ABOUT THE PARK:
Pequannock Watershed - City of Newark
Highlands Trail Guide - NYNJ Trail Conference
PERMIT REQUIRED FOR HIKING IN THE PEQUANNOCK WATERSHED.
See THIS hike for permit details.
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.046887, -74.410392
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| Large parking lot at the Echo Lake office where permits are obtained. |
TRAIL MAP:
North Jersey Trails Map 116 - NYNJ Trail Conference
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HIKE DISTANCE: 8 miles
THE HIKE:
Back in May on the day I obtained my 2020 hiking permit, I hiked a loop around Echo Lake in a clockwise direction. This hike is in the counterclockwise direction using a slightly different route.
With this hike I have completed all of the trails in the Pequannock Watershed during 2020. It was definitely the place to be during a pandemic. I rarely encountered another person.
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| To loop around counterclockwise, walk out the entrance drive following the teal Highlands Trail blazes ... |
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| ... then turn left on Echo Lake Road. |
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| Pass the boat launch ... |
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| ... then just after the outlet ... |
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| ... turn left. |
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| The Highlands Trail and white-blazed Echo Lake East Trail run together for a while. |
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| Nice winter views of Echo Lake all along the trail. |
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| A flock of bird followed us all along the shore but most were too fast to capture. Did manage to snag this tufted titmouse. |
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| And another that I can't make out. |
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| Another tufted titmouse. Or maybe the same one. |
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| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
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| The Highlands Trail leaves the Echo Lake East Trail to the right. We turned right to follow the Highlands Trail to the watershed boundary. |
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| Some ruins along the way. |
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| The Highlands Trail turns right here. We would be taking that unmarked woods road straight ahead when returning to this spot later. |
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| A bit of a tricky creek crossing but I managed without getting wet. Brodie did not fare as well. |
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| The Highlands Trail continues the other side of Macopin Road heading towards Norvin Green State Forest but this was our turn around point. |
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| Back at that woods road where we turned right. |
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| It's a clear, easy to follow woods road for the most part. Nearing Gould Road it veers left and becomes less well defined but I was able to stay with it. |
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| Coming up on Gould Road where we turned left. |
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| Passing by the beginning of the Echo Lake East Trail that we had left previously. This is where we had turned doing the clockwise loop in May. |
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| Gould Road isn't very busy with traffic, more a local residential road. |
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| A swamp on the right ... |
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| ... where a Hairy Woodpecker was having lunch. |
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| We turned left on Kanouse Road, a woods road ... |
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| ... which is directly across from the Roadhouse on the right. Continuing on Gould Road runs you back into the Highlands Trail which is probably a better choice for doing this loop but I wanted to give Kanouse Road a try. |
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| Initially it is very wet and rutted from heavy ATV use. |
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| After dodging major puddles, it smooths out. |
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| A bear was here - very recently. |
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| Another section of puddles. |
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| Taking a break. |
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| All of a sudden I noticed a lot of private property signs that were not watershed permit only signs. The map does not show Kanouse Road going through private property. It was a little unnerving since there is no hunting in the Echo Lake watershed area but it was a Saturday and there could be hunting on private property. |
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| It wasn't long before the private property signs ended and the Highlands Trail merged in from the right. It also wasn't long before there was gunfire coming from the private property where we had just been. |
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| Heading back down to Echo Lake just as the cacophony of ATVs and dirt bikes began on the woods road where we had just been. That is the one drawback in the watershed - absolutely no enforcement to prevent illegal ATV usage. At minimum the woods roads leading into the watershed should all be gated and they are not. |
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| The only boat we saw on Echo Lake the entire time. We never encountered anyone else. |
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| Brown Creeper |
nice day. that's my car! went echo lake west, kanouse mountain, and up around hank's pond. looks like echo lake east trail has better views than west. heard motors in the distance, but never encountered any. between them and the droning leaf blowers (sounded coming from oxbow lane), it wasn't so peaceful. considered a loop of echo lake, but decided against because the trail doesn't connect at the north end. good to know the road isn't busy with traffic. do you get a permit every year?
ReplyDeleteSeriously? That was your white car? You must have gotten there just before me. I think I started about 7:15. Yes, I agree, the leaf blowers are sooo annoying (and someone had a wood chipper going on Gould, too) but I'll take that over constantly running into groups of people on the trail as has been the case other places. That is not my idea of a good time. This is only the second time I have gotten a permit. The last time was back in 2012. Well, it was nice meeting your car :)
DeleteYes, very funny. Started just before 7:00. There were a couple families coming up from Union Valley Road as I was heading down from Bearfort Fire Tower, but otherwise no one. Agreed that it's nice not running into (m)any people on the trail.
DeleteOn a separate note, read your entries with Buckabear Pond. The NYNJTC map shows a small red dotted line apparently connecting the Yellow and Red/White trails. It's also shown on Trailforks. This crossing is now completely impassable?
When I was at that crossing on the Highlands Trail side in May definitely, it was completely under water and impassable. When I was there in September coming from the other side on red/white I was actually able to get out a bit on a narrow strip of dry land. Then in October I was back over on the Highlands Trail side and with the water level down it looked like just maybe it might be doable but I didn't want to try it with the dog in tow (he gets a little weird about his paws getting wet) and not being able to judge how far away that strip of dry land was. So I would say the water level has to be really low after a long dry spell then maybe. I think it would be better to try from red/white since things looked more stable over that way.
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