Hiking Watchung Reservation

April 26, 2019 By Hollie in hiking Tags: hikes, hiking, history, nature, new jersey 2 Comments

Recently I was in Watchung Reservation. The weather wasn’t ideal for hiking, but I was in the area and have wanted to go. Because patience is not a virtue I have, I decided to hike anyway (instead of driving back up the following day).

There are plenty of trails in Watchung Reservation. The most famous is the History Trail. It’s about 6-miles and visits sights of historical significance. The Watchung Reservation, itself is about 2,000 acres.

On the site, there are several posts, benches, and historical markers. It starts and stops at the Trailside Nature Center. It’s not a strenuous hike and was rather enjoyable when we went. Parts were flooded out to rain but no big deal.

It starts on a smooth dirt trail.

There were a ton of trees down, as you can see!

When we went to cross the reservoir, it was completely flooded out. I had to hop across branches, and stones, which to be honest not falling was one of my biggest accomplishments of the day.

On the other side, there were plenty of historic sites and small huts and houses that were almost completely gone.

In all, it’s a beautiful and peaceful hike. It’s perfect if you just want to relax with something not too rigorous.

You can see all hikes here.

Questions for you:

Do you like hiking in the rain?

Are there any historic hikes near you?

Hiking Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve (California)

February 26, 2019 By Hollie in hiking Tags: california, fitness, health, hike, hiking, nature 2 Comments

Now if that isn’t a mouthful, I don’t know what is.

The final hike while in California was the Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve. After exploring the Marin Headlands the day before, we wanted a change of scenery and decided to go south. The Purisima Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve is located on the western slopes of the Santa Cruz Mountains. Parts of the trail overlook Half Moon Bay.

I was excited to get a glimpse of the Redwood trees as I had never seen any in person. Now, coast redwoods are only found along the coast from Oregon to Monterey. The coast redwoods are the tallest trees in the world and can grow up to 360 feet tall. The oldest known age of a redwood is 2,200 years, but the average is 500 to 1,000 year old.

We decided to do the Purisima Creek Trail. It was once an old logging road. It can get steep, and some of the grade was about 15%. The views are worth it, and it was one of my favorite hikes of the trip. We ended up hiking about 6 miles or so.

At first, I thought this was a banana pepper LOL.

The Redwood Trees, themselves, did not disappoint. They were huge!

So many gorgeous views.

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Behind me…that is nature

A post shared by Hollie (@fueledbylolz) on Jan 23, 2019 at 3:53pm PST

Hiking through California was a lot of fun. Even though it was the shortest, my favorite was the Anderson County Park, but I enjoyed each of them. Each was different and unique.

Anderson Park was a surprising and beautiful dam. I’ve never hiked a Volcano until Calavera Hills. Marin Headlands had beautiful views on the entire route. The Los Robles Trail was fun to get out of traffic for a while and of course, seeing my first Redwoods at the Purisma Trail was wonderful too. I hope to be back to California again and check out some more different hikes.

You Can See All Hikes Here.

California Hikes from the Trip:
Hiking Marin Headlands (San Francisco)
Hiking Calavera Hills Community Park
Mini Trip to Los Angeles
Hiking Anderson Lake County Park
Los Robles Trail

Questions for you:
Have you ever seen Redwoods?
What is a fun spot to hike near you?

Hiking Los Robles Trail and Open Space

February 15, 2019 By Hollie in hiking Tags: california, fitness, hike, hiking, history, nature, sports 1 Comment

It feels like this was forever ago. While in California, we hiked five different locations between 2-9 miles. Nothing was overly strenuous but each was fun and challenging in its own way.

Los Robles Trail and Open Space is located at the southern portion of the Conejo Open Space. It’s located near the highway, and you would never guess there are over 200 acres in the park.

We were traveling north from Carlsbad to San Francisco and wanted to get out and stretch your legs. When I googled short hikes, I found the Los Robles Trail and Open Space. One commenter wrote: “perfect for when you’re stuck in traffic and want to get out of the car for a short walk.”

What I didn’t realize until later was the trail’s historical significance! On Feb. 28, 1776, Juan Bautiste de Anza and nearly 200 settlers came through the Conejo Valley on a similar trail while traveling from Mexico to San Francisco.

