[Journal entry for April 23, 2019; Rockleigh Woods Sanctuary and the Lamont Reserve]. About a year ago, my friend John Guzewich told me about the hiking trails behind the Rockleigh Borough Hall (Closter Road, Rockleigh New Jersey). Until then, I had been unaware of the Rockleigh Woods Sanctuary and the Lamont Reserve, two adjacent tracts of land on the western slope of the ridge of the Palisades. Today, I finally got around to hiking their trails. They are extensive and beautiful!

I parked by the trailhead, in the lot behind the Rockleigh Borough Hall. The Hutcheon Trail (blazed in blue) leads from the playground in Nick’s Park into the woods. The canopy really has filled out in the last few days. This morning, it is glowing lime green in the bright sunshine. Dutchman Breeches are blooming along the edges of the trail. I switch to a woods road and take it down to Sneden Ice Pond, a small impoundment along an unnamed brook that is a tributary to Sparkill Creek. The pond is surrounded by tall trees; its water is calm and dark blue. I follow a trail around the brook, past patches of Skunk Cabbage and Marsh Marigold, stands of Pokeweed and the ubiquitous Phragmites reed. I see signs of beaver, but nothing recent.

I then hike a long loop through the woods. I head north on the Hucheon Trail (blazed in blue), though swampy land full of Skunk Cabbage, connect with the Sneden-Haring-Lamont Trail (blazed in yellow) and take it uphill and across the Roaring Brook ford. This large brook is also a tributary of Sparkill Creek. It was flowing strongly, for the spring has been wet. I spent a few minutes walking up its rocky course, stepping from stone to stone and admiring the cataracts. Continuing on the trail, I eventually came in sight of a high rocky hillside with the ruins of two concrete cisterns or spring houses. I connected with the Lamont Rock Trail (blazed in white), which led up to the cisterns. The lower one has flowing water, but the upper one is stagnant and full of frogs. I then bushwhacked up to the top of the hill, which is composed of sandstone. I rejoined the Lamont Rock Trail and took it over the crest of the hill, past a ten-foot tall gabbro boulder – Lamont Rock. A section of woods had been cleared, allowing a view of Hook Mountain and the Hudson River, to the north. The Lamont Rock Trail eventually took me back to the Roaring Brook ford on the Sneden-Haring-Lamont Trail.

I then switched to the Roaring Ravine Trail (blazed in red). It heads steeply downhill, following the north rim of the steep ravine in which Roaring Brook flows. I made three bushwhacks down to the brook to admire cascades and waterfalls over the red sandstone ledges. They are beautiful, but the way down into the ravine is treacherous!

Finally, I rejoined the Sneden-Haring-Lamont Trail and took it back to my car. The day was warming up and the little white flowers blooming along the trail were more fully open than before. I walked about two-thirds of the trail system in about two and a half hours.