WPT01

Dist: 9.97 mi	Points: 1008	Calories: none
Time: none	Speed: 0.0 mph	Pace: 0:00 / mi

Beaver Palace

Location: 41.161720°, -74.423447°
A large beaver dam sits in the middle of this marsh. © Jon Dorn

Boat Hibernation

Location: 41.188931°, -74.426643°
Boats spoon on the frozen banks of Wawayanda Lake. © Jon Dorn.

Cold Night

Location: 41.202221°, -74.397453°
I brought a 15°F sleeping bag and a shortie Thermarest after seeing a forecast that predicted low temps in the high teens. Instead, the mercury dropped to 7°F, and I spent the last hour before dawn doing calisthenics in my bag to warm up. ©Jon Dorn

No Footprints

Location: 41.183922°, -74.421982°
The thick, waxy leaves of rhododendron curl up like a cocoon during the colder months. © Jon Dorn

Quiet, Snowy Path

Location: 41.204731°, -74.398567°
This sprawling wooded tract is barely known outside of rural northern New Jersey. © Jon Dorn

Shelter

Location: 41.202400°, -74.397369°
Snow blankets the 3-sided shelter in Wawayanda State Park. ©Jon Dorn

Trail Motto

Location: 41.203091°, -74.401077°
The AT motto on the sign at this turn reads: "Open to all Who Walk." © Jon Dorn

Wawayanda Ironworks

Location: 41.187199°, -74.422409°
According to the historical marker, it took 2 tons of iron ore, 500 pounds of limestone, and 150 bushels of coal to produce 1 ton of iron. The furnace averaged 7 tons of finished iron a day, which was used for train wheels, armaments, and the like. It’s hard to imagine the heat and smoke and soot generated by that activity, but it’s also reassuring to witness how pristine the area appears if you march just a few hundred feet back into the woods. © Jon Dorn

WPT001

Location: 41.197979°, -74.397369°
Head across the lot to the obvious trailhead sign marking the Hoeferlin Trail, which heads N following blue blazes.

WPT002

Location: 41.200829°, -74.396637°
You'll reach the Appalachian Trail (AT) in about 5 minutes. Turn left at the T and begin following the familiar white blazes.

WPT003

Location: 41.201931°, -74.397301°
On the L, a short spur trail leads several hundred feet to a clean, snug, 3-sided shelter tucked into the woods on a small rise. There's comfortable room for 6 inside (watch the low ceiling!), a picnic table, a privy, and flat spots for a few tents. Hang food well back in the woods, as bears have been active around this shelter. I slept poorly here, but it was my own damn fault. I brought a 15ºF sleeping bag and a shortie Thermarest after seeing a forecast that predicted low temps in the high teens. Instead, the mercury dropped to 7ºF, and I spent the last hour before dawn doing calisthenics in my bag to warm up.

WPT004

Location: 41.204620°, -74.398483°
Go L @ T with an old woods road, and continue on the AT. Unlike many parts of the AT in the Northeast, this stretch is flat and not rocky--enjoy the rare easy walking and the fluttering forest.

WPT005

Location: 41.202881°, -74.400902°
Turn R off the road onto a singletrack trail that climbs a small rise.

WPT006

Location: 41.204720°, -74.408127°
Pass between a swamp (the first of many) on your right and a small lake (not on map) on the left. In winter, the swamps are very attractive-iced over with tufts of snow clinging to the tops of the cattails.

WPT007

Location: 41.203831°, -74.411400°
Bear L @ Y onto the Iron Mountain Trail, heading S. You're now following red blazes and again strolling on relatively flat, easy doubletrack. If you were to continue on the AT heading west/south, you'd soon come to Wawayanda Mountain, which has good views from several spots along the summit ridgeline.

WPT008

Location: 41.192451°, -74.424530°
Continue straight @ 4-way with paved Wawayanda Rd. Note: Some of the blazes may be blue in this section.

WPT009

Location: 41.189171°, -74.426369°
Reach the parking area @ Wawayanda Lake, where you can swim and rent boats in the summer. Stay L, hugging the NE shoreline of the lake and following green markers. Continue past the junction of the Wingdam Trail (blue blazes).

