Agile Trekker: Terrace Pond Short Hike, Abraham Hewitt State Forest, NJ

November 23, 2014

Miles: 2.8 miles
Time: 1 hour 50 minutes
Elevation gain: 870 feet
Year to date miles: 449.7

Rest rooms: None

Parking: P7 hiking area on Clinton Road

N41 08.588

W074 24.439

Hike directions:

Cross the street from the parking area.

Within a few steps is a sign. Blue trail (Terrace Pond North) goes left and yellow trail goes right.

Turn left onto the blue blazed trail.

At first the trail is level, going through areas which look like they would be boggy sometimes.

Ascend up rocky areas, where you'll need to use your hands some.

There are some views along the way.

Arrive at intersection of the blue trail and white trail (Terrace Pond Circular).

Take a few steps along the white trail to the view of the lake.

At this point there are options to add on loops of various lengths.

We retraced our steps to the parking area.

Here are links to longer hikes in the same area: Terrace Pond Loop and NYNJTC Terrace Pond Loop

Map: North Jersey Trails Map 116

Hike description:

This was a totally unplanned hike. We were driving to NJ (no hunting on Sundays!) to hike on the AT. Our car started making a bad noise. It got worse & worse as we approached our hike. We pulled over and took a look under the car and couldn't see anything. It sounded like car parts were going to start dropping out from underneath. We looked online and found a tire repair place just 2 1/2 minutes away! We were driving 25 mph with our flashers on, on a 50 mph road. The cars behind me were even keeping their distance! We pulled over a few times to let other cars pass (and to try again to determine what was causing the noise). It was truly awful sounding. We made it into the shopping plaza, where I parked at the first parking spot I found until we could locate the tire repair shop. I didn't want to drive any more than necessary. The car was smelling bad too. We made it the remaining distance to the tire repair place with no parts falling out of our car. Phew! We were thinking that we might have to have our car towed over an hour to get home. The tire repair place quickly found the issue. It was a tiny rock - yes, tiny, that got stuck in the brake mechanism. $36 to remove and that was it! Problem resolved, and our car is NOT falling apart. We were so relieved.

However, we no longer had enough time to do our original hike on the AT. So, we looked at our NJ hike map, and came up with an alternate loop hike. We drove to where we thought the parking area was, and couldn't find it. There was private marina parking where we thought our parking lot would be. We drove back and forth.

We gave up, and came up with a third hike plan - the hike described. Well, we missed the parking lot for this one too, but turned around and eventually found it. By the time we started hiking, it was already 2:40 pm. We were hoping to get in a much longer hike, but we only had time to go to the lake and back. But we were just so happy that our car is okay!

This hike starts out easy, and then gets rocky. The rocky areas are moderate, but you will need to use your hands in some places to scramble up the rocks. The rocks are rough. Some nice large fun rocks. There was a sign that there is no swimming at the pond (watershed area), but from what I read swimming there is common.