The High Woods

Notice, as you climb, how the forest changes — how it gets a little cooler, a little more northern than the country down below. Up here on the ridge you'll find oaks and maples and birch, and stands of hemlock in the shady hollows, all of it a week or two ahead of the lowlands when the color turns in fall. It's high, breezy, weather-catching country.

And it's alive with wildlife: white-tailed deer, black bear — yes, New Jersey has a healthy bear population up in these hills, so store your food and never approach one — wild turkey, and overhead, in autumn especially, hawks and eagles riding the ridge winds south on their long migration. Drive slow, keep your eyes on the roadsides and the sky, and this high forest will show you things the valleys never do.