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Trails
Narrative Direction: West from Bennett Ridge Trailhead A short, but scenic out-and-back side trail, it leads to the west end of the Bennett ridgeline. It starts by climbing up through a small clearing in a grove of mostly red cedars that is lined with numerous moundbuilder ant hills. At the top of the climb through the meadow, the trail makes a hard left turn after passing a large ant hill as it begins to move gradually up the spine of the ridgeline, as shown in the photo below. The forest here turns from pine to mostly hardwood.
From this point, the trail has a thick canopy and the understory is mostly clear of NNIs. See the photo below. There are some tall pines along the trail here but many more have fallen dead to the forest floor.
The trail will rise gradually for about 200 yards through the forest until it reaches the wooden bench you see in the picture below.
After the bench, the trail will dip modestly as it makes it way a little further to one of the thickest concentrations of Mt. Laurel in the Park. There is also a prominent rocky knob here near the end of the ridge, which you can see in the photo below. This is a great place to find a boulder to sit on while you enjoy one of the most scenic and secluded spots along all the trails in the Park.
Due to severe erosion problems, the Parks Department closed the remaining segment of this trail downhill to Hyattstown Mill Road. So you will need to turn back here in order to return to the Bennett Ridge trail and the rest of the Parks trail system.
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