Hiking to the Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson

Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson

I haven’t had a lot of time to hike lately and I’ve missed it.  Truthfully between running and hiking, there are times I just appreciate hiking. Not trail running but just hiking and tooling around in on trails for a few hours. I’ve wanted to get to the Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson for a while.  Northern New Jersey has plenty of beautiful trails including Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson.

Headley Overlook is located in Mahlon Dickerson Park in northwest NJ.  The park itself has about 10 miles of hiking or running depending on your mood. I went to the Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson after a few days of rain, so the park was wetter than normal but still moderately easy to get through.

The Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson has a view of Lake Hopatcong. Then the trail passes the highest point in Morris County (1395′).

Then you return down an old flat rail bed (also known as the Ogden Mine Railroad).  At the Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson, you can hike anywhere between 1-10 miles because of all of the trail systems. The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference has all of the trail maps online including pine swamp loop and highlands trail teal.

We set out to stay at Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson for about 3 hours. It ended up being somewhere between 5-7 miles.

We parked at the beautiful and peaceful Saffin Pond. There is plenty of room in the parking lot and parking area. Plus a small picnic area too. We started on the teal diamond which was rocky and a little wet due to rain at Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson.

Nothing too strenuous and I used my Under Armour Gore Trail shoes with no issues.  Slowly I started climbing over the course of a mile and arrived to the Headley Overlook around 2.5 miles. The view at Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson is wonderful and you can see Lake Hopatcong in the distance.

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Around 4 miles, I reached the highest point in Morris County. It’s not the highest spot in NJ, but up there.

From there, we hiked back to the car which was another hour or so. We explored the old rail beds.  It was the lowest, and the wettest area in the Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson.

In all, Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson was a peaceful hike. The entire park has about 10 miles of trails which are doable for most, especially the rail bed (which is almost completely flat).

You can see all hikes here. 

Questions for you:

What is your favorite hiking spot? Have you been to Headley Overlook at Mahlon Dickerson? 

What is your favorite season to hike?

I thought mine was summer, but truthfully, I enjoy the lack of bugs and people during this time of the year.