Tourne Loop (3x) (Tourne County Park)

Tourne Loop (3x) (Tourne County Park)

Hike Type: Lollipop Loop-Loop-Loop

Distance: 3.94 miles

Elevation: 961 feet

Time: 1 hour, 13 minutes
Hiking Challenges: N/A

The Hike

I'm currently in the liminal space phase of my summer - after work has ended and before the family trip down the shore. I had plans in the afternoon/evening to go into the city to see the One World Trace Center Observatory and then to see a wonderful and ridiculous play called "Ginger Twinsies," which was a spoof on the movie "The Parent Trap." I had a few hours to kill in the morning, so naturally I was back to the Tourne! The parking lot was wonderfully and entirely empty at 8:30am on a Monday! It was 75 degrees out by the high humidity made it feel just miserable. I passed a couple of fawns on my drive in, my shoes were still damp with sweat from yesterday's hike in the water gap, and off I went!

The bugs were already out and about on the yellow dot trail with loud cicadas up in the trees. I felt as if I was swimming through hot soup when I reached the top of my first lap and I found my first human of the day at the bottom. She loudly proclaimed "GOOD MORNING! These bugs are terrible!" - she was correct.

I was pouring sweat by the time I was at the top of round two. I was definitely going to go for three laps, but I could make no promises about a fourth. I was feeling... dreadful on my second descent and eventually passed the same woman again who said "wow, twice, eh?" My watch was stuck at 113bpm for the third climb which was annoying only because I wanted to know truly how much I was dying. I passed the same woman once more time as I neared the top of lap three and she said "Again?1 How many are you going to do?!" I told her three and NO MORE and she said "Don't overdo it. You're awesome!" after noticing how drenched in sweat I was. The "You're awesome" comment helped get me to the top!

I wrung out my shirt and chugged some water at the top of lap three and made the executive decision to not go for a fourth - all I truly wanted was a cold shower. I saw two new people on the final descent, and soon enough I was suffering through the dense bugs and humid air back to my car so I could take my cold shower!

Step-by-Step

- Park on Denville Side of the Tourne. 

- Start hike on Yellow-Dot Trail.

- At terminus, turn left onto Yellow Trail.

- Loop the Yellow Trail as many times as needed.

- When done, turn left onto Yellow-Dot Trail and return to car.

Map of Tourne County Park

Photo Album