Jockey Hollow Trail Map (click to enlarge)

Be sure to pick up a trail map at either the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center or the Washington’s Headquarters Museum. There is a small fee for the map. You can also download a PDF version on the Park Map web page here on National Park Planner.

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Length: 7-mile loop
Time: 4 hours
Difficulty: Moderate with a few very steep hills

The White Trail (aka Grand Loop Trail), which is open to both hikers and horseback riders, is the longest trail in Morristown National Historical Park. It makes a complete loop around the Jockey Hollow Encampment Area, but unfortunately goes nowhere near any of the historical sites, thus making it for exercise purposes only. Furthermore, there are no parking areas specifically for the trail, so no matter where you park you must first hike to it on a short connector trail. With that said, the closest parking lot is the one at the Pennsylvania Line Encampment Site.

Due to ticks and briers, I highly recommend hiking in long pants regardless of the weather. A park Ranger told me that the briers grow so fast that they can’t chop them down quickly enough. As for ticks, I didn’t pick up any on this hike, but I did on the New Jersey Brigade Trail, so they are a problem.

Plenty of briers can be found on the trail

The start of the connector trail is near the Pennsylvania Line parking lot entrance on Cemetery Road. It is only a tenth of a mile to the White Trail, but it is a moderate uphill climb all the way. This is a good representation of the types of hills that lie ahead, so if this one has you beat, might as well turn around now.

Connector trail from the Pennsylvania Line parking lot to the White Trail

Being a loop, you can go either way when you come to the intersection with the White Trail. I chose to hike in the counterclockwise direction by taking a left, and this trail report is written from that perspective. After hiking the trail I realized that I made the right decision, for I found myself more often hiking down than up the steeper hills.

Intersection of the connector trail and the White Trail

Whenever hiking up or down a hill, there are plenty of rocks on the trail surface. This is because over the years the rainwater has rushed down the trails and washed away the topsoil, exposing the rocks. Because they are loose, stepping on them is often like stepping on marbles, so be careful.

Typical terrain at the start of the White Trail

The hike starts off downhill towards a creek. Creeks and rivers are usually found at the lowest point on the landscape, so the hill comes as no surprise. You’ll reach the creek—which is not on the trail map—a half mile into the hike, and once crossing it you’ll be leaving the valley, this time hiking uphill. By no means a heart-stopper, this is one of the most challenging hills in the park, not so much for its steepness, but because of its length. It goes on for a quarter mile.

Once topping the hill, the trail now makes a gradual descent all the way to the intersection with a connector trail that leads to the Green Trail. A sign marks the intersection and points out various destinations. Keep in mind that while the trail map uses colors for the trail names, the signs always use the actual trail names, such as the Grand Loop Trail.

View of the Green Trail, which crosses Cemetery Road

A couple of minutes later the trail comes to a fork with no directional sign. A tree on the fork to the right has a white square painted on it, which indicates that the White Trail continues to the right. These paint splotches are known as blazes, and they serve as Hansel and Gretel breadcrumbs for you to follow. The fork to the left leads to the parking area for the Wick House.

Unidentified intersection

The forest in this area is wide open, with a lot of tall trees and very little brush cluttering the ground. This is the type of forest I enjoy hiking through.

Typical terrain between the Green Trail and Tempe Wick Road

The next intersection is with Tempe Wick Road, and you must hike down a very steep hill to reach it. Like creeks and rivers, roads are often cut through the bottom of a valley.

Steep descent down to Tempe Wick Road

You’ll reach the road at 1.6 miles into the hike. Tempe Wick is a major road with fast moving vehicles, plus you have to cross where the road curves and cars cannot see you until the last moment. You must use your ears when crossing—if you hear a car coming, do not step out into the road. The White Trail itself continues on the exact opposite side.

Intersection with Tempe Wick Road

A few minutes past the road is another unidentified intersection that is not on the trail map. This leads over to a neighborhood, and you can see the houses from the trail. At this point the White Trail follows close enough to the road that you can hear vehicle noise for the next mile. In fact, the next major intersection is once again with Tempe Wick Road.

The vegetation in this area is very lush due to a nearby creek. This is a great habitat for gnats, ticks…and deer.

Deer pauses to watch a hiker on the White Trail

The terrain is largely flat, but surprisingly there are a number of rocks on the trail that are often hidden by grass, so it’s easy to step on one by accident and twist an ankle.

Typical terrain on the southern end of the White Trail

At the 2.5-mile mark on the hike is the intersection with the New Jersey Brigade Trail. This leads to the New Jersey Brigade Encampment Area at the southern end of Morristown National Historical Park. To continue on the White Trail, take the fork to the left.

Intersection with the New Jersey Brigade Trail

From this point all the way until the intersection with the Blue Trail a few miles ahead, the White Trail merges with the Patriots’ Path, a trail managed by the Morris County Park System. To mark the trail, round Patriots’ Path logos are attached to the trees. The trail runs from north of Morristown at Speedwell Lake to the New Jersey Brigade encampment site.

Trees with the Patriots’ Path logo attached to them

The White Trail crosses a small creek within eyesight of the New Jersey Brigade Trail, and just a few minutes later comes to the second Tempe Wick intersection. The trail continues on the opposite side of the road, though it is hard to spot because it is overgrown with grass. At this point you have hiked 2.75 miles.

