Way to have fun at Wawayanda State Park!!!

Wawayanda State Park
Hewitt, NJ

On one of the nicer weekends we've had this summer, the UFC was lucky to finally have a little picnic. We picked Wawayanda because it's relatively close, and we wanted to scope it out for canoeing later on.

Wawayanda (Lenape for "water on the mountain" or "winding water") sits in the northern part of Passaic County at the NY/NJ border. The terrain is mostly very hilly. The NY/NJ Trail Conference lists 29 miles of park trails, including a bit of the Appalachian Trail, in 17,500 acres. Besides hiking and canoeing, there is a beach area for swimming, some picnicking and camping facilities, and plenty of fishing spots (the lake is even stocked with landlocked salmon!).

Most of the picnic/grill areas were already taken by the time we got there (1 pm), so we had a short trek along the lake to reach a second, less crowded picnic spot.

Most of the picnickers here look like regulars, with tents, hammocks, camping chairs and coolers and coolers of stuff. Lots of kiddies on bikes, and a lot of furs too! Chibby and Babams were so excited!

Furs hanging out in Wawayanda.

Superfatty grillin' some kick-ass chickens.

"Is them chickens ready yet???"

This is what we had for lunch: cold ampalaya (bitter gourd) in black bean sauce, rice, some kick-ass bbq chicken, and some home-style bbq ribs. Everyone was really hungry!

After lunch, DJKung and his dad tried their luck fishing. They did not have any bait with them, but it was not so bad foraging for worms and bugs for bait. The furs went for a lilttle swim and fetched some sticks.

The furs relaxing by the water after a nice lunch.

Babams and DJKung fishing. It was too bad that the fishes here were just too wily--- they were fast and readily gobbled up the bait.

Wayayanda was a great experience. We have to try the hiking here with the furs next time... I remember from past hiking trips that the rocks here are pretty spectacular. I'm sure the furs would love it!