7.2 miles | 820 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★ I have mixed feelings about the cooler temperatures. On one hand, the crispness is perfect hiking weather. I love being bundled and even more importantly, not sweating. But on the other hand, the muted colors of grey dampen otherwise spectacular views. Not wanting to journey too far last weekend, we decided to explore Hemlock Falls in South Meadow Reservation. The falls were nice, but the discovery of a fairy village made the hike all the more worth it.
NJ Trails
Hike 48: Giant Stairs
4.4 miles | 764 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★ When I see hikes ranked difficult, it usually means one of two things. It's often way harder than I expect, or sometimes, way easier. Of course, there's a different in difficulty depending where you are. Mount Beacon hard isn't quite the same as Plateau Mountain hard. The giant stairs was rated hard and with a rock scramble along the shoreline, I was a bit hesitant. However, end ended up being much easier than expected. Long, but straight forward.
Hike 43: Pyramid Mountain and Tripod Rock
3.8 miles | ~600 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ Last weekend was a perfect fall day. A little crisp but not the kind of chill you feel in your bones. Back from the Catskills, we were excited for the local foliage, but unfortunately that was still to come. Instead, we headed out to New Jersey, to Pyramid Mountain National Historical Area in Montville for a gentle forest walk with a few views.
Hike 37: Pochuck Valley via Appalachian Trail
4.8 miles | 302 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★ We went apple picking last weekend in the far corner of New Jersey, a stones throw across the border from Warwick, New York. The orchards at Pochuck Valley Farm, were a hike of their own. With acres of land and nearly 2,000 trees, you could always find your own corner of solitude. It was a bonus when we learned the AT was right down the street, including the Stairway to Heaven, a hike that's been on our list for some time now.
Hike 34: Sandy Hook
8.3 miles | 92 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★ There's a direct ferry from the bottom of Manhattan, 30 minutes to Sandy Hook, NJ. We've known about the ferry for years, but this year, we finally tried it out. Landing right at Fort Hancock, you're immediately immersed in the history that was once there. Shuttle buses will take you to the beach of your choice, but we wanted to wander and explore.
Hike 25: Buttermilk Falls
4.25 miles | 250 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★ The plan was to drive over to Buttermilk Falls just before dinner on Saturday night. Google gave us one set of directions, Waze another longer route. We assumed Waze knew something Google didn't about traffic or obstructions (it usually does, regardless of them being the same company) and went with it. 30 minutes later we arrived at a blocked road. So...we drove around to the other side. Also blocked. Apparently the direct road to the falls was blocked with "covid restrictions" according to the Delaware Water Gap's website. We learned later that they were rebuilding the parking lot.
Hike 24: Normanook Tower
3.9 miles | 650 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★ We camped. And I survived. Besides glamping on the Inca Trail, I've never really camped before. Unless sleeping in a tent in my friend's backyard counts. It's something we'll have to do as we get to the more distant Adirondack High Peaks - we're just not fast enough to conquer 20+ miles in a day - so decided to start small with car camping by the Delaware Water Gap.
Hike 22: Hartshorn Woods
6.0 miles | 614 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★★ I'm not a beach person, but somehow being near the beach on a 90 degree day felt like the right hike option. We ventured down to Atlantic Highlands, a mile or so from Sandy Hook. Starting from the Rocky Point entrance, we followed the black diamond trail for most of the hike resulting in a long loop around the park.
Hike 10: Wawayanda State Park
7.8 miles | 1,309 ft gain | Difficulty: Medium | Rating ★★★★★ It was nearly a virgin trail. Last October the New York New Jersey Trail conference reblazed the blue trail, making it a full loop around Terrace Pond. Previously, you would have to take the blue to the yellow to the white...there was some red it there...and even still, not a full loop. This new trail was gorgeous and provided a variety of woods, water crossings and wide carriage like meadow paths, pretty much everything you can ask for in a single trail.
Hike 2: Carris Hill + Wyanokie High Point
7.4 miles | 1,289 ft gain | Difficulty: Moderate | Rating ★★★★★ We took the long path. Intentionally? unintentionally? I'm not entirely sure. It's not unusual for our recorded hike to be slightly longer than AllTrails, but a 20%+ difference is a bit much.
Hike 1: Princeton Battlefield State Park
3.0 miles | 79 ft gain | Difficulty: Easy | Rating ★★★ Sometimes a new year means easing back into things. To simplify things, and to be flexible to restrictions Covid may place, I'm defining a 2021 hike as a 3+ mile excursion in the woods. Yes, I am for challenge, but sometimes it's just nice to get outside for a bit.
2021 Resolution
2020 has been hard, for so many reasons. Everything was canceled. My mom's 70th birthday trip in April, our 10-year anniversary trip to Hawaii in May, our cousin's wedding in June. The silver lining of this pandemic has been an opportunity to slow down, evaluate what's important and spend time outside.
Fifty-Two Hikes 