Ramapo Mountain Hike and More!

 Hello all!
Good stuff coming up! This week there will be the regular Sunday hike in the Ramapos, and I might do one on Thursday afternoon near Swartswood. Please refer to our meetup group www.meetup.com/metrotrails for more details on that one. The regular Sunday trip will be a loop described below:
Join us for an outstanding loop hike in the southern Ramapo Region, starting in Pompton Lakes at the A&P Supermarket, 63 Wanaque Ave, Pompton Lakes NJ at 9 am. The route will loop us around the area for about fifteen miles with the option of continuing on for another smaller loop.This hike features many outstanding points including the ruins of Foxcroft, a long burned out mansion that is known by hikers as the Van Slyke Castle. We will also pass beautiful views and other historic sites, as well as a few other surprises.
Apart from the A&P at the beginning, we will not be passing other food and drink stops, so everyone should have plenty of water and a lunch or snack. The first leg of the hike will include a little bit of side street walking in order to reach the trail head. I plan to use a lakeside park route. We will then follow a portion of the historic Cannonball Road route, now Cannonball Trail which has an interesting pedestrian overpass above Rt 287.We'll follow foot paths through Ramapo Mountain State Forest with more overlooks, and continue to the ruins of Foxcroft which also offer some lovely views. We'll continue from here to the west to the newer trail along the edge of Wanaque Ridge, with more spectacular views including the Wanaque Reservoir and dam.From here, we'll entrust the route to our co leader Justin, avid urban explorer and mastermind behind a popular UE website! Some of the route might be rougher at times, and there will be optional side trips to interesting points. Those not wishing to do the side trips may take a break.We will return once again to the A&P supermarket where there will be the possibility of extending the hike a bit further, depending on what time we get finished, heading west to follow a bit of the old Greenwood Lake Railroad, and then heading up onto the Federal Hill property. There are no formal trails there, but it is possible to continue about two miles from one end of the preserve to the other, and it has some historic ruin features.
This hike will include some very steep sections and would not be considered suitable for beginners.

Looking ahead, the following Sunday will be a Delaware Water Gap and Stroudsburg area trip ending at a party at our friend Michele Valerio's house in celebration of her birthday! Beyond, we'll have another hike in the Jersey Perimeter series, this time between Cape May and ares on the Delaware Bayshore northbound. After that we close out the month with two versions of a Sterling Forest hike. One very difficult and fast, 25 miles led by Brad and myself, then another fifteen miles and more like our normal hikes led my Michele.

Additionally, in late November I am looking at doing fifty miles in one day between Albany and Kingston, Please let me know in advance if you'd like to try.