Hiking Ramapo Valley County Reservation on an overcast winter day.
We decided to take a Friday off for a hike, and since it was not only hunting season it was the extended bear season we wanted a no-hunting park.
While the trails here are very nice and there is a HUGE trail system to link to (by heading into either Ringwood State Park or Ramapo Mountain State Forest) for tons of long routes, this park can get incredibly crowded around the main area.
After a quiet day being far out on the trails, on a nice day, it can be rather jarring to return the hordes of people out for a stroll and unleashed dogs running around.
So, only for that reason, this isn’t one of our favorite trailheads.
Which is why the last time we’d hiked from here was on a cold day in January nearly nine years ago and why we were now hiking on a Friday in December.
For detailed hike directions, maps, GPX, and photos visit our “Ramapo Valley County Reservation” page.
The sun popped out for exactly 45 seconds all day, turning a leafless winter day even more gloomy. No matter – it was still better than working.
We were also testing some video equipment so we decided to shoot a new video to replace the one from 2010.
First, we headed straight to Hawk Rock.
For a foliage filled view from Hawk Rock, I dug up a photo from before we created this site; taken October 2004. Fun Fact: For many years this was the intro screen for our videos.
And from a different perspective:
That first step is a doozy… looking down Hawk Rock:
Then on to the view from Cactus Ledge… with namesake little cactus.
It’s not hiking in NJ without a junked car. Wonder how long this has been here.
Brrrrrisk.
One of many stream rock hops along the route.
Crossing a pipeline cut… one wrong step and it’s a one-way ticket on the world’s worst slip-n-slide…
Made our way around to Bear Swamp.
Bear Swamp in October 2004:
And from a different perspective:
Icy MacMillan Reservoir.
Somehow we’d always missed this other trail that passed a nice waterfall, so this time we took it. It’s now called the Vista trail after the reworking of the trail system in 2016.
We weren’t lugging the DSLR and a tripod today so the long exposure setting on the iPhone will have to do:
Route: Vista (YELLOW) – Halifax (GREEN on WHITE) –Hoeferlin Memorial (YELLOW) – Shore (BLUE) – RED-SILVER – Ridge (BLUE) – Vista (YELLOW)
Miles: 7.4
For detailed hike directions, maps, GPX, and photos visit our “Ramapo Valley County Reservation” page.
Post-hike: Venti caramel macchiatos with an extra shot and it was buy-one-get-one-free – bonus!