Jun 02, 2019 — New Jersey has some nice pockets of green space, and South Mountain Reservation is definitely a nice example of one. Back home for a week for family stuff, I couldn't go without grabbing a few hikes. My parents and I did a popular loop in this park, starting from the Locust Grove Trailhead on the southern end of the park. We followed Lenape Trail heading east and up to Washington Rock Overlook. This was the most vertical gain for the day. A paved trail led to the overlook, where we picked up the Lenape Trail again as it led us north. We passed Maple Falls, a small cascade, and Balls Bluff, the remains of a patio of some rich guy.
We got up to Hemlock Falls, which was surprisingly pretty, and took a short detour to get to the top of the falls on the left side. After enjoying the falls and having lunch, we took the River Trail back to complete the loop. This trail was just a dirt road and fairly uneventful.
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