ABOUT THE PARK:
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.10797, -74.24447
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| Parking at Ryerson Middle School |
HIKE DISTANCE: 11 miles
THE HIKE:
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| Because I spent a small fortune having my car detailed to rid it of Brodie fur for transporting people on the Maine trip, Brodie is still prohibited from being in my car because of another upcoming trip where I will need to carpool. So having to sit this hike out, I decided on Ringwood State Park where Brodie cannot hike because there is a shooting range smack in the middle of the park and his fear of gunfire makes for unpleasant hiking for both of us. Not that I like it either but better to hike in that area without him. |
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| Walking towards the exit of the Ryerson Middle School parking lot, the trail starts to the left around the fence. |
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| At the far end where the trail veers left then right into the woods ... |
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| ... taking the first left which continues along the fence. |
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| The trail comes out on a paved road briefly ... |
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| ... then enters back into the woods. |
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| Coming out onto a gravel road ... |
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| ... than back on a trail to the right. |
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| Coming up on a paved road, keeping to the left through a meadow. |
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| As the path through the meadow ends, turning right to parking lot Pc to the far right. |
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| At the far end of parking lot Pc left at the kiosk. |
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| At Swan Pond ... |
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| ... taking an unmarked path along the pond on the left side. |
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| Coming out at the New Jersey State Botanical Gardens. |
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| After looping through the Botanical Gardens, taking the white trail as it follows a gravel road ... |
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| ... then leaving on an unmarked footpath to the right. |
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| Around this structure to the left ... |
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| ... the unmarked trail ends up back on white. |
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| Crossing the park road ... |
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| ... and continuing on white. |
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| Just after this bridge white, blue and red come together. |
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| My plan was to turn right on red but immediately the trail felt very soft as though it had not been used in a long time. |
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| Sure enough, a short distance in the trail was completely overgrown and I could not see any markers beyond this one so I turned back ... |
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| ... and took blue instead. |
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| Eastern Phoebe |
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| Right on yellow over Cupsaw Mountain. |
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| Passing by where I would have come to yellow from red, it look much more open. |
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| When yellow turns left and descends, straight on blue. |
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| This part of blue has not seen much traffic but it is well marked and the trail can be followed. |
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| Wood Frog |
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| The trail becomes more defined as it gets closer to Shepherd Lake. |
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| When blue turns right, there is a bridge to the left. This is the red trail again but there were no markers until after crossing the bridge. |
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| An overgrown section but it was passable. |
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| Crossing a bridge just before coming out at Shepherd Lake. |
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| Looking back at the start of red. Seems this trail is a mix ranging from impassible to well-defined. |
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| Shepherd Lake |
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| Continuing around the lake to orange/red. |
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| Red leaves to the right; keeping straight on orange. |
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| When orange leaves to the right, keeping straight on the unmarked gravel road. |
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| It was pretty much all gravel road all the way back. |
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| I have the WARN NJDEP app on my phone so I promptly filled out the form, uploaded the picture and submitted the report while inhaling fumes. Ugh. Any illegal ORVs I come across will be reported. |
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| Passing by Glasmere Ponds |
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| The gravel road become the Five Ponds Connector. |
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| Back on red again for a short distance. |
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| Then gravel and dirt road the rest of the way. |
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