[Journal entry for Octiber 25, 2014] On the way back home from my hile on the Congers Lake Trailway, I stopped to view Lake Deforest. It is much longer than Congers Lake but has poorer public access, on account of being part of the public water supply. It is anthropogenic, created by damming the Hackensack River as it exits a long valley. I drove around the lake, stopping four times. I stopped on both the east and west ends on the Congers Road causeway, which crosses the lake about three quarters north along its length. The sun was lighting up the fall foliage on the north end of the lake splendidly. The water level was low and a wide margin of yellow gravel was exposed along the shoreline. Several small gravelly islands had emerged and were inhabited by gulls and Canada Geese. The profile of the hill called High Tor and the scar of Tilcor Haverstraw Quarry dominate the landscape at the north end of the lake. I recall having climbed High Tor at sunset and gazed south from its summit. The view is impressive, with the lake a glowing sliver strip set between darkening hills. I then took Strawtown Road south and Old Mill Road east, to the dam at the south end of the lake. The dam itself is earth-fill, but the spillway is an impressive concrete affair perhaps thirty feet high. Most of the water was exiting from a four foot diameter circular opening at the bottom of the structure, making me think that they must generate a little power. I crosses the road to view the Hackensack river. It is wide and has pretty overhanging trees. I walked up the road to a point where I could see over the dam and along the axis of the lake. While pretty, the view is not as impressive as the one from the Causeway, for the northern hills are much more distant. I then drove further north on Old Mill Road, making one final stop at the point where it crosses the little bay that is the inflow of the East Branch of the Hackensack River. The views of this bay and of the main body of the lake are both very nice.

My trip around the lake took about an hour, but about half that time was driving.