ABOUT THE PARK:
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 40.81269, -74.48099
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| Speedwell Lake Parking |
TRAIL MAP:
HIKE DISTANCE: 8.7 miles
THE HIKE:
Because I had an appointment in Morristown and it's half day summer Fridays at work, I wanted to hike a part of the Patriot's Path I had not previously hiked and incorporate Fosterfields Farm where dogs are not allowed since Brodie was not with me. At least that was the plan.
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| Speedwell Lake from the parking lot. |
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| The first 2 miles are paved. |
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| Lake Road over ... |
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| Whippany River |
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| Passing by the recycling center ... |
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| ... where they have a large section of trash repurposed as outdoor area with bird feeders. |
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| The trail follows along the Whippany River. |
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| At almost 2 miles, coming up on Route 617, the busiest road crossing. |
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| I don't think that button was working but cars did stop to let me cross. If you want to stay on pavement, a short road walk to the left leads to another paved portion of trail. I would be returning that way later. |
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| Straight ahead after crossing the road, the pavement ends and the trail becomes gravel. |
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| At Washington Valley Road I would be heading to the left but needed to go a bit farther straight ahead to Lewis Morris County Park where I left off previously. |
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| At Whitehead Road Lewis Morris County Park begins. This was my turn around point. |
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| Continuation of the Patriots Path into Lewis Morris County Park if going that way. |
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| Heading back. |
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| Back at Washington Valley Road, turning right coming from this direction ... |
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| ... on a blue spur of the Patriots Path. Just the other side of the bridge up ahead ... |
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| ... left on a dirt footpath. |
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| At the paved path, a parking area is to the right, I turned left. |
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| At this bench, the red-blazed spur (there are no blazes here) goes to the right as a dirt footpath. |
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| I hated to disturb this rabbit sleeping smack in the middle of the trail. Zooming in I could see several bloated ticks on his neck. Poor bunny. |
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| This trail goes uphill pretty steeply. |
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| Finally some red blazes. |
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| The path follows along a road all the way to Fosterfields. |
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| A juvenile brown thrasher. Saw lots of recently fledged juveniles around. |
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| Coming up on the Fosterfields Visitor Center that looked awfully quiet. |
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| Seriously? I had checked the website the night before and there was nothing stating this. So disappointing. |
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| I walked up the road heading back to see if I could catch a glimpse of anything in the farm. |
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| I zoomed and got one resident! |
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| Hopping off the road and back over to the Patriots Path. |
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| Song Sparrow |
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| Back at that bench, right on the blue-blazed Patriots Path. It's paved all the way back from this point. |
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| Downy Woodpecker |
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| A left on Route 617 ... |
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| ... to the pedestrian crosswalk to cross over then retracing the rest of the way. |
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| Ugh |
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| I packed it out along with a big wad of fishing line. There is never an excuse for this but there are trash cans literally everywhere along here. |
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| Back at the parking lot. |
