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Cupsaw Mountain Loop Hike at Shepherd Lake»

Right before everything shut down due to the Coronavirus health crisis in Spring of 2020, we joined Take A Hike NJ for a hike in the Shepherd Lake section of Ringwood State Park. The hike is rated easy to moderate by the NY-NJ Trail Conference, so we brought the dogs along.

We encountered a strange rusted out contraption in the woods shortly after setting out on the trail which made us miss out first turn. After backtracking a little, we followed the trail to Cupsaw Brook. Eventually the trail began to climb to a ridge with a ramshackle shelter on top of Cupsaw Mountain.

We rested at the shelter for a while and took some group photos before heading back down the mountain to the lake. We had hiked a little over 3 miles in pleasant weather with several canine members joining us for the trek. Little did we know this would be the last group activity we’d enjoy for a while as ‘Stay Home’ orders went into effect the following weekend.

Ringwood State Park Posts:

• Merry Christmas from Ringwood Manor
• Ringwood Manor National Historic Landmark District
• Skylands
• Jungle Habitat
• Long Pond Ironworks
• Victorian Christmas at Ringwood Manor
• Shepherd Lake (Coming Soon)
• Cupsaw Mountain Loop
• Sklyands Manor (Coming Soon)

Location: Morris Road, Ringwood, N.J. 07456

Designation: State Park

Date established/designated: 1966

Date of my visit: March 15, 2020