High Point State Park (NJ)

On the road to Rhode Island, we stopped at High Point State Park (the highest point in New Jersey) just a few miles out of Port Jervis, NY. The official high point is 1,803 feet above sea level and forms the gentle, but scenic, apex of the Kittatinny Mountains. A 220-foot tall obelisk similar to Washington Monument stands at the summit. A cold cloud layer hung over the mountain and the monument, which pretty much cancelled the odds of any good views.

We paid a dollar to the ranger to climb to the top. I first lassoed the thing from below and began climbing hand-over-hand in my diamond studded crampons, by which I mean I considered that approach, then decided on the more manly alternative, which happened to be the square spiral of metal stairs bolted to the inside walls. We topped out at a ho-hum viewing space, where, due to the clouds and fog, the view was about as exciting as the underbelly of a slug. Still worth the trudge though. The tree canopy below was reaching peak fall color, so not all was for naught. An interpretive designer/architect could have some fun here making the interior of the obelisk much more visitor-friendly.

We’d burned up our Saturday morning by now and still had a three-hour drive ahead to Westerly, RI, where the local history librarian had promised to leave her Wilcox family files out for me to browse. The library would be closed Sunday and Monday, and since we had to be home Monday night, this was my only shot to see those family files during the trip. We zipped across southern New York and Connecticut and arrived an hour before closing.

The view.

Another park overlook.