Wayanda State Park - Hewitt, NJ

In between blizzards and before the recent monsoon season started in New Jersey the sun briefly shone outside and Pics of Me in Front of Stuff was able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful countryside...of New Jersey?  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff was as shocked as the rest of you, but if you go far enough in New Jersey, away from the shore, the urban sprawl, and the chemical plants there are some beautiful state parks. Keep in mind this is where New Jersey is close to becoming New York and Pennsylvania (i.e. not New Jersey) and that probably plays a role in the scenery.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff has seen it before.
This time, Pics of Me in Front of Stuff visited Wawayanda State Park.

Wawayanda is in northern NJ, not the north Jersey near New York City, but the geographical, actual northern New Jersey.

View Larger Map
That broken line cutting diagonally through the map is the NY-NJ border.  And near that border is some beautiful scenery as promised.

Pics of Me in Front of Stuff's journey started out on the opposite side of this lake which probably has a name.  Like most other or maybe all bodies of water, the lake also has a beach. 

Fortunately, this beach was nothing like Seaside Heights and there was no Snookie or Situation to wreak havoc on the locals.  It may have been a little cold for J-Wow and the rest of the Jersey Shore crew.  It may have been a little too muddy for them as well since some of the snow from one of the first blizzards of the year had melted.  It seems doubtful that many of the inhabitants of the Jersey Shore house handled mud well.  Despite the wilderness some parts of New Jersey was unavoidable.  Like many of the parks in the area Wawayanda State Park was once used for the iron industry.  A large blast furnace still stands not far from the lake pictured above.

Sadly, there was also some urban sprawl dumped out in the woods, too.

Minus the junk that had been dumped out in the woods a long time ago Wawayanda was a beautiful state park on a sunny, warm winter day.  Pics of Me in Front of Stuff followed some blue marked trails and managed not to get terribly lost in the woods.  The Official GPS of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff was bought as a gift by the Official Mom of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff following a harrowing experience in the woods of central PA. 

Pics of Me in Front of Stuff followed these and managed to get back to the Official Car of Pics of Me in Front of Stuff.  Also, only photographs were taken and only footsteps left and maybe time was wasted.  It was a good day to be outside.