Hiking the Scenic Blue Mountain Lake in the Delaware Water Gap

Blue Mountain Lake is a scenic lake located in the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. This scenic 15-acre lake was once the center of a housing development. Today, all the houses have been removed, and visitors can take an easy hike around the lake on the flat dirt roadways left behind. Continue reading to learn more about hiking around this stunning lake.

Background

Blue Mountain Lake is a man-made lake located near the ridge of Kittatinny Mountain in New Jersey. It was created as the centerpiece of a planned residential development first proposed in 1956 and built in the years that followed. While initial plans envisioned up to 10,000 homes in the surrounding area, only about 375 were ultimately constructed. The development ended after the 1962 proposal for the Tocks Island Dam project on the Delaware River, which led Congress to authorize the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area in 1965. The federal government acquired the lake and surrounding properties through eminent domain, integrating the land into the national recreation area. Today, many old dirt roads surround the lake, but all the homes are gone.

The Hike

The hike around Blue Mountain Lake is fairly easy and follows former woods roads for most of the way. While no buildings remain from the land’s history as a housing development, a wide network of old roads remains. Not all of these roads are labeled on the official map, attached above. Hikers can choose between two main routes: the Outer Loop and the Inner Loop. The Outer Loop follows these roads and offers no views of the lake (or anything really, except trees). The Inner Loop, described below, stays closer to the shoreline and is marked with red blazes. The Inner Loop is 2.2 miles and features about 200 feet of elevation gain along rolling, generally flat hills.

While the trail can be hiked year-round, Flatbrookville Stillwater Road does close whenever there is snow on the ground.

Description

From the back of the parking area begin the Blue Mountain Lake Trail. Almost immediately into the trail you will reach a directory and a gate to the left. Stay right to remain on a gravel trail.

You will soon reach another intersection. To the right is another gate for emergency access. Continue straight to start the Inner Loop. You will return from the left at the end of the hike.

Continue following the main gravel trail for 0.2 miles until you reach the scenic Blue Mountain Lake.

Turn right and locate the much more natural Red Inner Loop. This section is easily the best part of the hike and hugs the lake shoreline.

This section is easily the best part of the hike and hugs the lake shoreline. After this brief section, the trail is mostly in the woods with limited views.

After about 0.2 miles, the trail reaches another road, one of many throughout the area. Almost the entire rest of the trail runs along these roads.

For the most part, you’ll want to make left turns to circle the lake. There is one exception, however: After 0.2 miles on the road, there is a road to the left. Do not take this road, as it leads to a dead end. Blazes ahead point straight here, so make sure you look for the red markers.

After that turn, keep left for the entire loop. There are occasional red blazes, to assist, but they are not needed: the trail is very easy to follow. Other than one short hill, this loop is very easy.

Unfortunately, while the start is great, most of the trail is just a walk through the woods with no views. After about 1.3 miles in the woods, the Red Inner Loop turns left onto a singletrack trail toward the lake dam. Because the turn leaves a wide road for a much smaller trail, it is easy to miss. Fortunately, you can see the dam through the woods year-round. If you miss this turn, it is not a problem, as you will end up back in the parking area regardless.

You will soon reach the spillway to the dam.

The spillway also offers excellent views of the lake.

This is where you reach the trail’s weirdest section. The loop technically continues here, but it is hard to see. If you look downhill at the spillway, you will see a very faint and overgrown trail. This leads to a woods road that begins lower down the spillway.

This trail is very thin and overgrown. Alternatively, and what most people do if the water level is low enough, is walk down the spillway itself. Doing so, you will reach the woods road, which carries the remainder of the trail.

Follow this trail a short distance back to the initial four-way intersection with the gate at the very beginning of the hike. Turn right to return to the parking area, completing the 2.2-mile hike.

Review

Blue Mountain Lake starts out so good, with great views of the lake at the start of the hike. Unfortunately, after the initial views, the trail is very wooded and kind of boring. While you could hike it in reverse, it is much more intuitive to follow the direction described above because of how the intersections are laid out. With the lake views right at the start, you could hike to the lake and back, but that is not a very fulfilling hike, especially given how long the drive is to the parking area from almost everywhere.