Appalachian Trail - Sunfish Pond

Sunfish Pond sits atop Kittatinny Ridge at 1,382 feet elevation as New Jersey's only natural glacial lake, preserved by the Appalachian Trail Conservancy and environmental activists who battled a proposed hydroelectric project in the 1960s and 1970s—a fight that helped establish legal precedent for scenic river protection alongside the concurrent Storm King battles in New York. The 6.4-mile out-and-back route follows the white-blazed Appalachian Trail from the Dunnfield Creek parking area, climbing 1,600 feet up the New Jersey Kittatinny Ridge through mixed oak forest and rocky switchbacks that test cardiovascular fitness from the first half-mile. The ridge crest rewards the effort with long southward views across the Delaware River valley and the Pocono Plateau in Pennsylvania. Sunfish Pond itself occupies a glacially scoured depression in the Silurian quartzite bedrock, its cold, clear water surrounded by mountain laurel and blueberry shrubs that bloom white and pink in late May and early June. Swimming is not permitted, but the shoreline circuit provides peaceful views across the pond. The AT corridor at this location is part of the longest continuously protected greenway in the eastern United States. Deer, black bears, and timber rattlesnakes all inhabit the ridge; hikers should exercise standard snake precautions on sunny rock slabs.