Having grown up in the Ringwood and Wanaque area, I took full advantage of the pristine waters and 115,584 acres of the watershed that surround the Wanaque Reservoir and Monksville Reservoir.

The Wanaque Reservoir was constructed in 1928. In 1987 the Monksville Reservoir and the Monksville Dam were completed, adding another 7 billion gallons of storage capacity to the 29.6 billion gallon storage capacity of the Wanaque Reservoir.

I took this picture from the top of the Monksville Dam.

These two bodies of water are managed by the North Jersey water supply commission.
These reservoirs supply water to 13 different townships, including the City of Newark, with a population of 283,000 residents.

The average daily consumption of water supplied to these 13 townships is 190,000,000 gallons per day.

The Wanaque Reservoir Dam, known as the Raymond Dam, is the longest of the eight dams servicing the reservoir. The dam is 1,500 ft long.

The Wanaque Dam during construction.

http://njturnpikewidening.com/pdf/about_reservoir.html
One of the splendid things about the Monksville Reservioris is that they allow recreational activities to take place on its waters. Residents from the surrounding area are able to fish and enjoy boating, but swimming is not allowed.

These next two pictures of the spillway were a little dangerous to capture but well worth the risk

The elevation from the top of the spillway to the water below is about 400 feet.

After making my way over the wall on the opposite side of the dam, my intentions were to snap a few pictures and get back on the right side of the law, but something caught my eye.
Swimming around in the frigid waters 400 feet below were some #featheredfriends that I was able to snap a few photos of. I snapped away with the camera in full zoom. Many of the shots were very blurry, but a few of them were decent enough to include in this post. I have no idea what kind of birds these are.
The picture in the bottom right-hand corner of this collage shows two of these fellows diving for baitfish. The arrow indicates the splash that one of them made during the dive. The circled area shows a slight image of the bird underwater as his buddy follows his lead.

Let's take a look at what 7 billion gallons of water looks like.

That's a lot of water!
What is so very special about the Monksville Reservoir is its dual purpose. Throughout the year all sorts of watercraft dot the surface of this landscape. This body of water has been stocked with a variety of fish, including Lake Trout, Rainbow Trout, Muskie, Walleye, Channel Catfish, Perch, Large and Small Mouth bass.

New Jersey State Record Muskie, caught while ice fishing on Monksville Reservoir in 1997.
It's no wonder swimming is prohibited.
42 lbs 13 oz.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/

Another monster from the depths of the reservoir.

https://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/recmusky.htm

While the birds at the bottom of the spillway were fishing,
more common birds were gliding over the surface of the reservoir.

This is the walkway that takes you out to the mouth of the spillway.

The remaining pictures are of the Wanaque Reservoir.
This body of water was strictly off-limits, but back in the day,
the Wanaque Reservoir was our playground.
We knew of every hole in the fencing and every cove that was out of view from the road.
Pack a lunch and the fishing gear and we would be on some hidden shoreline with our worm in the water by 7:00 am.
The signs warned us about trespassing but said nothing about swimming. 😁
The way we looked at the situation, there weren't too many guards patrolling this vast area and if one spotted us, there was no way he was going to catch us.

UPON LEAVING, WE NEVER LEFT A FOOTPRINT,
MAKING SURE TO LEAVE THIS UNBLEMISHED PARADISE JUST AS WE FOUND IT!

This bridge is relatively new, having been completed just a few years ago.

It leads you to one of our favorite places to fish and the riskiest as far as getting caught.

Once you crossed the bridge you came to a piece of roadway that got the nickname, DEAD MAN'S CURVE. Before the new bridge was constructed, the rock wall, seen in the top right-hand corner of this collage, came right to the edge of the road. Every few years someone would be driving their car into the reservoir while trying to navigate this hairpin turn.

Gate-9 was a common destination.

Miller's Falls holds some of the largest Brook, Rainbow, and Brown Trout imaginable. The stream above the falls is a constant source of fresh, cold, mountain water. At times you would see anglers there and you knew they had somehow gotten permission to fish the falls, while us peons had to be incognito the entire time, most often fishing just before dusk.

A few photos of the mountain stream that leads to Miller's Falls.

To see this area still looking very much the same after all these years,

brought back so many fond memories and gave me hope that CLEAN, POTABLE WATER can still be had.

So much of mankind's fresh water supply has been taken for granted
and has been contaminated beyond repair.
When will the madness stop?
Water, water, everywhere but not a drop to drink.

Before I say goodbye,
here is an article about a sighting of a UFO that occurred over the Wanaque Reservoir.
This incident made national news,
with hundreds of people from a dozen neighboring towns reporting seeing the UFO.

https://weirdnj.com/stories/unexplained-phenomena/wanaque-reservoir-ufo/