polskikrol

Looks like you missed a couple of caches - wuss. He was running so fast he overshot them I was actually aware I passed them within 500 feet, however, it was starting to get dark and I have prior given multiple excuses to the park police about being late to the parking lot to leave before dusk. Didnt want to go through that again. Thus, next time I will just do another nice long loop from Skyline Drive to grab the Cannonball series caches and get the other 3 I need which I skipped.

Alright, I sobered up for Halloween Here is a nice 22.0 mile loop in Ramapo Valley County Reservation and Ringwood State Park. Any idea if there are any plans to renovate the leantos off the Cooper Union Trail and the Blue Trail (just west of Cannonball Lake)? Presume not, since one cannot camp in these parks

Norvin Green State Forest Here is a nice 11.2 mile hike done with wjgrun starting at Otter Hole Parking Area. Lots of awesome view points, woods roads to explore (we found 2 huge long iron pipes with nothing else nearby such as foundations, rubble, etc), nice summits to bushwhack, etc. Quite a few caches along this route and I hear there will be 6 new ones popping up soon

I know one of those actors, should ask for his autograph next time

Hiking is overrated, who needs trail maps?!? Thats what the car GPS is used for, getting from place to place.

Also check the Great NY/NJ loop hikes thread to see lots of good potential hikes with many caches along them.

How are paddling possibilities along this trail if someone wanted to kayak downriver? Suppose I should consult my water trail maps I secured from http://www.schuylkillriver.org/. However, if anyone has any comments on general water conditions, camping options / hostels near the river, etc that would be useful. I have been meaning to kayak a portion of the river and this may be a good combination.

Would anyone be interested in a kayak / canoe trip this Saturday, October 9th in the Great Piece Meadows area? This would be a section of the Passaic river from a parking location just north of the Essex Environmental Center to near 2 Bridges. Please see the following tracklog from a previous trip. Temperatures are supposed to be around 75 and its a nice stretch of river with logs of wildlife (deer, turtles, egrets, etc). Will be planning on hiding a few new caches along the route.

Congrats! Did you have any encounters or attempt to bag the county high peak?

what is the purpose of a robo-bot? Looks like there is a new one - 'AutoJoey'. My NH earthcache was hit. Now how long till Groundspeak introduces captchas for log entry submissions

That is a great hike with lots of great caches in the Hewitt State Forest. Must be one of my favorite places in NJ to hike.

Exactly, I sure as heck wasnt celebrating the scenery! A few cars nearly took us out and we had to elude a few security patrol vehicles Looking forward to GONE this weekend to get some trail miles in, havent had a good chance in a few weeks.

Well, summer has been quite hectic with highlights including bagging all 35 Catskills Peaks, completing the Pemi Loop in NH over 3 days of hammock backpacking (while peak bagging 12 out of NH's 48 4000fters), and hiking 100+ miles in the Colorado Plateau area (and placing 2700+ miles on the rental car). Only now am I getting back into some NJ loop hikes. As the days are shorter, have started working on 'urban caching loop hikes' during the weekdays where I pick a few caches, find a parking lot, and then loop my way on foot via some caches. This method saves on gas and wasting time with reparking while maximizing the amount of miles and thereby exercise. The 4th installment I think is post worthy and is a 10.1 mile loop around the Paramus area with 24 caches along the way. Let me tell you, kicking back a beer afterward was glorious

Let me know what you are looking for and I can suggest quite a nice loop hike

To sweeten the deal for those from Long Island, would there be any interest in a CITO and Picnic in the Palisades on October 9th ?

Funny, it doesn't seem to stop us LI'ers from getting to NJ. It's all about timing (and XM traffic on channel 211) Thats because in NJ we have mountains and not just hills

Any plans for a feature, such as via a special link, to allow non-geocachers to 'preview' a cache listing? For instance, this would be useful for land managers which actually go check on a cache and place a sticker on the container (some parks do this), parks reviewing earthcaches for content and accuracy, or even geocaching groups reviewing an event cache posting or CITO. This way modifications can be made to a cache posting prior to go-live. (Simply creating a PDF and emailing it out is not necessarily the best approach.)

