Black Rock Forest Hikin'

Hi, there!

July 4th weekend some friends and I went on a long hike in Black Rock Forest, New York. The exact trail was the Sutherland Pond/Scenic Trail/Eagle Cliff Loop from Mine Hill Road which you can find the play-by-play walking instructions on the trusty NYNJTC website.

Hike length: 6.5 miles, but we made a couple wrong turns so we'll cap it at 7 miles.
Time: 5.5 hours including the wrong turns
Peak Elevation:  1,463ft (446m) at Spy Rock but the view if blocked. The highest elevation with a view is 1,443ft (440m) at Eagles Cliff - yes, realize, not much of a difference but you can see all sorts of things from there!

This hike really made me feel like I was hiking off the beaten path. There were areas where the path was hard to make out because the grass had grown so high! Additionally, in the 5.5 hours we were in this Forest we saw just 4 other people - so we really felt like we had all these acreage to ourselves.
Side note: The trail markers are not always set up consistent enough which is why we made a couple of wrong turns. We were very dependent on the instructions we print from the aforementioned website, they are spot on to a T so don't get proud if you do this hike - you need the details!

We all agreed that the hike became a bit tired towards the end. The beautiful view points are all in the beginning of the journey leaving only, albeit, gorgeous greenery the last 4 hours! The view points off of Eagle Cliff are really pretty with the view of the Sutherland Pond below and on a clear day like ours the New York City skyline far away in the distance.

Where the hike begins!

I am very grateful to Leslie and Brian for driving, and am glad I got to meet their friend Dwayne as well. It was great to be out in nature after fireworks and BBQs, and to simply enjoy the beautiful of life and silence with a great group of people. PS - Leslie and Brian have a blog about the delicious food they make - check it out! They made quite the scrumptious pulled pork sandwiches when we returned from the hike.

Sutherland Pond. The zoom on my camera does not work well anymore, but if it did I would've zoomed in on the NYC skyline in the far distance.

Me and my friend Leslie =)

Betsy says "hi"!

The gang's all here.

Up to Eagles Cliff.

Can you make out the trail?

Black Rock Forest had many delicious snacks to offer!

This spot made me feel like I was on the edge of the world/globe. Highest point at Spy Rock.

Love that bark.

Nature over Human.

Courtesy of the wrong turn we made. Sweet!

I love fern forests!

Haikus hanging along the trail.

"Усталые, счастливые вернулись домой."