It's a Local Park how in the world could you Not give it 5 Stars?! If you are lucky enough to call…read moreEast Hanover your home, then Lurker Park is your own. It's where you see hometown baseball games and where Food Truck fundraisers are held. Local Carnivals and Fireworks are also held here. It's where you can go and get your cardio on while you walk/run around the Park. Just recently I found out that in the Summer and early Fall months they have a Farmer's Market on Mondays where you can buy fresh fruits and vegetables. Many local 'up and coming' Bands have community concerts here at the Park. This place is a very cool park to hang out and be one with this outstanding Town.

So I'm partial to this park/ fields. I have been walking around the fields for over 2o yrs. Every…read moreSpring I start my daily walking around the park. It is so nice to see the change an updating over the last 10 yrs. You should of seen this place 10 yrs. Ago! What a mess!! Now they have redone a lot of it. There are new picnic tables, benches, bochie ball(not sure I'm spelling this right) the fields are green and the fence is updated. This park is perfect for a daily stroll, watching your children play sports, climbing on the jungle gym, reading a good book in the shade or sun& having a nice romantic lunch with your other half. This park is made for everything! It just depends in the day of the week and the time you come.

An amazing park we stumbled across when trying to find a playground for our child…read more This playground has 2 adjacent gated playgrounds, a gazebo, a drinking fountain, shaded seating, and a Porta Potty to serve small and big kids alike. The 2-5 year olds Toddler playground has rubber mats on the ground to protect your little ones from little falls. 1 play structure, 5 Rocking features, and 2 Toddler swings are available. The Motorcycle rocking feature with the side car, the giraffe bench, and the shaded bench in the play structure are pretty awesome and adorabeezle. The 5-12 year olds playground has wood chip ground cover. It is a combination of older plastic, rope, and wood structures that should keep your kids climbing and sliding in very original ways. They are even very fun for those who are kids at heart. 1 large play structure, 1 climbing wall, 1 see saw table, 2 standard swings, and a tire swing are available. A few of the really original structures in the 5-12 year olds playground are the gondola at the back and the yellow sliding "rings" in the front of the play structure. The gondola can be moved between two platforms by turning the crank. The yellow sliding "rings" can be used by holding onto 1 yellow "ring" on each of 2 tracks that are next to each other. Then you need to alternate balancing your weight on one "ring" while sliding the other one forward. (Imagine trying to peddle with your hands in the air.) It's tons of fun and probably a pretty good upper body and core workout. The drinking fountain is located near the entrance of the 5-12 year olds playground. A Porta Potty is located to the left side of the playgrounds for your convenience. The Bee Meadow Pool and football field are just across the parking lot which has lots of parking.

Riker Hill is one of my favorite parks in Essex County because of its uniqueness. It's niche…read morebecause it's part artist studios, part Cold War historical site, and part local park for hilly walks/runs. There also is a small community garden, as well as EV charge station at the top of the hill. It's not a destination park - unless you have a specific interest in visiting the studios or in Nike missile sites. However, it's a quaint park if you are local and want a quick fix of nature and views from the highest elevation points in Essex county.

Troy Meadows Natural Area is a 2,600 acre fresh water marsh and Eastern woodland ecological…read moreenvironment twenty five miles west of New York City. It is designated as a priority wetland by the US EPA. Tory Meadows Natural Area began to form 10,000 years ago when the glaciers which covered this area began to melt forming the ancient lake called Lake Passaic. the Lake extended from Great Notch to just below the The Great Swamp in Millville. The lake eventually drained and produced pockets of marsh land. As an Eastern woodland it is populated by pin oaks, maple, elm, and beech trees. The fresh water marsh has numerous endangered plants but is largely made up of Yellow Foxtail grass and cattails. Water snakes, turtles frogs, racoons, white tail deer, birds (Bald Eagles), owls and blue herons to name a few. I like to come to this area alone, not that I am anti-social but because being alone allows me to focus more intently on the creatures that exist here. There multiple entrances to Troy Meadows Natural Area but I like to start my hike at the Parsippany entrance south of route 280 off of New Road. From this area you have to hike about a mile through an Eastern woodland environment. The entrance is well marked, as is the trail which leads you to the marsh and steel catwalk. You need to climb a ladder to get to the top of a six foot high catwalk. The catwalk is about 36 inches wide. I think my photos tell the story well.

Very large and seemingly little known nature preserve, mostly marshland. Several access points…read morewhich are explained on website. If you access from the service road on south side of I-280 there is a path through the woods which leads across some wooden planks in a marshy area to a ladder, which brings you to a very sturdily construced catwalk that parallels some high voltage power lines through the marsh. the catwalk makes for a nice hike with some pretty views. lots of birds here. a surprisingly tranquil place in the midst of major highways and suburbia..

This place is great! We have been to a variety of birthday parties, some of their programming…read moreincluding the winter wildlife camp, and summer camp. Everyone is so friendly and the know my kid by name which makes her feel so special.

