Popolopen Torne Loop Hike

Popolopen torne loop is definitely one of the best hikes that I know of. I rated this as moderate but I see a lot of beginners in the trail. The trails are not that hard. They are mostly flat. I also took my group to Bear Mountain Bridge for extra picture taking because this hike is pretty short and easy. Most people do not get a good workout so I tend to add a mile by going to the bridge.

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Popolopen Torne Loop Important Information

Trail Map: Trail Map 1
Suggested Phone GPS Apps: Alltrails.com, Avenza Maps, Google Maps

Difficulty: Moderate
Distance: 6 Miles
Elevation Gained: 1,200 ft
Portable Toilet At Parking: Fort Montgomery

Trail Breakdown
Fort Montgomery To Lake – 0.6 miles
Lake Loop – 1 mile
Lake To Second Parking Lot – 1.5 miles
Second Parking Lot To View – 1 mile
Popolopen Torne To Bridge – 1 mile
Red Trail To Parking – 1.5 miles
Optional Bear Mountain Bridge From Fort Montgomery – 1 mile

Link: https://www.mapmyhike.com/workout/1491694525

Note: The information is just an approximation. I have been here multiple times and used various pictures of those times to create this guide.

 

Parking

Don’t park at Fort Montgomery since they close at 5 PM. They may close the gate and you may not get your car out. Park North of about 1/4 mile more.
41.328328, -73.987573

 

Start Of The Hike

Hiking is somewhat mysterious, like some form of ancient healing method, hiding some sort of hidden knowledge that we have lost. It satisfies something deep and primal within our human nature as it heals the mind, purifies the body, and energizes the soul. It creates a hunger for exploration, gives courage to dive into the unknown, and allows us to conquer fear.

We walked on this narrow and strong bridge, excited for the day to come as we moved closer and closer to Fort Montgomery, while the fast cars switched lanes trying avoid us. The morning sun was mild, the air was cool and pleasant on this October morning, and there was gladness on our footsteps with every stepped that we made. My group members were mostly composed of photographers, and nature enthusiasts, and we all wanted to get out to take pictures of the vibrant leaves that happen in the Fall.

 

Cannons

Various cannons were placed on a wooden platform, pointing towards the river. These cannons were supposed to honor the history of Fort Montgomery, where American soldiers died to delay the British ships from sailing up the Hudson river. Just imagining the history of this place, I could appreciate the bravery and courage of the American soldiers that died trying their best to save their comrades. A group of boys came in with one adult accompanying them. They were carrying rectangular shaped plywood, and used these plywood to boxed in the cannons. They dragged the cannons away, perhaps to safely store them somewhere or steal and sell them, either way I wouldn’t know.

 

Fort Montgomery Visitor Center

Bathroom and historical information at the visitor center.

 

Start Of The Trail

The footpath started off with man-made stairs and a plethora of tiny stones covered the ground. We passed under a cold and strong bridge made out of iron, then quickly changed into a forest path covered by dead brown leaves that made cracklings sounds as we passed by. Today was a good day to hike as each minute had been bright and full of color, with no hint of rain or snow whatsoever. I turned and looked back at my group members, each one seemed to be having fun, and enjoying the day, with beautiful smiles all over their faces.

 

Blue Trail Road

The road looked like a driveway for cars, as if we entered a neighborhood of some kind. There was a beautiful house to the right, and trail markers to the left.  We followed the trail markers to the left and at the end were these big rocks blocking the way. At the center of the rocks was opening to a forest, and we found the next trail markers there.

I often joke around that the house at the right was my summer home but we could not go there since it was already Fall so they have to wait again for the summer.

 

Into the belly of the whale we went, as the forest swallowed us whole. The bright sun disappeared due to the thousands of leaves that surrounded us, yet the scent of Fall was in the air, with various colorful leaves lying on the ground, with tree crowns covered in yellow leaves, as we listened to the whispers of the cool wind that surrounded us. The forest footpath was flat, even and barely any slopes. It was a nice walk with nature as my group members kept taking pictures of every scenery and every interesting thing that they were able to see.

