Most popular tags
 |
||
|
Waterfalls in New Jersey
A few good rainstorms during the spring months help to turn trickling waterfalls into thunderous ones. And New Jersey has more than 20 waterfalls for you to discover.
The largest, and perhaps the most well known, is the Great Falls of the Passaic in Paterson. It is the second largest waterfall east of the Mississippi River (after Niagara), plunging 70 feet over a rocky ledge into the trap rock and sandstone below.
“Great Falls is absolutely spectacular when it’s really, really flowing,” says Glenn Hutton, community relations aide for the Great Falls Historic District Cultural Center. But, he adds, “The strength of the waterfall depends on the amount of precipitation we get or don’t get.” Also best seen after a wet winter is Silver Spray Falls in Walpack Township, Sussex County. “Silver Spray Falls is surely among the prettiest in New Jersey—free-falling over the red rocks of the Kittatinny Ridge through a glen of hemlock and mountain laurel,” writes Gary Letcher in Waterfalls of the Mid-Atlantic States (Countryman Press, 2004). Out of the way and “difficult to find” along the Hidden Falls Trail, Letcher insists it’s worth the effort to hike there, calling Silver Spray Falls the most “photogenic falls” in New Jersey.
Letcher also recommends the Shore Trail leading to Greenbrook Falls in Tenafly as a “truly remarkable hike.” The Hudson River and the skyscrapers of New York are on one side, and the cliffs of the Palisades are on the other.
Boonton Falls in the Morris County village of Boonton was once the strength behind the New Jersey Iron Company, built in the early 1800s. According to Letcher, the falls provided a popular, yet dangerous, swimming hole for local youth, with a number of swimmers losing their lives on the rocks or in the pool below. In the 1950s, “the city dynamited the rocks around the falls, shortening its height and filling the channel with rocks” to make it safer, says Letcher.
Called one of the best-kept secrets in Waterfalls of the Mid-Atlantic, Bridal Veil Falls (also known as Buttermilk Falls) in North Haledon is said to be dazzling after a good rain, and easy to reach via a short, unmarked trail found in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. The trail leads behind the waterfall, and your children are sure to enjoy this water “cave.”
So are you ready for a spring hike? Don your water-resistant hiking boots and your sense of adventure as you search out these spectacular examples of New Jersey’s lesser-known natural resources. Bergen County Bear Swamp Brook Falls, Mahwah Ramapo (Buttermilk) Falls, Mahwah Greenbrook Falls, Tenafly Essex County South Mountain Reservation: Hemlock Falls & Maple Falls, Maplewood & Millburn Hunterdon County Tumble Falls, Frenchtown Monmouth County Tinton Falls, Tinton Falls Morris County Boonton Falls, Boonton Schooleys Fall/ Long Valley, Washington Township Passaic County Great Falls of the Passaic, Paterson Hewitt (Mine Hole) Falls, Hewitt, West Milford Township Clinton Falls, Newfoundland, West Milford Township Wynochie Falls, Bloomingdale Chickahokie Falls, Bloomingdale Bridal Veil (Buttermilk) Falls, North Haledon Sussex County Rutherford Falls, Montague Township, Coopers Glen Falls, Colesville, Wantage Township Tillman Ravine, Walpack Township Stony Brook, Sandyston Township Silver Spray Falls, Walpack Township Buttermilk Falls, Walpack Township Warren County Van Campens Glen, Pahaquarry Big Tocks Creek Falls, Pahaquarry Laurel Falls, Pahaquarry |
||
Addition date: Jun 10, 2008
Tags: Travel, North America, Usa, Tenafly Source: http://njfamily.com/en/news/Waterfalls_in_New_Jersey.aspx?cat=21&news=482 |
||
|
||
|
