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. At the end of this hike, as I was at the car taking Brodie's backpack off, a Newark Watershed officer stopped to check for a permit sticker, which I have. Driving by another watershed parking lot on my way home there was a car, apparently with no permit, with a ticket clearly visible under the windshield wiper.
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 41.073056, -74.521770
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| Parking on Holland Mountain Road. |
TRAIL MAP:
Jersey Highlands Trails Map 126 - NYNJ Trail Conference
HIKE DISTANCE: 9.9 miles
Highlands Trail one way from Holland Mountain Road to Route 23 - 3.7 miles
THE HIKE:
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| From the parking lot a right turn on Holland Mountain Road for a short distance ... |
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| ... to just before the end of the second guardrail ... |
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| ... to a right on the Highlands Trail. |
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| A creek flowing over the trail. |
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| The Highlands Trail crosses several woods roads and illegal dirt bike trails. |
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| A bear was here. In fact, there are lots of signs of bear activity along this route like large overturned rocks and rotten logs clawed up. I never saw any but am pretty sure I heard a bear skedaddle away on two occasions during this hike. |
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| Some obstructed views of Oak Ridge Reservoir. Views would be much better when the leaves are down. |
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| Some out of focus turkeys scooting away. |
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| The trail descends very steeply just before reaching Route 23. |
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| The little red efts were everywhere so I had to watch every step. |
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| Coming up on the Pequannock River at Route 23. The Highlands Trail turns left on Route 23 and it's a road walk to continue on but we passed on that because traffic was crazy fast zooming by and it just wasn't my idea of a good time. |
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| So we headed back ... |
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| ... after going down to the Pequannock River for a look. |
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| Instead of taking the Highlands Trail back, we went left on a woods road and avoided that steep climb back up. And Brodie found ... |
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| ... balloon #32 of the year. |
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| A few steps ahead balloon #33. |
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| This woods road was easy enough to follow and did not look to be heavily used by dirt bikes. |
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| It eventually brought us back to the Highland Trail. |
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| Another partial view of Oak Ridge Reservoir. |
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| We turned right on one of the woods roads ... |
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| ... where we had to get completely off the woods road to let a Jeep from NY pass?!?!?! Was he lost? Although I could hear dirt bikes on the other side of the power cut we were heading towards, this was the only other person/vehicle we encountered the entire hike. |
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| Crossing the power cut ... |
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| ... then left on this horribly hot, chunky gravel road. Fortunately it did not last very long. |
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| It crosses back over the power cut and becomes a dirt road once more. |
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| Mountain laurel is nearing the end of the blooming season. |
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| Balloon #34. |
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| Back on the Highlands Trail crossing the creek that flows over the trail before leaving on the woods road again to the left. |
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| It was one of those times when I wanted to pretend I did not see this but I couldn't. It was quite a bushwhack to get over to ... |
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| ... balloons #35, #36, #37 and #38. That makes 7 balloons packed out on this hike, 12 out of the Pequannock Watershed so far this year. |
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| Brodie waiting patiently while I retrieve balloons. |
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| This woods road comes out on Holland Mountain Road ... |
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| ... where we turned right to the car a short distance ahead. |