I always like to support Earth Day events so when I heard that the Essex County Environmental…read moreCenter was hosting such an event on Saturday, April 23, I drove over. The event ran from 11 am-3pm and I arrived around 12. At that time the parking lot was full and I had to park in the supplimental lot across the street. Even the overflow lot required waiting for a parking space. No complaints about having to wait, it was just nice to see so many people concerned about environmental issues. I thought that this was a particularly well run event structured for all ages. Rutger's Master Gardeners had a tent set up and I had a chance to visit with some friends. A booth was set up by the Essex County Bee Keepers, as well. for younger adults, Turtle Back Zoo brought animals to show case, Mad Scientists performed demonstrations and ocean and rock fossils were on display. Face-painting, food trucks, live music, a eco-market, hands-on educational games for kids were some of the other activities. There are nature trails, canoe launches, a rock climbing tower and a Lenni Lenape village set-up to explore. The event was free to the public.

Super hot last night I have never seen the fans working ? I…read morehave never seen the vents open on courts 4-6? An earlier start in September and later ending in May for seasonal contract time. Still hot in September and obviously in May. Can you turn the fans on and open the vents. I'm not asking for AC. Thank you

This place is huge!!!! Visit and buy a membership and go often! The staff is kind, dedicated and…read moreknowledgeable! Sign up for a program or hike today!

This is a wonderful place to bring the whole family. They have about 12 different trails, all…read moreseparated in different levels of difficulty. The trails are free to enter but they do request for volunteer donation for non members. Different tiers of annul membership available to purchase at main office that comes with some wonderful perks, such as free access to trails and special events. The main office also has some of the exhibition items like insect box and turtle box. Outside the office there's also bird and butterfly cages. We went to the center for our daughter to participate in butterfly feeding event. Upon arrival we found out we had to buy the tickets for one of the two scheduled events. Luckily there were slots available to the second event on the day. The ticket was reasonably cheap, only $8. It also came with an additional bird's exhibition that took place right in front of office deck. All the stuff members were very friendly, informative and interactive. We spent wonderful couple of hours here on beautiful warm summer day.

For what it's worth, this review specifically pertains to a rainy winter hike - I can't comment on…read moremost of the park amenities near the playgrounds, playing fields, etc. And I'm also willing to acknowledge that I likely would have felt more favorably disposed toward this park if we had been there in better weather that didn't give off massive Pacific NW vibes. The dreary conditions were not the park's fault. Loantaka was the site of the annual first of the year hike with a group of noble chums. Interestingly, there was a rival "official" hike being held at the same time by the Boy Scouts of America - their social media announcements (complete with map) ahead of time were very helpful in locating a decent parking area for my compatriots. I don't think I have the ability on Yelp to review the BSA, but their scoutmaster was a gem and several of my chums purchased commemorative pins for the event at their little kiosk. Also, my dad was an Eagle Scout and can start a bonfire in about 30 seconds, so that's something. For the purposes of our adventure, we ended up walking 3.13 miles (assuming an Apple watch was correct, which I'm always dubious about), an out-and-back from the parking lot off Loantaka Way to Kitchell Lake just across the aptly named Kitchell Road. The parking lot was easy to access with plenty of spaces, though it was a bit more crowded by the time we were done. It was very pleasing to see several port-a-potties nearby, and I can report from firsthand experience that they were relatively clean, though the toilet seat in mine was wet and required my first squatting situation of 2022. I could breathe comfortably though, so I think you take that compromise if you can get it. The trails are very well maintained - we were exclusively on paved ones, though it looked like there were a few dirt paths that went off them as well, all of which looked tidy and drama-free. That said, it would have been nice if there were more markers/signage giving us a better idea of where we were. It would be difficult to get authentically lost in this area (I imagine it would take roughly 15 minutes to accidentally stumble across a county highway), but it would have been helpful for our orientation. This year's hike featured an Honorary Young Pup of 6, who was able to handle the adventure with aplomb (and enjoyed spotting the metal tags on the trees). There were also many pooches on the premises, and virtually all seemed to be doodle mixes of some sort - very little variety in this area of Jersey, apparently. If you're looking for decent photo ops, this is not where I'd go; this is a park that I'd use exclusively for very mild cardio/fresh air. There are a few streams on the journey, but nothing to write home about. The pond was pleasant enough, with abundant waterfowl in the distance, but it's hard to get whipped up about scenery that looks like it's straight out of Taylor Swift's Folklore album photo shoot.

Followed the gps and it told me to park on the side of the road but there was a sign that said you…read morecouldn't park there. I played it safe and looped around the park and noticed that there's actually a parking lot located on Loantaka Way. First time I came here was in the Spring of 2018 and by the summer I noticed they installed bikes now. You'll have to download the app and follow the instructions to unlock it. Nice clean well maintained park. What I love most about this place is that it's shaded!!!! Given the summer heat, this is the perfect place to take a stroll.