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Highlight Hiker Blog

October 15, 2020

Newark-Pequannock Watershed, Echo Lake East - REALLY far east

Tell me: how much of your geology class do you remember?

Because you’re going to want some of it fresh in your memory when you’re hiking Echo Lake East. If you’ve been following along my journeys for some time, you’ll remember my Echo Lake East facebook post. Well, I have returned to cover another remote edge of map #116.

The Watershed is perhaps the best example of geological erosion and deposition in northern NJ. While you’re taking your time to pick over rocks that vary in size between a child’s shoe and the cab of a semi, it’s helpful to remember where they came from to keep from cursing at them. Well… if you’re anything like me, you’ll curse at them anyway…. but it’s still great to understand what happened here.

Now think back. Back. Back to the time when you were a student in class. I want you to imagine yourself at your desk, the smell of pencil shavings, and note passing. Yes. Those primeval times. Think back to your teacher telling you that ancient glacial water would melt and get into the cracks of rock, and then the water would freeze and the rock would crack and eventually separate. Do you remember? Yes. You’re right. It IS called glacial erosion.

But the rocks didn’t just tumble down the mountain, because, y’know… GLACIERS. As the the glaciers melted, they began to sink down from the high flatbeds, dragging these eroded rocks with them. Some would follow the glacier to the bottom of the valley (where the glaciers would eventually melt to create lakes, ponds, rivers, etc.), but some would get stuck and end up deposited, unwaveringly, in strange positions and places. That’s glacial till and glacial erratic, respectively.

I think the coolest thing are striations. These are grooves or scratches that the erratic left on flatbed rock while being dragged down into the valley by the glacier. You know why they’re so cool? Because they show you the direction in which the rock was pulled. It’s the lands language from millions of years ago.

Generally speaking, you’ll find that mountains/hills that have been affected by this ancient glacial practice of erosion have one “smooth” side (this side is where the water was freezing and breaking up the rock), and one “rocky” side (this is the side/direction that the glacier melted… in other words, the direction the rock was dragged). Echo Lake East and the eastern edge of the Highlands Trail are the best example of all of this within 3 miles of hiking.

The eastern edge of Echo Lake is a mess of rock. Even an experienced hiker will find it tough to keep up a regular pace. The terrain is so densely packed with deposited rock and it varies in size depending on what is above you. If you look up when you see the largest of the erratic, you won’t see much rock above you. But where the rocks are small and scattered across the trail so that you nearly lose sight of it…? You look up and see mammoth sheer rock walls above you. If I were a teacher I’d say, “What does that tell you? Anyone?” But I’m not. You’re welcome. But there will be a quiz after the photo journal, so pay close attention.

The interesting thing about this hike, though (and the trail blazers did a sensational job picking a route up the mountain for the Highlands) is that within maybe 250 vertical feet of climb and the terrain is smooth and even. Nary a rock to be found. It’s such a great example of nature at work and it’s right here in northern New Jersey! While it would be great to go to Yellowstone or the Rocky Mountains to get this geological lesson, you don’t need to! Just get yourself a $14.00 hiking permit and take the kids over to Echo Lake to get a “boots on” lesson in ancient glacial movement.

I have a real love/hate relationship with Echo Lake East. I love it for the impression it leaves me with - you can really feel the power of nature here. But I hate it because it takes for-ev-er to hike one mile along the eastern bank of the lake. And it isn’t just the rocks, its the roots that have grown between the rocks. This place easily has the greatest potential for hiker injury. What do I always say, though folks? The greater the challenge, the greater the reward. And autumn on the Highlands Trail is worth the challenge. I’ve never seen so much color in the trees, plus there is a stand of the tallest pine trees I’ve seen in all my hikes through NJ. I walked down a true carriage road and I slogged my way through marshland thick with fern growth. It’s a beautiful stretch of trail east of the lake and I highly, highly recommend it. I hiked a total of three miles in and three miles back through the Macopin region all with a huge grin on my face.

I didn’t expect much from this hike, to be honest. Looking at the map I was just kinda’ “meh” about it. But pleasant surprises abound throughout the Watershed. Due to the marshland, I do not recommend this hike in the spring. Wait until the summer has dried out the swamps a bit. To slog through the glacial till and then to slog through mud and muck would be frustrating work. But at the peak of fall colors…? VOILA! You have geological perfection at your fingertips.

NOTE: ALL HIKING WITHIN NEWARK-PEQUANNOCK WATERSHED REQUIRES A PERMIT. THE ANNUAL PERMIT COSTS $14.00 FOR NON-RESIDENTS AND IS CHEAPER THAN THE FINE YOU’LL GET IF CAUGHT HIKING WITHOUT PERMIT. YOU CAN PURCHASE YOUR PERMIT ONLINE OR AT THE WATERSHED OFFICE ON ECHO LAKE ROAD IN WEST MILFORD, NJ. FYI: THE WATERSHED IS REGULARLY PATROLLED BY RANGERS ON WEEKDAYS AND WEEKENDS AND IS FIERCELY PROTECTED BY REGULAR HIKERS WHO WILL REPORT CARS WITHOUT APPROPRIATELY DISPLAYED PERMITS.

**everything I know about glacial erosion and deposition I learned by reading Tristan Gooley’s book ‘Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs’. I have over-used the Newark Watershed website in my “explore it” button, so I opted this time to direct you to Mr. Gooley’s website instead.