Abram Hewitt State Forest 2/22/09

[Sara Clasp]

Greetings. Amusingly...one of the roughest parts of this hike was actually finding the trailhead. It took me nearly 4 trips back and forth on the same road to discover that the parking lot was neatly tucked away behind a sign for Greenwood Lake Marina. The beginning of the hike was pretty intense since it immediately begins to climb the mountain and doesn't level off until after 40 minutes...or maybe I'm just slow. The top of the mountain doesn't afford much of a chance for rest either, since it takes a lot of scrambling up and down rocks to complete the 4 mile trail. In the end...the views definitely make up for the strenuous exercise.

A view of Greenwood Lake in mid climb....

Another snapshot (or excuse to pause and catch my breath)

Breathtaking....

[njHiking.com]

This is the State Line (Blue) trail access off of Lakeside Rd at the border with NY, right? We haven't tried that route to Surprise Lake yet, it's on our list though, so we appreciate this post. We usually go to Surprise from the Bearfort Ridge trailhead on Warwick Turnpike - also really tough to locate.... drove back and forth past that one once.

[Sara Clasp]

Yup, that's the one.