For detailed hike directions, maps, photos and GPS coordinates, visit our Buttermilk Falls page.
7.4 miles – Moderate trail surface; steep in the beginning, some rocky sections but also a lot of really easy woods roads.
BLUE (Buttermilk Falls) – AT – ORANGE (Crater Lake) – Woods Road around Hemlock Pond – Woods Road – BLUE (Buttermilk Falls)
Another lovely fall day, a little warmer than we expected… a couple spots on Buttermilk are in the sun and we felt it. The falls are better with spring runoff but they weren’t too bad with the rain we’d had the day before. From the top of the falls it’s steep right away on Buttermilk Falls trail (BLUE) – more than people would expect.
For detailed hike directions, maps, photos and GPS coordinates, visit our Beaver Brook page.
10.7 miles. easy to moderate trail surface, mix of woods road and more rugged trail in the Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, Morris County. Main feature of this hike is Lost Lake and it’s beaver lodge/dam. Right at the start is pretty Saffin Pond.
Highland Connector (BLK Diamond on TEAL Diamond) to Highlands (Teal) to Beaver Brook (White) out-and-back.
Great early-fall weather, upper 60s and cloudy. The lot had a lot of cars but once away from a few people at the pond we passed one hiker couple the whole day. Other than the pond and the lake, there aren’t fantastic views along the trail, it’s just pleasant hiking – nothing real fancy. It’s also nice if you want to do a long hike, but turning around at the Lake makes a nice day out too.
We did see a very large black bear – this is the fourth time spotting a bear this year – which is more than we’ve seen total in all the rest of our years hiking…
For detailed hike directions, maps, photos and GPS coordinates, visit our Best Hikes in NJ – Wawayanda State Park – Old Coal page.
11 miles, mostly easy surface. Wawayanda’s trails are mostly level, woods roads. Really just pleasant, easy hiking in a beautiful park.
Wildlife spotted: A bear along “Sitting Bear” trail — how cliché… He was gleefully tearing into a dead tree looking for buggy snacks, well off the trail. We stopped cold in our tracks, looking around for mama. He was a young bear, but thankfully not a cub with mom in tow.
We had been making noise as we hiked so he was aware of us; and he couldn’t have cared less we were there, was too engrossed in snack time. We decided to continue past, keeping an eye on him.
At one point, he stood up and hugged a standing tree stump and started tearing into that… amazing to see, yet a little unnerving to see the raw power as he shook and clawed the dead tree.
(For detailed hike directions, maps, photos, video, and GPS coordinates, visit our Terrace Pond North page)
About 5.4 miles round trip. This trail is part of Wawayanda State Park in the Bearfort Ridge area in Hewitt NJ, and is not the more popular route to Terrace Pond. This is an alternate route that appears to be little used.
We were actually going to hike Bearfort Ridge trail to Surprise Lake, but a few minutes into the hike we ran into a large male black bear on the trail. On the few occasions we’ve ever seen bear while hiking, they run fast the other way. Not this guy.
He slowly meandered around… toward us. We retreated down the trail to decide whether to do the loop in the opposite direction, but the Quail Trail ran quite close to where the bear was headed anyway.
We made some loud noises to see if he’d wander off. Instead, it sounded like he was coming towards us… almost like we had just called him over! Very unusual behavior.
We opted to play it safe and went to a trailhead for Terrace Pond down the road a little bit. That trail head is across the road and headed south… away from the bear. We’d never done the trail so we figured we’d check it out.
We ran into a local who told us there are 3 bears that hang out near the houses by the trailhead and go through their garbage. This must have been one of them, which explains why he wasn’t afraid of us and didn’t run off.
(For For detailed hike directions, maps, photos, video, and GPS coordinates, visit our Echo Lake – Highlands Trail page)
8.3 miles – out and back. Mostly level hiking on moderate trail with a few minor changes in elevation, plus a lot easy woods road walking. Route follows Echo Lake West/Highlands (TEAL Diamond) around the western shore of Echo Lake, then follows the Highlands Trail through some nice forest areas (no real views) over Kanouse Mountain toward Bearfort Mountain.
Our intention was to hike from Echo Lake to the fire tower up on Bearfort Mountain for a round trip total of about 10.6 miles. However at about 4.2 miles in, we heard a clumsy crashing noise ahead of us, maybe 50 yards or so, on the left.
It didn’t sound like a deer, so we stopped dead in our tracks to see what was going to come into view… and sure enough, a black bear cub comes bounding in from the left, and tries unsuccessfully to climb a tree (so cute), then followed by another cub. Uh oh.
