SMR: Elmdale South



Elmdale South Loop, South Mountain Reservation (3/17/2019)

Continuing our exploration of previously unhiked trails in this beautiful reservation, we returned today to hike a loop in the area south of South Orange Avenue.

We parked in the Locust Grove lot in Millburn and headed west into the woods on the "Fairy Trail", the southern-most part of the Railway trail. It's called the Fairy Trail because of the large number of tiny houses built in the trunks of the trees along the way. We took an unblazed path south to Glen Avenue and walked no more than 0.1 of a mile to get to the entrance of the Elmdale Trail across Brookside Drive (which apparently is closed to traffic every Sunday morning). We took this blue-blazed trail north to the Painted Point Trail. Here we headed west, then south on the unblazed West Ridge Trail to a supposed view on Hawk Hill. But we saw none. We ended up back on the Elmdale south of the Painted Point Trail, so we had to repeat that part. Arriving at the PPT, we made a right, crossed Brookside Drive and picked up the Rahway Trail high above the Rahway River. We headed north until we were able to cross the river on a bridge. We then proceeded south on the Rahway Trail (lots of trails labeled "Rahway" here), which skirts the river, with some nice views. This we took all the way back to the car. You can see our track here.

Total distance hiked today was exactly 5 miles in just under three hours.

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