WPT010

Location: 41.187080°, -74.422668°
You have two choices here at this intersection. Cross the dam and climb the low ridge between Wawayanda Lake and Laurel Pond for good but not great views of both. Or stay straight at the dam (my recommendation) and descend gradually to the Ames Furnace, a massive stone structure that was used from 1846 to 1857 to smelt iron ore.

WPT011

Location: 41.184231°, -74.421997°
From the furnace, head straight across the clearing to the small footbridge where you'll pick up the Laurel Pond Trail. It's marked with purple discs at first, then yellow paint, then both. This trail and much of the rest of the hike is thick with rhododendron, which sometimes grows in great tangled walls on either side of the trail. For the best blooms, come in July.

WPT012

Location: 41.174980°, -74.426323°
Continue straight @ 3-way after a pleasant climb through a sunny patch of rhododendron. The trail that comes in from the right is the end of the optional route mentioned above.

WPT013

Location: 41.171951°, -74.429268°
With so many streams cutting through the terrain here, there are numerous small cascades and ravines. To the L of this spot on the trail is the most impressive ravine I saw. It's deep enough to qualify as a gorge (at least in the Northeast!), with sheer, craggy walls putting the stream below (about 60 feet down) in daylong shadow.

WPT014

Location: 41.166069°, -74.432243°
Turn L @ T where the Laurel Pond Trail dead-ends; you're now heading east on Cherry Ridge Rd., an old, twisting doubletrack marked with discs that bear its name.

WPT015

Location: 41.162521°, -74.428017°
Bear L @ Y. The Old Coal Trail heads S from here. Next summer, I plan to try a much longer variation on this route - a 22-mile circle that continues south from this junction to Terrace Pond, then up and along Bearfort Mountain (great views over Greenwood Lake) to the AT, and back to the park office. I hope to do it as a dayhike, and with the quality of these trails that shouldn't be a problem.

WPT016

Location: 41.162029°, -74.425194°
Continue straight at the 3-way with the Red Dot Trail, which leads N.

WPT017

Location: 41.161419°, -74.423302°
Just before you cross the footbridge at this waypoint, head R over the small rise to a large, flat rock overlooking an expansive marsh with at least one enormous beaver dam. It's a great place to eat, nap, or soak in the sun.

WPT018

Location: 41.161381°, -74.420219°
Cross noisy, burbling stream and pass around gate on Cherry Ridge Road. The gate is farther west on the road than it appears on the North Jersey Trails: Western Portion #21 map, so don't worry when the next trail junction takes longer to reach.

WPT019

Location: 41.157101°, -74.414520°
Turn L onto the Banker Trail, heading NE with yellow blazes.

WPT020

Location: 41.160881°, -74.409767°
Bear R @ Y, continuing on the yellow-blazed Banker Trail. This section's highlight is a tunnel-like section of rhododendron with an impenetrable blowdown that I had to leave the trail and climb a rock slab to get around.

WPT021

Location: 41.160431°, -74.408157°
Hang a L @ T. Note: This intersection is not shown on the North Jersey Trails map.

WPT022

Location: 41.173698°, -74.398170°
After a short, wet section, the trail follows the L side of a fence line--don't be dismayed by all the private property signs--and deposits you onto paved Banker Rd. Go L here; the road immediately changes to gravel and is marked Double Pond Rd. on the map. Follow it uphill past a private drive sign; it dead-ends 100 feet later in a small turnaround with a trail ducking into the woods. This trail is the continuation of Double Pond Rd. (starting to see a pattern here withroads that are really footpaths?).

WPT023

Location: 41.176601°, -74.402657°
Just 50 feet into the woods, turn R @ 3-way, heading N on the blue-blazed Hoeferlin Trail. For the first few hundreds yards, you may have to bob-and-weave under rhododendron branches.

WPT024

Location: 41.191528°, -74.399681°
Go R @ T and continue on the Hoeferlin Trail back to the park office and your car.