South Mountain Reservation – West Orange, Maplewood, Millburn, New Jersey

South Mountain Reservation is a beautiful hike in any season but in the Fall the trail is blanketed with all the colorful leaves that have fallen from the trees throughout the trek.  Your hike may only touch upon the 2,000 acres of vast nature, wildlife (mostly deer), trees, plants, creeks and falls but a must see is the Hemlock Falls area.  Although it was too cold yesterday, we usually head to the middle of the Falls (up the stone stairs) and make our way across to dip our feet in!  The pups love to jump across the waters and get their paws wet as well!   

A Little Bit of History

If you have a chance, another great spot to check out is the Washington Rock Lookout which, in the late 1770’s, during the Revolutionary war, was the location of Beacon Signal Station 9, one of 23 beacons built by General Washington to observe the movement of British troops quartered on Staten Island and Manhattan. Washington Rock served again as a lookout for the Army when reactivated during the War of 1812.  In the 1970’s, Samuel Campbell, was the first to dam the river to establish a paper mill.  Campbell’s Pond, located on the Rahway Trail (White) carries his name. 

The design of South Mountain was finalized by the Olmsted Brothers (the same brothers who designed Central Park) in stages over the years and a good deal of construction work was carried out by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.  An interesting fact about the Olmsted Brothers is that, in addition to South Mountain Reservation, they designed 10 other parks/nature areas in New Jersey and several other locations throughout the tri-state area.  

The Details

Trail Maps: South Mountain Reservation Trail Map

For parking and the beginning of the trail, follow signs for the Dog Park.  Pass the Dog Park on left side and follow Bear Lane down a little until you reach a small parking area on your left hand side.    
See below for Google Maps location.


View Larger Map
 

The Hike 
This hike is a little difficult to follow in the beginning of our trail.  Unfortunately, the maps that are online are not so great for this trek.  We tried to take a picture of the colored map that is posted on the hike but you will see what happened below.  Right where you park there are two trees that have white ribbons tied around them.  According to the trail map this is called a "foot path".  You follow the foot path to the Lenape Trail (Yellow).  The Lenape Trail is much easier to follow along once you reach it!

The trek is moderate.  There are some some rocky sections and the steps at Hemlock Falls are pretty steep.  Other than that, many of the trails are paved and covered with leaves at this moment!

Our hike was 4.3 miles and took us a little of 2 hours to complete. 

Check out our adventures below!

                                               Parking Area on Bear Lane

                                              The entrance to the Foot Path

                                                     (white ribbon on tree)

                                             First traces on snow this season!!

                                  Coming down the mountain towards Hemlock Falls

                             

                              It was chilly but Piper still took a dip to fetch her stick!

                                                            Hemlock Falls

                                      Up the stone stairs following the waterfall up

                                                       Great views at the top!

Playing around!

We were going to take a picture of the colored map but unfortunately someone cut it out...such a shame.  I hope it is replaced soon...

Heading back to the car!