South Mountain Reservation North Loop
Directions to trailhead
Take the Garden State Parkway South to Exit 145 and proceed west on I-280 to Exit 7 (Pleasant Valley Way). Turn left at the bottom of the ramp and continue for about three miles to the Tulip Springs area (marked by a sign on the left). (The turn is 0.8 mile beyond Northfield Avenue, where the road changes its name to Cherry Lane.) Turn left into the Tulip Springs area, then bear right and continue for 0.2 mile to a large parking area on the right.
Hike Description
Just beyond the parking area, turn left onto the yellow-blazed Lenape Trail and climb wooden steps. At the top of the steps, the orange-blazed Turtle Back Trail joins from the left, and you proceed uphill on a wide path, following both yellow and orange blazes. After passing through a pine grove (with an understory of deciduous trees), you’ll reach a junction where the yellow-blazed trail turns right to cross South Orange Avenue on a pedestrian bridge.
Continue straight ahead, leaving the Lenape Trail, and follow the orange-blazed Turtle Back Trail, which soon curves right, joining a woods road. In a short distance, it turns left, leaving the road and continues on a footpath. The trail follows along the side of a hill, overlooking the valley below, then climbs on switchbacks.
After paralleling a ravine, below on the right, you’ll reach a junction where an orange/white trail begins on the left. You should turn right to continue on the orange-blazed Turtle Back Trail, which soon turns right onto a wider path, passing a huge tree with two trunks on the left. Just beyond, a green-blazed trail begins on the left, but you should bear right to continue on the orange-blazed trail. A short distance beyond, the orange trail approaches a bridle path but turns left and continues on a footpath.
The orange trail proceeds north along a relatively level footpath, crossing three more bridle paths in the next mile. You'll come to a four-way intersection, where an orange/white-blazed trail begins on the left. Here, you should turn right to continue on the orange trail. At the next T-intersection, the orange blazes turn left, but you should turn right and begin to follow an orange/white-blazed trail. When you reach a bridle path (with a parking area visible ahead), turn left, but when the bridle path curves left just ahead, bear right onto an orange/white-blazed footpath.
The orange/white-blazed trail soon curves to the left and begins to run above the very busy Northfield Avenue. Watch carefully for a right turn that leads to Turtle Back Rock - named for the patterns on the surface of the rock. When the basalt rock of the Watchungs fractured into small hexagonal blocks, the cracks that were created filled with minerals. The basalt wore away faster than the minerals, leaving the rock with patterned markings, similar to those on the back of a turtle. The best examples of these “turtle back” patterns can be seen on the back of the large rock, as well on smaller adjacent rocks.
After crossing another bridle path, you’ll reach a four-way junction, marked by a sign for the Turtle Back Interpretive Trail. Continue straight ahead, now once again following the orange-blazed trail. Over the next mile, the trail crosses two bridle paths and climbs a little. After crossing the unblazed Ravine Trail, it begins to descend. Soon, it climbs along the side of a hill and then begins a steady descent, with the southern end of the Orange Reservoir visible through the trees on the right during leaf-off season.
Be alert for a sharp right turn where the orange-blazed trail descends to cross another bridle path, then bears left and continues to descend on a woods road. Just before reaching a stream, the orange trail turns left onto a footpath and continues parallel to the stream. After climbing a little and passing a cascade in the stream below, the trail continues through a pine grove. It soon reaches a junction with the yellow-blazed Lenape Trail, where you should turn right and descend to the parking area where the hike began.