Headed over to Ramapo Mountain State Forest to check out a newer trail, Wanaque Ridge, in the western part of the park. We slapped together a route as we went along and ended up only with 7.2 miles, but there was a decent amount of up and down along a pretty rugged trail surface. It was a brrrrisk and dreary day, so we plan to come back to take photos when it’s more colorful.
Ramapo is a great park to hike and the Wanaque Ridge trail was no exception, especially if you enjoy ridge hikes. Once we got to the Wanaque Trail from MacEvoy Trail, it started out just as nice forest, then climbed up to the ridge for some great views of Wanaque Reservoir and dams and all the surrounding mountains. (and, well yeah, houses too)
Further down the trail, views opened up back toward the main part of the park and we could just see the ruins of Van Slyke Castle and the water tower (another great hike in the park). Read more…
Decided to try our luck with the snow in South Jersey, as I’d checked the snow depth map online and it appeared this area didn’t get as much. Turns out that Brendan Bryne was not the smart choice.
Rt 206 South to Rt. 70 E. (Red Lion Circle). At 4 Mile Circle, take Rt. 72. Park entrance is on the left, not too far, big sign. Follow the signs to the main park office, or to the Pakim Pond lot where we started from.
There were maps in a kiosk at the main park office. Note on the building said the office is closed weekends until April 1st. We drove to the Pakim Pond parking lot a few miles down the park road. The composting toilet was unlocked (yay!). There is also a larger bathroom building there, which is seasonal. Another composting toilet was along the Orange trail later in the hike.
We headed to the Mt Misery trail (WHITE) from the lot, which is reached from the Batona (PINK) as it crosses over Pakim Pond. (near the gazebo) Read more…
Located in Somerset County, off of Rt 27, our hike info is here.
11.7 miles, moderate… but you can certainly do shorter loops.
It was supposed to be bitter cold so we wanted to do a short hike, nearby. We hadn’t been to Six Mile Run in quite awhile, after doing the short BLUE there trail years ago and didn’t think that much of it, as it skirted a lot of fields and such.
Just wasn’t that much of a hiking-thru-the-forest type of hike, when you compare it to North Jersey, but we came to realize that a lot of central hikes are like that. (With central Jersey being so developed, you often find yourself skirting backyards and fields, crossing streets… which can still be fun of course)
I had just read that JORBA (jersey off road biking association) had been developing trails there, and found a new map on their site that listed more trails so we gave it a shot. It turned out to be a nice sunny day and we ended up doing 11.7 miles, all of the park but the Blue trail… Read more…
