Where am I going?
Highlight Hiker Blog
May 21, 2021
Apshawa Preserve
Apshawa is neither on NY/NJ Trail Conference maps #115 nor #116, but it was time to branch out (forest pun intended). I’d seen pictures on Instagram from other photographers of Apshawa and I decided, since I was getting closer and closer each week to completing my maps, that it was time to figure out what to do when I’ve reached my goal. Where will I go next? I’d already investigated some of the Jersey Highlands and really enjoyed the hiking there. This was just another opportunity to research my options.
The park is very friendly. Meaning: the people who visit there are very kind and helpful. I met more people than I expected to and my favorite person was a mountain biker who was also exploring the park for the first time and having a grand time of it.
The walk around Butler Reservoir is so enjoyable. It’s like a loving sigh, or a gentle cool breeze. I could have photographed the lily pads all week long. And it was particularly nice because I was all alone while wandering.
I didn’t hike the entire green trail. I left that for another day. I kinda’ spent all my time stopping to take pictures (as you’ll see) and I ran out of time before I could finish exploring. But there is a waterfall and ruins along the more popular green trail which are the highlights of Apshawa for many folks.
I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: I clean the trails up while I hike them. Many of my hiking partners are more discerning in what garbage they’ll pick up, but I’ll pick up just about anything if I have a plastic bag on hand (which I do because I have dogs and keep poo poo bags in my pack at all times). But this trail had the most interesting piece of garbage I have ever packed out: a charcoal grill grate! YES! Not the grill. Not that charcoal. Just the grate. I found it utterly amusing. I felt like a superhero, cleaning up the forest of this grubby, slightly greasy, perhaps a little rusty grate that looked to me like a shield when I’d strapped it to my pack. But I carried myself less like a superhero and more like a cartoon character when I tried to pass between two trees on the trail and got pulled back by the grate, which was too wide to fit through. I laughed and laughed and laughed at myself. It was the zenith of my time at Apshawa and I still chuckle when I see the pictures of my grill grate. I….uhh… I guess you had to be there.
Anyway - there are like, nearly 80 pictures in this gallery which show the terrain and temperament of this park.
PS. The YELLOW blaze trail was closed during my visit. I do not have an update as to whether or not is has since reopened. Hum. Perhaps that warrants a return trip…????
Apshawa Preserve
The welcome kiosk was very informative
See? Yellow Tail Closed.
The parking lot will fit 20+ cars. Luckily I was there on a day where there were only a handful.
BIG parking lot. And exposed.
The wonderful welcome kiosk and trailhead
There are several gates throughout the park. That made it immediately interesting.
I uh.... I didn't see any bears. Or even bear scat. No sign of bears. Except this one, of course. nyuk nyuk nyuk,
There are nice little interpretive signs along the first portion of the park.
I started (as everyone does from the parking lot) on the 1-mile blue trail with it's little ups and downs, it's a fun trail to walk.
Another interpretive sign.
The trail elevation here at Apshawa never gets over 900'. But it get over MUD-hundred feet! Holy cow. This was dry season and there was mud everywhere! Thank goodness for the boardwalks.
Yes. Invasive plants were prevalent in this park.
So was the mud.
Despite the invasive species, the park is really very pretty
The trail markers could use a little freshening up but that's small potatoes stuff.
More mud. More more more.
Yes. That's how I felt hiking through Apshawa, too!
This is what I mean by a lot of little ups and downs
It's all very interesting terrain. It really is everything NJ Highlands in a compact space.
After one mile, I had come to the end of the (blue) line....
Aaaaand decided to pick up on a bit of the green one!...
But only for a tiny wee bit as I was looking for the Red blaze, which takes you around Butler Reservoir.
Green meets red at the gate
I decided to head to the eastern side of the Reservoir first.
It's lush and green under the tree canopy
NJCF Signage
The starting point for Apshawa Brook
Mud. Boardwalk.
Pink Ladies Slipper: this was a new plant sighting for me! Thrilling, I know. Take it all in, people.
Butler Reservoir
Pink Azalea
Butler Reservoir
The trail was slender and became even more slender in this section with some overgrowth. You know what that means, right? The potential for ticks. Luckily, I didn't find any hitchhikers on me!
Aw. I forgot the name of this place. It isn't part of the reservoir proper. It's something cool like, Wonder Lake, or something. It has a trail. The yellow trail. Which was closed. If you recall from the kiosk.
I sure did wonder what was around that lake! Too bad it was closed!
The lake is dammed. It leaks poorly into Butler Reservoir but very poorly.
It is a wonder, though, how it can be so pretty and remote!
Mean made? Or beaver made? I'm still not sure. Dam it.
It was cool and breezy here, which was a nice change from the humid heat of the rest of the park. I wanted to linger.
So I lingered...
...and lingered
... and looked longingly back in wonder.
=sigh=
This little bit of forest was like turning a page in a good book - going from Wonder Lake back to Butler Reservoir where the views were just as pretty and peaceful.
Imagine that. Mud. And a footbridge to keep you out of it.
Ok, so maybe there is a REASON for all the mud....
A babbling brook
As it babbles into the Reservoir.
More red NJCF signage. This time in red. Ooooh. Red.
Beaver lodge on Butler Reservoir
Butler Reservoir
Butler Reservoir
Butler Reservoir
MY SUPERHERO SHEILD!!
Butler Reservoir
Some fun scrambling
OOOOH! GEOLOGY!!!
Butler Reservoir through the trees
OH! WHAT SO WE HAVE HERE???
So much color
So much texture
So much lily pad!!!
Everywhere you look
I popped a squat here and had a little snacky treat
Spotted geranium
Mud
Butler Reservoir
Meanwhile, back on the green blaze...
A short walk along the green to the orange blaze, but only for about 2/10ths of a mile.
I decided on my way back to try the purple trail. There aren't many purple trails in Northern NJ and since I am quite fond of purple, how could I resist?
It was an odd little trail
It went by this rather stagnant little pond
And then spit me past the park boundary onto High Crest Drive. I decided to road walk back to the parking lot
Which probably was a bad decision considering hot hot and humid it was and how little water I had left....
BUT I MADE IT ANYWAY. Yay! And with that, I drove home!