ABOUT THE PARK: Morris County NJ Park Commission
TRAIL MAP: Morris County NJ Park Commission online trail map
Maps are usually available at park kiosks but recommend printing one out in case none are available.
PARKING DIRECTIONS:
I-80 to Route 15 North to right on Weldon Road to Saffin Pond parking lot on the right.
NEW JERSEY 1K CLUB PEAKS:
Bowling Green Mountain
Morris County High Point
HIKE DIRECTIONS:
The weather was very iffy so decided to bag some peaks (NJ1K.org) at a park where I would have opportunities to cut the hike short if need be. This is a fairly easy hike with inclines to the peaks but no scrambles. The total distance is 11 miles. There are many trails in this park so a variety of shorter loops are possible.
From the parking lot follow the teal-blazed highland trail along Saffin Pond:
At .50 miles turn left on an unmarked trail which meets up with a yellow-blazed trail at .80 miles.
Follow the yellow-blazed trail to 1.50 miles when the yellow trail turns right, keeping straight ahead to the Headley Overlook sign at 1.75 miles. Turn right and walk a short distance to Headley's Overlook with a view of Lake Hopatcong:
Retrace your steps and continue right on the teal-blazed Highland Trail crossing over Weldon Road at 2.00 miles. At 2.50 miles turn right the white/teal trail then right on an unmarked trail at the next intersection. Keep right on the unmarked trail to Weldon Road and cross over entering Snow Bowl, an abandoned ski area. Follow the wide gravel road up the mountain. You will see a communication tower at the top of the mountain and that is where you will end up either via the gravel road or a trail which runs to the left of the gravel road. Once at the top turn left and a short distance ahead on the left at 3.75 miles is a large boulder with a cairn on top which is the Bowling Green Mountain summit.
A little farther ahead is an abandoned chairlift cut. Continuing past that to 4.25 miles where dirt roads intersect, you will see a fire tower to the right which supposedly offers great views but when I got there it was drizzling so I did not go up. Retrace your steps all the way back crossing back over Weldon Road and reentering via the unmarked trail. Turn right at the next unmarked trail which will bring you to the Cascade Trail which you will follow to the end at 6.75 miles.
At the end of the Cascade Trail there are many options for getting to the Morris County High Point on the white-blazed trail but with all of the unmarked trails, I am not quite sure how I got there. We arrived at Morris County High Point at 8.25 miles.
From the Morris County High Point head south on the white-blazed trail to meet up with an unmarked trail at 8.75 miles. Head west on the unmarked trail which takes to you a left on the pleasant, flat, easy Ogden Mine Railroad Path at 9.75 miles.
The Ogden Mine Railroad Path comes out at Weldon Road at 11 miles with the parking lot where the hike started on the other side of Weldon Road.
I found an old map online that shows the former the ski trails that are not on the Mahlon Dickerson Reservation trail map.
LITTER REPORT (This is included in hopes somebody who litters will see it and think twice before littering again.):
The trails are immaculate. The park has an Adopt-A-Trail program and there is no litter. Over at Bowling Green Mountain, however, the litter is disgusting. This seems to be more of an abandoned/non-maintained area. There was too much litter for me to even think about making a dent in it so I just picked up random trash along the way.
What a great blog! I am looking to lead a hike here for a group and their dogs. Can you recommend a piece of this trail that is 3-4 miles long, contains water features and other cool things to see, and be walkable for the dogs?
ReplyDeleteErin - Hope you look back here because your profile isn't visible for me to write you directly.
ReplyDeleteI have hiked almost the entire park with my dog so everything is walkable for dogs. As far as water, this time of year there probably won't be much other than at Saffin Pond. There are brooks along the route I will describe below but I expect they might be dry right now.
I would suggest parking at the Saffin Pond lot, directions in this blog. Take the Highland Connector Trail (black on teal diamonds) from by the porta potty along Saffin Pond. At the end of the pond, turn left and follow the teal diamond Highlands Trail all the way up to Headley Overlook. Shortly after Headley Overlook come to an intersection and turn left on the yellow trail which will take you straight back to the parking lot. This is going to be more like 5 miles but you hit the highlights - Saffin Pond and Headley Overlook in a loop without backtracking. To make it around 3.5 miles you can take the yellow trail from the parking lot to Headley Overlook (you will see a sign where to turn off the trail to the overlook), turn around and head back to the parking lot.
Here is another site with some option:
http://www.njhiking.com/nj-hikes-mahlon-dickerson-headley-overlook.php
Thanks for the nice compliment and hope this helps!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDo you know the parking lot situation there?
ReplyDeleteDo the parking lots get full early usually?
if my profile isnt public you can email me at Delphiprogrammer@hotmail.com, but I will check this web page often for your response.
thank you
I'll email you directly but for the benefit of others I'll respond here also. I always hike very early because I like being the only one there and I usually am early on. I can tell you the times I have finished hiking in the early afternoon and returned to the parking lot at that time there were still plenty of parking spots open at Saffin Pond. It is a very large lot and there are other lots available also but I have not parked at the others.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your response.
ReplyDeleteyour blob is very useful for hikes in the metro area.
regarding the parking, I called up the park and they said they started construction which will end up closing 1 of the parking lots soon, but they plan to create another parking lot.
*typo correction blog not blob :)
ReplyDeleteI live near here. It's a great place to hike. So many trails. Suffin Pond trail is where a lot of people park and hike but there are many many other trails to do and other areas to hike. You can get lost, but the past year 2012 they have made better markers here. You can make your trip really long or really short. This place is never really that busy, you always feel like you are alone in the forest here. Most people hike in other areas of Morris County or Sussex County so it never gets busy although it's more popular for mountain bikers. Advice is to print up a color map from the official website and do the cascade trail(purple), short but nice. areas of swap trail are very tick prone. White trail is very long and everywhere. Also park at the baseball field/picnic area. You can still walk up to the Suffin pond using the yellow trail/ bring map though because some paths are different paths!
ReplyDeleteFor water features it is possible to start and end at ponds/lakes. start at either the Saffin pond parking area. start on yellow trail next to info sign, stay straight on yellow trail do not take left turn going across spillway, continue past point where Teal trail crosses, take left at next large Y (yes you are still on Yellow Trail it has a bunch of spurs in the area), continue to follow yellow to Saffin Rock Rill Pond. At this point You could either retrace your path back to Saffin pond or if you have 2 cars leave 1 at the Saffin Rock Rill parking area to return to the pond parking area (You will pass the yellow trail spur shortly before reaching the Rock Rill pond) to retrieve the main car. It should measure about 3.3 miles. each way. Confusing but a map would help a lot better to download and print your own as they are rarely available at info posts.
ReplyDelete