Pequannock Watershed, NJ - Kanouse Mountain

ABOUT THE PARKS:
Pequannock Watershed - City of Newark
PERMIT REQUIRED FOR HIKING IN THE PEQUANNOCK WATERSHED. 
See THIS hike for permit details.

DIRECTIONS: 
GPS Coordinates 41.046887, -74.410392

Parking at the Echo Lake office where permits are obtained.

TRAIL MAP: 
Jersey Highlands Trail Map 125 - NYNJ Trail Conference

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PEAK BAGGING:
Kanouse Mountain - New Jersey 1K Club

HIKE DISTANCE:  10 miles

THE HIKE:
It's not every year that a birthday falls on not only a perfect weather day but also a hiking day.  So this being one of those days, this was my birthday hike.  I had been wanting to hike Kanouse Mountain and when I saw that Dan and Laura Balough had hiked it last weekend, that reminded me to do this hike. (Especially since they had seen no dirt bikes or ATVs.)

Starting on the Highlands Trail from the parking lot.

Echo Lake

We turned left on a woods road not on the map.  I should have probably taken a different woods road because taking this one threw me off course but all was well in the end

We started encountering blow downs and had to bushwhack around.

Coming out on a dirt road with lots of dirt bike tracks I thought I needed to turn right to get to Kanouse Road then left to find the road to the overlook.  That was wrong, should have turned left here, but didn't know it at the time so right we went.

In searching for the woods road to the overlook, we ran smack into ...

... and ATV camping convention!  The picture doesn't even show how many tents and ATVs were there, they were EVERYWHERE!  No matter which way I went I kept ending up here.  I then realized I should have turned left coming off that woods road so back we went.

to the left is the woods road we had come off of so now continuing on this dirt road which was the correct way.

There is obviously less dirt bike and ATV traffic out this way because there is actually grass growing on the woods road.

Some old wrecked cars along the way.

A few glimpses of the New York City skyline along the way.

Arriving at the overlook.  You can see the flag on top of Kanouse Mountain from Route 23 down below.

To the left, the New York City skyline.

Straight ahead is Route 23.

To the right, Charlotteburg Reservoir.

Mountain laurel was in full bloom.

Continuing on around on Kanouse Mountain, a view of the swamp that we had seen from a different side while hiking last weekend.

Mountain laurel everywhere.

At a fork we kept left on a very pretty path that led through the woods down to ...

... a woods road running parallel to Route 23.  We turned left towards the rest area off of Route 23.

A drainage with horse hoof prints becomes the trail.

It descends very steeply down to a grassy area with the rest stop on the left but we didn't go all the way down.

Heading back and passing by the trail we had come down on.

At the end the dirt road goes left to Route 23 or ...

... right to head back into the woods.

A puddle frog with some bugs on his face.

This woods road runs smack into Kanouse Road at a T-intersection.

To the left is Kanouse Brook.

We turned right following Kanouse Road all the way to where the Highlands Trail joins in.  This road is really chunked up from heavy dirt bike and ATV use but I did not encounter any during this hike.  I also did not encounter any other hikers.  Everyone else that was there was fishing on Echo Lake.  Don't know what the ATV camping convention was doing, never saw or heard them again.

Highlands Trail blazes on the left where the Highlands trail comes in from the right to join Kanouse Road; we turned right on the Highlands Trail.

Back down along Echo Lake on the Highlands Trail.

Leopard Frog (I think)

Brodie stepped right over this snake and I almost stepped on him.  He was stretched completely across the trail.

Swallows were flying every which way over the lake.

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