Friday, September 5, 2014

Castle Point Trail Family Hike

Last Saturday we headed out to the Ramapo Mountain State Forest in Northern Jersey to check out the Castle Point Trail. I saw it on this list of top 10 family-friendly hikes in New Jersey and New York. It is described as a 3.2 mile loop that includes a walk along Ramapo Lake, a climb to an abandoned mansion, and a view of the Wanaque Reservoir and surrounding mountains. 

We got to the trailhead before noon and headed out. We followed the trail according to the description on this website. I suggest putting it in your phone or printing the trail description out as there are lots of turns and different colored markers to follow.

In the beginning we were in the trees for quite a bit.
Castle Point Trail hike
Castle Point Trail hike
Until we reached Ramapo Lake. The lake is huge!
Shack by Ramapo Lake
We hiked a long side it for a while until we found a nice spot to each lunch, right by the lake.
From our lunch spot, we saw a little shack of some sort by the water, so I checked it out. It's a cute little structure made all of rock. Nothing much inside but some wood debris from the roof falling apart and some garbage.
Shack by Ramapo Lake
We continued on, back into the forest.
Castle Point Trail
Then we started climbing up a bit. We got to a high point and could even see the NYC skyline.
NYC skyline from Castle Point Trail
The kiddos enjoyed climbing up this rock just before we reached the ruins of an old mansion.
Seeing the ruins of this old mansion was my favorite part. The mansion, known as Foxcroft or the Van Slyke Castle, was built around 1910.
Foxcroft mansion ruins
Foxcroft mansion ruins
Foxcroft mansion ruins
Foxcroft mansion ruins
The property even had a pool!
The mansion is pretty cool. This is what it looked like back in the day. If you want to read more about he mansion's history check it out here.
Foxcroft or Van Slyke Castle
We moved on and came across this tower. It is actually a cistern that supplied water to the mansion.
We continued on to one last high point with a view of the Wanaque Reservoir and the Wyanokie Mountains.
In all, it was a great hike! I enjoyed the variety of this hike. Hiking and seeing the lake, some cool high points with nice views, and coming across the mansion ruins and the tower made the hike real interesting! Definitely recommend it!


Ever seen any old ruins?

6 comments:

  1. It's so awesome that you and your family spend so much time enjoying the beautiful outdoors! Thanks for sharing all the photos. It's like we are right there with you! Enjoy your weekend!

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  2. I love the ruins - amazing! Your kids look adorable with their hiking boots on!

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  3. Yeah, the ruins were my favorite part of the hike! Thanks about the kiddos! :)

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  4. Thanks Diane! We love to get out whenever we can! :) Have a great weekend as well!

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  5. Looks like a nice hike! The ruins look cool!

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