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It depends.

Obviously, if you're a visitor on a public trail, you shouldn't have a machete.

But there are corners of my property where a machete wouldn't hurt. Sure, New England forests often have open understories. But if sunlight can reach the ground, they can also be nearly impassible.

“A machete wouldn’t hurt”, I see what you did there

Seems to me, if you're choosing a route through Fangorn that's so overgrown, it requires a machete (!) to clear, you're about to get really, REALLY lost.

Weight of machete on hike >>> equivalent weight of water on hike, seems like a much better idea.

If you need a machete on a marked trail, you're lost.

Some areas have less maintained trails. There have been times I could have used a machete to get through an overgrown trail.

Even if they are, it would take hours to cut a 10 foot long path in that, with a hand axe / machete.