Description

From the parking area, follow the access trail, which starts just north of a large bulletin board. In 400 feet, turn left on a dirt road. Soon, the blue-blazed Mennen Trail (part of the Butler-Montville Trail) joins from the right. Bear left, following the blue markers, and cross a stream on a wooden bridge. In another 300 feet, a yellow trail begins on your right. Turn right and follow the yellow trail north along a nearly constant contour, with huge boulders above you on the left and a camp recreation area (with a grassy ballfield, a picnic area and a small pond) below you on the right. After a quarter of a mile, an orange- blazed trail leaves to the right. Continue along the yellow trail, which soon bears left and begins to climb rather steeply. At the top of the climb, there is a viewpoint to the east. The trail now heads back into the woods and descends slightly.

Almost a mile from the start, you will reach the blue trail again. Turn right here and follow the joint blue and yellow trails through deep stands of mountain laurel. After a short distance, the yellow trail goes off to the left. Keep to the right here, and continue along the blue-blazed trail. Just past this point, look for a blue-and-white side trail on the left. This narrow trail leads in 350 feet to Lucy's Lookout, a rugged vista named for Lucy Meyer, the leader of the fight to save this mountain.

After enjoying the view, return to the blue trail and turn left. In less than a quarter of a mile, you will arrive at a junction with the white-blazed Kinnelon-Boonton Trail. Continue straight ahead (north) here, leaving the blue trail, and now following white markers. In about 500 feet, you will come to Tripod Rock -- a massive boulder perched on three smaller stones, considered by most geologists to be an extraordinary glacial erratic. The two matching boulders just to the northwest of Tripod Rock form a gunsight for the summer solstice sunset when viewed from a bedrock outcrop nearby. After taking some time to enjoy the site, follow the white trail north for 0.4 mile to a junction with a red-blazed trail.

Turn left onto the red trail, which goes through interesting, remote and rugged mountain scenery. In about a third of a mile, you will see a house directly ahead. Here the trail turns sharply left and climbs to the top of Eagle Cliff. After passing a huge balanced rock to the left -- a glacial erratic known as Whale Head Rock -- the trail bears left and begins a steep descent.

At the base of the descent, the trail crosses a branch of Bear House Brook and then the brook itself and reaches a junction with the blue trail. Turn left here, and in another half mile you will come to the awesome Bear Rock (also known as "Bare Roke") -- a gigantic glacial erratic sitting at the edge of a swamp. This rock was probably used as a shelter in pre-colonial times by Native Americans. From Bear Rock, turn left and follow the blue and white trails across Bear House Brook on a plank bridge. Just ahead, turn right onto the yellow trail again. In a third of a mile, this trail will bring you up to the ridge, through a dense stand of laurel. Now turn right onto the blue trail and follow it as it gradually climbs to the highest elevation on the Pyramid Mountain ridge, where you will find several overlooks from exposed slabs of rock. The New York City skyline is visible to the east.

Continuing on the blue trail, you descend steeply to the power line cut and high-voltage towers, passing a red-blazed trail, which begins to the right near the bottom of the hill. At a high-voltage tower, the white trail leaves to the right. Turn left here, continuing along the blue trail, and descend stone steps. Soon after joining a dirt road coming in from the right, you will cross the stream on a wooden bridge, then bear right, leaving the blue trail, and follow the Visitors Center access trail back to the parking area.