[Journal entry for April 6, 2014; West Pond, Bearford Mountain, New Jersey Highlands]. West Pond is a small pond, perhaps two hundred yards across, nestled between two ridges near the summit of Bearford Mountain, just west of Greenwood Lake. I parked at a small trailhead lot uphill from the Greenwood Lake Marina, off Jersey Avenue (Route 210) just south of the New Jersey - New York border. The day was bright and clear, with temperatures in the mid-fifties Fahrenheit – a very welcome change from the damp and chilly weather we have had lately. I walked along the road for a few minutes, admiring the view across Greenwood Lake. The hills on the far side are part of Sterling Forest, and include Bare Rock, a viewpoint that I visited last year. I came upon a sizable upwelling of water just off the lake shore. Perhaps a stream has been diverted under the road via a pipe.

I then took the State Line Trail, blazed with blue and white, steeply uphill through the woods. The winter’s snow, which was about two feet thick back in March, has now mostly melted; just an occasional patch remains. The trail follows a small stream, which was running strongly, being fed with snow melt. The rocks here are of Schunemunk Conglomerate, locally known as puddingstone, a purple colored rock easily recognizable by its large, white quartz clasts and its hard, well-lithified character. The bedding is extremely steep and dipping slightly to the east. I passed many boulders, clambered up many ledges and scaled one low hog back as I ascended. I connected with another trail, blazed in yellow, and took it up to the ridge crest, an overall climb of about forty-five minutes.

This ridge is the easternmost of the several that compose the massif of Bearfort Mountain. These ridges are conglomerate highlands separated from one another by valleys composed of more erodible siltstone. The ridge is open, except for occasional Pitch Pine trees. The view of Greenwood Lake and the New Jersey Highlands beyond is extraordinary. The lake still had a little ice. The hills beyond the eastern shore of the lake are small but steep. The little valleys between Bearfort’s ridges are marshy and I could hear frogs singing down below me. Directly below and to the west of us sat a little wetland, at the base of a steep slope covered with large slabs of conglomerate. The trail leaves the ridge and headed west, past the southern edge of the wetland, through a short section of woods, to Surprise Lake. This elongated pond is about three tenths of a mile long and a few hundred yards wide, with a mostly wooded shoreline. The trail led to a clearing on the east side of the lake, marked by a distinctive natural table of conglomerate besides which a group of hiker had built a bonfire. I chatted with them for a few minutes. One has a dog, Maya, a Staffordshire Bull Terrier, who was busy exploring the edge of the lake. In most places, the shore of the lake is thickly vegetated. Several bushes had been cropped by beaver.

I then continued along the yellow trail, which curves around the swampy, south end of Surprise lake. The trail passes through thick stands of Rhododendron as it descends down to swamp level, crosses the stream at the bottom of the valley, and then ascends the ridge on the other side. West Pond is set in a little valley just west of this ridge. A spur trail leads to an overlook set high above the southeastern corner of the pond. It has a wonderful view of the lake. I could see that the pond’s shore was heavily vegetated, though I could spot a small open area on the west side. The trail then descends steeply down into the valley that hosts the pond. A few parts of the trail involve some tough climbing. The outlet stream flows in a deep and narrow valley and near-vertical rock faces full of huge jagged stone blocks.

The yellow trail then curves north and follows the ridge west of West Pond, passing by groves of Pitch Pine owing along otherwise bare rock ledges. A spur trail descends down to a clearing at lake level, the one that I could see from the overlook. It is a pleasant, grassy spot suitable for a picnic. The lake shore is marshy, with grass hummocks and blueberry bushes, yet I found a spot where I could look out across the pond. Quite a lot of ice remained floating on the water, though the lake right in front of me was clear. I climbed back up to the yellow trail. It crosses a little stream flowing out of a swamp west of the ridge, whose elevation is way higher than West Pond. I sat for a while on a conglomerate ledge above the marsh, from whose lip several massive blocks had broken off and now lay tilting below me. I then continued along the yellow trail until it joined the Appalachian Trail (AT, blazed in white), which I took northward. The trail mostly hugs the ridge and passes through many beautiful groves of Pitch Pine. I spotted two butterflies, both with yellow-edged black wings, and a wasp. I then connected with the State Line Trail, which I took back towards the trailhead.

On account of the afternoon being so gorgeous, I again ascended the yellow trail to the eastern overlook on Bearford Mountain and spent a few minutes gazing out on Greenwood Lake. The sun was getting low in the sky and the shadows were bringing out glacial flutes and scratches on the conglomerate rock of the ridge. I then headed back, enjoying a few short detours to view cascading water in the stream.

About four and a half hours.