Hike Type: Loop
Distance: 14.37 miles
Duration: 6 hours, 40 minutes
Elevation Min: 413ft (Buttermilk Falls)
Elevation Max: 1606ft (Mount Paradise)
Initial Climb: 1193ft (Buttermilk Falls to Mount Paradise)
Total Elevation Gain: 1995ft
Parking: There is a parking lot for Buttermilk Falls off of Mountain Road (dirt road with many, many potholes) (41° 8'13.51"N, 74°53'21.15"W)
Weather: 36°F, mostly sunny and calm at the beginning, cloudy and windy at the end
*A couple notes about this post. 1) New camera! Nikon D3300! and 2) I'm breaking this post up into six parts. This was my longest hike and I took many photos and tried to see as much as possible, so for my own sake I want to break this up just for organization, and The photo thumbnails will most likely be smaller, but any photo can be clicked on to see a larger size.
Introduction:
Alarms went off at 6:30am, and we were on the road at 7 for the hour long drive to the water gap! We weren't sure exactly how long the hike was going to be (maps can be hard to read), and I have a history of getting lost in the trails in this area so we wanted to leave ample time to do our hike, take a lot of photos, get lost, and not worry about hiking in the dark (which we are both scared of). Bagels in lap, we were off!
Driving to the water gap is always interesting. My GPS always finds a new way to take me every time, which can get a little scary. We drove through Stokes State Forest, past Tillman Ravine, then turned onto Mountain Road and ended up pothole dodging for two miles before we found the very obvious trailhead: the falls.
Mountain Road is not for the fragile car-ed.
The National Park Service added these brand new kiosks all over the park that are super useful! We followed the blue Buttermilk Falls trail for the first segment of our hike. This says 1.4 miles, my GPS said 1.7, and the sign at the other terminus said 2 miles so nobody really knows how long this trail is I guess!
Part 1: Buttermilk Falls to Mount Paradise
The falls are right along the road, so immediately we were staring in awe, and quickly after started snapping endless amounts of photos. From the base of the falls there are many, many stairs and two platforms that brought us to the top to the falls to rest and take more photos.
Many, many photos just from the first bit of the hike. The falls are absolutely gorgeous and these photos do them no justice. The stairs (and railings) are super helpful in getting up the steep cliff, and the platforms are great to rest the thighs and to take more photos. At the top there are partial views, which were very cool since the sun was still rising when we started the hike.
From the top of the falls the trail begins to climb very steeply. Jell-o legs and everything. The trail veers away from the brook briefly while continuing to climb, and then meets back with the brook at a small waterfall. It continues to climb until flattening out on a rockface that offered gorgeous views once we turned around. From here the trail dips down slightly to the first junction. It junctions with an unmarked woods road labeled "Woods Trail" at the intersection. From here we continued straight on the blue trail.
Gorgeous views once the brutal climb ends. It's fun doing hikes early in the morning because you can see the lighting chance due to the sunrise. One of the earlier photos in this set shows the first time we saw the sun break through the trees. The last photo is the intersection with the woods road and the blue trail, which is clearly marked.
The last leg of the blue trail was more climbing up steep rock face, but still nothing as bad as the initial climb after the falls. There were more gorgeous views after turning around. The trail flattened out towards the top at a few campsights (which I believe are very old since I beieve camping isn't permitted within the park outside the designated areas [edit: these campsights may be for AT thru-hikers. They are permitted to camp in the park and the sights were close to the AT]), right before terminating at a T intersection with the Appalachian Trail.
Some gorgeous views after climbing up the rock face. After that climb the rest of the trail is smooth sailing until the T intersection with the AT, where I turned right.
I followed the AT briefly until it turned right. I stayed straight onto the woods road and made the first left. Following this woods road, the map shows that the turn for Mount Paradise is the second left, but the first left was severely overgrown- to the point where I didn't even notice it. The turn for Mount Paradise is very clearly marked by the power lines and the communications tower. The actual summit is on the rocks to the right after making the turn. After bagging that peak, we retraced our route back to the AT, and turned left to get back on the AT.
After continuing onto the woods road, we turned left onto another woods road to the power lines/Mount Paradise summit.
Part 2: Mount Paradise to Crater Lake
The AT turns right while the woods road to Mount Paradise continues straight. I also wonder what the story is behind some of the strange things we find in the woods, like these two cinder blocks.
After continuing onto the woods road, we turned left onto another woods road to the power lines/Mount Paradise summit.
The power lines lead to a communication tower, I wonder what it specifically does?
Summit photos of Mount Paradise. I think the small cairn is the summit marker, but I'm really not sure. It appeared to be the high point. From there we retraced out steps. The last photo shows the AT. The northbound side is continuing straight, while the southbound trail that we took is after the left turn.
Part 2: Mount Paradise to Crater Lake
Once rejoining the AT we followed the gorgeous trail, which followed an old woods road to the Helmlock Pond trail and further. Along the trail we climbed up a large rock face to see some more gorgeous views. We followed the trail to and past the Hemlock Pond trailhead. We originally planned to take that trail, but past experiences with it told me otherwise. Last time I was out there we got terribly lost because the trail was poorly marked and very overgrown.
