The last few times we’d hiked State Line to Surprise Lake was in the Fall, so we decided to hit it up when everything was green.
Of course, we’d forgotten to consider how much of this route is on a ridge line and in full sun. Blaring July sun. Whoops. At least we got an early start.
For complete hike info visit our main Surprise Lake Loop page.
This was a beautiful day and this hike has a lot to see, so please bear with the absurd amount of photos that follows… but how else will you know if the hike is something you’d want to try?
The rocky State Line trail gets right to the point and heads sharply uphill to the Ernest Walker trail. This travels along a ridge with broad views over Greenwood Lake – with New Jersey in front and New York behind.
The little island on the lake is called Fox Island.
Turn off the ridge and go thru a little bit of forest and…. surprise! it’s a lake.
Is it too soon for a snack break? Nah, it’s never too soon. Pretty sure that initial approach burned up at least 3 million calories anyway.
Ernest Walker continues, snaking through what is likely our favorite rhododendron tunnel in the state.
Yup, there is a trail in there somewhere…
Ernest Walker crosses a stream in a very rocky area. This part is very shady too.
Now it’s time to head uphill again to another great view (and one of many rock scrambles to come).
There are multiple, relatively difficult, scrambles at this point. They’re steeper than they look here.
Be sure to take the unmarked side trail out to see West Lake.
Spot the yellow blazes… this one is steep too.
We don’t know the guys in the last one but they made for a cool photo so… Keep chugging along on Ernest Walker until hitting the Appalachian Trail and turning right onto to that.
After a bit on the Appalachian Trail, the State Line Trail goes off to the right.
This leads back to the parking lot for a solid ~4-mile loop that is more than enough for most hikers but… if you’re up for it it’s very worthwhile to take the AT into NY for more big views and scrambling.
We happened to cross the state line at the same time as an AT trail maintainer, who mentioned he was the one who’d painted this originally like 30 years ago. Cool!
The Appalachian Trail runs along a ridge with several view points looking back over Greenwood Lake or panoramas into New York. The first, with the flag, is called Prospect Rock.
The AT dips back into the forest. There is a side trail just before the AT drops off the ridge that has a wide pano.
This is a good turn-around point if you aren’t up to getting to the third viewpoint or interested in tackling a metal ladder (see below).
Scramble horizontally across an angled rock as the Appalachian Trail heads down and stays in the forest for awhile. (It was pretty soggy when we hiked it.) Rock hop across a stream.
Scramble up large rocks via a metal rung ladder to get to the last view point of this route.
Notes for anyone whose reaction to this photo wasn’t “oh this looks like FUN”… this is doable.
It is awkward because the rungs are thin but not as bad as it looks. At the top is a vertical rung on the left as a handhold. There is a little scrambling after the ladder.
However, like most scrambles, going up is easier than down so keep that in mind. This is what it looks like from above:
Once you get to the top… this is your reward. The little spot of land in Greenwood Lake is Fox Island… seen much closer at the start of the hike (scroll back up and compare the pics).
Now it’s time to retrace back to the State Line Trail and take that back to the parking lot. Plenty of time to decide on what flavor ice cream to get.
Post-hike Reward: We opted for our usual blizzards at DQ – we’ve been stopping there after area hikes for ages – but now there is Fox Island Creamery right on the way.
Decisions, decisions… the only real solution is to hike more so we can hit up more ice cream places.
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Hiked 7-16-17.