Wanaque Reservoir Loop

I originally did this hike in two parts on May 25 & September 26, 2014

This hike follows several trails circling the Wanaque Reservior. It is a long hike and can be broken into as many parts as needed as there are several road crossings where cars can be placed. Covering about 32 miles, it passes through Ringwood State Park, Long Pond Iron Works, Norvin Green State Forest and part of the North Jersey District Water Supply Commision.

Parking

I started from my house in Ringwood near Erskine Lakes but there are numerous parking spots. Consider:

Ryerson Middle School

Skylands Lot C

Ringwood Manor

Long Pond Iron Works

Ringwood Rec Fields on Stonetown Road

Townsend Road, Ringwood

Doty Road, Wanaque

Back Beach Park, Wanaque

Trails

Map - North Jersey Trails 115 (see graphics below)
Starting at Ryerson Middle School
Red Ringwood-Ramapo Northbound to Ringwood Manor
Walk across the Manor grounds and pick up Yellow Hasenclever
Hasenclever runs into an EPA cleanup site but I was able to follow the trail around the fenced-off area
Keep following Yellow to the Wanaque River
Join the Teal Highlands Trail South
Follow Highlands Trail (also shared with blue, white and red in sections) to White Lower in Norvin Green SF
Follow White Lower to White Posts Brook East
Doty Road to 2nd Ave, Boulevard, 4th Ave to Back Beach Park
Red Trail up to Red Cannonball North at Ramapo Mountain Lake
Red Cannonball to Yellow Hoeferlin North
Red Ringwood-Ramapo back to starting point

Description

Follow the Red Ringwood-Ramapo trail north over Mount Defiance, coming down to Shepherd Lake. If it's the weekend you'll hear the skeet shooting range which doesn't really fit the tranquility in Ringwood State Park. Keep following Red past Cupsaw Brook (a really nice brook when the water is flowing), past the Cooper Union Shelter (be sure to read the inscription at the entrance), across Sloatsburg Road and cross the bridge at the Ringwood River. Now you are in the Ringwood Manor section of the park. Follow the road to the left to the Ringwood Manor House. It dates to colonial times and some iron products are on display in front. It's a great place to visit during an open house, around Christmas, and July 4 re-enactments.

Continue across the grounds and pick up the Yellow Hasenclever trail. At the swampy area you may hear the bullfrogs if it's wet and conditions are right. They were very loud when I was there in May. Soon after you'll come to the EPA clean up site. This is where Ford dumped tons of paint sludge in the '60s and '70s. You should be able to follow yellow around the fenced-off area and continue on the trail. After this the trail is mostly level and easy unless there is been rain to fill up the mud puddles. There were lots of toads around the mud puddles and some had lots of tadpoles. Once you approach the Monksvill Reservoir you may notice some placards depicting points of historic interest - this is the start of the Long Pond Iron Works historical area. A favorite of mine is the placard noting an old-growth tree. It is rare to see old growth trees since the entire area was logged to provide charcoal for the iron furnaces.

The yellow trail crosses the Wanaque River and you'll pick up the Bluie/Teal Highlands Trail. The bridge over the river was washed out by Hurricane Irene. If it hasn't been replaced (it wasn't in 2014) you can wade across a little further downstream where the current is less. I recommend leaving your boots on since it would be easy to slip on the rocks and hurt or wedge a foot. Drain out your boots and wring out your (wool) socks on the other side. You may want to visit the iron furnaces just north of the crossing while you are there.

The Highlands Trail (southbound) crosses Route 511 (Greenwood Lake Tpke) and climbs up Horse Pond Mountain. Be careful to follow the trail as following a woods road is an easy mistake to make. At the top of the mountain is a great lookout over Monksville and a nice little boulder to climb up. The trail descends and climbs again to Harrison Mountain with another lookout of the reservoir. After this the Highlands Trail (Teal) leaves the white markers and picks up red trail. Enjoy some level hiking near the water because after you cross Stonetown Road you start the climb up Board Mountain.

The climb is slow at first but gets into some heart-pounding, need to catch your breath type of climbing. This is all red and teal trail markings. There's a great view of the dam and Wanaque Reservoir once you get to the top. There is also a beautiful grove of cedars on Board Mtn. There is a short decent down then up to Bear Mountain. You can see that tall pines on Bear from Board or the saddle between them. Once you get on Bear, enjoy the young pines by the trail. They can be very picturesque in the sunlight.

The trail decends down Bear and is level for a little while until you climb up to Windbeam Mountain where you'll have a number of lookouts to the reservior in the east and to the Wyanokies to the south and west. At the top of Windbeam you'll get a good view of the Ringwood Recreation fields.

At the saddle between Windbeam and Little Windbeam there is a painted red circle trail but don't take that - it's quite steep going down (and a real thigh burner coming up). Keep on the teal markers for the Highlands Trail. The trail now decends down to the reservior and there is a little road walking on Stonetown Rd. When you get to Townsend Rd, turn left and follow teal into the woods. This will take you right to the Blue Mine - an old flooded iron mine. Keep following teal/red until you come to an intersection with the white Lower Trail.

Now you have an option:
1) Follow white Lower south. This is a very easy, level trail but no lookouts OR
2) Follow teal Highlands up and over High Point (view of NYC), Yoo-Hoo Point, and Carris Hill (more views of NYC), and past Chikahoki Falls (see red arrows in map below)
Either way you'll end up on the white Posts Brook going east which goes out to Doty Road. I'll admit it, I took the Lower trail because of the length of the hike and I had been on the #2 option many times. If you've never been on the #2 option, then it is very worthwhile.

Doty road will take you into Wanaque center where there is a CVS (ice cold drinks and snacks) and various other stores. After crossing Route 511 (Ringwood Ave) continue onto 2nd Ave, which bears left onto Boulevard, becoming 4th Ave and leading to Back Beach Park. The trail picks up as it crosses the Wanaque River (this may be a problem at high water) and follows red up the hill until you meet the red Cannonball Trail (red C).

As a side note - I came across this article the day I was writing this blog. The oldest rocks in NJ can be seen at Back Beach Park. Check it out:

http://www.northjersey.com/news/call-it-the-rock-haul-of-fame-1.190422?page=all

Turn left (north) on Cannonball and enjoy the level trail past Ramapo Lake, crossing Skyline Drive, and veering into the woods after a short while. Cannonball meets up with yellow Hoeferlin and shares the trail for a mile. When they split, keep on yellow and watch for the starting marker for the red Ringwood-Ramapo trail (yes, the one we started on!). Follow R-R back to the starting point.

Total Distance: about 32 miles
Total Time: about 17 hours over 2 days

1st Day I started at Ryerson School and ended at Stonetown Road near the dam (north of Board Mountain). This took me about 8 hours.
2nd Day I did the rest which took me about 9 hours.