Tamarack Pond, Van Slyke Castle, Ramapo Pond, Cannonball Overpass Loop (Ramapo Mountain State Forest)
Hike Type: Lollipop Loopty-Loopty-Loop
Distance: 10.04 miles
Elevation: 1,270 feet
My Time: 3 hours, 37 minutes
Book Time: 5 hours, 39 minutes
Parking: Plenty of parking at Lower Parking off of Skyline Drive.
Hiking Challenges: Ringwood-Ramapo Hiking Challenge, 52 Hike Challenge 2026
Hiking Challenges: Ringwood-Ramapo Hiking Challenge, 52 Hike Challenge 2026
The Hike
Time to start a new hiking challenge - the Ringwood-Ramapo Hiking Challenge! It launched in the past few months and seemed like the perfect mini summer project for me to tackle. It was a dreary Tuesday but I forced myself out after work. The loop I had was almost ten miles long, but I was by no means married to doing the whole thing. I parked in the large parking lot off of I-287 with just a few other cars (and a couple porta potties - yay!). It was relatively nice out - 70 degrees with relatively low humidity for July in New Jersey.
Phase 1: Trailhead to Tamarack Loop
I started my hike on the Ramapo Lake Spur, blazed in blue and black. I crossed some form of old stone infastructure and turned left to climb along a wide, eroded path. It neared a stream at times that was quite lovely. There were a decent amount of people on the trail and I was feeling a little silly being the only one with a full hiking pack, but also, who cares! I heard some commotion in the distance, must have been dogs. I saw a cool moth next to a blaze, and at the height-of-land, I turned right onot the Castle Loop trail, blazed in white.
There was no sign at the junction but the turn and blazing was obvious. I was hoping that I had passed everybody at this point - we'll see! The Castle Loop wiggles down to cross a small stream before wiggling back up on relocated stretches of trail. I almost missed a sharp turn as I was making eyes with a couple of very unbothered deer.
A very slight breeze dislodged a limb from a high tree, scaring the daylights out of me! The trail became an old road as I began to follow a cardinal along, coming within feet of the partially-paved Rye Cliff Road. The occasional breezes were knocking leaves off of the trees, and the old road I was following eventually came to a confusing T-intersection before coming to another one. I did my best to follow the white blazes as much as I could! Soon, I neared Skyline Drive and the trail became much grassier.
I RAN across Skyline Drive, hoping a car going 80mph wouldn't fly right over me, and continued onto the white/purple blazed Tamarack Loop, hiking it clockwise. The blazes looked like Candyland cards, which brought me joy! I descended again along the grassy trail, which wasn't opressive like the Harriman grass, but enough where I put some extra bug spray on. There was some kind of construction happening through the woods as I continued to descend to an area with another old woods road and a bunch of tick signage.
There were a bunch of unmapped/unblazed woods roads criss-crossing with this trail, but again, blazing was strong. Eventually, I came to a lovely view of Lake Tamarack. There was a cliff on the far side and what looked like an old dock nearby. There was also a breeze that kept the bugs at bay (thank god). I hiked past some old foundation with docks and patios - I wonder if this area was similar public-domaine'd like Crater Lake up in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area?
I hiked past a few more old woods roads and saw the first ghost pipes of the season! I rounded a large boulder before seeing another viewpoint of the lake and then I followed the purple blazes away from the lake, passing an old chimney and some foundations. I wonder the history of this area? I couldn't easily find much online, but I did find out that this trail, and a few others were either new or newly blazed as of 2020 (LINK)!
I passed a junction with a yellow-blazed trail and began a desend toward Todd Lake in a little micro-notch. The trail turned right to follow the contour before descending a final bit to the lake, which featured screaming crows, plenty of bullfrogs, and minimal views. There was a small window-view at an old fireplace. There was also some beaver evidence around here!
I turned to join another old road at the jucntion with a green trail and eventually had my first short, steep pitch of the day! I could begin to hear Skyline Drive just as I was thinking negatively about the backside of this loop, perfect time! I was fully sweaty by the time I finished the climb to the road, and then I had to carefully scurry across the road again to continue my journey.
Phase 2: Tamarack Loop to Ramapo Lake
This started the second phase of my hike: the journey to Ramapo Lake! I rejoined the Castle Loop, paralleling the road for a minute over some mud, before beginning a wiggle up to a height of land with a stunnin gbreeze. There was a delightful walking break afterwards with a slight descent before joining a red-blazed trail that also featured some red "C"s. There were very small bits of mountain laurel in this area, and the trail briefly joined Deer Ledge Road before going back into the woods.
The trail continued to a ledge with a little view and a steep, rugged descend afterwards. The descent continued into a wetter area before crossing a stream and joining a pipe line route. The skies were beginning to mist, which wasn't overly unexpected, but sure was a bummer.
I turned left off of the pipeline and followed the blazes, which were on-and-off of an older, eroded woods road route, and then turned sharply left at a small power cut. There was a little view spur to the Wanaque Reservoir and maybe Windbeam Mountain, which was fun to see!
Soon after, I came to what I thought were the castle ruins. It was a tall lookout-tower style building, which was equally cool and spooky! There was another deer at the tower, and I took a peek inside which was full of graffiti and some rotting boards. It was delightfully cool and spooky!
Along the trail, there were old pipes and cables with tree views on the right to the reservoir. I had so many questions! I assumed this old road was the driveway. There were also a few private residences in the area? This are was absolutely fascinating me. I caught another view of the reservoir with bands of mist before passing another old foundation that may or may not be an old swimming pool?
