"On a cold, clear morning…which soon became an overcast morning with some snow flurries, Petey and I drove over to a designated parking area #8 to hike up to the Bearfort fire tower on Bearfort overlook. There was only one other vehicle in the lot. The paved portion of Stephens Road ends at the lot. There, a large electric sliding gate is found where Stephens becomes a wide, compressed gravel woods road. We continued up Stephens a few thousand feet until we came to another wide gate on our left. That is where the trailhead for the yellow trail was found. The yellow trail was a slightly narrower woods road that leads up to the Bearfort fire tower. Worn tire grooves and the frozen ground made for decent footing. The incline, while not difficult to climb, did get my heart pumping and I had to pause a few times to catch my breath. We ran into a woods crew using leaf blowers to blow the leaves off the yellow trail. They do that to ensure that vehicles going up and down from the tower don’t ignite the leaves and cause a fire. In a half hour we were at the summit where ..." — michaelzandonella • Dec 3, 2024

"On an absolutely gorgeous, clear, crisp afternoon, I parked with Petey at the Paterson/Hamburg Turnpike Rest Area just past the intersection of Route 23 north and Echo Lake Road. We then took a route; totally unmarked by the way, starting with a concrete drainage culvert. We then went slowly through leaves and low scrub brush; luckily it was winter, so no weeds or thorns to contend with, until we finally came across a worn path. Seems we didn’t follow that culvert long enough to the start of the path. That path becomes more pronounced as you work your way up from the parking lot. Once on the path, it was clear sailing to the summit. I took pictures and videos of the flagpole and star up top, as well as the reservoir and valley below. We then walked along the ridge a bit before descending on the path for its entire length back to the parking lot. Walk up was far less grueling than I thought it would be. It’s a gorgeous view from up on top. " — michaelzandonella • Feb 6, 2024

"Gorgeous day on Thanksgiving weekend, 2020. Parking area was crowded but the trails were not. https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/west-milford-bakers-dozen-1-13-wyanokie-oslo-e0b60d9?p=-1" — southorange-hpfans • Nov 27, 2020

"Little bit of everything with my everything today. Took the Highlands Trail in Long Pond Ironworks SP over Big Beech Mountain and into NY, then followed fading woods roads into Sterling Forest SP and up Hasenclever Hill. Bushwhacked into Tranquility Ridge County Park, up and down Hope Mountain, then followed herd paths and woods roads to Tranquility Mountain summit area, before catching the pipeline cut back to the car. Social Distancing to the max. Not today Coronavirus. Not today." — wacbravo • Mar 21, 2020

"Definitely a choose your own adventure type of day. Hubby and I bushwhacked and explored the backwoods of Long Pond Ironworks State Park, Sterling Forest State Park, and Tranquility Ridge County Park. 3 parks, 4 peaks, not too shabby :)" — pandyabear • Mar 21, 2020