Thanksgiving morning we hiked the Delaware Water Gap starting at Blue Mountain Lake on the New Jersey side. We brought along the Jetboil to make a Mountain House breakfast of scrambled eggs with sausage and peppers. When we arrived at Hemlock Pond, we made ourselves comfortable on the rocks and prepared coffee and breakfast. It was chilly in the shade, but the sun felt good. As we sat and gazed out upon the lake, a group of fellow hikers arrived. They had the same idea and made themselves at home on the rocks to enjoy a Thanksgiving morning breakfast in the outdoors. We chatted briefly then packed our things and headed back onto the trail. Our next stop was Crater Lake. We stopped here to look out along the lake. We met another couple hiking with their dog. They were from Germany and now living in New Jersey. I always love meeting people on the trails who share a similar passion. From Crater lake, we made our way back. Along the way we noted the beaver dam at Lake Success. We could see they’d been very busy sharpening their teeth on the trees since the last time we were here. The next stop was Indian Rocks. We took off our packs and laid out on the flat rocks warm ourselves in the sun, then headed up a little farther to the cliffside viewpoint. We listened to the familiar sound of the wind blowing through the pines on top of the mountain. It was a perfect way to spend our Thanksgiving.
We started our day with an early morning hike on the New Jersey side of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. We parked at the trailhead for Blue Mountain Lake and planned to hike to Hemlock Pond and then on to Crater Lake, a natural glacial lake left behind from the Wisconsin Glacier approximately 22,000 years ago. It was a beautiful spring morning. The sun was shining and the birds were singing as we headed onto a wide, grassy path which was once a former road for a housing development. The easy trail took us along the northern side of Blue Mountain Lake offering lovely views along the way. At about 2.5 miles, the mostly hardwood forest became a green canopy of tall hemlocks. Soon we reached the shores of Hemlock Pond. The landscape here was incredibly picturesque. We spotted a milk snake sunning itself on the rocks and also noticed a den full of black snakes which if I had to guess were either water or rat snakes. After taking in the scenic landscape and the wildlife, we continued around Hemlock Pond until reaching the connector trail to Crater Lake. The trail made an ascent on a rocky, single track before reaching the Appalachian Trail where we found a vista point with some views. From here we began to circle around Crater Lake then followed a short spur trail down to the shores for a closer look. We then continued on the main path and found Lake Success on the southeast side. The banks of Lake Success were filled with fragrant Lily of the Valley. I know these are not native, but the aroma is amazing and they are also one of my favorite flowers. In the middle of the lake I spotted a beaver dam. As we continued the loop, we crossed the trailhead and parking area for Crater Lake. There were some inviting picnic tables here, so we decided to sit for a bit, have a snack and enjoy the peaceful setting before moving on. When we were ready, we got back on the trail and headed back towards Blue Mountain Lake. This time we hiked along the inner loop trail which took us directly to its peaceful southern shores. I couldn't believe there wasn’t any one here except for one lone fisherman who we had seen at the trailhead very early in the morning. It was such an amazing day. We ended up hiking a little over nine miles which always seems to go by so fast when there’s so much beautiful scenery.
