Nickel Mine and MacMillan Reservoir

Ramapo Valley County Reservation,
Mahwah
Bergen Co.,
New Jersey

Trails:
Silver Trail: Silver blaze
Ridge Trail: Blue blaze
Waterfall Trail: Yellow blaze
River Trail: Red blaze

Total Time: 2:25 hr
Estimated Distance: 4.2 Miles
Level of Difficulty: Moderate to Slightly difficult
Level of Recommendation: Recommended
Points Of Interest: Nice lakes, good view, and mine


Google Maps of Parking:

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The weather so far every Sunday in November has been fabulous. Today was no different, reaching a high close to 60 with a full sun and blue sky. I parked in the main parking area off Route 202, which is very large and always has lots of cars on a Sunday, especially when the weather is nice. Took the heavily used Silver Trail going up, and took the quieter western spur of the Silver Trail as I started climbing the mountain. From there took the Ridge Trail in its entirety. I took it to the view, then at the intersection of the Havemeyer Trail I bushwacked down a little bit to check out the Nickel Mine. There are two open pits with dumps, but not much of anything interesting here.

Continued back along the Ridge Trail, past the bend, and descended down towards the brook and to the Silver Trail. Took the Silver Trail to the dam of the MacMillan Reservoir, where it starts getting real busy. At one this was once a road, and so it is very wide and has lots of people walking on it such as joggers and people walking their dogs. I took the spur off to the right on the quieter waterfall trail, took some pictures at the waterfall (which was flowing nicely due to abundant rains), and then continued down to the bottom of the mountain where I took the River Trail. Took this route along the side of the Ramapo Trail back to the Silver Trail right near the terminus, and then back to my car.

Map of the Route

Fisherman in the Ramapo River at the beginning of the hike.
Taken from the bridge.

 

Scarlet Oak Reservoir. Facing Hawk Rock.

View on the Ridge Trail.
Facing east with Ramapo College in View.

The view on the Ridge Trail. Facing South.

Another shot from the view on the Ridge Trail.
Facing southwest.

Mine Pit at the Nickel Mine, surrounded by the dumps.

MacMillan Reservoir, from the Dam. Facing northwest.

The waterfall near the bottom of the mountain.