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Turkey Swamp – Manasquan Trail - 11/24/13

Turkey Swamp - Manasquan River Easy loop through pine and deciduous forest, following along the Manasquan River briefly.

The forecast was calling for a windy and super cold day plus we only had time to get a quick hike in. Somehow we always end up at Turkey Swamp when its freezing or the ground is snow covered.

The forecast was spot on - with the wind chill it felt like 8-10 degrees out. With the right gear however, it's not really an issue. (For help with cold…

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Added by njHiking.com on November 26, 2013 at 3:49pm — No Comments

Ramapo Mountain State Forest

This route takes in Ramapo Lake, Van Slyke Castle ruins, plus views of the surrounding area and of NYC.

Ramapo Mountain State Forest, located in Bergen and Passaic Counties, contains a popular, extensive network of trails. It’s easy to create loops of any length and there is a lot to see, even on a short loop.

This is a very, very popular area, especially going to…

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Added by njHiking.com on November 22, 2013 at 3:37pm — No Comments

Pinnacle and the Pulpit – Appalachian Trail

The Pinnacle and the Pulpit

Hike a rocky route with two amazing vistas along the Appalachian Trail in Pennsylvania. Enjoy the expansive view of the surrounding hills, the Kittatinny Mountain ridge in the distance, and the patchwork of farmland in the valley below.

Mileage: 8.7

Our two cents: While this hike is absolutely a "must-do" on any NJ-area hiker's list, it is…

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Added by njHiking.com on November 14, 2013 at 12:47pm — 2 Comments

High Point – AT and Iris Trail Loop

High Point - Lake Rutherford

Several nice viewpoints along a figure-8 loop that starts on the Appalachian Trail in High Point State Park and returns on the Iris trail, an easy woods road.

Mileage: 9.1 miles. Very rocky start on the AT but moderate after that; a couple of minor steep areas, mostly rolling elevation changes. There are several nice viewpoints along this figure-8 loop. (The loop could be done in the opposite direction, but then the easier trail…

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Added by njHiking.com on November 11, 2013 at 4:30pm — No Comments

Sterling Forest – Bare Rock and Fire Tower



This loop takes in the Bare Rock Trail, an overlook of Greenwood Lake, 360 degree views from a fire tower, plus a few other viewpoints.

You can also check out the Sterling Furnace remains. Sterling Forest is just over the NJ-NY border in New York, to the west of Harriman State Park.

10/13/13 - Updated description and changes/additions to route: avoiding the flooded section on Fire Tower Trail, added Lakeville Ironworks and South Point…

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Added by njHiking.com on November 11, 2013 at 4:27pm — No Comments

Norvin Green – Lake Sonoma, Overlook Rock, Manaticut Point - 10/6/13

Moderate loop that features Lake Sonoma and several viewpoints in the northern part of Norvin Green State Forest.

The forecast said “partly cloudy”. The radar map showed no precipitation anywhere nearby. We figured the fog that loomed in the distance halfway on our drive there would burn off as the morning wore on.

Nope.

It wasn’t raining, but the fog had made the downed leaves wet enough to be slippery and this only got worse as the…

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Added by njHiking.com on October 15, 2013 at 1:44pm — No Comments

Wawayanda – Hoeferlin, Cedar Swamp, Red Dot - 9/14/13

A longish ‘lollipop’ loop through Wawayanda’s scenic forest, rhododendron tunnels, and cedar swamp… plus an encounter with a pair of black bears.

Wawayanda is a really gorgeous park with an extensive network of trails. This loop skips the usual trails around Wawayanda Lake. It doesn’t offer any big viewpoints or an obvious destination – it’s just straight-up nice hiking through a very pretty forest.…

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Added by njHiking.com on October 9, 2013 at 2:29pm — No Comments

Norvin Green – Wyanokie Crest, Carris Hill, High Point - 8/30/13

Rugged loop in Norvin Green State Forest that includes a waterfall and several expansive views, including the NYC skyline on a clear day.

We decided to skip out the Friday before Labor Day weekend for a quick-ish hike at Norvin Green, one of our favorite parks in Jersey. There are great views combined with some of the most rugged and remote-feeling trails in the state.

To change things up, we decided to start from a trailhead we never had before - the…

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Added by njHiking.com on September 9, 2013 at 5:28pm — No Comments

Ralph Stover and Tohickon Valley - 8/4/13

Two adjacent parks that pack dramatic vistas and pretty forest into a short hike along the High Rocks cliffs overlooking the Tohickon Creek below.

We’d never gotten around to checking out either park because hiking books and the park sites themselves only show a limited trail system that wasn’t worth our drive here – plus the trail maps were…

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Added by njHiking.com on September 5, 2013 at 4:41pm — No Comments

Harriman State Park – Pine Meadow Lake Loop - 6/24/13

We took a day off during the week and figured we'd hit up a popular hike that is normally quite crowded on weekends.



