Distance: 13.2 miles
Elevation: 1821 feet
Time: 5 hours, 53 minutes
Hiking Challenges: New Jersey Appalachian Trail
The first day of spring! At least the first day of the aptly named "fool's spring." I left Boston early in the morning and landed at the trailhead around 8-9am. This hike formally kicked off my little self-challenge to finish hiking the NJ section of the Appalachian Trail. I had hiked a few sections in the past, so I want to take this upcoming summer to connect the dots! I have it planned out and weather and life depending, it seems doable! I had two sections to complete during this hike: Wawayanda State Park from Warwick Turnpike to Barrett Road and Warwick Turnpike to Prospect Rock, traveling through nonspecific parkland and Abraham S. Hewitt State Forest.
Traveling from Warwick Turnpike to Barrett Road involved a couple of beaver ponds, some flooded trails from snowmelt, old woods roads, and beautiful, young, hardwood forests. While overall featureless, Kazmar Pond was a beautiful marshy-swampy pond and the view right at Barrett Road shows the beautiful farmland that makes up this area.
The second half of the hike started a series of swampy valleys and small hills - I remember when hiking I started counting how many ups-and-downs there were (I think five?) to pass the time. These woods were full of old stone walls, occasional farm machinery, and old woods roads. I was reading an old edition of the AT guide through NY/NJ and it seems most of this section is new in the past few decades, as the trail used to spend much more time in New York.
After the ups and downs, the trail parallels a wide section of Long House Creek and eventually crosses it on a nice footbridge. The trail briefly then follows the unmapped and seemingly unused extension of Gladstone Road and then climbs up to the ridge of Abraham S. Hewitt State Forest.
This section was easily the most fun. The scrubby pine vegetation immediately brought me back to when I would hike along the Kittatinny Ridge in high school, there were two fun scrambles, and then the views began! This was also the first time I had seen people the whole day. The AT eventually passes into New York, and a little further down leads to the breathtaking views from Prospect Rock. I had a nice lunch here and started my long trip back to the car. While the ups-and-downs became monotonous, there was such a beautiful peacefulness to the woods in this area that I was in no hurry to leave.
- Park at AT crossing on Warwick Turnpike.
- Start hiking on the AT Southbound (technically traveling North, but the trail ultimately goes South).
- Junction with blue-blazed William Hoeferlin Trail, continue straight.
- Cross Old Wawayanda Road, continue straight.
- Join Iron Mountain Trail for short while.
- Leave Iron Mountain Trail, continue on Appalachian Trail.
- Turn around at Barrett Road and reverse instrctions.
- At Warwick Turnpike, restock at car and continue on Appalachian Trail Northbound.
- Make note of white blazes - there are a few unmapped old woods roads throughout this section.
- Cross the paved Long House Drive.
- Cross unpaved and unmapped extension of Gladstone Road.
- Continue on Appalachian Trail to the ridge.
- Continue straight at junction with yellow-blazed Ernest Walter Trail.
- Continue straight at junction with blue-blazed State Line Trail.
- Continue on Appalachian Trail into New York to Prospect Rock.
- Turn around at Prospect Rock and reverse intsructions to Warwick Turnpike.
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