This stretch of the hike was gorgeous (have I overused that word yet?). It was easy hiking the whole time, minus when we climbed that rock face and both slipped one after another, but besides that it was a great, relaxing stretch. The Hemlock Pond trailhead also marked the beginning of the Crater Lake section of the hike. We followed the AT to Crater Lake, and we could even see Hemlock Pond through the trees thanks to the season. From the second to last row of photos there are very unclear views of Crater Lake through the trees. We only noticed it because of the time of day and how the sun was being reflected.
Part 3: Crater Lake to Skyline Drive
Quickly after the Hemlock Pond trailhead Crater Lake comes into the picture through the trees. There are many side trails that offer views of the lake. I think they could be old sites of houses? I'm really not sure. The trail is wide and maintained, while slowly descending to the lake. After the first few lookouts the trail splits: unmarked woods road to the left, and AT to the right. Both sides go to the same place a few hundred feet later, but the AT offers some great views.
Looking back at the AT while approaching Crater Lake and the first clear view of Crater Lake.
Some photos along the trail. The lake gets more and more clear as the trail progresses. The third photo is one of many small side trails to lookouts over the lake. Some are more obstructed than others.
Along the lines of "how did you get here?" All along this trail are old telephone poles and old pipes like this, which is what led us to the idea that there may have been homes here at one time.
Photos of Crater Lake.
Coming out of that last side trail, turn left to get back onto the AT, and right after is where the trail splits. To follow the AT, veer right.
Photos from the AT! This view wasn't marked on the map so it was a nice surprise for us.
Soon after the lookout the trail junctions with the woods road from before. The AT continues straight, and to the right the orange trail starts. We took the orange trail, which followed the woods road, passing old telephone poles and a swamp. The AT acts as a bypass for this trail, but it's a short trail and definitely worth the extra distance.
Turn right at the intersection to the orange trailhead.
Some photos of the swamp. It wasn't on the map so it was a nice surprise. The calm water made for excellent photos. The trail from the AT to here was wide, maintained, and slowly descending following I believe an old road due to the old telephone poles.
After the swamp the trail junctions with the AT. The AT can be followed from here to make the hike shorter but we wanted to get to the shoreline and Skyline Drive so we continued on the Crater Lake loop.
After the second AT junction the woods road stays the same, with some more side trails to outlooks. Some are a miss, but one of them is gorgeous. There are also remnants of an old patio which further helped out theory.
Old patio ruins. I'm so curious if people used to live out here!
Views from the old property.
From there the trail is very easy to follow. It continues to gradually descend, and soon comes out to a swamp to the left with a cool beaver dam. After taking a few photos there we kept going to the Crater Lake parking lot where we spent some time at the shoreline.
Photos of the swamp
There were many old telephone poles like this, and this was the one section of the trail that was flooded.
Photos of Crater Lake from the Crater Lake parking lot. There wasn't a single soul in sight, it was gorgeous!
Part 4: Skyline Drive to Indian Rocks
From the Crater Lake parking lot, we started the longest stretch of our hike. We passed a swamp right outside of the parking lot, and followed the gravel Skyline Drive until it's turn onto Blue Mountain Lakes Road. Along Skyline Drive there were a good amount of overlooks on the left, and a couple of woods roads to the right (in hindsight I would have rather hopped on one of them which joined with the AT, the road got a little boring and tedious after a mile).
At the bottom of the hill out of the parking lot is the same swamp we passed on the Crater Lake trail. From here the road climbed briefly before the overlooks started. I think the overlooks were also old houses? There were some foundation ruins and what appeared to be old driveways, or this is a crazy theory and I should just take a lap.
Skyline Drive is open to cars until January 1st through the melting of the snow. We passed about three cars while on the 2-mile stretch of road. On the left there were many overlooks that weren't marked on the map. The one that is marked is the one where there is a clear spot for cars to park.
Photos from the first overlook. We made jokes about how there's this gorgeous vista, with a trailer park as it's centerpiece.
Right at the end of Skyline Drive is where the AT meets back with the road, and this sign. I didn't know the park was open so late, so I think maybe It could be nice to do a sunset hike or something in the future!
The AT follows Blue Mountain Lake Road very briefly before turning left into the woods.
Now these are a mystery! These were around the bushes and trees near the AT. I originally thought they were by whoever was at Camp Ken-Etiwa-Pec, but after some interneting I learned that the Boy Scouts Camp closed down in the 70s... Regardless it was super exciting to see some holiday cheer along the road!
Blue Mountain Lake Road crosses over the Van Campens Brooks which offers some very nice views.
I really enjoyed this sign. I was here two summers ago in this trail network without a map and ended up getting lost, retracing my steps, bushwhacking up the mountain, almost falling in the lake, and just painfully getting lost. We ended up hiking 12 miles accidentally (we only planned for about 7) and it was a mess. Take this warning, please, don't be dumb like me.
