Parks and Recreation

Deer Park Pond
Via
White Trail
and/or
Dam Maintenance Road

DIRECTIONS: Take CR 517 south to Deer Park Rd. and turn left. There are signs along CR 517 for the State Park. Proceed to your first parking area where you will see a bulletin board which has a map of the Stephens and Allamuchy Mountain State Parks. There is also a map dispenser with free trail maps.

NOTE: This trip through the woods to Deer Park Pond offers several advantages to the visitor.  First, you are always on a road (dirt - stone) all the way to the dam which is located on the far end of the lake. The second advantage is that you can control the distance you walk depending on which of three parking lots you start from.  This varies as the Rangers sometimes block access to the last lot.  The third advantage is, very little grade the entire trip. This is an excellent trip for all ages, making it an ideal family trip where you may combine the old with the young.  This is also a great place to jog.

TRAIL INFO: This road is part of the White Trail system in Allamuchy Mountain State Park. There is not much to describe about the physical characteristics of the trail as it is literally an unpaved, well kept road.  There are some items of interest to look for traveling north from Deer Park Rd. parking areas. 

The first part of your journey you will go through several fields where you may find many wild flowers, and if lucky, see some of the local wildlife.  Take a few seconds and look over the various wild flowers and you may get a pleasant surprise; case in point – I was photographing a butterfly on a group of wild flowers when another butterfly landed on the next flower. When I got home and looked at the picture I noticed I also had a spider on the next flower, which I didn’t see in the field.

A short distance past the fields you enter into the woods. Marked trails depart the road on both sides as you walk along. Walk off to the right, you will notice you are in a swamp area.  There is one unmarked path off to the left, go in about 50 feet there is an old mine(?)  The opening is large enough to walk into but it ends right there.

The road continues into a beautiful grove of pine trees (and I mean large and tall!) You continue on and you begin to see the lake appearing through the trees off to your left.  The road follows the lakes south and east shore and it ends at the dam located at the N.E. corner of the lake. Crossing over the dam the road now becomes a trail that continues on across the north shoreline. If you look south along the east shore you will see a beavers den near shore. This is the end of this particular trip but keep in mind there are many trails that interlace their way through out the park. Example from the N.W. corner of the lake you can continue on the White Trail and go to the I 80 Scenic Overlook or you can follow the Red Trail and head south back to your car. I will cover some of these other trails in other articles.

It is my hope that this series of articles will provide you and your families with many hours of enjoyment exploring our own “backyard.”

Municipal Main Page