Trail parallels lot road at start |
It was snowing |
Crossing park road |
Kiosk on park road |
Heading north through gate |
Bears! |
Path was slick in parts |
Abandoned nest |
Creek |
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[Photo by Laura] |
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Plastic pipes under path |
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Small climb on Iron Mt Road |
Interesting rock |
Winter still life |
Continuing north |
Weird! |
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Swamp west |
Dedraggled nest |
Birch thicket |
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Bridge from ... |
... the 1890s ... |
... over ... |
... Wawayanda Creek |
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[Photo by Laura] |
How many tons? |
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AT wand |
Run-off from ... |
... Kazmar Pond |
Sunny, icy Kazmar Pond |
AT blazes |
Boardwalk through wet area |
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Heading east on AT |
Climbing from pond |
Woods road heading east |
View west |
[Photo by Laura] |
On Old Wawayanda Road |
Marsh east |
Cat tails |
Heading south |
Phragmites |
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Like a Rotho painting |
Zoom towards park office |
Beaver lodge |
Zoom to lodge |
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Frozen swamp |
More cat tails |
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Run-off from ... |
Kazmar Pond ... |
... frozen at ... |
... southeastern tip |
Blaze on poison ivy |
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Marsh from park road |
Bird hotel |
Kiosk on park road |
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