I highly recommend you purchase the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference map here. There are a lot of trails in this area and not only will this map not get you lost, you can also change my route and add/remove trails.
Jun 06, 2019 — This loop has some nice views of northern NJ, rollercoasters up and down a few peaks, and visits an area in my home state where I haven't spent much time. I was looking forward to it. I parked in the Stonetown Recreation Area and crossed the Stonetown Road to locate the Stonetown Circular Trail (red blaze). I followed this until it merged with the Highlands Trail and headed north. The trail went up Little Windbeam, Windbeam Mountain, Bear Mountain, and then Board Mountain before mellowing out as it continued north The three peaks mentioned was definitely the highlgiht of the day. There were some great NJ views, and the up and down of the peaks added some physical activity to this otherwise mostly flat hike. The trail then crossed Stonetown Road again and followed the south side of the Monksville Reservoir before heading south up to Harrison Mountain. From here, the Highlands Trail continued west, but I stuck to the Stonetown Circular Trail (red blaze) as it trended southeast to Tory Rocks and then ended at Magee Road. The second half of the day had a lot of old dirt roads converted into trails and though pretty, was less fun than the first bit. I followed the paved roads back to the trailhead.
The more interesting first half of the hike with the three peaks is located on North Jersey District Water Supply Commission land. Once crossing the Stonetown Road on the northern section of this loop, I believe I was within Long Pond Ironworks State Park, and then I entered Norvin Green State Forest, before finishing the loop within the Passaic River Coalition land.
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