60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: New York City With Northern New Jersey, Southwestern Connecticut, and Western Long Island

by Brooks, Christopher; Brooks, Catherine

• ISBN13: 9780897325462
• ISBN10: 089732546X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-10
• Publisher: Menasha Ridge Press
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

New Yorkers grab your boots and get outside! Using clear, concise, and entertaining narrative, 60 Hikes within 60 Miles: New York City will eliminate doubts about where to hike and what to expect when you get there. To easily locate and assess the best hikes around the Big Apple, this guide is indispensable.

Author Biography

In addition to a five year stint as contributing editor at Market Watch and 14 years as contributing editor and columnist at Hearst's Country Living, Christopher and Catherine Brooks credits include The New York Times, Family Circle, Christian Science Monitor, Cigar Aficionado, The Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and Diversion. They wrote the California half of The Unofficial Guide to Campgrounds in California and the West (Frommer Guides). Together, they hiked the Appalachian Trail, the Pacific Crest Trail, the Inca Trail, and extensively explored the U.S., Mexico and South America, Europe, Asia, and northern Africa.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
About the Authors	ix
Preface	x
Hiking Recommendations	xv
Introduction	1	(8)
HIKES
Allaire Southern Loop	9	(4)
Allamuchy Natural Area Amble	13	(4)
Babcock Circumference Trail	17	(4)
Bear Mountain Doodletown Circuit	21	(5)
Black River Trail	26	(5)
Black Rock Forest Peaks to Ponds Trail	31	(5)
Blue Mountain Twin Summits Trail	36	(4)
Butler Outer Loop Trail	40	(4)
Caleb Smith Full Circuit	44	(4)
Caumsett Neck Loop	48	(4)
Cheesequake Natural Area Trail	52	(5)
Clay Pit Ponds Connector	57	(4)
Connetquot Contour	61	(4)
Croton Point Discovery Trail	65	(3)
David Weld Sanctuary Tour	68	(4)
Devil's Den Concourse	72	(5)
Fahnestock Hidden Lake Loop	77	(4)
Fishkill Ridge Trail	81	(4)
Fitzgerald Falls to Little Dam Lake Appalachian Trail	85	(5)
Great Kills Crooke's Point Labyrinth	90	(4)
Great Swamp Wilderness Trail	94	(4)
Harriman Highlands Trail	98	(5)
Hartshorne Woods Grandest Tour	103	(4)
High Mountain Summit Loop	107	(5)
High Point Duet	112	(5)
Holmdel Big Loop	117	(4)
Hudson Highlands Breakneck Ridge Loop	121	(5)
Jamaica Bay West Pond Trail	126	(4)
Jenny Jump Mountain Lake Trail	130	(4)
Johnsonburg Swamp Trail	134	(4)
Mercer Lake Trail	138	(4)
Mianus River Gorge Trail	142	(5)
Muttontown Mystery Trail	147	(5)
Norvin Green's Heart	152	(5)
Pelham Bay Hunter Island Loop	157	(4)
Ramapo--Ringwood Rally	161	(6)
Rockefeller Medley	167	(5)
Sandy Hook Hiking Trail	172	(5)
Schunemunk Mountain Ridge Loop	177	(5)
Shark River Circuit	182	(4)
Sourland Mountain Track	186	(4)
Sterling Ridge Trail	190	(5)
Stillwell Woods Stroll	195	(4)
Stokes Select	199	(5)
Storm King Summit Trail	204	(5)
Sunken Meadow to Nissequogue River Trail	209	(5)
Swartswood Spring Lake Trail	214	(4)
Tallman Mountain Hudson River Overlook Trail	218	(3)
Teatown Lake Loop	221	(4)
Thompson Park Red and Blue Combo	225	(4)
Turkey--Egypt Connection	229	(6)
Turkey Swamp Sampler	235	(4)
Uplands Farm Loop	239	(4)
Walt Whitman Revisited	243	(4)
Ward Pound Ridge Main Loop	247	(4)
Watchung Sierra Sampler	251	(4)
Wawayanda Way Way Yonder	255	(6)
Weir Pond and Swamp Loops	261	(4)
Westchester Wilderness Walk	265	(5)
Westmoreland Grand Tour	270	(7)
Appendix A---Outdoor Shops	277	(2)
Appendix B---Where to Buy Maps	279	(2)
Appendix C---Hiking Clubs	281	(2)
Appendix D---Agencies	283	(2)
Index	285

Excerpts

The focal point of this 3,068-acre park is its namesake village, where costumed volunteers demonstrate (in summer) various crafts and explain the history of the community. By all means visit its historic brick row houses, chapel, general store, carpentry and smithy shops. Take a ride, too, on its railroad-if there is sufficient time remaining after your romp through Allaire's laurel forests and pine barrens, which reflect so well the natural diversity of New Jersey's Coastal Plain.

This hike begins by the kiosk at the southwestern end of the Hospital Road parking area. It is an easy trek, with little sustained elevation change, but be advised that Allaire allows hunting in this section of the park, typically late in the fall. Strike out on the orange-blazed trail as it crosses a gravel forest road and, shortly after, forks right and left. Keep left, passing meanwhile among cedars, pines, scrub oaks, and black birch trees. Ignore the many side spurs that have been worn into the loamy soil by bikers, hunters, and deer, and in 15 minutes turn left onto the sandy forest road. Just as this track narrows to single-file you'll step left at a fork. In roughly 100 feet the orange blazes veer sharply right, trending downhill among oaks and white birch trees, through an area of odd mounds. These latter, incidentally, are the slowly healing scars of the bog mining industry that thrived here from the 1790s through 1848.

On emerging from this sandy depression, the path is joined by a blue-blazed trail and they flow concurrently for 250 yards through more oaks and pines, until the blue trail branches off by a green metal shed. Stay straight with the orange blazes and, in five minutes, they will roll to the right toward higher ground. Blue blazes reappear shortly, as you stroll through a four-way intersection. When the moss-sided track hits a dense cluster of pines the orange-blazed trail swerves left, once again diverging from the blue-blazes.

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Excerpted from 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles: Including Southern Connecticut and Northern New Jersey by Christopher Brooks, Catherine Brooks
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.