Opted for a bike ride since it was going to be mid-90s and sunny today and we hadn’t been for a ride in awhile.

We headed over to our favorite bike route… the Delaware and Raritan Canal towpath. We usually park at Rocky Hill because it’s closer, but decided to head over to Lambertville because it had been awhile since we’d done that section.

It was so nice and breezy cruising along on our bikes. (We like rail trails and comfort bikes… we’re not that into mountain biking, and road biking in Jersey is… well… small shoulders and tons of whizzing traffic isn’t really our cup-o-tea)

The trail surface is level packed dirt or fine crushed stone, basically a rail trail. It is mostly shaded, and runs along the canal and river. On this section of the towpath, there are about 28 miles of trail… so you can get a real long ride in if you like. We prefer to bike the towpath, but it would make for easy hiking as well (more like walking really). Read more…

NJ Hiking NJ Biking Easy Hike

Complete hike details, photos, and video on our Sterling Forest page.

Finally a “cool” 80 degree partly-sunny day… what a nice change.

Sterling Forest is just over the NJ-NY border in New York, to the west of Harriman State Park. We hadn’t been there in awhile, and decided to check out the Bare Rock trail and Greenwood Lake overlook. There is a small viewpoint trail from the Bare Rock trail that leads to an open area with a wide view over Greenwood lake and makes for a nice break spot.

After that we just put our route together as we went, and ended up at the fire tower, which was open.  Even though it was overcast that day, the 360° views were nice. There are two other nice small overlooks, before and after the fire tower. Near the visitor center, you can check out an old iron furnace and some other building ruins. Read more…

NJ Hiking Sterling Forest Moderate Hike, New York, Viewpoint

Complete hike details, photos, and video on our Stairway to Heaven page.

Gorgeous and diverse section of the Appalachian Trail through northern NJ….

Hike first on boardwalks through marshy areas and over the Pochuck Suspension Bridge, then through hardwood forest, tall fields of wildflowers, over train tracks, a cow pasture (watch for cow pies!) and a boulder field.

All of this before steeply climbing up Wawayanda mountain on the “Stairway to Heaven” – lots of stone steps up switchbacks – to one of the best viewpoints in NJ: Pinwheel Vista. You can see the Kittatinny Mountains in the distance, farms in the valley below, and on a clear day, High Point Monument is visible. Read more…

NJ Hiking Highlands, Wawayanda Appalachian Trail, Moderate Hike, North NJ, Viewpoint

Complete hike details, photos, and video on our Washington Valley page.

We were looking to do less driving during the holiday weekend. I didn’t have a lot of info on the park, it’s not in any of our books, no trail mileages to really gauge the park by… but it was only 30 minutes away so we didn’t have much to lose. Boy was it HOT though …. 95-ish and sunny HHHHOT. The weather has been brutal for hiking lately.

The park was just OK for trail interest and scenery. Other than walking by the reservoir on the RED trail… not too much to see. The hawk watch looks over a quarry. While interesting… it’s not the best view.  It’s certainly decent for a park in Central NJ, but it lacks ooomph.

This is a biking-allowed park and the trails are geared as such… some seemed to twist around more than needed. We find that a bit tedious to hike, but since there are less parks available for bikers than hikers in NJ…  it’s not really a complaint… just an observation.

Slight road noise throughout the park… you are never far from a road.

9.5 miles roundtrip (8.8 if we hadn’t got off track a bit) – easy to moderate trail surface. Hard-packed and rocky, but with loose, smaller rocks… easy to slide on. Minimal elevation changes. Read more…

NJ Hiking NJ General Central NJ, Hawk Watch

Complete hike details, photos, and video on our Lemon Squeezer page.

The Lemon Squeezer is a rock formation on the Appalachian Trail in Harriman State Park, NY. It’s a really interesting and fun section of the trail: The AT goes through an opening created by rocks, then you need to squeeze through a narrow section about 8-10′ long. After the Squeezer, you can scramble up a rock face, or you skirt off to the left and follow the “easy way” sign.

The scramble up is harder than it appears – or at least it was harder than I recalled. (it’s been a few years, but a guy with a backpack going before us yelled out a few choice words as he went up it so…)

This loop passes by Island Pond, then gets to the Lemon Squeezer. Continue on the AT then loop back on the Long Path near a low, swampy area. The Lichen trail was really overgrown but leads you to a wide rocky face with views to the west. Plenty of boulders to sit and take a break on, and one with a tree providing shade. The trail ends at Ramapo-Dundenberg and continues over these open rock slabs with lots of blueberry bushes. The terrain reminded us a little of being out West. Read more…

NJ Hiking Harriman/Bear Mtn Blueberries, Moderate Hike