Issue #15 — Wednesday, August 19, 2026
One family-friendly hike within a 2-hour drive of Hoboken — plus where to take the kids to eat in the city and NJ. Hike it or skip it; either way your weekend's sorted.
You spend the better part of two hours climbing steadily beside Dunnfield Creek, hopping over roots and cascades, with nothing to look at but hemlock forest and rushing water. Then the trail flattens, the trees pull back, and Sunfish Pond just appears — 44 acres of glass-still water sitting atop the Kittatinny Ridge, gouged out by a retreating glacier some 15,000 years ago. It's a registered National Natural Landmark, ringed with boulders and thickets of great rhododendron, with no visible inlet or outlet — it's entirely spring-fed. Thru-hikers on the Appalachian Trail have been stopping here for a break since the trail was built.
A glacial lake on a mountaintop, reached the hard way. That's the kind of payoff this newsletter exists for.Park at the Dunnfield Creek Natural Area lot right off I-80 Exit 1 (there's a small overflow lot and Kittatinny Point across the highway if it's full). Cross the footbridge and pick up the Dunnfield Creek Trail, which climbs gently alongside the creek past a series of cascades and swimming-hole-looking pools — this stretch, up to around the one-mile mark, is a fine turnaround for younger or shorter-legged kids.
Past that, the trail steepens and merges with the white-blazed Appalachian Trail for a longer, steadier climb up the flank of the Kittatinny Ridge. This middle section is the grind — rocky, rooty, no real views, just consistent uphill for close to two miles. It pays off fast: around 3.5 miles in, the grade eases and Sunfish Pond opens up in front of you.
For the full 8.5-mile loop, skirt the pond's north shore and pick up the Garvey Springs Trail, then the Turquoise Trail, back down to Dunnfield Creek Trail and the lot — a different, slightly gentler descent than the way up. If everyone's cooked, just retrace your steps back down the AT and Dunnfield Creek Trail for a shorter ~7.5-mile out-and-back instead.
Fifteen minutes from the trailhead, Blairstown's walkable little Main Street is the easy reward stop. Some solid options:
Water (1.5L per person — this one runs long), sturdy trail shoes, a rain layer given this weekend's forecast, snacks, sunscreen, bug spray, and a phone with the trail map downloaded offline.
Not feeling the drive this week — or dodging Sunday's thunderstorm chances? Here's where to take the kids instead, in the city and across the river. (No connection to this week's hike.)