Black Rock Forest - Black Rock Forest Consortium
NOTE: Every year Black Rock Forest closes for hunting (in 2021 from 11/20 - 12/12) other than that no hunting is allowed.
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.402277, -74.047528
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| Mine Hill Road Parking - Room for about 5 cars, no parking along the road. |
TRAIL MAP:
Black Rock Forest Trail Map - Black Rock Forest Consortium
West Hudson Trails Map 113 - New York New Jersey Trail Conference
I highly recommend the trail conference map above on the Avenza app for this hike.
HIKE DISTANCE: 11.2 miles
THE HIKE:
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| Leaving the parking lot turn right and the trail head is a few steps ahead on the left. |
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| I haven't seen too many of these red efts this year but there were two early on during this hike. |
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| We turned right on the Sackett Trail and would be returning from the left. |
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| A rickety crossing on the Arthur Trail through a swamp. |
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| At the Scenic Trail we turned left and would be staying on that mostly for a while except ... |
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| ... to divert to the right to Eagle Cliff ... |
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| ... for views. |
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| The blue Eagle Cliff Trail continues as a red trail. |
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| Left on yellow ... |
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| ... back to right on white. |
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| White will turn on to a gravel road ... |
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| ... then leave to the left as a footpath to ... |
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| ... views at Rattlesnake Hill. |
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| Right on Carpenter Road when white crosses over to ... |
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| ... right on Go Down Road. |
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| We soon came upon a tangle of blow downs but were able to get through. |
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| I could see more obstructions ahead and almost turned back but kept going. |
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| Beyond the blow downs the trail is clear again. |
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| The old road bed becomes very eroded going downhill. |
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| It does smooth out again. |
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| A left here would loop back around the way we came we turned right. |
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| From this point forward the old road is very well defined and completely clear. |
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| We continued on the woods road passing where white crosses over, then right on Meadow Road to left on ... |
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| ... another white-blazed trail, not the Scenic Trail rather the White Oak Trail. |
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| The trail turns right steeply downhill just before a dam ... |
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| .... then crosses the spillway. |
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| Arthurs Pond |
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| We stayed right on Continental Road when white went left. |
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| White Oak Tree |
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| Continental Road |
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| Passing by the Stillman Trail ... |
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| ... then left on the Sackett Trail. |
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| I had wanted to hike the newer loops off of the Sackett Trail but I was already at almost 11 miles and it would have added another 2 miles with more elevation changes than I had energy remaining for so decided to save that for another time. |
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| Right on Mine Hill Trail to retrace to the parking lot. |
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| Mine Hill Road down below ... |
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| ... with a now packed parking lot and cars parked illegally along the road. |
Awesome mushrooms on the tree!
ReplyDeleteGreg
Yeah, right? I had never seen any like those before and they were where nobody goes.
DeleteHi. Black Rock Forest is where I did my first real hike. There was article in the NY Times about it, and a couple friends of mine and I did a hike there on Election Day 1968. Still have some pictures. Been there several times over the years, still one of my favorites.Just in case you have a NYT Subscription, here's a link to that article.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/1968/10/13/archives/harvards-forest-next-to-west-point.html?searchResultPosition=1
Dang! I don't have a subscription but how cool is that? I might have to subscribe just to read that. Thanks!
DeleteWhat time did you arrive given the limited parking on Mine Hill Road?
ReplyDeleteIt was about 7:15 AM.
DeleteDid a version of this last weekend. Real hidden gem. Saw 2 other small groups the whole morning. Sun didn't come out until close to noon so views from Eagle Cliff weren't great, but great color around the lakes. Only downside was how audible the traffic was from the NY Thruway, though more like a low drone, but I guess that's expected since it's less than 2 miles away.
DeleteArrived around 8am and started drive home around 1:30pm, taking 9W south and the parking situation at Storm King across the road was crazy. It reminded me of how the small lot at Wildcat Ridge WMA in Rockaway fills up and people just park all over the berms.
Meanwhile, there were 2 other cars besides mine at the Mine Hill Road lot, not sure what parking was like at main Black Rock lot. Pecks Road trailhead looked a little busy.
Glad you made it out there and liked it. I bet you had better color than when I was there. I try to avoid main lots whenever possible because it just gets nuts. There are usually more remote parking options that nobody else uses because it's too far away from the "main attraction" but I like far away and longer hiking so that works for me. Same with Wildcat Ridge, so many other places to park along the outskirts to avoid that whole parking frenzy situation.
Delete