Sunfish Pond is a

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,0 ...

surrounded by a hardwood forest located on the Kittatinny Ridge within Worthington State Forest, adjacent to the

Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area The Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area is a national recreation area administered by the National Park Service in northwest New Jersey and northeast Pennsylvania. It is centered around a stretch of the Delaware River designated the ...

in Warren County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. The

Appalachian Trail The Appalachian Trail, also called the A.T., is a hiking trail in the Eastern United States, extending almost between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine, and passing through 14 states.Gailey, Chris (2006)"Appalachian Tra ...

runs alongside the western and northern edges of the lake. It was created by the

Wisconsin Glacier The Wisconsin glaciation, also called the Wisconsin glacial episode, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex, peaking more than 20,000 years ago. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleate ...

during the last ice age. The lake was declared a

National Natural Landmark The National Natural Landmarks (NNL) Program recognizes and encourages the conservation of outstanding examples of the natural history of the United States. It is the only national natural areas program that identifies and recognizes the best e ...

in January 1970.

History

The land was purchased by Charles C. Worthington who used the forest as a deer hunting preserve; the lake supplied water to his mansion. In 1965, there was a plan to create a reservoir which would have covered the lake. Casey Kays, a local custodian, led 655 people on a hike to protest the plan. Further hikes and letter campaigns caused the power companies that owned the land to donate it to the state in 1966.

Supreme Court Justice The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest-ranking judicial body in the United States. Its membership, as set by the Judiciary Act of 1869, consists of the chief justice of the United States and eight associate justices, any six of ...

William O. Douglas William Orville Douglas (October 16, 1898January 19, 1980) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1939 to 1975. Douglas was known for his strong progressive and civil libertari ...

mentioned the lake in his dissenting opinion in the '' Sierra Club v. Morton'' case. On a hike in 1967, Douglas accompanied more than a thousand people to Sunfish Pond. He said: "It's a vital element in the need to save some of our wilderness from the encroachment of civilization."

Flora and fauna

The lake is surrounded by stands of mountain laurel, sheep laurel, and Cunila origanoides. Nearby are fields of

Symphoricarpos orbiculatus ''Symphoricarpos orbiculatus'', commonly called coralberry, buckbrush or Indian currant is a woody species of flowering plant in the honeysuckle family. Description ''Symphoricarpos orbiculatus'' is an erect, rhizomatous shrub. The leaves are t ...

. The lake itself also has

Drosera rotundifolia ''Drosera rotundifolia'', the round-leaved sundew, roundleaf sundew, or common sundew, is a carnivorous species of flowering plant that grows in bogs, marshes and fens. One of the most widespread sundew species, it has a circumboreal distribut ...

growing near the edge.

Visiting

Sunfish pond is a popular hiking destination. Several trails reach the lake, including the

which runs alongside the western and northern edges of the lake. It is the southernmost glacial tarn along that trail. The shortest distance to the lake is 1.2 miles from the Douglas trailhead on Old Mine Road via the Garvey Springs Trail. The Douglas Trail, named after Justice Douglas, can be taken to the Appalachian Trail and then Sunfish Pond. The trails are steep and rocky in places. There is no swimming in the lake. There is a

Leave No Trace Leave No Trace, sometimes written as LNT, is a set of ethics promoting conservation of the outdoors. Originating in the mid-20th century, the concept started as a movement in the United States in response to ecological damage caused by wilderne ...

campground a quarter mile away, but proper food precautions must be followed since black bears are active in the area. There is a collection of ad hoc primitive rock artworks (

cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

s) along the northwestern shore.

Gallery

File:NNL plaque, Sunfish Pond, Worthington State Forest, NJ.jpg,

plaque File:Douglas Trail plaque, Worthington State Forest, NJ.jpg, Douglas Trail plaque File:Cairn artwork, Sunfish Pond, Worthington State Forest, NJ.jpg,

Cairn A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ). Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...

artwork along the shore

References

External links