PROS: Beautiful park with nice hiking trails, multi purpose building, nice lake with gazebo, all…read morelocated in a nice quiet area of the town. This holds many events for a good reason. Best of all it has a very nice 9/11 memorial CONS: Parking is terrible. only a dozen spots for a park this size OVERALL: I would definitely come by and enjoy the park. As long as it's not busy

We went to Cooper's Pond Park a few weeks ago in the afternoon. A short, nature walk with our…read morefamily, it was serene and scenic. The walking path was good to follow along and it was peaceful for all visitors. We watched as several people were fishing by Cooper's pond. Looked like a great activity to do together or solo. Plenty of great water views at different angles. Bike paths were used along the nature paths too. For a short trip out in nature, this was a beautiful place to go. Ducks and geese were all around, watch out for their poop! Enjoy their presence.

A beautiful little park tucked away in a quaint Paramus neighborhood. Not too big, but has a…read morebasketball court, a couple of playgrounds and enough open field. The trees were gorgeous today against the blue sky backdrop!

We went to Whitey Lang Memorial Park earlier in the late afternoon. It's a small park you may have…read moredriven or passed by. Once we thought about going there, it was a good small setting for our toddler.

A small park you'd miss if you just drove by. I used to have summer camp here 10 years ago. The…read morefield lights are on until after 9pm. There's a playground and a dog park near by.

Many people don't know this but New Jersey has alot of parks. Some are real good finds. Flat Rock…read moreBrook is a hidden gem. It is tucked away in a residential neighborhood. We went on Friday afternoon and we were lucky to get a parking space. The parking lot is small with only about 15 spots. Hiking was very easy even though it was not marked. It was nice to be able to enjoy the great outdoors without having to drive a long distance. The highlight of the visit was the aviary. The aviary housed 1 falcon and 2 owls. It was really cool to see these birds close up!

Flat Rock is more rustic than I expected given the location and relative lack of hype. It offers…read moremore varied terrain than some other suburban spots like Emerson Woods Preserve. The sign mentioning NYC being 4.3 miles away is a clever comment on the unexpected location, unclear if that's a "crow files" metric or an actual journey involving walking over the GWB. (click here for my "Fear of Heights" podcast on Audacy). At least one of the wooden bridges across the water wasn't in good shape. If it fails you won't drown but you might get muddy. And in one major advantage over other quirky NJ nature spots is the existence of a bathroom (depending on the hours of the nature center building, which are shorter than those of the overall preserve). Geography notes: you won't want to walk all the way to/from downtown Englewood as I did, the 166 bus gets relatively close but is a relatively slow ride.

Have really only come over here to enjoy my son's flag football games. I love that they have a…read morerestroom space no porter potty and it presents clean.

Good pool, good friends good tennis courts. Good walking path and park staff…read more They have new tennis courts but need a new pool. it was the best bargain in town, especially for seniors of limited means.

Fantastic large local park with shaded walkway with benches and a large baseball field. It's…read morelocated in the center of a residential area. Came here for the free summer concert that they hold yearly.

The basketball courts at this park are legendary. I've been playing ball here for 20 years now and…read morethe level of competition has always been great. The true ballers come out early on the weekends. There was once a time where park goers could control the lights at the court. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. However, they have upgraded the backboards and rims. Gone are the metal backboards and single rims. Today we play on fiberglass boards with breakaway rims. They just need to add some shade around the courts...

No celery is being grown, it's actually a nature preserve. There's no dogs or bikes allowed…read more Sections are fenced off to keep you on the trail. The trail is about a mile and goes around the lake. Some of it is boarded and much of it is in the shade. If it rained recently, than it may be muddy, otherwise sneakers or shoes are fine. It stays level and is good for elderly or kids. There's a lot of benches and a few lookouts as you go around. The preserve is exceptionally clean. I saw one plastic bottle, so I picked it up.

Today it is called the Celery Farm mainly a result of the fact that in 1888 Swiss emigrant Henry J…read more Appert and his wife Ella bought the 107 acre-property and converted the land which was an excavated peat bog into a farm which grew mainly celery and onions. The land has a rich history has seen this parcel of land transition from a glacial land to a peat bog, to a farm and now a nature preserve. The Wolf Clan of the Lenni Lenape gather here to hunt the abundant game in the area. Later in colonial times Founding Father John Fell took possession of the. In the 1080's the borough of Allendale bought the track of land and converted it into a nature preserve. The Celery Farm is an important site for migratory birds and thus bird watchers. There are several areas where birds can be observed including a raised platform overlooking the small lake. There are trails which run about a mile through the preserve. The trails are very wet in spots after any kind of precipitation. Roots and rocks jut up along the path making hiking uncomfortable. When I visited there were numerous hikers who wore masks and observed social distancing. Dogs are not permitted on the trails.

I visited Ringwood State Park for a hike with a hiking group I'm apart of. This park has a lot of…read morecool sights to see as you go along the trail. When you first arrive, you arrive at a big house/mansion. I didn't get to read much on the history of this house, but the grounds were beautiful. They also gave a bit of a creepy vibe at times. The trail was fairly easy to hike. However, there was a part where you have to walk across a river. You have to be careful because some of rocks are slippery. I think this would be a good place to hike in the fall around Halloween just because of the creepy vibes.

Maybe not as well known but Ringwood State Park is a pleasure to walk with a lot of trails! The…read morearea around Shepherd Lake is beautiful and a perfect place to walk around with a cup of coffee. Also no fees for admission or parking! Follow my Instagram and TikTok @thephotographerfoodie for more! :)