ABOUT THE PARK:
DIRECTIONS: GPS Coordinates 41.201500, -74.391610
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| Pullout parking on either side of Warwick Turnpike where the Appalachian Trail crosses over. |
TRAIL MAP:
(formerly North Jersey Trails Map 116)
HIKE DISTANCE: 13.8 miles
THE HIKE:
It had been 13 years since I hiked this section of the Appalachian Trail and there had been some reroutes since then. I also wanted to add in the William Hoefferlin and Iron Mountain Trails north of the AT and try to make a loop using an unmaintained trail along the ridge of Wawayanda Mountain rather than retracing on the AT from Pinwheel Vista.
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| Heading south on the Appalachian Trail from Warwick Turnpike. |
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| Coming up on ... |
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| Parker Lake |
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| Right on the blue-blazed William Hoefferlin Trail which starts as a woods road ... |
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| ... then turns right on a gravel road. |
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| The trail veers left on the gravel road at the Old Wawayanda Road sign - we'd be coming back here after looping around Wawayanda Mine in bit. |
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| Leaving the gravel road on a path along a creek. |
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| At the point where the trail is closed (beyond this point there would not be much trail left anyway) we turned back. |
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| We made our way over to another path I had seen on the way out along the creek. |
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| This looped around Wawayanda Mine ... |
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| ... and ended up back at the Old Wawayanda Road sign where we continued straight on the blue trail. |
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| The blue trail ends ... |
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| ... at the Iron Mountain Trail. It dead ends to the right; we turned left. |
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| Ruins of something along the way. There were two of these. |
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| The AT joins in from the left - we would be returning to this point after finishing the loop. |
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| A short distance along Iron Mountain/AT, an old bridge crossing... |
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| ... over Double Kill. |
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| At a very wet section, the Iron Mountain Trail turns left, where we would be returning from later, and we continued on the AT straight ahead. |
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| Coming up on the Barrett Road crossing. |
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| Steep descent to ... |
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| ... a bridge over a creek with pretty cascades. |
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| Uphill after the creek back to the top. |
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| Making note of the trail to the left at the AT register. This is the unmaintained trail I would be taking but since we were so close, on to Pinwheel Vista first. |
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| Descending on stone steps ... |
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| ... then right on blue at the large rock pile. Straight ahead descends Stairway to Heaven which is hugely popular. Very few approach from our direction because it is a much longer route to the overlook. |
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| It was loud here with people sitting everywhere and chatter and laughter, even on a 27 degree winter day. Not my idea of a peaceful hike so I snapped a few picture and we headed back. Little did I know I would be coming across a much better unknown overlook pretty soon. |
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| View from Pinwheel Vista. |
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| Left on the AT at the huge rock pile ... |
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| ... and back up to ... |
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| ... the AT register where we turned right on the unmaintained trail. |
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| It was actually very well defined and easy to follow. |
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| On the Gaia app it is called the Blue Trail and indeed, there were remnants of old blue blazes. |
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| This goes all along the ridge of Wawayanda Mountain. |
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| Nice winter views along the way. |
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| The trail became hard to follow so I referred to the app and found it descended to the left. Once I made the left turn the blue blazes were much more plentiful so it was easier to follow the blazes than the trail. |
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| The trail goes along a swamp then ascends steeply back up to the ridge. |
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| More winter views.... |
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| ... then completely unexpected when we veered right off trail to a clearer view ... |
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| ... we found a wide open view which was even better than Pinwheel Vista and it was completely quiet and peaceful. I would have skipped Pinwheel Vista had I known. |
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| You can see High Point Monunment ... |
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| ... and the Gunks. |
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| We continued on the trail descending Wawayanda Mountain. After rock hopping over a few creeks ... |
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| ... it's all woods road the rest of the way. At a 4-way interesction, we turned left on an unmarked woods road, leaving blue which continued straight. |
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| Unfortunately there are signs of ORV use along there. |
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| Passing a swamp on the left ... |
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| ... with some ruins on the right. |
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| Got a lung full of exhaust from this. Grrrr. Fortunately it was the only one I encountered. |
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| This woods road comes out on Wawayanda Road where we turned left. No wonder there is so much ORV usage - the woods road is not gated. |
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| This road is pretty busy and cars zoom by well in excess of the 35 mph speed limit. It's about a 1-mile road walk to make the loop. |
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| At the guardrail there is not much room to walk so you really have to hug the guardrail and hope nobody comes flying around the bend. |
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| Where the busy road turns left (and I did not see anyone stop at the stop sign coming from the left) we crossed very carefully and quickly to continue to the right on a much quieter road ... |
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| ... that leads directly to the auxiliary entrance of Wawayanda State Park. |
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| Just after the "parking regulations strictly enforced" sign on the right ... |
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| ... left on a trail into the woods. |
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| At the fork we veered left. Straight ahead leads to a parking lot. |
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| This unmarked trail is clear throughout and we ran into a couple of other people on it. |
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| Left on the park road for a short distance ... |
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| ... then left on Iron Mountain. |
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| Some horses on the trail and there is lots of evidence of horse usage along this route. |
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| At the wet section the AT comes in from the left. We turned right ... |
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| ... back over the old bridge ... |
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| ... then right on the AT where it leaves Iron Mountain. |
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| Now it was the AT all the way back. |
