Mahlon Dickerson Reservation — Attraction in Jefferson Township

Had a great time camping with 2 families at Mahlon Dickerson Reservation in August 2020. This review is mainly about our experience camping at the shelters (not the tents). MDR is a fairly secluded place, even if it's only 15 min from Rt. 80 in Jefferson.

Pros: secluded, private place. You really feel like you're actually camping. The only noises we heard we us and nature (and not cars and other campers). very reasonably priced shelters and campground were maintained in very good condition nice fire-pit/ grill. easy access to chopped wood and bear-proof garbage close by to Rt. 80 & Rt.15 in Western NJ.

Cons: only a port-a-potty at shelter / tent site - no running water toilet or shower (there is a working water faucet near shelter S4) Privacy comes at a cost - few amenities within walking distance (no playground, open ball fields, didn't see any marked hiking trails, etc.) Can't drive straight up to shelters - walk a few hundred feet (but this helps with seclusion part).

Initially tried to book using the online reservation tool, but after struggling for 15 minutes, I called the Morris County parks and got a live person and was able to book in 5 minutes. We only camped the 1 night, and arrived in the afternoon. We stayed in 2 of the Adirondack shelters (aka lean-tos). It was a ~9' x 11' wooden platform with walls on 3 sides and a roof. But ultimately, my kids decided it would be more fun to pitch the tent we brought and sleep there, next to the lean-to which worked fine as well. Ground is a bit rocky, but we found a decent spot for a large tent. Liked the secluded nature of the place, the serenade of crickets and bugs and birds from dusk to dawn. They had good grill/ fire pits that we cooked s'mores on. We brought our own grill, but we probably could have cooked on their iron grill if we had wanted. The shelters are in good shape and would have been fine for sleeping bags. It wasn't too buggy, though we brought a couple citronella candles and had them and the firepits going before going to sleep which may have helped. The 4 shelters are a good 50+ feet from each other. You can also think of them as pairs, as 1&2 are together, then a larger space between 2&3, and then 3&4 are fairly close. Good for a couple families or groups going. Note that you cannot (or not when we went) drive right up to the shelters. Though there is a short walking path from the parking lot to the shelters, be prepared to carry your gear a couple hundred feet from the car to your shelter spot. The lack of a full bathroom (there is one at the RV site about 1/4 mile away, not sure if it's open right now) was a drawback for some members of my family. There is a little shed near shelter S4 that has a water tap outside that was working. The kids loved the animals and trees - we saw frogs, grasshoppers, slugs, caterpillars... and heard birds and owls, and lots of other ambient noise. Did not see any deer, bear or large animals.

Overall it was a nice place and I would strongly recommend it for a "wilderness" type camping adventure that you can almost access from the trunk of your car. You might run out of things to do in a couple days since there are not many amenities, but definitely worth a try if you're looking to experience the...

(This review is only for the hiking aspect.)

*Do not forget to bring/put on bug spray if you're going hiking. There are so. many. bugs.

Granted, the bugs are mostly flies and other flying insects, but they honestly made the hike really uncomfortable. I'm not even sure if bug spray would've made a huge difference. Maybe if you purchase those bug spray wipes and very cautiously apply to your face (avoiding eyes, lips, mouth and washing hands after applying).

The bugs pretty much followed/clung to us for the whole trip. There was constant buzzing in my ear. I'm not sure if it was because we had applied sunscreen, but there were very few areas where we wouldn't be constantly swatting around us. I think we expected some insects being that there are swamp areas, but even when not near any water or swampy areas, insects were a big nuisance.

These trails seem to be less frequented and less popular than other places, so expect walking into lots of spiderwebs as well.

The hike itself is farily flat with some gradual steepness here and there. We loosely followed the "Pine Swamp Trail" that is listed on All Trails (app was very helpful during the hike), which is roughly 7 miles. It took us 3 hours at a relaxed pace. If you hike frequently, most trails are casual.

The overlook was kind of underwhelming, as trees pretty much covered any chance of a vista. There was one small window of a view of distant mountains. But besides that, not much. Perhaps the overlook would be better in the winter.

I would definitely recommend planning the hike and deciding which trails to go on ahead of time. There are blazes and lots of different colored trails, but not much signage or maps once on the trail. The only signage we saw while on the trail was for Headley's Overlook. As I'm looking at the map now after the hike, I realized that we didn't hike close to "The Highest Point in Morris County" that's written on the digital map on the morrisparks.net website. We were at one point debating whether to continue on White or to go on Orange (we were coming from the east), and there were no signs about this highest point. We had assumed the highest point was Headley's Overlook.

One of the plusses about hiking here was that most of the trails are shaded, so hiking during 80-degree-plus whether was very comfortable. There are also porta potties at some stops where there were...

Be prepared that you can reserve a place, pay for it, but when you arrive no one will be expecting you. And for your own money you will be kicked out of the park calling you bums and liars, no one will deal with the situation until you call the police.

We booked an RV site through our phone for two nights. Their part time worker did not send us a confirmation on the mail and did not leave anything that would help us find our place.

In the morning their employee started kicking us out and did not listen to any of our explanations and proof that we had a reservation. It was only after the police came to investigate that he started to do something. It turned out that their part time employee just did nothing for us. And the employee (old man) did not listen to us and did not understand the situation, called us liars. All he had to do was call their part time employee and resolve the issue, but he didn't.

This is such a service, for our money we ran in the morning to collect our RV that after two hours of conversations with the employee and the police to return to our reserved...