 

Entrance To The Lake Trail

The forest trail ended with another road, and to the left of that road was a big rock, with red and blue trail markers. The narrow footpath was short as we hit an intersection on whether to follow the blue markers that leads left or follow the red markers that went straight. We chose to go straight as we knew that this would lead to the lake.

 

Red Trail To Brook’s Lake

A powerful gust of wind passed by, cooling our bodies and rattling the trees that surrounded us. A multitude of colorful leaves jumped from the top, spiraling in the air as if they were performing a beautiful spectacle for us, and finally landing on their final resting place. The footpath was wide, flat and made out of gravel, with colorful leaves partly covering it. I looked at the trees around me, most of them were almost barren, and clearly, we were a little bit late for the peak of the Fall foliage leaf peeping. Yet there was beauty in the atmosphere, beauty in the footpath we were walking on, beauty in the trees surrounding us and beauty even on the leaves that were already dead on the ground.

 

Brooks Lake

Brooks Lake looked very beautiful in the Fall, and yet it looked very hideous as well. There were shades of yellow, green, red, brown, gold, and more as we looked at the trees across us. The colorful trees of the forest looked great, even though their colors were already getting dull as the Fall foliage season was almost over. The lake was slimy and green, and we did not dare to touch it as we may contaminate our hands with bacteria and parasites, and yet it looked dazzling to the eyes as it reflected the colorful trees of the forest back at us.

 

Brooks Lake Gazebo

Murky and mucous like in nature, the green lake was just appalling, yet it glimmered and shimmered underneath the bright rays of the sun, giving the scenery a very attractive and picturesque atmosphere. Even in the worst possible conditions, nature managed to make itself charming and appealing to the eyes. We sat underneath the gazebo, dropped our bags, and took out our lunches. Hunger has consumed my group members as we went to the Bear Mountain Bridge to take pictures before doing this hike. Everyone brought some sort of food from sandwiches to rice, to something edible that I could not make out or recognize.

 

The scent of delicious foods overflowed into my senses and made me somewhat hungry as well, but I was trying to lose weight so I did not want to eat, instead, I went out to look for a bathroom. The place was a medium sized park, with a father and daughter playing at a swing to the right, a few construction vehicles in the distance, with construction materials on the ground, and to the outside of the park was a neighborhood of white houses very close to each other.

 

Bear

“Bear!!! Bear!!!” Screamed by my group members as they tried to get my attention and warn me of a bear in front of me. I looked at one of the garbage cans near the white houses outside of the park, and there it was, a bear. I took out my camera, got my phone ready, and slowly walked towards the bear, hoping not to startle it or take a few pictures from far away. It was probably not the reaction that my group members were expecting. As I got near the bear, to my surprised, it was actually pretty big. From a distance, it looked rather small but at a shorter range, it looked rather wide and tall in height. The animal could seriously injure me if it wanted to as it was rather large.

I hesitated a little bit, then out of nowhere, two of my group members came passing by, running like the wind, trying to get a closer glimpsed at the bear. I ran as fast as I could, hoping to catch up to my group members and make sure that they don’t do anything rash that will hurt themselves. With my body breathing heavily, and gasping for air, I managed to catch up to them. Unfortunately for us, the bear went inside the backyard of a house nearby and all of us did not want to trespass nor create a commotion. The bear looked at us one final time and disappeared into the woods.

 

Red Trail

The red trail took us to the outskirts of the lake. I could feel my boots sink a little as the footpath was heavily covered in dry brown leaves, and each step that we made created a ‘wooshing’ sound as if our legs were like brooms flicking the leaves to the air. I could see glimpses of the lake to the left but the trees and shrubs made it very hard to see. As the light of the sun penetrated through the holes and gaps at the top, the shadow and light danced all around me, we marched on continuing the trail with renewed energy, and excitement for more scenery to come, while appreciating the scenery all around us.

 

Blue Trail Going Up

The blue trail had a short incline, and normally, this would be easy and not a problem at all but the trail was covered in leaves, making it slippery and harder than it should be. My group members took their time, taking precaution with each step, and I could hear their breathing becoming heavier the more we progressed on the slippery slope. At the top were houses with metal mesh fences on their backyards, with pool toys, and garden equipment all over. The sound of small animals like squirrels and chipmunks rustling in the brown dead leaves could be heard, and at the top were birds ‘hooting’ to their hearts content. It was weird and strange that a combination of man-made buildings and animals share this part of the trail like nature and human beings united and was coexisting in some way.

