Hike and Sip #5: Ramapo/Van Slyke Castle Ruins and Alementary Brewing Co.

​We got lucky with amazing Indian summer weather for this hike and now that we are solidly into November, we fear the weather won’t be as kind in the weeks ahead! Yes, you guessed it, we started our journey up to the Oakland, NJ area VERY early.  We parked in the Ramapo Mountain State Forest parking lot on Skyline Drive (Rt 692) at the MacEvoy Trail head (Blue trail) before dawn and we were the only car in the lot.  With our headlamps on, we climbed up the rocky trail for about 0.7 miles – we could hear the sound of rushing water from the Ramapo Lake Brook, which we could tell was just off to our left, but we couldn’t see it in the dark.  We climbed about 450 feet, reaching Le Grande (Ramapo) Lake at dawn.  The leaves were well past peak but the yellows, golds and browns were beginning to glow in the low light.  We walked a short way along the lake on Shore Drive (a gravel road) then took a left onto the Lookout Trail (Red Trail) which would take us up another 250 feet along the edge of the ridge to a rocky lookout with a direct easterly view.  The red trail was less frequented and the leaf cover was thick but we kept our eyes peeled for the red blazes and managed to reach the lookout just before sunrise.  The skies were clear so we were able to sit and watch as the red-orange orb crested the horizon.

---

With the morning light to guide us, we continued on the red trail, stopping at a beautiful overlook with a strand of pines and a distant view of the lake, then followed the Le Grande Lake Connector Trail (Red/Blue) down through the truly “golden” woods and back to the shore of the lake.  The lake was very still and glassy blue in the morning sun.

​We looped back on Shore Drive and then peeled off of the gravel road, taking the Rye Cliff and Deer Ledge Trails, which gave us a good final climb up to the Van Slyke Castle Ruins. The history of this “castle” revolves around Ruth A. Coles and her many husbands. Ruth was a nurse who cared for Charles E. Halliwell, a wealthy industrial baron in New York and became his second wife in 1906.  Halliwell died a year later, leaving her one and a half million dollars – a large fortune at that time. In 1909, she married William Porter, a stockbroker and friend of her former husband.  Porter began building the home and named the property “Foxcroft,” as it was built on a high point called Fox Hill. Unfortunately, Porter died in an auto accident.  Ruth survived him and later married Warren Van Slyke and they changed the name of the property to Van Slyke Castle. It was used as their get-away home out in the “countryside”.  When Warren passed away, Ruth moved to the castle permanently. Ruth died in 1940 and the castle remained ownerless for nine years.  It was sold to a couple, then resold again in 1951 to a Suzanne S. Christie. Soon after, she left and abandoned the home.  While no one knows for certain, it is suspected it could have been the result of a bitter divorce.  The house remained deserted and unoccupied for years and eventually vandals set the structure on fire.  What remains of what the elegant and grand granite mansion with views of the lake are just the immense stone foundations and walls with  evidence of the original plumbing, including a water tower several 100 yards up the road at the top of the peak (and of course, the requisite graffiti.) It is interesting to see how nature has reclaimed this place.

​After visiting the ruins, we hiked down to the car, retracing our steps on the MacEvoy trail.  The great benefit of hiking a trail in complete darkness is that you can take the same trail in daylight and feel like you are hiking it for the first time!  This trail was absolutely lovely in the daylight – we could now see the quick flowing brook through the valley (and on the way down the trail wasn’t nearly as rocky it seemed on the way up!) All in all, this was a great 7.5-mile hike, with a variety of terrain. It was strenuous but not difficult.  I would recommend getting started early, as these trails (with the exception of the Red trail) are fairly well traveled.  A morning hike will give you a chance to have the ruins mostly to yourself.  By the time we got back to the car (around 11 am) the parking lot was completely full.
 
For lunch, we stopped at Gio’s (Giovanni’s) in Fair Lawn NJ, a classic Italian family restaurant that does a brisk take-out business.  Tom ordered the "Batman and Robin," a chicken cutlet and meatball sub with Gio’s well-loved “Dad’s Vodka Sauce” and I went for a chicken cutlet, bacon and mozzarella wrap, also with Gio’s famous vodka sauce on the side.  The sandwiches came with a delicious rice ball – totally old school!. We drove further east to Hackensack to get some beverages to wash down these beauties!  Our post hike sip was at the Alementary Brewing Company.  Alementary is a funky, small craft brewery tucked away on Voorhis Lane off of Main Street.  They have set up “beer cabanas” outside with bar stools and barrel tables so that individual groups can have their own covered space to enjoy their beer.  The tasting highlight for me was the Mr. Stevens Session Porter.  Surprisingly "gulp-able", the alcohol content is only 4.2% but the flavor is big. This porter has well balanced bitter/roasted/sweet/malt flavors.  Tom liked the Low Earth Orbit, an oatmeal Stout  which was a more classic hefty and creamy stout.   There was also a really nice cream ale, the Spotted Dog, on tap.  We couldn’t get our growler filled (they are not filling outside growlers due to COVID restrictions) but we consoled ourselves by buying 4 tall cans of the Mr. Stevens to go!

I will keep up the Hike and Sip blog entries as long as the weather permits and the breweries/wineries/distilleries are still doing safe outdoor offerings.  That said, I will likely also be returning to “sip only” reviews as I did pre-pandemic!  But hike adventure or not, I hope you will keep reading!  -Amie