Hike New Jersey

Quick Review – Mountain Hardware WINDSTOPPER Half Flex Balaclava

Chris Casciano — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 17:34:53 +0000

It’s been a cold, windy and snowy go of it here in New Jersey this winter. Though I’ve left my real gear monkey tendencies behind years ago, each season it seems I pick up a few new things and one of them really stands out and makes me wonder how I ever did things without it. This winter it was the Mountain Hardware WINDSTOPPER Half Flex Balaclava.

A lightweight neck and face mask great for those winter activities.

One key to keeping warm in the winter is staying dry by regulating temperature and avoiding sweat. I find being able to pair this half balaclava with different weight hats or just rip it off when too warm [instead of wearing "double" hats like rolling a full face balaclava up] goes a long way towards helping regulate things. Whether its for hiking and snowshoeing on the local trails, biking, or going on slow paced photowalk with lots of stops and starts the thin weight windstop fabric keeps the cool and wind off without making my face sweat from my own breath. I’ve used full fleece windstopper balaclavas in the past and they can be just too bulky and overly warm for the 25ºF winter weather we see most of the time in this area. As its made for mountaineering it also works well and doesn’t get in the way of a bike helmet.

This is a “one size fits all” item and I’ve found it fit me well and I think it would be comfortable going up or down the spectrum. Those with small heads may want to find a way to pin or sew a small pleat to get it to fit snugly and stay up.

MSRP for the Half Flex is $30 and it was money well spent. I purchased this in the beginning of the season at Paragon Sports in Manhattan, but check the Mountain Hardware product page for dealer locations. Product photo from the Mountain Hardware site.

My rating: 4.5 stars

Deer Hunting Again Closes Several Essex County Parks

Chris Casciano — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 21:11:11 +0000

As has become routine in the last couple of years Essex County will be holding a closed deer hunt to combat overpopulation at three local parks. On select Tuesdays and Thursdays through January and February parks and trails will be closed to the public. Below is a schedule sent out recently to residents of area towns:

It’s important to stay safe and be aware of various hunting seasons and activities before going hiking or backpacking. NJ hunting schedules and regulations can be found at the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife web site and the NY-NJ Trail Conference often posts hunting location and hunting season notices.

New Year’s Day Hike 2010

Chris Casciano — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:54:57 +0000

I’m not one to make grand resolutions for New Years, but I do want to do two things in 2010 — get some more miles under my feet and keep exploring parks that I’m a regular at. Friday I did a little bit of both with a 7.6 mile hike around the snowy and slushy trails of South Mountain Reservation.

NOTE: The above map and route was made with RunKeeper Pro, a GPS based activity monitor for the iPhone.

One of the nice things about the trails in South Mountain is that its easy to orient yourself based on the slope of the ridge and the nearby roads making it difficult to be lost for long and easy to wander from trail to trail. This is just what I did once I crossed South Orange Avenue into the northern half of the park. Jumping from the green trail markers to orange back to green as the terrain or pretty wintery scenes caught my fancy. Finally coming back to the yellow [Lenape] and white trail markers for the walk back to the Locust Grove lot in Millburn along the water.

For the first day of the new year the traffic on the trails was light and peaceful. The usual mix of families and dog walkers stuck to the areas around Hemlock Falls, the Dog park, and the larger parking areas, but the trails felt like they were all mine. A wonderful way to kick off a fresh year.

How did you spend this first weekend of the 2010?

Twittering And Upcoming Winter Updates

Chris Casciano — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 15:21:50 +0000

I’ve got a few articles and updates and reviews in the works for the Hike New Jersey web site — some more park guides as well as reviews of some hiking and trail guides. Winter is approaching, but that doesn’t mean the outdoor activity should stop. There are great spots in the state for snowshoeing, cross country skiing, and since most of the season will be snow free you can still go out hiking and trail running. I’ll be posting info on some of my favorite spots. If you have suggestions of a favorite place to spend a wintery weekend in New Jersey let us know in the comments below.

Follow us at @HikeNJ

While the Hike New Jersey web site is intended as a reference site, sprinkled with news and trip reports, I’ve been using @HikeNJ on Twitter is a more active way to pull together news and other info of interest to locals who like to enjoy the parks around the state and the outdoors in general. Aside from my own trip reports, photos and general chattyness there are a few Twitter Lists I’ve started curating:

@HikeNJ/hiking-gear – A collection of outdoor gear retailers and manufacturers like @Campmor, @BlackDiamondUSA & @thenorthface
@HikeNJ/outdoor-organizations – Non-Profits and other trail and park services dedicated to protecting land and the environment like @NatlParkService, @NYNJTrailConf and @nature_org
@HikeNJ/new-jersey-news – General news feeds from up and down the Garden State including updates from @StarLedger, @AsburyParkPress and @HeraldNews

I look forward to hearing from you and keeping a conversation about hiking in this great state going.

Autumn Peaks in South Mountain Reservation

Chris Casciano — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:49:21 +0000

With this new site I’m hoping to post regular trip reports from hikes around the state of New Jersey to supplement the guide pages and give you an idea what to expect when heading out to your local park. Here’s the first of what I hope are many.