 

Note: It is very easy to miss this trail. The trail is at the right, going up, and near the southern part of the lake. If I see planks on the ground, or I ended up at the road before then I went the wrong way. I will often just follow the blue trail and look at my GPS if I ended up going the wrong way.

 

Road To Blue Trail

The trail markers pointed to the right and led us to a road, with various black squiggly lines tattooed on it, out of which bright yellow school bus sign and traffic signs could be seen to our right. The trail markers were on a small wooden pole, near thick bushes and trees, they were very hard to see and could easily be missed but I often look at the yellow traffic sign as a signal that I was near. I asked my group members to hug the sidewalk as cars passed us by, making sure they were safe and sound, while giving the drivers less stress and allowing them to drive more freely.

I often joke around that this whole place was my backyard, I payed 1 million dollars to a famous Japanese artist to paint the road, and all the houses people see were mine. When people asked, what the squiggly lines represent, I would often say they represent a picture of my greatness. Once I am having a good time, it is hard to stop, and I just kept making lots of jokes and goofing around all the time.

 

Blue Trail

The noise of a running river could be heard from a distance, its sound was distinct and unmistakable, but it seemed that my group members were too busy laughing and having a good time talking to each other to even notice. The air was cool, and fresh while we traversed a narrow, flat and even footpath covered in brown leaves. At the right was a hill filled with trees closely knit to each other, and at the left was a cliff whose depth I could not tell. The cool wind would come at times, cooling our bodies and shaking the trees, with the bright sun spotlighting the few leaves that danced their way on top of us.

 

Second Parking Lot

We came at a big intersection on the footpath, one path leads straight, and the other leads to the top, somewhat going back. At the top was a big metal gate with blue trail markers, out of which various cars were parked outside, and tree stumps shaped into big wooden heads could be seen. There were big heads, small heads, and medium sized heads. Someone obviously took their time to carved out these sculptures for hikers to see.

 

Second Trail Head

The trailhead was pretty informative with maps, and various other information written on it, in a corner was a picture of a group of soldiers. They looked brave, courageous, fierce and powerful. The footpath started off as a series of man-made steps with a man-made structure housing a few wooden hiking sticks for hikers to use. The ascent to the top was not friendly, each step took with it a lot of my energy, with my body sweating to cool itself off, and my lungs working overtime to keep me going. The footpath was covered with crunched up, and diced up dried leaves, with various rocks and boulders blocking the way, and a few ropes hanging from the top on some of the steep parts to help hikers climb down or climb up easily.

I often joke around that I was one of the soldiers in the picture and that I promised I was there. My group members would try to look for me in the picture. When they give up, I would say, I am the guy taking the photograph. It is a stupid joke but everyone laugh.

 

Playing Around

The trail was steep and arduous that I found myself one of the first few to almost reach the top. I always believe in safety first but when everything looks secure and safe, then there are also times when we could play around. I asked one of my group members to take pictures of me pretending to fall or hanging for my dear life as we waited for the others. They were good pictures, and I like the angles and the way they turned out.

 

Pretending To Fall

Just me pretending to fall.

 

Popolopen Torne

At the end of the mountain was a big rock, curved in shape, it was rough and cool to the touch as I sat. The rock felt safe, stable and dangerous as well. The curved shape of the rock made it hard to judge the safe places or where I can place my feet as if my feet could slip at any moment if I placed it poorly. The gentle warm light of the afternoon sun combined with the cool refreshing touch of the wind, felt wonderful on the skin on my face. I sat at the safest place I could find and just stayed there for a few minutes to enjoy the view that my eyes were seeing.

 

Popolopen Torne Memorial

The monument or memorial for soldiers was a cairn or a pile rocks in a triangular shape, out of which a USA flag was dancing beautifully with the wind. At the side was a spotlight connected to a somewhat huge solar panel, indicating that perhaps this monument gets lighted up during the night. Each rock had a name, perhaps symbolizing a brave soldier that had fallen. I touched the cold pole that the flag was attached onto, and stood there for a few minutes in silence just to honor the soldiers that have died for the love of their country, hoping to have some of their courage be transferred to me as well.

