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Mt. Tammany and Sunfish Pond - 10/23/10

We've done this hike a ton of times, but it never fails to disappoint... especially with peak fall foliage. This is a challenging loop that combines two of Jersey's best hikes - Mt. Tammany and Sunfish Pond - into one.

First, we headed steeply up to the summit of Mt. Tammany (RED DOT on WHITE), with views of the Delaware Water Gap and of Pennsylvania's Mt. Minsi.


We then followed the fire road (unmarked) along the ridge, where the many blueberry bushes had turned red for fall.

We turned left onto the Turquoise trail, dropping down off the ridge. At the the Sunfish Pond fire road, we turned left onto that, which is also Turquoise. Watch for a rock cairn to follow Turquoise as it turns right off the road, down to the northern end of Sunfish Pond for a break.


We backtracked up Turquoise to the Fire Road, turned right onto that and headed to the southern end of the pond for more photos.


Then we took the Dunfield Creek Trail (GREEN) back to the lot, which follows Dunfield Creek and is very pretty.

11.3 miles. Moderate, rocky terrain. RED DOT is short but very steep, with some scrambles. Fire road is level. Turquoise Trail is rather close and overgrown. Dunfield has 4 stream crossings on rocks/logs that can be tricky in really high water.

ROUTE: RED DOT - Fire Road - Turquoise - Turquoise - Dunfield Creek (GREEN)

Notes: The parking area fills up on weekends so you may need to park in the overflow field, and this hiking area in general is very crowded.... but worth it.

Views: 376

Comment by Linda Frank on October 30, 2010 at 2:56am
Thanks for posting this now. It's extremely timely since we're headed out there tomorrow morning. We'll probably do the same route you did. Sounds great. We wanted to incorporate some of the AT, however and try and find out if we can do that, too. Still, 11+ miles for the route you did makes for a good, full day w/plenty of great scenery. Doesn't get any better than that! Plus the weather looks like it'll hold up great as well. Thanks again for sharing and for the pics, too.
Linda
Comment by njHiking.com on October 30, 2010 at 11:20am

You can return to the parking lot via the AT instead of Dunnfield, but we far prefer Dunnfield to the AT route for scenery and trail quality. At the southern end of the pond where you pick up Dunnfield, you can get the AT as well.

If you are looking to use the AT to extend the route, continue on the Turquoise trail around the northern section of the pond and it will intersect with the AT where you continue north as far as you'd like, then turn around. If you have the Kittatinny Trails map set, you'll see it on there.

Enjoy!

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