Thanks for the heads up! Stopped by Amazing Savings in Clifton and for 45$ got 8 log books, 10 small rectangular locknlocks, 10 medium locknlocks, and 1 super big locknlock for the home brew supplies. Should be set for a while now.

Pelham Bay Park is really a hidden gem with lots of nice trails and caches. Have been there several times.

Keep cleaning out the Ramapo/Ringwood area of all caches but some crazed cacher keeps placing more to annoy me I think. Have hiked and bushwhacked many miles in the park and have never seen wild dogs or bears. Have only seen deer (and rarely may I add) and garter/black snakes. Dont remember even seeing wild turkeys. Maybe on my next loop hike to reclean the park.

Would there be any interest in a CITO at Island Beach State Park? Catch is it would be via watercraft (canoe or kayak) hence a Terrain 5 CITO. Currently working with park officials to setup a date for July 10 (Sat) or July 11 (Sun). Last year we had an impromptu CITO following Island Beach State Park Paddle Event (GC1R5PD). Collected quite a bit of garbage. This year it would be an official CITO done in conjunction with the park. Kayak rentals are available just outside of the park and you could bring your own as long as it is without a trailer. Yankeepride found out the hard way

For one way treks on the Schuber, it's best to start on Skyline and end at 202. The other way is all uphill. No exercise in just going all down hill Too bad it cant be all uphill round trip!

I may be interested if we do maybe 3 or 4 of those in one day

BrianSnat ended up helping me out on this one - many thanks! Ended up completing the Devils Path and cumulatively hiking 44+ miles with nearly 15,000 feet elevation gain. In total, bagged 9 of the Catskill 3500 peaks including Rusk. Now still have 10 more to go to do all 35 If anyone is interested in doing the Devils Path in the winter with some snow shoeing / trekking, let me know.

I would recommend Panther Mountain which is probably around 5mi round trip with lots of good views of Devils Path. http://www.catskill-3500-club.org/catskill...er-mountain.htm It is also in the middle of what may have been a meteorite impact crater site. Just check out wikipedia for more info. There is also an Earthcache regarding this. I highly recommend Indian Head. There is a nice loop hike over it using the Jimmy Dolan Notch trail and the Devils Path with a couple of outstanding views. . It is on the rugged side but if I can do it, anybody can.. A bit easier is Kaaterskill High Peak. Fantastic view from an unmarked trail on the south face. The Aircrash 1 and Aircrash 3 virts are along the way. Blackhead is another good one. A not too long loop hike takes you over it and back to parking. OK, having done Kaaterskill High Peak this weekend, must say this will give you the most bang for the buck. If you can handle 10.4 miles and 2680 feet elevation gain then the following can be done: - Kaaterskill High Peak (awesome view to the south) - Huckleberry Point (awesome view of the Devil's Path mountain range) - 2 Air crash sites - 6 Geocaches Take a look at the following tracklog: The following is the recommended route: - Park at the official lot off Platt Clove Road. Sign is small and wooden, missed it on the first pass down the road. - Take the snow mobile trail up and cut towards the 1st aircrash site when you see a cairn on the left hand side of the trail. This should only be a 600 feet bushwhack or so. - Follow the circular snow mobile trail by the 1st aircrash site clockwise and cut right to the top of High Peak when you see a really huge cairn. This is the old blue-marked Twilight Park Trail and quite easy to follow to the summit. - Arrive at Hurricane Ledge just before the final summit push. Great spot for a snack or just taking in some water. - At the summit there are two trails looking north. Take the one to the right first to visit the 2nd air crash site. - Take the trail to the left and head down the northern side of the mountain to eventually meet the snow mobile trail again. Follow the trail clockwise until you get back to the 1st air crash site and bushwhack back to the trail you started the day on. - On your way down, take the Yellow Disk trail on your left towards Huckleberry Point. The elevation gain to the point is really negligible at this point. I hear there is a good camping spot near the stream your cross between hills. - Just retrace your steps backward on the Yellow Disk trail to return back to the snow mobile trail and parking. I will definitely be doing this hike again with ThirstyMick as well as the Hunter Loop via Diamond Notch Falls and visiting the various lean-tos and South West Hunter (nice bonus as it has a good unmarked trail to the summit with a trail register). That area was the highlight of my Devils Path traverse.