[Norvin Green State Forest, NJ, November 3, 2015]. My drive to the forest took me over Monksville Dam, a 400-foot high concrete arch dam that impounds a stretch of the Wanaque River. I stopped at the overlook atop the dam and gazed across Monksville Reservoir. The fall colors on the rolling hills of the New Jersey Highlands are in their final golden brown stage, with a few highlights of red and yellow thrown in. The water level of Monksville Reservoir is high but the level of Lake Wanaque, on the downstream side of the dam, is very low. Many rocks were showing in the lake bed.

I parked at the end of Lake Riconda Drive by the Horse Pond Mountain Trailhead (HPM, blazed in white). Before setting off, I viewed the fall foliage on the shore of Lake Riconda - from the street, since it is a private lake closed to the public. I started my hike a little before 11AM.

I took a woods road that began at the end of the drive, because I could not spot the HPM trailhead. I figured that I could find it where it crossed the power line right-of-way, about a quarter mile ahead. Difficulties in finding the right trail and staying on it were recurring problems for me throughout the hike. The tails were obscured by fallen leaves. Furthermore, they are crossed by many woods roads and tracts onto which I often strayed.

I walked uphill on the track that follows the power-line right-of-way. The way is steep, uneven and full of rock ledges. Some of the ledges retain Ice Aged glacial polish and striae. Trees along the margin are especially beautiful in their fall colors. Many maples are still bright red and many beeches are still blazing yellow. The view back towards Monksvile Reservoir is wide, but marred by the power lines. I reached a high point on Harrison Mountain where I had a beautiful unobstructed view of the rolling hills of the Highlands, ahead of me.

As I had hoped, I found the HPM trail where it crossed the right-of-way and took it until it connected with the Stonetown Circular Trail (blazed with red triangle on white). I took this trail south, through rolling and wooded hills that were pretty in their fall colors. I passed several derelict cars, now just twisted, rusting heaps. I soon came to Burnt Meadow Brook and spent several minutes exploring this beautiful stream. The water was flowing over rocks, making small cataracts. Bright yellow beeches were overhanging the water, creating a beautiful tunnel effect. I crossed the stream several times, both by stepping from stone-to-stone and by the bridge on Burnt Meadow Road. I then connected with the Sonoma Lake Trail (blazed in orange), continuing the southward leg of my hike. I walked through meadows of Blueberry bushes, now dull red in their fall colors, and past large boulders scattered among the trees. I encountered several high points with excellent views of the Highlands.

The trail took me to the inlet stream at the south end of Lake Sonoma. The lake is a small anthropogenic impoundment, about a third of a mile long and a couple hundred yards wide, with a low earth-fill dam at its north end. I bushwhacked a few hundred yards along its western shore for the view. Blueberry bushes along the lake shore were still brilliantly red. A broken cliff stands on the east shore and is reminiscent of the one at Pine Meadow Lake in Harriman State Park. A few tiny islands – most just rocks, really, but one with a few bushes – jut from the lake’s surface. Signs of beaver, including gnawed-off trees and lodges, are everywhere, yet none are of recent origin. I suppose that the beaver have moved on. I walked out onto a rocky peninsula that not only affords a great view of the lake, but is very beautiful in its own right. It would be a great place for a summer picnic!

I rejoined the Lake Sonoma Trail and took it westward. It crosses a stream and then climbs up onto a ridge to intersect with the Overlook Trail (blazed in white). I detoured south a bit along the trail in order to visit Overlook Rock, a large rounded ledge on the ridge crest that affords a great view back towards Lake Sonoma and towards the rolling hills beyond it. I then turned about and headed north. I encountered another rocky viewpoint a half mile further along the trail. The map shows it overlooking a large wetland, but I guess the view was blocked by trees, for I could not see it.

The trail took be to the power line right-of-way on ridge of Long Hill and to the Hewitt Butler Trail (blazed in blue) that parallels it. I passed a tall rocky knob that, while marred by the pylon built atop it, must offer a nice view. However, the day was drawing late, and I began to worry that I would run out of daylight, so I did not stop to climb it, but rather increased my pace. The power line makes an abrupt turn to the east after about a half mile, but the trail continues northward through beautiful terrain. I soon reached the intersection with the Burnt Meadow Trail (blazed in yellow) in a small clearing atop the ridge crest adorned with a few solitary oaks and Pitch Pines. The views here are especially fine. After crossing Burnt Meadow Road for a second time, I ascended the long, steep slope of a ridge and rejoined HPM at its crest. I took another detour northward along the trail to the summit of Horse Pound Mountain. The view Monksville Reservor is especially beautiful. I could see up the entire two-mile length of its northern arm, towards Big Beach Mountain in Tranquility Ridge County Park. The long shadows of the hills reminded me that I needed to hurry, so I turned about and headed southeast.

I descended off Horse Pond Mountain, crossed a stream and then ascended up the flank of Harrison Mountain. The trail was steep and I was very tired, having been on the move more-or-less continuously for six hours. Furthermore, I had run out of water. My one-liter bottle would have sufficed on a cool day, but today was much warmer than I had anticipated, with temperatures in the high seventies, Fahrenheit. I took the upgrade in stages, walking fifty slow and short paces and then resting for a few seconds before beginning fifty more. I reached the ridgeline in a few minutes, despite my slow pace, where I again encountered the power right-of-way. The sun was still shining, though the shadows were now very long indeed. I had closed the loop and my car way just a downhill half-mile away.

I took HPM back to the trailhead. It emerges onto Lake Riconda Drive just beyond the northernmost house on the west side of the street, well west of the woods road on which I had set out. I immediately availed myself of a spare water bottle that I had stashed in the car. This hike proved longer and more difficult than I had anticipated. I spent six hours traversing only seven or eight miles. The roughness of the terrain accounts for some of the toughness of this hike. Though the forest has no great peaks, the trails are always winding up or down. My difficulty in following the trails accounts for much of the rest. I had to circle around and search for a blaze on numerous occasions, in places where I had trouble seeing a turn in the leaf-covered trail and in places where I inadvertently strayed onto a woods road that crossed it.

I finished my hike at 4:50PM. I stopped for a snack at the Alpine Deli on Greenwood Lake Turnpike on my way home. The sky was completely dark by the time I was underway again, reminding me that I had cut things rather too closely.

About six hours.