Off The Beaten Path: Haven for hikers offers great views
Trail climbs Wawayanda Mountain
Hikers who reach Pinwheel Vista
at the top of Wawayanda Mountain, near Route 94, can enjoy a splendid
vista that includes nearby mountains and valleys. On a clear day, you
can see High Point in New Jersey, too. The trail to the mountain
intersects the famous Appalachian Trail.JOHN DeSANTO/Times Herald-Record
VERNON, N.J. — Hikers looking for sweeping views
of valleys and mountains don't have to travel further than Vernon's
Pinwheel Vista on top of Wawayanda Mountain — if they're willing to work
for it.
Intersecting the famous Appalachian
Trail and just a short drive from Warwick, N.Y.,Wawayanda Mountain began
rippling upward out of the earth about 1.8 billion years ago as part of
the Crystalline Appalachians section of the mountain range.
It
sits along State Route 94 near County Route 515, flanked by a pastoral
valley filled with Black Dirt farms, marshes and forest.
Getting there:
From Warwick, N.Y.: Head southwest on Main
Street toward West Street, going onto Route 94 west. Head into New
Jersey onto Route 94. Right after Prices Switch Road. If road is out,
make a right on DeKay Road, turn left on Meadowburn Road, then left onto
County Route 515 to State Route 94.
Don't miss: A trickling spring about halfway up the mountain.
Be aware of: A progressively steep climb. Not handicapped accessible. Prepare properly for ticks, bugs, sun.
Though certainly not as packed as the local
mall on a Saturday, you'll probably encounter a few characters along the
trail: local sightseers, casual hikers and the occasional hard-core
trailblazer with a mammoth-sized rucksack working their way through the
2,184 miles of trails known simply to them as the "AT."
Starting
north on the Appalachian Trail from the parking lot off Route 94, on
first approach to the mountain in the warmer months, you'll pass flat
windswept fields of wildflowers and grass with monarch butterflies as
the mountain juts up in front of you. You almost expect Julie Andrews
(as in "The Sound of Music") to come skipping by.
Traveling
upward past a jumble of large boulders, hikers should keep their eyes
on white blazes marked on trees, so as not to get off the trail.
You'll
be looking down a lot due to tough, rocky terrain that climbs steadily
upward — about 750 feet in just about 1.3 miles from Route 94.
Along
the way, you might find the occasional snake; but don't let that stop
you. One particularly large but non-poisonous black rat snake on the
trail is probably still striking fear into rodents right now.
As
you approach the top, you'll hit stone steps known as the "Stairway to
Heaven," and follow to the left three blue blazes marking the short walk
to Pinwheel Vista.
Once there, you'll be
rewarded with a crystalline view of the Shawangunk, Kittatinny and
Catskill mountains and the Vernon Valley.
On a clear day, you can make out High Point monument, New Jersey's highest point, and watch turkey vultures soar overhead.
Climbing
the mountain Thursday, Allen Rochkind, 68, of White Plains, said that
although he's hiked in the Sierra Mountains in California, he prefers
"bumps" such as Wawayanda Mountain, to the Sierra's tall, jutting, bare
mountains.
"It's a quiet, understated beauty you don't get in California," said Rochkind.
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