After a quick bathroom break at the Blue Mountain Lake parking lot (they had bathrooms), we made it about 15 feet down the trail to the lake before we decided we didn't want to have to climb back up, plus it was getting cloudy and windy so we skipped the lake and climbed up to Indian Rocks via the woods roads. The main Blue Mountain Lake trail was very scarcely marked with small red arrows, but a map is vital for this section in my opinion.
The trails around Blue Mountain Lake are a series of woods road that generally aren't well maintained. The main trail that's outlined on the NYNJTC map is what we followed and it was definitely the most clear. There were generally the red arrows when the trail turned, but besides that we really just followed the map. There were a couple tires and small wire fences to make a wooded garden? I have no idea what the story behind that is but I'm very curious.
When the trail turned we could tell something happened, but without a map it would be hard to be confident.
Here is the turn for the Indian Rocks, where we stopped for lunch.
There's no trail to the overlook, just a lot of rocks and pine trees that we wiggled through until we wanted to sit. The view was gorgeous! We could see PA, the Delaware River, and even the High Point monument! We didn't stay for too long because at this point it was very cloudy and windy so we were frozen.
Indian Rocks! Gorgeous lunch spot.
Part 5: Indian Rocks to Hemlock Pond
It was another mile from Indian Rocks to Hemlock Pond, but it was a very easy mile. It was all along the woods road, and it was generally descending so there was very little climbing involved. We followed the trail to Hemlock Pond, and we took photos along the dam and then continued on the hike.
Quickly after joining back on the woods road there is a fork with another Blue Mountain Lake trail, stay to the left to continue to Hemlock Pond.
Hemlock Pond! This was the last stop on our hike. An original thought was to take the loop around Hemlock Pond, but it was so cold at this point and we were very tired so we kept going.
Part 6: Hemlock Pond to Buttermilk Falls
Shortly after the dam at Hemlock Pond the loop trail rejoins the woods road, and from there arrows point to turn right but we continued straight along the woods road to a really interesting swampy area where we had the first and only stream crossing (thank goodness).
This was interesting. There were a bunch of branches that were bagged off like this. Normally I wouldn't take too much interest since it was scientific, but I saw this was a UMass student (where I go to school) so I'm going to send him an email asking about it.
The signs once the main trails turns off of the woods road.
Some photos of the swamp we passed right before the creek crossing.
No one fell in this time!
After the swamp we followed the woods road back to the blue trail, which at this point we were very excited so see. We followed the blue trail back down to the falls, very slowly, and after a few more photos we were back to the car!
Last photos of the hike! It was by far the longest hike I've done, and my hip keeps reminding me of that. I'd definitely do this hike again, but just with a few modifications.
We drove off Mountain Road the same way we came, but due to the winter weather advisory that was issued while we were on the hike, Struble Road through Stokes State Forest was closed so we had to wiggle through the bowels of the water gap, which involved terrifying single-lane bridges, roads that time forgot, abandoned homes, the tailor park we saw from skyline drive (which we were ungodly excited about), the Walpack Inn, no cell service, and some great roads that clearly warmed us that the pavement was awful. After that excitement we were home in an hour!
Hike Summary:
Notes: (little things I found out after posting)
Hike Summary:
- Park at Buttermilk Falls
- Blue Buttermilk Falls trail (only trail marked "difficult" in the middle section of the park) to it's terminus at the AT
- Right onto AT
- Stay straight onto woods road after AT turns right
- Left onto woods road, follow until power lines
- Left at power lines, Mount Paradise on rocks on the right
- Retrace back to AT
- Left onto AT
- Follow AT to Crater Lake, stay right on AT at fork with unmarked woods road
- After lookout turn right onto Orange trail
- Follow orange trail, at junction with AT stay straight on the woods road
- Follow woods road to Crater Lake parking lot
- Get on Skyline Drive from parking lot, follow until road ends
- Right onto Blue Mountain Lake Road, follow until Blue Mountain Lake parking lot
- From Blue Mountain Lake trailhead, get on woods road
- Left following woods road (follow the path, it's clear)
- Immediate right on woods road
- Follow woods road to Hemlock Pond
- Get back on woods road to Blue Buttermilk Falls trail
- Blue trail back to the parking lot
Notes: (little things I found out after posting)
- There used to be two Blue Mountain Lakes, but the park drained the upper one in 1995
- The woods roads on the left of the Blue Mountain Lake Trailhead are from former residents
- "Earlier in the 20th century, Crater Lake was a popular summer-cottage colony. In the 1960s and 1970s the federal government bought the area and tore down the cottages. Old roads in the area were part of the Lake Success (Crater Lake) second-home subdivision. It was just being developed when the federal government acquired the land for a dam at Tocks Island. This dam project was stopped and the subdivision never really got off the ground." - http://nynjctbotany.org/njkttofc/craterlk.htm
- "This inner looping trail was once a former road system for a housing development. Today, those road have been turned into nearly six miles of paths that wind through ridge top forest and alongside Blue Mountain Lake." - nps.gov
- "Crater Lake is glacial lake left behind after the Wisconsin Glacier retreated from this area about twenty-two thousand years ago. This beautiful setting attracted developers and in the mid-1900s, this was a budding vacation community. Today, the Crater Lake Trail loops around the lake through the ridge-top forest." - nps.gov
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