Harriman State Park is packed with excellent hiking trails but everyone tends to start from the Reeves Meadow Visitor Center so that area gets mobbed.

We took our usual route on RED towards the lake and then circled around it, including taking a break out…

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Added by njHiking.com on July 22, 2013 at 10:58am — No Comments

Buttermilk Falls, Crater Lake and Hemlock Pond Loop - 6/15/13

We'd planned on redoing Buttermilk Falls last spring but just never got to it. The last time we hiked the loop was in the Fall of 2009 and the falls were just a bit of a trickle – so we wanted to try to time it in the spring when it runs more or – even better – after a heavy rainfall.

It poured buckets in Jersey for a few days... so off we went.

This route packs in a lot in it's moderate 7.5 miles: Buttermilk Falls (at 200', the highest in NJ), Crater Lake,…

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Added by njHiking.com on June 21, 2013 at 3:30pm — No Comments

Point Mountain Reservation – Mountain Top Road - 5/28/13

For general info and trail maps, visit our Point Mountain Reservation page.

As per usual on Memorial Day Weekend, we pointed the car in the opposite direction of crowded beaches and the associated traffic, ending up at Point Mountain Reservation.

We'd hiked here only once before, doing a short hike in the central section almost four years ago ("…

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Added by njHiking.com on June 11, 2013 at 5:30pm — No Comments

njHiking.com Site Redesigned - 5/16/13

Have you checked out the redesigned njHiking.com yet?

New look, easier to find info... and just snazzier all around!…

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Added by njHiking.com on May 16, 2013 at 2:35pm — No Comments

Tamarack Hollow Preserve - 04/14/13

The trails at Tamarack Hollow Preserve are relatively new and I'd read about their creation a few years ago. Since there are only a little over 2 miles of marked trails here, we'd just never gotten around to checking them out.

There are three blazed trails: Fresh Ponds Spur (.3), Hidden Holly (.6), and Tamarack (1.0). There are some other unmarked…

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Added by njHiking.com on April 15, 2013 at 4:15pm — No Comments

Plainsboro Preserve - 4/7/13

Plainsboro Preserve Spring is finally here it seems - and what a gorgeous weekend to get outside. We continued our exploration of parks under an hour away. This weekend we ended up at Plainsboro Preserve.

This small park contains about 5 miles of easy trails that are a mix of gravel trail and forested trails, with Lake McCormack in the center. Be sure to stop into the New Jersey Audubon nature center to check out the turtles, snakes, frogs etc.

This park is mostly a…

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Added by njHiking.com on April 8, 2013 at 2:03pm — No Comments

Sourlands Mountain Preserve, Ecosystem Preserve and D&R Greenway - 3/17/13

We continued our exploration of central Jersey parks under an hour away from us by hitting up the Sourlands Mountain Preserve, Ecosystem Preserve (formerly called North Stony Brook) and the D&R Greenway, located in East Amwell and Hopewell Townships.

Across from the parking area for Sourlands Mountain Preserve is the…

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Added by njHiking.com on March 19, 2013 at 2:02pm — No Comments

Ireland Brook Conservation Area - 3/10/13

The Ireland Brook Conservation Area is small park in Middlesex County with a few short, easy trails near Ireland Brook in East Brunswick.

We'd been saving checking this one out for a day when we needed a quick, somewhat close-by hike.

The trails are short but it looked possible to piece them together into a longer route. So when we've had…

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Added by njHiking.com on March 12, 2013 at 4:43pm — No Comments

Cheesequake State Park – Yellow, Red, Green - 2/18/13

Headed over to Cheesequake for a quick President's Day hike. It was quite windy at first so it was COLD, but about half-way through we started warming up enough to be removing gloves.

We go to this park a lot and tend to always go the same direction, so this time we did some trails in reverse to get a different perspective, ending…

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Added by njHiking.com on February 20, 2013 at 8:31pm — No Comments

Sourland Mountain – Ridge & Roaring Brook Trails - 1/19/13

While poking around on our site a few weeks ago, I realized not only had we not been to Sourland for several years (see "Sourland Mountain Preserve – Ridge Trail"), the trail map…

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Added by njHiking.com on January 24, 2013 at 12:00pm — No Comments

Cheesequake S.P. – Green and Yellow Trails - 1/5/13

cheesequake-green-trail We had limited time this weekend and only could manage a quick hike at our go-to park for that, Cheesequake State PArk.

While there, we figured we may as well collect new GPS data on the change to the GREEN trail, and also the small reroute around the damaged boardwalk in the cedar swamp.

The GREEN is now a tad longer at around 3.3. The main reroute is around the Atlantic cedar swamp section. The other main new area is a reroute around a section that…

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Added by njHiking.com on January 8, 2013 at 4:44pm — 4 Comments

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