Lewis Morris

General Information

Lewis Morris Park is a medium-small sized park with a very high level of maintenance. There is hardly ever a stick in the trail, let alone a log. In the fall the leaves are literally blown from the trails. There are nicely constructed micro gravel paths yet many sections with an overload of roots. Plenty of climbing, steep but short, nothing sustained. The high quality of the trails makes the descending fast and fun, especially the last half of the yellow trail going clockwise. Every year Marty's Reliable Cycle hosts an H2H race here, the Lewis Morris Challenge. It is also home to the Mountain Man Biathalon.

Across route 24 is Patriot's Path which offers some extended miles and the Gilligan's Island loop.

Google Map

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40.791978,-74.532231 Park Entrance This is the actual park entrance. From here, go up to the Sunrise Lake parking area. Directions

40.788736,-74.546606, Route 24 Parking Small lot which is tough on weekdays because of the high traffic, but good for weekends. Cross 24 to hit the trails. Directions

40.765722,-74.552722, Tempe Wick Road Entrance Not always open, a small lot on the backside of the park. Puts you right on the yellow trail. Directions

Details and Info

Miles: 6 miles is about the maximum sized loop. You can incorporate more trails but not in a continuous loop. A popular addition is to add sections of Patriot's Path into the ride.

Difficulty: Beginner

Trails: Singletrack, Fire Road

Surface: Dirt (loose hardpack), Gravel, Mixed

Obstacles: Trail Obstacles

Special Features: Bridges

Detailed Overview: Beginner in term of technical riding. Even experts can enjoy themselves as keeping race pace on all the hills is quite a challenge. Try for a few laps! Very clean and very beautiful forest and lake. Toboggan, an extremely steep hill between the Mendham Overlook and Sugarloaf parking areas where groups will challenge each other to see who can make it the furthest up the hill.

Park Website: Morris County Parks Lewis Morris Page. Note that this map is slightly outdated. The Teal trail has been rerouted slightly and be mindful of the right hand turn to stay on the Teal trail after it hits the section of new trail. There is currently work ongoing to reroute the Green trail.

Trails

Trail Name	Blaze	Distance	Description
Red	Red	2.5 miles
Yellow	Yellow	6.0 miles	Most popular trail, usually run in a clockwise direction to enjoy the downhill flow of the last few miles leading back to sunrise lake.
Green	Green	2.3 miles	Currently under major reroute.
Teal	Teal	.5 miles
Orange	Orange	x.x miles	All the connector trails are marked as orange. The Orange trail connecting Yellow/Blue to the Teal trail contains the switchbacks often called the staircase

Routes

Rider: gtluke

Route Description: The 09 race loop, descending the Yellow trail at the end of the race loop. Climb until you can't find any more hills to go up! Try for a clockwise direction starting at Sunrise Lake and descend the yellow trail.

Links: Garmin

Route Description: this is the proposed 2014 Lewis Morris Challenge race loop. 2014 Lewis Morris Challenge runs in a clockwise direction.

Links: Ride with GPS