Turkey Mountain
Distance: 3.01 miles
Duration: 1:01:05
Elevation Min: 630ft
Elevation Max: 892ft
Elevation Gain: 344ft
Maps: There were a plethora of maps at the kiosk outside the visitor's center, but that was a rare siting. This hike is in the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference Trail #125, but the map on http://www.morrisparks.net/aspparks/pyrmtntr.asp is fantastic and what I used.
Parking: Parking lot at 40°56'48.15"N, 74°23'17.78"W and there's also parking on the other side of the road along the road. The lots fill up on weekends in the summer.
There are some great trails at Pyramid Mountain. It had been raining all day and finally cleared up, so I went out to do a solo hike of a hike I've done a fair amount of times before while taking some new trails. I parked across the street from the main parking lot/visitor's center since the hike I was doing (Turkey Mountain) is on the other side of Boonton Ave. (County Road 511).
The hike starts on the yellow trail, which is wide and graveled, paralleling some complex for about a half mile. From there the trail continues, but I turned left onto the blue trail onto the boardwalks and started the short ascent. After walking through a fallen tree (Sandy damage) the blue trail continues, and the green trail begins on the right. A quicker hike to the Valhalla Overlook would involve taking that trail, but I was planning on getting there last so I continued on the blue trail.
The boardwalk right at the beginning of the blue trail.
Right after this tree is where the green trail begins. This is also where the loop I took ends.
From there the trail became severely less pleasant as it went right into an overgrown power cut. I am personally not fond of overgrown trails solely for the reason I have a strong phobia of ticks (thanks to an infected deer tick that gave me Lyme Disease in the first grade) and I hate feeling the grass on my ankles, partially for the same reason. It was about a 5/10 on my personal "I'm not having fun on this overgrown trail" index. The trail was still very visible, it was just a challenge to go through the prickers which were abundant.
I think part of the reason it was so overgrown was becuase of an ongoing construction on the PSE&G power lines that occupy that power cut. Many trails have been closed around the power cut in the past few years (since Sandy) so I think these have been lost.
After dodging through the prickers on the blue trail, it came to a T intersection where the blue trail continued left (which was closed at the time of this hike) and left to where the red trail began. The red trail was still pretty overgrown, but it was like a 3.5/10 on my "not having fun" index. On the map (NYNJTC and Morris County Parks) it shows an overlook right after the trail head for the yellow trail, but I couldn't find the view, which made me think it may only be a seasonal view.
The power cut that the blue trail crosses, and where the red trail begins.
The red trail was very clearly marked!
A sign from a couple years ago when they first started construction. There used to be a a trail that went with the power cut years ago.
A lot of acrobatics and hopping through prickers on the red trail.
According to both maps, there should be a view here. I'll come back in the winter and see if anything changes.
After this "view," the red trail descends the mountain back to the power cut. This part was even more overgrown, and was a solid 8/10 on my "this could be a scene in a horror movie" index. The overgrowth was like a bell curve, with the worst of it in the middle. Once I got to the middle of it the bugs started to get noisy so I did the classic move of "just start running and hope I don't trip." It was successful this time! Once I cleared the power cut the trail was heavenly. I made a right onto the green trail which climbed to a viewpoint on the power cut, some ruins, and later the Lake Valhalla overlook which is absolutely gorgeous.
Woodpeckers had a blast with this poor tree!
The beginning of the power cut.
And at this point the trail virtually disappeared.
The green trail in all of it's beautiful, maintained glory.
The stone ruins. If you go around them, there's a brief side trail to a view of NYC from the power cut. I didn't go this time since I had already been and I'd been exhausted from all the overgrown trails. There was also a family at the view point so I wanted to let them have their privacy.
First views of Lake Valhalla!
And voila! Lake Valhalla!
Hike Summary:
- Yellow trail from parking lot
- Left onto blue trail (to terminus in power cut)
- Left onto red trail (shown as straight on map, very clear in person)
- Follow red trail through power cut, merges with green trail and turn right onto green after power cut (to terminus after Valhalla Overlook)
- Left onto blue trail, right onto yellow trail back to parking lot
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