ABOUT THE PARK:
Wawayanda State Park - NJ Department of Environmental Protection
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates to parking for about 10 cars, 5 on either side of Warwick Turnpike: 41.201500, -74.391610
(There is no fee to park here - from Memorial Day through Labor Day a fee is charged to use lots inside the park.)
View Larger Map
TRAIL MAP:
North Jersey Trails Map #116 - NY/NJ Trail Conference
Wawayanda State Park Map - NJ Department of Environmental Protection
HIKE DISTANCE: 12.35 miles
HIKE DESCRIPTION:
Some of the trails are fairly unattractive woods roads but they are necessary to get to the pretty trails to form a loop.
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| Appalachian Trail access from parking on Warwick Turnpike. |
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| Appalachian Trail |
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| Parker Lake off of the Appalachian Trail. |
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| Kazmar Pond off of the Appalachian Trail. |
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| 1890's Iron Bridge over Double Kill |
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| Iron Mountain Trail |
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| Black Bear Conservation Project Along Iron Mountain Trail |
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| Wawayanda Lake parking lots already packed on Sunday at 8:50 am. Although this area is very busy, there is lots of solitude on the hiking trails. |
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| Wawayanda Lake |
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| Wawayanda Lake Beach |
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| Pumphouse Trail |
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| Wawayanda Lake from an unmarked woods road off of the Pumphouse Trail. |
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| Cherry Ridge Road |
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| Lake Lookout |
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| Red Dot Trail |
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| Nature Jim's Bridge |
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| Wawayanda Swamp |
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| Double Pond Trail |
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| William Hoeferlin Trail |
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| Blue Heron |
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| Dragonfly |
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| Tiny Frog |
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| Turtle climbing on rock (lower left) and Canada geese. |
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| Monarch Butterfly |
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| Swimming Turtle |
HIKE SUMMARY:
[ 0.00] Take the white-blazed Appalachian Trail south from the parking area
[ 0.20] Parker Lake on left; keep right at fork
[ 0.25] At 4-way intersection veer left and take center trail, staying on Appalachian Trail
[ 0.40] Keep straight on AT when blue goes right to a shelter
[ 0.60] Cross straight over gravel road
[ 0.85] Cross over woods road
[ 1.05] Kazmar Pond on left
[ 1.20] Left on woods road which is now combined white-blazed AT and blue-blazed Iron Mountain Trail; power cut; cross bridge over Double Kill
[ 1.25] When AT goes right, keep left on blue-blazed Iron Mountain Trail
[ 2.25] Cross over paved park road
[ 2.50] Go through parking lot, turn right just before Wawayanda Lake; turn right to second parking lot, then turn left through lot along fence
[ 2.80] From second lot left on orange Pumphouse Trail; turn right and cross gravel bridge (not wooden bridge by picnic tables)
[ 3.40] Pumphouse Trail leaves woods road to the left on foot trail
[ 4.15] Trail to left not worth taking to lake - overgrown and not well defined
[ 4.30] Woods road to left leads to Wawayanda Lake
[ 4.55] Woods road ends at Wawayanda Lake at old rusty pipes; retrace
[ 4.75] Continue left on orange Pumphouse Trail
[ 5.45] Pumphouse Trail ends, go through gravel lot, left on gravel road
[ 5.60] Left at fork on Cherry Ridge Road when Cabin Trail goes right
[ 5.85] Keep right at fork
[ 5.95] Unmarked trail to right at other end of parking area goes to Lake Lookout but closed summer 2011 due to gas pipeline construction; keep straight on Cherry Ridge Road
[ 6.25] Right on white-blazed Lookout Trail (also goes to Lake Lookout but not posted as closed)
[ 6.80] Lake Lookout (unmarked trail coming in from right is where trail from parking lot comes in had it not been posted as closed); continue left around pond
[ 7.00] At fork with cairn on left, keep straight on woods road when trail goes right
[ 7.20] Lookout Trail ends, left on red-blazed Old Coal Trail (this trail is closed for gas pipeline construction but it is not posted until the end of the trail)
[ 7.55] Old Coal Trail ends, right on Cherry Ridge Road
[ 7.70] Left on red-blazed Red Dot Trail
[ 8.10] Nature Jim's Bridge
[ 8.30] Right at fork when unmarked goes straight (not on map)
[ 8.35] Red Dot Trail goes both left and right - either way merges back together; for this hike, turn left
[ 9.00] At T-intersection turn left when other side of Red Dot Trail comes in from right
[ 9.30] Cross bridge
[ 9.40] Red Dot Trail ends; right on yellow Double Pond Trail
[ 9.80] Left on yellow Double Pond Trail when blue Cedar Swamp Trail goes right
[10.25] Yellow Double Pond Trail ends, turn left on blue-blazed William Hoeferlin Trail
[11.30] Keep right on blue William Hoeferlin Trail when Black Eagle Trail goes left
[11.75] Cross park road with park office on right, head towards maintenance building, turn right through parking lot to other end of lot near park road; left on continuation of blue-blazed William Hoeferlin Trail
[12.00] At T-intersection, right on white-blazed Appalachian Trail
[12.35] Back at parking area on Warwick Turnpike
Great Shots- I love the turtle!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Kimberly! I wasn't even completely sure it was a turtle. I could have ended up with a dozen shots of debris in the water so it wasn't until I got home and blew the pictures up that I could tell it definitely was a turtle, staring at me very intently!
ReplyDeleteDaniela
Thank you for posting these. They give a great idea of what one can expect to see on the trails here. I also did not know that they have a swimming beach and that would have come in handy over the past few weeks when we were trying to figure out where to go to cool off (besides using the garden hose!) Looking forward to exploring this area as the weather gets cooler.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Like2Hike! That beach did look refreshing but the area was already getting crowded when I passed through at 8:50 am on a Sunday and it doesn't open until 10 am when the lifeguard is there.
ReplyDeleteI used to live in Northern NJ in the 1990s and have been on all these trails on a mountain bike. And it reminds me of what it is like. It's still the same. Awesome place, just peaceful!
ReplyDelete