With the fall foliage at near peak in Essex County and rainstorms moving through Friday and Saturday I spent Sunday afternoon with a couple of photographer friends and wandering around the waterfalls in South Mountain Reservation. Autumn colors seemed to be near peak, so if you’ve got the urge to go out and see the bright reds, yellows and oranges the northeast has to offer the next week or so is the time to do it! It was just a short walk so there isn’t much to recap, but wandering around the falls did yield some nice images. Enjoy!

Photos Above: 1. Hemlock Falls 2. The crowd at the base of Hemlock Falls enjoying the sunny afternoon 3. An isolated line of water at Black Rock Falls 4. Pine Trees and peak foliage from above the basalt formations 5. Bronze leaves against the basalt walls. Photo Credits [all]: Chris Casciano

Hike Details

This is a short walk, hardly considered a hike, but one that is quite popular with parents with children who just want to expose their kids to nature and the waterfalls as well as anyone who just has a short time to spend outside. Starting at the parking lot on the eastbound side of South Orange Avenue [or the Tulip Springs Parking Lot on Cherry Lane then a walk over the pedestrian bridge] make the first left along the road at the sign and intersection with the Rahway trail [white markers]. The road follows a small stream fed by the falls on your right, keep walking and you’ll soon see first Black Rock Falls on your left and then Hemlock Falls and the basalt cliffs at the end of the road. Total distance: about 1 mile depending on where you explore. Terrain: flat road leading to scrambling on basalt cliffs above falls.

Scenic Overlooks in South Mountain Reservation

As I was prepping this little trip report I saw that a guide to the overlooks in the park was published by local news site Patch. Walk in the Park: Scenic Reservation Overlooks is a good overview of the best views from along this part of Watchung ridge of the city skyline, the Hudson River and other local sights.

New Jersey Monthly does the Appalachian Trail

Chris Casciano — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 16:38:10 +0000

Just in time for fall where the trail may be a bit less congested and the views of foliage near peak New Jersey Monthly carried quite a nice writeup of a typical day on the Appalachian Trail as it winds through New Jersey from the Delaware Water Gap to the New York border. In it the author, David Caldwell, catches up with a few hikers and trail maintainers, and describes his day hike and sites along the trail. Experienced hikers may find themselves nodding along or getting the urge to go out themselves, but its also a good intro for what to expect if you haven’t been to the area.

The story is now a month or so old, but I saw it making the rounds again, and this site wasn’t up earlier to cover it then. And its worth a read.

REI Opening East Hanover Store

Chris Casciano — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:58:43 +0000

While New Jersey has been blessed with a few great retail stores like Campmor or EMS for many years, this weekend REI is having a grand opening celebration for their 2nd NJ store in East Hanover. As part of the October 9-11th event they’ll be giving away gift certificates, water bottles, t-shirts and other gear.

I’ve been an REI co-op member for a few years now and their prices, customer service, and quality of their in house brand clothing and gear are all top notch, and they also carry some of the top names in clothing and gear like Black Diamond, Mountain Hardware, Patagonia and The North Face. So if you’re looking for a new jacket or fleece for the Fall, you’ve warn out your trail running shoes over the summer, looking for snowshoes or ski equipment, or just like drooling over gear you wish you had a reason to use and you’re in the area it would be worth a visit.

More information on the opening event, door prizes, and directions to the location on RT 10 is available at http://www.rei.com/easthanover. If you’re an REI member check your mail for a recent flyer with a 20% off coupon.

Hike New Jersey Walks Again

Chris Casciano — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 01:11:30 +0000

In the late 90s a humble little site was created as a way for me to share photographs of New Jersey’s parks with those in the online hiking community. As time passed and other photo sharing tools came online that site went dormant and was lost to time. In the last year or so I’ve had the idea to reacquire the domain for nostalgia’s sake and finally did this summer.

With the domain back in my hands I starting thinking about ways to put it in use. I couldn’t just make it a photo sharing site because Flickr does that so well and the local New Jersey communities there are already quite active. So isntead, work started on forming a site to do more then just show photos of the great natural resources and hiking areas we have in the state and to offer a bit more information and links out to help learn about and explore them. Pages for each hiking trail or park will soon have some background information as well as important information like maps, guidebooks, links to more information, and yes, photographs to wet your appetite.

Parks Already Posted & More To Come!

With the site relaunch I’ve started pages for a few of the trails I regularly find myself heading to for day hikes in north eastern New Jersey. These parks include South Mountain Reservation, The Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, Watchung Reservation and Lord Stirling Park. Don’t worry if these parks aren’t local to you, the guides for them link to resources that cover the entire state, and should give you a starting point for exploration.

Soon I hope to expand the list of trails and coverage of these state reaching areas like the Palisades Interstate Park to the northeast and points west like the Delaware Water Gap, so check back often or follow the site’s RSS feed or follow @HikeNJ on twitter for updates.