While we were out, we saw several other hikers as well as plenty of mountain bikers too.

The Open Space

Lots of mountain bike trails too

A very old tree

Views

The end of the trail to a neighborhood

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Trying to catch a sunset and eating hair. Typical.

A post shared by Hollie (@fueledbylolz) on Jan 20, 2019 at 6:07pm PST

You Can See More Hikes here.

California Hikes:

Hiking Marin Headlands (San Francisco)

Hiking Calavera Hills Community Park

Mini Trip to Los Angeles

Questions for you:

Are you good at road trips? Can you drive for a long period of time without stopping? (not me LOL)

Where is your favorite spot to hike?

Walking the Manasquan Reservoir

January 22, 2019 By Hollie in hiking Tags: fitness, health, hike, hiking, nature, new jersey 4 Comments

Recently I was at the Manasquan Reservoir. Even with the number of times I tried to spell it writing the post, I’ve struggled!

Anyway, the perimeter loop is 5 miles and it’s an, scenic, flat loop. You can run or walk, whatever you’re feeling like. It took me about 2 hours to walk, but I was taking my time and seeing what I saw. It would be a fairly nice loop to run or even do a workout on. Why didn’t I run? I was catching up with a couple of people and it was a cross training day. I would come back and run.

It’s definitely an easy hike or walk but there is always a view along the way. Plus, I saw people riding horses which I haven’t seen in a while. I parked near the boat ramp and just walked around that way.

The Manasquan Reservoir Park has about 1,200 acres which include the reservoir itself plus the surrounding forests and wetlands. While it was cold when we were out, you can definitely boat or fish at the reservoir too.

It’s well marked with plenty of signs. It’s next to impossible to get lost (believe me, if there is a way to get lost, I will)

A few bridges in the beginning

The water wasn’t frozen over but the tree branches had their fair share of icicles.

Much of the path is easy, crushed, gravel

A pack of deer literally right next to me. They were tame and didn’t care…

The final section goes by the road. It’s not more than 1/2 mile though.

In all, it was a beautiful but cold adventure. I like the Manasquan reservoir and I definitely want to come back and run.

You Can See All NJ Hikes Here.

2019 Winter Hikes I’ve Done:

Hiking to the Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson

Questions for you:

What is your favorite season to hike?

Have you ever come close to a deer?

Hiking to the Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson

January 9, 2019 By Hollie in hiking Tags: fitness, hike, hiking, nature, new jersey 4 Comments

I haven’t had a lot of time to hike lately and I’ve missed it. Truthfully between running and hiking, there are times I just appreciate hiking. Not trail running but just hiking and tooling around in on trails for a few hours. I’ve wanted to get to the Headley Overlook for a while.

Headley Overlook is located in Mahlon Dickerson Park in northwest NJ. The park itself has about 10 miles of hiking or running depending on your mood. I went the day after a few days of rain, so the park was wetter than normal but still moderately easy to get through.

The Headley Overlook looks over Lake Hopatcong and then follows a pass by the highest point in Morris County (1395′).

Then you return down an old flat rail bed. You can hike anywhere between 1-10 miles because of all of the trail systems. We set out to stay around 3 hours. It ended up being somewhere between 5-7 miles.

We parked at the beautiful and peaceful Saffin Pond. We started on the teal diamond which was rocky and a little wet due to rain.

Nothing too strenuous and I used my Under Armour Gore Trail shoes with no issues. Slowly I started climbing over the course of a mile and arrived to the Headley Overlook around 2.5 miles. The view is wonderful and you can see Lake Hopatcong in the distance.

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I’ve wanted to climb to the Headley Overlook for months. As fun as running is, nothing beats conquering another mountain.

A post shared by Hollie (@fueledbylolz) on Jan 7, 2019 at 5:37am PST

Around 4 miles, I reached the highest point in Morris County. It’s not the highest spot in NJ, but up there.

From there, we hiked back to the car which was another hour or so. We explored the old rail beds. It was the lowest, and the wettest area from all of the rain.

In all, it was a peaceful hike. The entire park has about 10 miles of trails which are doable for most, especially the rail bed (which is almost completely flat).