ABOUT THE PARK:
Patriots' Path - Morris County Park Commission
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 40.795850, -74.560207
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| Parking at Dismal Harmony Natural Area. |
TRAIL MAP:
Patriots' Path West - Morris County Parks Commission
Patriots' Path East - Morris County Parks Commission
HIKE DISTANCE:
Out and back with exploring - 13.5 miles
Out and back to the end of the Patriots' Path spur - 11.5 miles (5.75 miles each way)
THE HIKE:
This hike is the blue-blazed Patriots' Path spur trail that heads south from the white-blazed Patriots' Path out of Dismal Harmony Natural Area.
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| From the Dismal Harmony parking lot, follow the white Patriots' Path markers right on East Main Street. |
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| After crossing the bridge over Dismal Brook, the Patriots' Path leaves East Main Street to the left. |
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| When the white-blazed Patriots' Path turns left, turn right on the blue spur trail. |
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| At Cherry Lane, turn right briefly ... |
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| ... the left on the police station drive ... |
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| ... and continue along the side of the police station. |
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| At the next road crossing, which is an entrance drive to a school, you can't see the continuation of the trail ... |
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| ... until you get to the other side of the drive because it descends steeply. |
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| Along the way I noticed a balloon off to the side but the grass was very wet and I did not want to get my shoes wet this early on so I made a mental note of landmarks to grab it on my way back. Unfortunately, I was not able to find it on the return route. But as it turns out, I passed by this exact spot on my hike the following day and was successful in locating and grabbing that balloon. |
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| Turning around, I could see that I had come off of what is also named the John T. Cunningham Trail. |
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| Crossing Cold Hill Road with Mendham Commons on the right. |
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| The label says: "This is not a camera. This is an infra-red beam counter. Morris County Park Commission." |
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| Coming up on a little park on the corner where ... |
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| ... we left the Patriots' Path to the right to loop around the pond. |
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| Back at the Patriots' Path, crossing Mountain Avenue. |
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| One set of stepping stones ... |
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| ... and another. Just after this second set of stepping stones, a wide gravel trail goes to the right and eventually continues on as a trail to Butermilk Falls, a connection I was hoping to find for the hike the following day. |
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| The Patriots' Path continues on a gravel residential drive which leads to homes ... |
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| ... and leaves as a narrow footpath at the end of the drive. |
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| At Route 24, cross over and ... |
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| ... continue along the side of the fire station. |
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| Passing by the access to Schiff Reservation trails. |
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| The Patriots' Path seemingly ends at Burnett Brook. The map shows a proposed continuation trail to the right and there was a trail so we followed it as far as we could. |
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| Immediately there is a little bridge. |
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| The trail is unmarked but it can be followed. |
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| A boardwalk along the way. |
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| But then everything ends again at Burnett Brook. Had I been able to see a trail on the other side, we would have forded the creek to continue but there was nothing. Burnett Brook Natural Areas would be up a short distance on the other side but no visible way to get there from here. |
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| So we took a break in this quiet, peaceful place. |
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| Then headed back. |
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| Back at the Patriots' Path, we followed the trail to the left a short distance and could see a trail on the other side. Just as I was contemplating whether or not to ford over and give it a shot, three other hikers came from that direction. They had actually forded over where we took our break and bushwhacked but ran into lots of thorny overgrowth before finding the blazed Burnett Brook Natural Area trails along with a section of the Patriots' Path that ends at Burnett Brook from that side farther upstream. So it seems like the proposed part of the Patriots' Path might have been started but never connected. |
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| So over we crossed to see if we could get to Burnett Brook Natural Area this way. |
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| We ended up in a maze of nicely mowed paths which all seemed to lead to a house so I think we might have been on someone's property. |
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| But it was confusing because along these mowed paths were tree identification signs which would be Burnett Brook Natural Area. |
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| I headed back to the gas pipeline right of way and came to this fence and sign. Turns out this is where those other 3 hikers came in from but it was very overgrown along the fence so I decided to abort and head back. |
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| Taking the gas pipeline right of way back to ... |
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| ... Burnett Brook crossing. |
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| Now retracing back. |
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| Passing by the fire station before crossing Route 24. |
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| Coming out on that gravel residential drive where there are no blazes or markers but the Patriots' Path continues straight. |
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| Coming off of that residential drive, the Patriots' Path follows a paved road for a short distance ... |
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| ... then leaves to the right. |
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| Passing by that little park with the pond. |
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| When blue ends, left on white. |
Nice hike. I did almost the same route (without side trips) a few years ago. Only difference, to avoid doubling back I rook a Uber back to my starting point. Have you ever considered that? I wanted to avoid an out & back hike (which I sometimes find a little boring). I've done it twice and it seemed to work out pretty well, at least in a suburban area.
ReplyDeleteKind of hard to take an Uber with Brodie along. Last year my car broke down in Harrisburg, PA so I had to take an Uber to the airport to rent a car to get back home and the Uber driver was not amused by Brodie's presence although he agreed to let him ride since these were extenuating circumstances. I did have to take an Uber back to my car once when I was hiking without a dog and a bear blocked my return route which was the only way back to my car. Instead of an out & back, I called that hike an out & uber. At any rate, stay tuned for the next post because yesterday I came up with a very nice loop, yes LOOP, incorporating this blue spur and the white Patriots' Path
Deletejust did this branch recently and it's amazing how empty it is in the middle of exurbia. the only people i encountered were a jogger, some landscapers, a sunbather at the lake, and a couple of dog walkers.
Deletethat small plank bridge at burnett brook to the unmarked trails is gone and the trails are more overgrown. it didn't occur to me to rock hop the brook to that continuing right-of-way. looking across the brook, i spotted a POSTED sign on a tree, which corresponds to your hunch it's private property. a little research reveals it is 60 acres of preserved farmland. it's owned by a LLC that appears to be related to a neighboring farm property, owned by the Wilmerding family. apparently, there was (is?) supposed to be an easement, but the status isn't clear. it's too bad there isn't an improved connection through to burnett brook natural area. i am intrigued to try out your loop up past buttermilk falls and back through dismal harmony natural area. https://www.mendhamtownship.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif7531/f/minutes/approved_02-27-2023_meeting_minutes.pdf