The White Trail crosses a small creek just before Tempe Wick Road

Five minutes after passing the road is the intersection with the Mendham Road Trail, a gravel road that is open to horseback riding. If you take it to the left, you can get to the Wick House and Jockey Hollow Visitor Center. Stay straight to remain on the White Trail.

Mendham Road Trail intersection

This area is where Connecticut soldiers camped from December 1779 to February 1780, at which time they departed for Staten Island. One of these soldiers was Joseph Plum Martin, a man who published his war journal in 1830. It is one of the only accounts of the war written by a private, and the only account of the 1779-80 winter encampment at Morristown. You’ll find his name mentioned often in the park, be it on printed materials or in the film shown at the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center and the Washington’s Headquarters Museum. His writing is featured on the information panel that marks the general area of the Connecticut camp.

From here until the intersection with the Red Trail (aka Primrose Brook Trail) a little over a mile away, the trail begins a long, gradual descent with a few short level and uphill sections. Rocks continue to populate the trail surface despite the fact that the hills are not all that substantial.

Typical terrain between Mendham Road Trail and the Red Trail

The first of two intersections with the Red Trail comes at 3.9 miles into the hike. Stay straight through this and the next Red Trail intersection a tenth of a mile ahead. You will cross Primrose Brook along the way.

Primrose Brook

The White Trail dead ends into the Blue Trail about five minutes past the second Red Trail intersection. Here it does a little zigzag to the left, merging with the Blue Trail for a tenth of a mile, crosses Primrose Brook a second time, then branching off to the right and continues northeast along the creek. Also, when the White Trail diverges from the Blue Trail it ends its relationship with the Patriots’ Path, which now follows the Blue Trail towards Jockey Hollow Road.

Bridge across Primrose Brook

For the next .6 mile the terrain is perfectly flat while the White Trail follows Primrose Brook. It is often hard to see the creek due to the abundance of vegetation growing in the water, at least in the green season.

White Trail follows the barely visible Primrose Brook

At the 4.5-mile mark, the White Trail dead ends into and then merges once again with the Blue Trail (the Blue Trail is a loop and the White Trail bisects it). You will pass Cat Swamp Pond, which is formed by a dammed Primrose Brook—I don’t know if this is natural or done by man. There is a bench next to the water if you want to sit and relax.

Cat Swamp Pond

The merger last two-tenths of a mile, ending at another T-intersection. While not mentioned on the posted trail sign, the White Trail continues to the left. The sign only indicates that a right leads to the Mount Kemble Loop Trail, an older name for what is now called the Inner and Outer Loop.

Take a left to stay on the White Trail

At this point the White Trail turns north towards Jockey Hollow Road. Leaving Primrose Brook behind, I expected to start hiking uphill and out of the valley. However, while there is a hill, it is tackled by way of a switchback. Instead of hiking straight to the top, a switchback zigzags up the hill, thus making the climb longer, but much easier. The result is an incline that I’d rank as mild in difficulty. Once at the top you’ll be back on level ground.

Typical terrain at the northern end of the White Trail

Jockey Hollow Road is reached 5.3 miles into the hike. This is a park road, so there aren’t a lot of cars and the speeds are much lower than on Tempe Wick Road. The White Trail continues on the exact opposite side.

Intersection with Jockey Hollow Road

About a half mile from the road—5.9 miles on the overall hike—the trail starts up one of the more difficult hills in the park. About this time you should see a pile of stones that might have been some sort of wall. It’s hard to tell how long it runs because of the vegetation. I don’t know if this is something made by the soldiers during the Revolution or by the National Park Service in modern times.

Rock wall

Between Jockey Hollow Road and Sugarloaf Road, the White Trail intersects with a trail that branches off to the left and connects to the Yellow Trail. This intersection comes at the 6-mile mark on the hike.

Intersection with the connector to the Yellow Trail

The trail finally reaches the apex of the hill after climbing for nearly a half mile. If you could clear the trees, you would easily see Sugarloaf Road down below, and perhaps even the Pennsylvania Line parking lot where the hike began.

The hill is one of the steepest in the park, and the hike down is much steeper than the hike up. After a .4 mile descent, the White Trail intersects with Sugarloaf Road and continues on the other side across an open field.

Mowed path leads to the White Trail as it reenters the forest

From the road it is a quarter mile to the connector trail back to the parking lot, but the trail firsts comes to an intersection with the Patriots’ Path. This is where you would turn if you wanted to hike north to Speedwell Lake.

Intersection with the Patriots’ Path

The connector trail to the parking lot is another five minutes ahead. Take a left to return to your car.

Pennsylvania Line Encampment Site parking lot

If you are looking for exercise, the White Trail is by far the best in the park. Not only is it the longest, but it has the most hills, and the toughest hills. However, when I am hiking a trail in a history-themed park I want one that takes me past historical sites so that I can get a feel for the events that took place. Other than the marker for the Connecticut camp, the White Trail adds nothing to the historical perspective of a visit to Morristown National Historical Park. If history is what you are after, I suggest the Yellow Trail or the New Jersey Brigade Trail.

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