It turned out there was a LOT more to see, still! After the maybe-pool, I came to what I believe was the actual castle. The whole area was in ruins with beautiful stonework and some graffiti. Truly the posterchild for WeirdNJ. I explored as much as I could without getting ticks/scratched by pokey plants. I could hear somebody nearby, but we either never crossed paths or they didn't want to be seen. The WeirdNJ Article can be found HERE. Okay, and from a few blurbs online I found out that the tower was the water tower, the pool WAS pool, and the castle was the castle! This area was similar to Overlook Mountain in the Catskills.
There was a view down to the misty lake just after, and then I hiked on a wooden ladder and stairs that climbed over the castle's... gate? fence? retaining wall? After a bit of hiking with rough footing, I joined a wide gravel road where the red "C"s from before joined, left, and joined again. Oh, the C is for "Cannonball!" This eventually led to the the blue-blazed Ramapo Lake Loop, which was a delightfully wide road.
Phase 3: Ramapo Lake & Cannonball
Following the trail, I saw a few views of the lake through the trees and a few outcroppings, and there were a few more ruins nearby that I would pass at the end of this loop. The pond was pretty covered in lily pads, but it was pretty! It was nice to be on an easy trail.
The trail passed someone's home? I was fascinated by this place. Their driveway smelled like rotting poop, which was a huge bummer. There were decent views of the pond and MANY signs around their home, calling it a bird friendly habitat, a wildlife nursery, and a warning that wild animals will defend their young. There were lots of fenced-in wildflowers for butterflies and endless birdfeeders. I have so many questions!
The was a big junction with a few roads at the terminus of the Ramapo Lake Spur. I followed the sign for Rye Cliff Road, which traveled over the lake's dam, and passed the first people I'd seen in a while (they asked if I had seen any bears).
A red trail joined for a moment. The road was unimproved, but it seemed like maybe you could drive on it if your heart really desired? Still so many questions! The red trail left on the left as I stayed on blue, providing a nice view of the castle over the lake with some neat white flowers (swamp azalea). After the castle view, the trail became more wooded and there were tire tracks in the mud, but no bear prints! I heard some sounds of machinery (chain saws?) and a weird clicky/ratchety sounding frog/bug through the woods.
I eventually turned left onto the LaGrande-Lake Connector (red/blue) for my final side quest of the day towards the Cannonball Trail Overpass! I had driven under this so many times, so I was excited to finally hike it, even if it was a dinky overpass over a wildly busy interstate. There was some old pavement left on this old road, but it was mostly gravel. It easily rose and easily descended afterwards.
I turned onto the Pool Hollow Trail, blazed in a yellow, which was a lovely footpath between the network of old woods roads, which now featured some dirt bikers. I could start to hear I-287 from a short, steep descent, which led to a left turn onto another old woods road that led to the overpass! I wrote "this bridge puts the horse bridge [on MA-28] to shame - fully encased with wildly busy road underneath."
I hiked to the other side and turned around and continued to follow the old road bed as the yellow Pool Hollow Trail turned right to hike back up the hill (I was being lazy). The road was unblazed but incredibly easy to follow. Eventually, the road split into three treadways as the dirt bikes began to come close to me again. This was overall a strange area with some dirtbike paraphanelea around and increasingly frequent "C" blazes. I ended up followed the "C"s all the way back to the Ramapo Lake Loop!
The Ramapo Lake Loop and Cannonball Trails were friends again for a bit as more mist fell from the air, eventually passing a really cool red home on the left. There was a bit of water on the trail as another road joined (North Shore Drive), adn then the road was in much better shape.
The road/trail crossed a bridge with overhanging power lines covered with fishing line. I continued along, following some deer tracks in another wetter spot, and then followed a blue-star-blazed side path to another view of the pond (and crossed paths with another person!). I made a note that I only took this side trip because of the star blazes, as I was tired. There was a memorial for a kid who had drowned in the lake:
"Whoever Who Saves One Life Saves The Whole World
DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF OUR BELOVED
ISABELLA BRODSKY
MARCH 2001 - AUGUST 2018
TRAGICALLY DROWNED IN RAMAPO LAKE
To Live In The Hearts Of Those We Leave Behind Is To Live Forever."
Once I was back on the loop I was feeling satisfied and ready to put a bow on this hike! It passed some more ruins before repeating a section of trail to get back to the Ramapo Lake Spur Trail, but not before passing a few teens hiking in full oversized denim and hoodies - it was so humid I couldn't even fathom it.
The sun began to poke out and the birds started to sing and I caught a hint of blue skies right at 5:00pm right as I passed the awfully smelling home's driveway!
I had a very short stretch of new trail on the Ramapo Lake Spur and had a quick half-mile hike back to the parking lot. I had to awkwardly pass a guy who kept trying to hike faster than me, and to my horror the porta-potties were now gone! Either way, first hike of the challenge was now done!
Step-by-Step
- Start hike on Ramapo Lake Spur (Blue/Black).
- At jct., turn right onto Castle Loop (White).
- Cross Skyline Drive and hike Tamarack Loop clockwise (Purple).
- Cross Skyline Drive and turn right ont Castle Loop (White).
- Descend from Castle, then right onto Ramapo Lake Loop (Blue).
- At southern end of Ramapo Lake, turn left onto LeGrande-Lake Connector (Red/Blue).
- At jct., turn right onto Pool Hollow Trail (Yellow).
- Cross I-287 bridge, turn turn around.
- At split, continue straight onto unblazed road.
- At jct., turn right onto Indian Rock Trail (Red).
- At jct., turn left onto Ramapo Lake Loop (Blue).
- Follow Ramapo Lake Loop clockwise, retracing steps, to Ramapo Lake Spur.
- At jct., continue striaght onto Ramapo Lake Spur (Blue/Black).
- Return to car.
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