First Ramapo Mountain State Forest Run

It has been a tough week for me.  The rocks at the DWG Fatt Ass kicked my butt.  My foot has been sore, but it did feel a bit better today.  After a few days off, I decided that it was finally time to test it out on a run.

As usual, I wanted to go somewhere new to explore.  Ever since I drove back from Massachusetts, I've been wanting to go to Ramapo Mountain State Forest in Northern New Jersey.  It's only a little over an hour to get there and it's right off of the highway.  I had no real plan for how long to go.

I must've looked kind of funny at the start.  It snowed last night and still was chilly today.  However, it wasn't that bad.  I had on a mix of clothes.  I wore gloves and a long sleeve shirt.  I also had on shorts and a visor too.  I was very happy to see a sign for no hunting.  That meant that I didn't need a an orange vest.

I was impressed with how crowded the parking lot was.  Plenty of people were hiking on this Friday afternoon.  I bet this place is very crowded on the weekend.  My problems started early.  It was super rocky and technical.  My left foot started killing me whenever it landed on a rock.  I yelled in pain.

About a half mile in, I almost stopped.  However, I drove too far to quit.  I battled on.  I figured that if I had to, I'd hike for a bit.  There are ruins of a castle on top of the mountain there.  I didn't know how far out it was, but that was where I was hoping to go.

I guess I adjusted my footfalls better or the trail was smoother.  Either way, things got better.  Within the first mile, I came to a lake.  I ran around it.  It was very pretty.  I knew that the trail to the castle was off of the lake.  The lake path was stone and nice and smooth.

After going around the lake, I came to the trail up to the castle.  This was again super technical.  I had to do more hiking through this climb.  It was fun though.  My foot hurt every now and then, but it wasn't too bad.  I was thrilled to be able to manage it.

Finally, I came to the castle.  It was neat, although falling apart and nature is starting to take it over.  I stopped for a few photos.  Then, the trail was nice and smooth along the ridge for a bit.  This part was cool because there was some snow.

The trail then went to another structure.  It was rocky to there too.  In addition to the structures, there were some awesome views of the surrounding mountains.  One of the views to the east even had the Manhattan skyline off in the distance.

I was happy to be over 2 miles into the run now.  I lost the white trail for a bit, but then I found it.  It also ended at a stone road.  That went downhill, so I took it to add elevation when I came back up.  That was a good choice.  I went to the bottom and then came back up.

A mountain biker went out the other way from the top.  I decided to follow him.  This was a fun singletrack woods section.  It was rolling hills downward.  It wasn't too technical, but I had to be careful to avoid all the rocks.  Every now and then, I'd get to one.

I then turned on to the blue blazed trail and it was more of the same.  I went down and down.  Eventually I came to an intersection.  I followed the orange trail a bit.  I turned around at 3.6 miles.  I had gone far enough at that point.

Coming back meant a lot more climbing.  I ran most of it, but at times, I had to walk.  I had to make sure not to hit my foot on more rocks.  I ran past a guy that I said hello to earlier.  He didn't acknowledge me that time, so I said nothing this time.

I had trouble finding my way back.  The blue trail went way down a hill.  I knew I come from that way.  Eventually, I found the trail back.  It was unmarked, so that is why I missed it.  Someone had come up the trail behind me on a quad, before I turned.  I was glad he didn't keep following me.

Again, my running was a mix of that and hiking uphill.  There was some elevation throughout this run, but nothing too crazy.  If I wasn't beat up, it would've pretty much been all runnable.  I got back to the castle area in no time.

After that, it was almost all downhill back.  I stopped along the lake for a few photos.  It was a little rocky, so I was careful.  I ran past a woman and her dog.  This part as much more technical.

I wanted to get to 7 miles to finish, but I decided not to worry about it.  I wasn't going to run on the busy road.  I finished up in the parking lot with 6.9 miles.

This was a great place to run and well worth the trip.  There are miles and miles of trails there too.  I only just scratched the surface.  I will surely be back there.  It will be much better when I'm actually healthy.

I am glad that I can run okay on smooth trails.  I guess I'll just have to stick to easy trails for the time being.  It will be a lot of runs at Jacobsburg and maybe some at Trexler too.  Tomorrow, I'll probably take off.  I may try to run again on Sunday morning.

6.9 miles - 1:33:34 (13:34 pace)