Sunday, October 31, 2010

Stonetown Circular Hike, Ringwood, NJ


ABOUT THE PARK:
The Stonetown Circular Loop passes through 3 different properties:
     - North Jersey District Water Supply Commission
     - Long Pond Iron Works State Park
     - Passaic River Coalition - scroll down to page 11, Tory Rocks

DIRECTIONS:

View Larger Map
From Stonetown Road, turn on to Mary Roth Drive which ends at the Stonetown Recreation Area with a large parking lot.


NEW JERSEY 1K CLUB HIGH PEAK:  Windbeam Mountain

HIKE DISTANCE:  10.5 mile loop

HIKE DESCRIPTION:
Walk out of the recreation center on Mary Roth Drive the way you drove in.  At Stonetown Road, cross over, turn right and walk along the road a short distance to the guardrail.  Turn left into the woods just before the guardrail.
You will be following the red triangle on white markers throughout the entire hike.
At .60 miles the teal diamond-blazed Highlands Trail joins in from the right and you will be on the combined paths for the next 6 miles following double markers:
The Highlands Trail leaves the Stonetown Circular trail at the Harrison Mountain summit.

This is said to be the most strenuous hike in New Jersey.  You will be climbing and descending four different mountains with lots of ups and downs in between.  There are many woods roads crossing through this hike so be sure to pay close attention to the markers.  The trail is very well marked throughout.
Bear Mountain seen from Windbeam Mountain
Wanaque Reservoir (very low after summer drought) seen from Windbeam Mountain
August 2010 Fire Damage on Windbeam Mountain
Monksville Reservoir seen from Bear Mountain
View from Bear Mountain
Monksville Reservoir from Board Mountain
View from Harrison Mountain
Tory Rocks
Descending Tory Rocks
Lots of leaves down covering the rocky trail
HIKE SUMMARY:
See NJ Hiking's Stonetown Circular page - their notes are much better than mine were.  I was too busy trying to keep my footing on slippery leaves that had come down and covered rocks on the trail.

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