Hike Cushetunk Mountain Loop Cushetunk Mountain Nature Preserve, NJ

Dec 31, 2023 — Cushetunk Mountain is a ring-shaped set of lumps surrounding Long Valley Reservoir. The true summit is farther south than my loop today, but with limited time on New Year's Eve, I set out to reach the northern summit and form a little loop. I parked at the Cushetunk Mountain Nature Preserve trailhead off Old Mountain Road and started up the relatively steep white-blazed trail leading to the ridgeline above. Once here, I got a nice view of Long Valley Reservoir, where I headed left and continued to a false summit. The terrain was overall typical of northern New Jersey, dirt with embedded rocks and short spurts of rocky clusters. It was nice to get an occasional view down toward the reservoir.

I descended from the little sub-peak to a saddle, a junction of well-blazed trails. I started hiking uphill again, now toward the true Cushetunk Mountain - North Peak. The summit was uneventful, its view similar to the rest of what I'd seen along the ridgeline so far.

I noted that I could return to the junction since I'd reached the high point, but instead, I decided to extend the loop a bit, continuing south until another junction. The sequence I used to return to the trailhead was a combination of the red, blue, and yellow-blazed trails, descending and reascending for no apparent reason. I enjoyed the extra exercise, but at a certain point I'd reascended to nearly the junction mentioned earlier, so it felt silly. Regardless, this was a nice hike in the NJ woods, and maybe I'll find some time to repeat this as a full loop around the Round Valley Reservoir.