Review: Mahlon Dickerson Reservation

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  • (4.4)5 reviews
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Eric Mao

2 years ago
3/5

(This review is only for the hiking aspect.)

*Do not forget to bring/put on bug spray if you're going hiking. There are so. many. bugs.

Granted, the bugs are mostly flies and other flying insects, but they honestly made the hike really uncomfortable. I'm not even sure if bug spray would've made a huge difference. Maybe if you purchase those bug spray wipes and very cautiously apply to your face (avoiding eyes, lips, mouth and washing hands after applying).

The bugs pretty much followed/clung to us for the whole trip. There was constant buzzing in my ear. I'm not sure if it was because we had applied sunscreen, but there were very few areas where we wouldn't be constantly swatting around us. I think we expected some insects being that there are swamp areas, but even when not near any water or swampy areas, insects were a big nuisance.

These trails seem to be less frequented and less popular than other places, so expect walking into lots of spiderwebs as well.

The hike itself is farily flat with some gradual steepness here and there. We loosely followed the "Pine Swamp Trail" that is listed on All Trails (app was very helpful during the hike), which is roughly 7 miles. It took us 3 hours at a relaxed pace. If you hike frequently, most trails are casual.

The overlook was kind of underwhelming, as trees pretty much covered any chance of a vista. There was one small window of a view of distant mountains. But besides that, not much. Perhaps the overlook would be better in the winter.

I would definitely recommend planning the hike and deciding which trails to go on ahead of time. There are blazes and lots of different colored trails, but not much signage or maps once on the trail. The only signage we saw while on the trail was for Headley's Overlook. As I'm looking at the map now after the hike, I realized that we didn't hike close to "The Highest Point in Morris County" that's written on the digital map on the morrisparks.net website. We were at one point debating whether to continue on White or to go on Orange (we were coming from the east), and there were no signs about this highest point. We had assumed the highest point was Headley's Overlook.

One of the plusses about hiking here was that most of the trails are shaded, so hiking during 80-degree-plus whether was very comfortable. There are also porta potties at some stops where there were parking lots.

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