Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area (Hibernia/Rockaway, NJ)

ABOUT THE PARK: New Jersey's Great Northwest Skylands (nice history and description)

TRAIL MAP:
I cropped, enlarged and printed all three of these maps and had referred to each of them at one point or another. Could not find one good map of the trails. The best one is the map posted at the Hawk Watch overlook which gives a URL to the map but that no longer works.
http://www.wcrhawkwatch.com/map/wcrtrails.html
http://www.nynjtc.org/trails/farnyhighlands/Farny%20South.jpg
http://www2.jorba.org/images/2/24/Wildcat_LR.jpg

PARKING DIRECTIONS: I-80 to exit 37, north on Route 513 (Green Pond Road) for 2.8 miles, right on Lower Hibernia Road (could have different name or unnamed on maps/GPS), immediate left into Wildcat Ridge parking lot. (Sign was easily visible from Route 513.)

HIKE DIRECTIONS:
Very nice hike, ran into no other people while on the trails (only at the reservoir).

For the most part, I followed the directions given by NJ Hiking's Four Birds Trail - Wildcat Ridge hike with some modifications on the return route making the hike about 11 miles long. (Battery went dead on my pedometer so guessing at total mileage.)

At the beginning of the hike is the bat cave where you can feel very cold air rushing out of the opening. No bats there this time of year - they return in September.




A little farther along the white-blazed Four Birds trail is an old cemetery off to the right. It was very hard to see from the trail because of foliage but at an intersection with a woods road, I turned right on the woods road and the main entrance to the cemetery was just a short distance ahead. This link contains details on some of the graves in the cemetery.




Return back to the white-blazed Four Birds trail.


At 3.4 miles, turn right at the orange-blazed Hawk Watch trail for a short distance:





The section of map for this hike that is posted at Hawk Watch:


Backtrack to the white-blazed Four Birds trail, turn right and continue on to Split Rock Road.
At 4.7 miles turn right on Split Rock Road, which is a gravel road but does have pretty heavy car traffic heading towards Split Rock Reservoir. There will be a lot of people at the reservoir so if you want to get a quiet view, start looking for paths to the left leading to the reservoir before the bridge. Beyond the bridge at the parking area where there is access to the reservoir, there will be tons of people.


While crossing the bridge at the reservoir on Split Rock Road, we came across this little fellow. Well, maybe not quite so little...



After about 1 mile on Split Rock Road, beyond the bridge and parking lot, turn right on a gravel road that goes into the second power cut. I did not see any blue blazes here for the Split Rock Loop trail so it was very hard to find. If you start up the gravel road, you will soon see blue blazes on a rock where you turn right into the woods, but it's not visible from Split Rock Road.


The views on the blue-blazed Split Rock Loop trail were obstructed by foliage this time of year but it was still an interesting hike through the woods with some neat features.



At about 8 miles at the end of the blue-blazed Split Rock Loop Trail, turn left heading back the way you came on the white-blazed Four Birds trail:


Instead of continuing on the white-blazed Four Birds trail, I turned right on the red-blazed Beaver Pond trail to the pond with two beaver lodges.


At the end of the red-blazed trail, turn left on a yellow-blazed trail. The yellow-blazed trail is overgrown and difficult to follow at times. It is on one map, not the others, but it does exist.



When the yellow trail ends in a gravel parking lot, take the woods road to the right of the orange-blazed trail. (The orange-blazed trail goes out to Hawk Watch.)


Pay close attention for trails intersecting the woods road to find the white-blazed Four Birds Trail. Turn right on the white-blazed trail.

Shortly before arriving back at the parking lot you cross the orange-blazed Hibernia Brook Trail which you might have noticed at the beginning of the hike. This is a loop which passes some ruins. The trail runs close to Route 513 with lots of noise from traffic and lawnmowers. The trail is not on most of the maps and it appears to be more of a mountain bike trail.

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