Mahlon Dickerson & Jenny Jump Trail

[Linda Frank]

We've been trying to take as much advantage of the cooler, breezier, sunnier and (dare I say: less rainy) conditions these past few weekends.  So we took our pent-up energy & enthusiasm to Mahlon Dickerson and Jenny Jump a couple of weeks ago.  We'd done the northern section of Jenny a few weeks before that when the mosquitoes were in prehistoric mode. Ugh!  With better weather conditions finally at hand we decided to return and do the "extended" lower section, which amounted to approximately 3-1/2 miles (6-7 miles total out and back).  Blowdowns? Yes.  Muddy.  Kinda.  Colorful?  Just showing treetops of golds and oranges against blue sky.  So, yeah...colorful you bet!

One thing to remember when doing the lower Jenny Jump Trail itself is that there are still white blazes on many trees alongside the true Jenny blazes which are blue.  My sense (and someone please correct me if I'm wrong here) is that the old white blazes were posted as the trail was being incrementally extended way back when.  So don't be confused if you see both blaze colors together. Or just white by itself. Basically, you're following the blue. 

Only towards the very end of the trail did it get truly muddy, wet, s-l-o-p-p-y & overgrown and not my hiking cup o'tea.  But we slogged through determined to reach what is considered (for now anyway) the end of this extension.

We had similar color confusion on the Highland Trail section of Mahlon Dickerson.  DH and I got "off trail" for about 1/2 mile following what we thought were the teal Highland Trail blazes.  Eventually something told me that these weren't the real HT blazes because although similar in color they were just straight hash marks as opposed to typical HT fat diamonds.  Sure enough...wrong direction.  Doubled back to where we finally picked up proper HT blazes.  So big deal...we added on an extra mile.  Who's counting?  Just meant more pizza at trails' end. :)

What?  You didn't know the International Hiker's Equation?

"Number of Miles Accrued and/or Degree Of Trail Difficulty = Amount Of Pizza and/or Ice Cream Consumed Post Hike"

At Mahlon Dickerson overlooking Lake Hopatcong

Foggy morning view of Delaware Water Gap from Jenny Jump overlook. (Note hawk in frame on the right)

One of the many blowdowns still on Jenny.  This one was more a resting spot than a trail impediment.

Love those hidden waterfalls! This about 2/3 through Jenny Jump.

My pic size started fluctuating while posting this.  Good thing I can't say the same for our enthusiasm and enjoyment of these hikes. 

Linda

 

[njHiking.com]

"Number of Miles Accrued and/or Degree Of Trail Difficulty = Amount Of Pizza and/or Ice Cream Consumed Post Hike"

We wholeheartedly agree with your math over here. The corollaries: Hiking is really just an excuse to snack all day, and trail mix is really just an excuse to eat M&Ms by the handful. 

And oddly, we just did the Jenny Jump Trail this past weekend too...

 

Dawn

[Daniela Wagstaff]

Darned, and here I thought the more I eat the more I need to hike.  I have it all backwards.