Hike #229; Wawayanda Loop

 Hike #229 7/30/6

The group at Laurel Pond

Hike 229 7/30/6

 

 My next hike was a new section in Wawayanda State Park in Sussex County NJ. This loop hike was unconnected with any hike I had already done, though the short piece of land I would need to scout to connect this with where we left out on the Pochuck loop the previous Spring would be hiked by us in the near future.

Along the AT in Wawayanda State Park

Along Appalachian Trail in Wawayanda State Park

Wawayanda Lake

Wawayanda Lake

Beach in Wawayanda State Park

Wawayanda Lake

Wawayanda Lake

Me

Ruins just off of the AT in Wawayanda State Park

Ruins just off of the AT in Wawayanda State Park

Wawayanda Furnace

Wawayanda Furnace

Historic marker

Wawayanda Furnace

Along Laurel Pond Trail

Along Laurel Pond Trail

Along Laurel pond Trail

Wawayanda Lake

Wawayanda Lake

Along Pump House Trail I think.

Along Pump House Trail

Along Lookout Trail, Lake Lookout

Lake Lookout

Lake Lookout

 We met at the Cherry Ridge Road parking area in Wawayanda State Park in the morning. I was joined by "Major Tom" Conroy, Sue Bickford-Martin, Laurie Ellicott, and newcomer {name unknown}. We began from the parking area and walked to Banker Trail, which took us through gently rolling hills on the Wawayanda Plateau (thought it is not really a Plateau in the geological sense). There were quite a few Rhododendrons all over. The Banker Trail followed an old road route, and I was suprised to see that it skirted houses and back yards on the right. I had thought this hike would be completely undeveloped. The trail seemed to end at a road, which was not what was shown on the map. We turned left and headed up hill a bit, and there were blazes on some trees. There were "No Trespassing" signs set along the way on some trees, which deterred me from walking any further, and we turned back. Fortunitely, we saw a man there and he told us we could walk to the end of the road, and that he lived in the last house. As it turned out, the driveway was the route of the Double Pond Road Trail after all, and at the end of the driveway, we entered the woods at State Park land signs. We soon turned right on the Hoeferlin Trail, taking it north to the Wawayanda Park office and a road crossing. We went into the visitors area and got some maps and other info. We then headed back onto the rest of the Hoeferlin Trail to the Appalachian Trail, at this point wide and easy to follow. We turned left, which is southbound, and turned left to visit the Wawayanda Shelter. It was a standard looking shelter to what we'd usually seen on the AT. A through hiker showed up and we chatted with him for a while before moving on. We headed out along the AT, and soon reached Wawayanda Road. There was a pit on the right of the trail which I assumed might have been what was called Green Mine. The AT turned left on the road, then turned off to the right and ascended a bit, then headed back down to Iron Mountain Road. We turned left, and continued straight when the AT turned right. The rest of the road was now the route of the Iron Mountain Trail. There was a nice little truss bridge along the way, and some weird shaped trees. There were also some house ruins somewhere to the side as I recall. Foundations of some kind. We soon crossed another road, then reached Wawayanda Lake. We walked up to the shore of the lake, and saw the beach which was very crouded. We opted to continued walking, heading down the Double Pond Trail (former road) and past Wawayanda Furnace, still in great shape! We turned right on Laurel Pond Trail and found a nice side trail down to the small lake. We all decided to go for a swim, which was great. I swam out to the middle which was wonderful. Major Tom even swam in his jeans! We continued on and followed the Wing Dam Trail which took us to the outlet of Wawayanda Lake. We continued back along the shore of Wawayanda Lake to the beach area, but we decided not to swim in it because it was too crouded. Major Tom and I went to the consession stand for some food. I ordered a cheeseburger and a couple Hot Dogs as I recall, and I got one of them for free! Major Tom covered a bit of it on his food, but we got some of mine completely free! I was quite happy! I think I also got Doritos or something as well. We walked out to the road, then turned left walking the road to the Pump House Trail. This trail seemed to drag on for a while. I took us through woods at first, then across a boggy wet area and beside a swampy area as well. I could not figure out why it was called Pump House Trail, but there was a pipe of some sort near the trails' southern end. It took us out on part of Cherry Ridge Road, which became Cherry Ridge Trail further up. We followed it up hill, but broke off to the south on Lookout Trail. Unfortunitely, there was no lookout on Lookout Trail. The trail was named for Lake Lookout, the next big body of water we passed. I went for a swim in it, but it was'nt nearly as pleasant as the previous one. Still, it was refreshing. We followed the Lookout Trail to Old Coal Trail, following it north back to Cherry Ridge Trail, which we began following east. There was a nice swampy lake type area to the south, and a washed out bridge site along the way. We continued and made it back to the parking area with no problems. Major Tom was surprised and we were impressed that by this time he did not feel the pain of having walked over 15 miles as badly as he had in the past.

Along the AT in Wawayanda