Skylands of New Jersey Tourism Council


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Trails | Gardens | Water | Birding

Major trail systems

Appalachian Trail
The Appalachian Trail, which stretches over 2,000 miles from Georgia to Maine, enters New Jersey at the Delaware Water Gap, heads north along the Kittatinny Ridge to High Point, then east through the Pochuck Valley. Before turning north again across the border to New York, the 42-mile New Jersey section gives a view and a feeling of what this area was like 200 years ago. The panoramas are beautiful, the surrounding countryside mostly undeveloped, and the few towns visible in the valleys are still country villages. Country lanes or park roads every few miles intersect the entire stretch so that you can plan any number of modest day hikes along the AT. Or take a couple of days to walk the whole distance. Stay at nearby Camp Taylor Campground or Delaware River Family Campground.

Highlands Trail
The Highlands Trail project seeks to link a 150-mile footpath network the full distance of this distinct 1.1 million acre physiographic province, so that it will be possible to hike from almost any park or forest in the region to another. The trail, blazed with a teal-colored diamond, is a combination of co-alignment on established trails, new trails, and road walking in Passaic, Sussex, Morris, Hunterdon and Warren counties. Trail sections range in difficulty and are for day-use only. The trail heads south from the NY state border through Wanaque, Farny, Sparta Mountain, Berkshire Valley, Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, and Lake Hopatcong to Allamuchy Mountain State Park. From there, one alternative diverges through Stephens State Park, Long Valley, Ken Lockwood Gorge and Voorhees State Park to Spruce Run Reservoir in Clinton. A proposed Warren Highlands route heads west to the Delaware River at Phillipsburg.
New York New Jersey Trail Conference

Morris County Parks

Patriots Path
This partially complete network of hiking, biking and equestrian trails links several dozen Federal, state, county and municipal parks, watershed lands, historic sites and other points of interest across Morris County. Much of the Path lies along the corridors of the Whippany and Black Rivers and the South Branch of the Raritan. The current fifty-mile trail system is stabilized in many sections with crushed stone and gravel, other areas are left as narrow paths on earth and rock and shorter sections in the Morristown and Morris Twp. area are paved. Several miles lie on cinder and gravel beds of old railroad lines.
Morris County Park Commission

Hunterdon County Parks
A network of trails through nature preserves and along streams and lakes, offers panoramic views of the county's picturesque hills and valleys.
Hunterdon Park Commission, 1020 Rt. 31, Lebanon 908/782-1158

Somerset County Parks
Environmental Education Center, Basking Ridge: There are 8.5 miles of trails in the preserve, adjacent to the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. The northernmost section is completely on boardwalks across marshland. The trails are mostly soft and flat, with access to an array of watchable wildlife.

Duke Island Park Bridgewater: Short nature trails offer possible loops, however, the most interesting follows the old power canal through the heart of the park, a historical remnant of the now abandoned local industrial sites in the area. The park is called an "island" because it is wedged between the Raritan River and the abandoned power canal. 5 miles, gently rolling hiking trails.

Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Griggstown Loop: A beautiful 2.5 mile walk along the 75-foot wide D & R Canal as well as the Millstone River begins at the Griggstown Causeway, where there is parking along Canal Road. Walk the towpath south to the Griggstown Lock. Turn right across a bridge onto the Silver Maple Trail and follow the Millstone River on soft ground before returning to the canal towpath.

Hutcheson Memorial Forest , Franklin Twp.: Also known as Mettler's Woods, this 65-acre tract of old growth forest is one of only three patches of virgin woods remaining in New Jersey, and one of the last uncut, unburned White Oak-American Beech forests in the country. Its listed in the National Park Service Registry of Natural landmarks. The woods are part of a 525-acre parcel of land owned by Rutgers University that is comprised of abandoned farm fields and ecology research plots.
Somerset Park Commission

Warren County Trails

Jenny Jump State Forest

Summit Trail Loop Hope: The 3-mile loop begins near the park office and makes a quick ascent to a view of the Jenny Jump pinnacle and some beautiful panoramas. Continue past glacial erratics and Ghost Lake trail, reaching East Road at 1.5 miles. Turn left, then right onto Orchard Trail (white blazed) to a terrific view of the Delaware Water Gap. Descend downhill over rocks, along the edge of a field and a woods road out to a parking area just below the park office on State Park Road. Photo by Lawrence Nagy

Paulinskill Valley Trail Columbia
This former railroad bed, 26 miles of soft flat ground, is part of Kittatinny Valley State Park, extending from Sparta to Columbia Lake Wildlife Management Area near the Delaware Water Gap. A variety of hikes, either as out and back walks or car shuttles is possible. A 9-mile section in Warren County, beginning just off Rt. 94 northeast of Blairstown to Columbia Lake is particularly scenic. There are two dams in the vicinity, lovely Footbridge Park in Blairstown, plenty of scenic riverside walking, a pass under the Paulinskill Viaduct, once the largest concrete structure in the world, and Columbia Lake at the southern end of the trail.
For more information about the trail.

Mt. Tammany (point of the gap), Worthington State Forest Columbia
Begin at the Dunnfield Creek parking area just off Rt. 80 W, 3 to 4 miles past Exit 4, and ascend the steep red dot blazed Mt. Tammany Trail. The main rock 1,549 feet above sea level offers sweeping views of the Delaware River and Mt. Minsi on the PA side. Continue on the ridge northeast to turn and descend on the more gradual Blue Dot Trail. Near the bottom, turn left on Dunnfield Creek Trail and soon join the Appalachian Trail back to the parking lot. For a more gradual ascent, try this route backwards. 5 miles, rough trail.Delaware Water Gap

Kittatinny Rattlesnake Loop Blairstown
From Millbrook-Blairstown Road in the northern corner of Warren County, this 6-mile loop offers breathtaking scenery of different varieties. Ascend the Kittatinny Ridge on the white blazed Appalachian Trail, first along a fire road, then a narrow footpath. The trail reaches Catfish Tower, with 360-degree panoramic views, then continues past sweeping open views to the right. Descend to Camp Road, turn right and continue to the Appalachian Mountain Club's Mohican Outdoor Center and Catfish Pond, a good lunch spot. Follow the dirt road to the orange blazed Rattlesnake Swamp Trail, which continues for another two miles along the edge of scenic swampland back to the Appalachian Trail not far from the Millbrook-Blairstown Road.

Lackawanna Railroad Old Main Line Oxford
There are a few sections of this old railroad bed, the first railroad to cross Warren County, that are now open to the public. Parking is available for Pequest Wildlife Management Area at the end of Lower Denmark Road. The first 1.4 miles of the trail are paved, with benches along the way. Turn right on Pequest Road, then left onto a path, which soon comes out to the soft black cinder dirt railbed. After passing under a powerline, it enters deciduous forest and then the massive Pequest Cut before emerging on a shelf right of way that continues to Rt. 46 in Buttzville. 5 miles.

Roaring Rock Park Washington
This little park has seasonal views as well as beautiful creekside paths along Roaring Rock Brook and an old reservoir. 3.5 mile loop, rocky and steep at times.