High Point - New Jersey

After visiting the Ebright Azimuth, the high point in Delaware, a few days later we visited the high point in New Jersey aptly named High Point, in High Point State Park. Where the Ebright Azimuth illustrates some of the absurdity of high pointing, the High Point in New Jersey illustrates one of the benefits. I've always viewed New Jersey as one big mass of crowded freeways, ugly industrial buildings, belching smoke, manufacturing chemicals and toxic waste sites. Going to High Point took us to the antithesis of all that, a very rural, hilly, tree-covered and deer-infested part of the state I did not know existed. Deer crossing signs along the access roads were a nice complement to the toll signs so prevalent on the New Jersey Turnpike.

High Point, at 1,803 feet, is not in the same category as the western state high points, or even some of the other eastern state high points, but it towers over the high points of Florida and Delaware and, unlike them, feels like a forest, even a high point. In fact, the Appalachian Trail passes about a quarter mile away and there are several places for AT hikers to camp in High Point State Park.  

I believe this view looks toward Port Jervis in the distance. 

I believe the AT follows the ridge just visible beyond this rock formation.

New Jersey is oddly shaped, sort of a twisted hour-glass (thin in the middle) with the flattened top and bottom angled at about 45 degrees. High Point State Park is found at the very top of New Jersey in the angled corner, in the Kittatinny Mountains, 2.7 miles north of Colesville, New Jersey, 6 miles south of Port Jervis, New York and quite a bit northwest of New York City (I think of New Jersey being south and southwest of New York City).

High Point State Park was dedicated in 1923 and the landscaping was designed by the sons of Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Central Park in New York City (most of the landscaping I saw was pine trees, designed by God, also a pretty good landscaper). At the summit is a 220 foot tall obelisk built of granite and quartz to honor war veterans. It was completed in 1930. The obelisk is open to visitors from Memorial Day to Labor Day, so unfortunately we found it closed and the plaza surrounding it closed as well.

The summit obelisk visible above Lake Marcia in High Point State Park.

A closer view of the summit obelisk.

It was a cold, windy, rainy morning when we visited in April, about 37 degrees and feeling much colder than that. The weather, along with the closure of the plaza, discouraged too much exploration.

This is about as far as I ventured from the car on this side, and on the other side to the barriers across the plaza.

A view up the obelisk.