Wawayanda Lake, East



Wawayanda Lake, East, Wawayanda State Park (12/12/2020)

We hiked the western side of Wawayanda Lake just two months ago. At that time we parked at the visitor's center. Today we parked at the boat launch and hiked trails on the eastern side of the lake.

Using the map on the second page of this NYNJTC pamphlet we parked in the huge lot for the boat launch. There were only two other cars when we arrived just before 9 AM. We headed to the eastern side of the lake following the wide gravel path, visiting the historic furnace, before heading south on the yellow-blazed Laurel Pond trail. The pond was visible to the west, through the early morning mist. We continued south along this trail before we made a right on the orange-blazed Sitting Bear trail, which we took west back towards Wawayanda Lake. We headed west, then north along a short stretch of the South End trail, arriving at the bank of the lake. Then we backtracked a bit and headed north along the Sitting Bear trail, now skirting the bank of the lake very close to the water. A dense fog had arrived during the first part of our hike and it was impossible to see to the other side of the lake. We couldn't even see the small islands in the lake! At the end of the orange trail, we continued north on the blue-blazed Wingdam trail. But instead of taking it all the way back, we continued along what is still a red-dashed line on the map. This trail is now blazed orange, and is very easy to follow. This we took back to the gravel path, and then back to the car, with most of the lake now completely hidden by dense fog.

Total distance today was 4.5 miles in 2 hours and 45 minutes.

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