 

Popolopen Torne And Bear Mountain Bridge

The bridge looked so small from this vantage point, with the thinly shaped clouds painting themselves on the clear blue sky. Anthony’s nose looked so tiny from here too, which made me feel so weird since I always thought that mountain was a lot higher. The colors were at their peaked with various hues of green, yellow, and orange brown, but they felt rather dull to the eyes. A few waves of disappointment swept over my emotions as I was expecting gradients of rich bright red leaves to be seen but sadly, there wasn’t any.

 

Popolopen Torne Lookout

The bright afternoon sun showered its rays all over the scenery, brightening the yellow trees that made the valley looked lovely, out of which a highway could be seen disappearing at the back of a mountain. Even though there were no shades of red, the valley felt good to look at as if the scenery gave me peace, and told time to slow down just so nature can make a point that I should not hurry so much and appreciate each second of my life even more.

 

I looked one last time at the viewpoint before heading back down. The descent was steep, and some parts were a little bit too much for beginners, still my group members managed to traverse the path rather well. The path kept descending till we came across a big road where the second trailhead was. Still, the path kept going downward till we finally hit a dirt footpath similar to the one we had before. We took a right, and after a few minutes we could see a bridge to the left at the bottom of the dirt path.

 

Trail Bridge

An incredible man-made metal bridge, designed to stand against the hands of time, fight against various types of weathers, and hold a lot of weight, greeted us in the trail. Underneath the bridge was a river, somewhat dry but still flowing with wet rocks that glistened underneath the afternoon sun, warning hikers that they were slippery. I stepped foot on the metal bridge, it was stable, firm and did not shake at all and even with all the dead leaves lying around, my balance felt secure, safe and not slippery at all. We all took a moment to look at the landscape, take pictures, and just let our eyes wander around the scenery we found ourselves in.

 

Red Trail Going Back

Orange and brown leaves lightly covered the straight footpath with various small white and yellow wild flowers flourishing at the sides. It was a peculiar thing to see as everything around me looked lifeless or about to fall asleep for the winter like the almost barren trees surrounding us, the dead leaves on the ground, the bare branches everywhere I looked. Yet, these wild flowers were flourishing and looked very much alive. They were truly rebels, listening to their own beat, singing on their own tune, swimming against the current and not following what the crowd was doing.

 

Red Trail Stop

Broken lifeless branches, dead stones, and a bunch of brown leaves blocked our way. Some of my group members did not think much of this as such they decided to ignore such a warning and proceeded onward. Not known to them that this is an old sign that meant ‘STOP’. I ran towards the front, calling back my group members as they have missed the trail markers and kept going the wrong way. The trail markers proceeded to the left and dived down near the river. I waited for everyone to make a left, making sure that no one gets lost or gets left behind.

 

Note: People can get lost here. The red trail will dive down to the left, and if people kept going straight or kept following the road, they will not be on the right path.

 

Crossing The Road

At the end of the red trail was a highway with lots of fast cars moving left and right. I looked at my group members, and most of them did not want to cross such a dangerous road. I did not want to cross as well as it did looked dangerous if lots of us crossed the highway. We crossed the bridge instead and was directly across Fort Montgomery. In here, it was even more dangerous to cross the highway but there was a footpath to our left that led to the woods. We followed the footpath and to the left of it, we could see the blue trail from the start of the hike. We took the trail, went under the bridge and got ourselves back to Fort Montgomery.

We went to a restaurant nearby, ate our foods and said goodbye to each other. It was a great hike, and saying goodbye to the adventure almost seemed hard and lonely. Still, I went on my way as I also miss the comfortable home and bed that was so familiar to me, and thanked everyone for coming. It was a great hike and a great adventure, my body was very tired yet my soul was very happy as I felt alive, hopeful and very excited for the hikes and adventures I have yet to embarked on.

 

 

For More Hikes

For more hikes similar to this one, you can go to my Best New Jersey Hikes Or Best NYC Hikes.