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| Sunfish Pond view from the northside bluff |
For me, Sunfish Pond is the best hike in New Jersey. The ascent, via the AT, is a long, uphill climb of about 1,200 feet in elevation gain on a very rocky trail that kind of feels like a surface you'd find on a hike in the Adirondacks or White Mountains. The pond itself is a splendid destination, affording numerous points to take in the views. And the long, meandering descent follows Dunnfield Creek the entire way, making for picturesque sights and pleasant sounds the whole way home.
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| View to the east from the AT |
The only problem with Sunfish Pond is that you have to time it just right in order to get it all to yourself. That means no weekends, no holidays, no Thursdays or Fridays, and no days - not even weekdays - in the spring and summer months. Over the years, I've learned that the only time to hit Sunfish is after November 1, on a Tuesday or Wednesday, with a start time of no later than sunrise. That's the only way to have peace, quiet and solitude at the best hiking destination in New Jersey.
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| Arriving at Sunfish Pond clearing |
I consciously avoided Sunfish through the entire two years of the pandemic, knowing that the popular trail would always be busy. I recently found myself wanting to make sure that the hoards of Covid-era weekend warriors without outdoor education hadn't messed it up. On a beautiful, sunny mid-week morning in early November, I decided to do just that and pulled into the AT trailhead lot at 7:00 a.m. sharp. I found only two other vehicles - pick up trucks clearly belonging to deer hunters. They would stay close to the lot, so as long as there were not any early rising thru-hikers camping at the designated sites up top, I would have Sunfish Pond all to myself.
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| View from the western rocks |
The AT ascent has less interesting scenery than the Dunnfield Creek return, but it's still wonderfully pleasant and I made it up to the south shore of the pond in an hour and fifteen minutes. From there, the AT continues along the western shore and I climbed up the rocky outcroppings found there to take a long break basking in the early morning sun. From there, I continued on the AT to the Turquoise Trail and then the Sunfish Pond Fire Road to complete the full pond loop.
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| Dunnfield Creek |
It was at the upper end of my descent on the Dunnfield Creek Trail that I encountered the only other hiker on the day, who was ascending with her Labradoodle. She mentioned that the creek was running high and that she had gotten wet from the difficult crossings. Sure enough, I found that to be the case and had to investigate alternate crossing points at all of the spots where the trail crosses and re-crosses the creek during the descent. At one crossing, the only valid option was a tight rope style walk across a fallen log which I could tell from the tracks had been used by others.
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| Log crossing on Dunnfield Creek |
It took me four hours for the whole loop including a lengthy break at the pond and I arrived back in the parking area to find it already filling up to max capacity. No surprise there.
Destination: Sunfish Pond
Elevation: 1,379 feet (Gain: 1,374 feet)
Distance: 10.3 miles roundtrip
Route: Loop, Appalachian Trail to Turquoise Trail to Sunfish Fire Road Trail to Dunnfield Creek Trail
Conditions: Sunny, 32 degrees F
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