Hike Reviews
September 06, 2013
Nice little stretch of wild river
<p>We followed the directions in Hiking the Jersey Highlands, down the stairs to Trout Brook, rock hop Trout Brook down to the Black River. Then rock hop the edge of the river down stream to Rhinehart Brook. Finally swing uphill and take trails to the parking lot along higher ground.</p>
<p>Trout Brook down to the Black River is a heavily worn trail with lots of picnic tables, some of them rotted. Large rocks allow a fun rock hop down the stream. Its good to see people getting out to enjoy nature. There is a lot of demand for this sort of place.</p>
<p>Down stream on the Black River is a little rougher which makes for an energetic hike. If you stick very close to the river the whole way there are pleasant rock scrambles, beautiful cascades, excellent sounds of falling water, a few fallen trees to get over or around, and great photography. We even had a few stretches of solitude late in the day.</p>
<p>Print your own map as there were none at the entrance.</p>
April 07, 2013
First section currently closed (but passable).
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Arial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial;">Did this hike this morning. The whole park sustained a lot of hurricane damage, but they have made extraordinary progress clearing the paths. Still, the first section after the Smokey the Bear sign is currently closed due to down trees. The gate was closed but it said "road closed - authorized vehicles only" so we didn't get the point that it was closed to hiking too, and we went in anyway. There were two large trees across the path, one you just negotiate around to the left, the other just plow straight through parting the smaller branches. It wasn't until we got to the clearing with the playground equipment that we saw new paper signs saying the area we were walking out of was closed entirely. Ooops. Otherwise all was fine. We made a wrong turn at the intersection with the blue trail (too busy talking to each other, I guess) and went left, up the long gravel road (blue blazes), but just followed the parking area signs at the top and were reunited with the white trail back to where we should have been. Sadly missed some good scenery that way.</span></p>
May 31, 2010
Thanks
Thanks for the clear and detailed description. It was amazingly accurate. My husband and I love to hike but don't do it that much so we appreciate the help.
Oh, and it was a beautiful spot. The prettiest part of NJ I've seen. I was amazed.