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 small gem of a park is perfect for a dog walk, observing birds and turtles from the dock, or…read morejust a quiet lunch on a bench by the dam. I've seen people fishing but have no idea what they catch! The path goes all the way around the pond, perfectly smooth and level, ok for someone in a wheelchair. There's no parking lot, but you can leave a car on the street without much trouble. You can also enter the park from Overlook Road. Very occasionally in winter the pond freezes and you can ice skate here!

Foote's pond is a pretty and quiet little pong located in morristown. There are nice trails to walk…read moreon and always little dicks swimming in the water. This pong is nice for a dog walk or stroll around. You can listen to nature and even relax on a bench around the water. I have fond memories of visiting the pong as a child when I attended the elementary school located next to the pong. There was also a small dock where we used to feed the ducks. Definitely check it out and enjoy some of the simpler things!

This is a beautiful little park. It's the perfect place for a quick stroll if you want to get a bit…read moreof fresh air. The space isn't huge, but it is very well maintained with fresh cut grass, lots of trees and pathways. During autumn there are some wonderful oak and Japanese maple trees, so I'd definitely suggest stopping by when foliage is at its peak. There is also a large map in the center of the park with a numbered guide to all of the trees. It was fun to learn about the wide variety of trees in the park. I haven't lived nearby during summer, so I'm excited to see everything in full bloom. I also think there is a summer concert series here, so that will be really nice. Oh, and this park is also adjacent to the town public library. Grab a book and read it in the park -- what could be better? Love having Roberts Garden so close to home!

This Historical Garden Wears Many Hats…read more One can not help but notice this large patch of green in the heart of the Morris Plains Community next to the Morris Plains Library. This park was once part of the Roberts estate and was donated to Morris Plains as a permanent green space. Roberts Garden normally serves as a sort of community Arboretum but it also plays host to a number of events in Morris Plains which as of now also includes 3 Poke Stops for Pokemon Go. In the summer Roberts Garden is the venue for the Concerts in the Park every Sunday in July from 6pm - 8pm. These concerts will feature local bands and bring out folks from the community. Music, lawn chairs, picnics, and kids playing through the grounds are a staple of these events. During Halloween it serves as the starting point of the Morris Plains children's trick-or-treating parade. This attracts families from Morris Plains and beyond which results in a sea of adorabeezle trick-or-treaters who will proceed to parade to Simons Park just a few blocks up Mountain Way under the careful watch of the Morris Plains PD. From Simons Park, the kids disperse throughout the surrounding communities for some good old fashioned trick-or-treating. The Morris Plains PD will continue to patrol around to ensure that trick-or-treaters and locals are staying safe while the event is on. My son loved the Halloween Parade so much that he wanted to do it every day for a few weeks after the event. During the snow season you can find young children and their families snow sledding behind the Morris Plains Library after a healthy snow. The hills here are big enough to be fun for smaller children to sled down, but small enough for concerned parents to feel safe about the situation. Try as I might, I could never get enough speed/momentum to get close to hitting one of the big trees at the bottom of the hill. If you come and check out the fun without a sled do not fear, the friendly people of Morris Plains will most likely offer to share some of theirs with you and your little one(s). There are no bathrooms here but that's not unexpected as this is not normally a place where you'll be coming to if you are farm from your (or a friend's) house. If the Morris Plains Library is open you can use the bathroom there. The true gift this park offers is the abundance of green grass, variety of trees, shade, and winding paths that let your stroll through the grounds.

Our pup loves taking walks at the Tourne! They have multiple paths so the chances of running into…read morelots of people and other dogs are very slim, which is great for us as he's still in training and is reactive.

This location is an absolutely lovely spot to go for a hike. My SO and I got to explore the park on…read morea quiet Monday morning, there weren't many people around. The trails were clearly marked and very clean, making our trek enjoyable. We hiked to the top of Tourne, enjoying the fresh air and views. We also got to explore the Emily K. Hammond Wildflower Trail, which was a nice detour from the normal trails. We'll be returning once the flowers are expected to bloom so we can learn more about the species on the trail.

Great place, peaceful. I love go there Almost every…read moreSaturday morning Helping me found my self together...

I love wild cat trail!! Seeing the old mining cave is cool. The closer you get to it the colder it…read moregets. The only negative thing I have to say is that the paths are poorly maintained.

The Jockey Hollow unit of Morristown National Historical Park is the site of the Continental Army's…read moremain winter encampment. My first stop was the Jockey Hollow Visitor Center. There, I watched the 15 minute film and arranged for a volunteer to take me inside the Wick House. The film described what life was like for the common soldier who wintered at Jockey Hollow during the harshest winter of the War, from December 1779 to June 1780. Huddled in log cabins with rags for clothing and little food, the army hunkered down to wait for Spring. After watching the film and touring the Wick House, I decided to walk the 2.5 mile park loop road. There are 27 miles of hiking trails in the park, but these were all covered with snow and ice on the day of my visit. There were plenty of pedestrians, dog-walkers and cyclists sharing the road with me.

Most elementary school teachers' lesson plans on the American Revolution emphasize the significance…read moreof the Continental Army's winter encampment at Valley Forge in Pennsylvania during the winter of 1777-1778. Few of them mention the fact that thousands of soldiers from the Continental Army spent the winter of 1776-1777 (following George Washington's iconic crossing of the Delaware River) and the winter of 1779-1780 (which was the harshest winter of the Revolutionary War) in Jockey Hollow -- located just south of downtown Morristown. In March 1933, Morristown National Historical Park -- including the Jockey Hollow encampment -- became the country's first National Historical Park. Jockey Hollow features a small visitor center staffed by knowledgeable park rangers that offers a short film and interpretive exhibits explaining the significance of the site as well as a small gift shop. There are also more than 25 miles of marked hiking trails and a 3-mile paved tour road that offers easy 'drive to' (or, 'walk to') access to the visitor center, Wick Farm, soldiers' huts, and parade grounds. The tour road is very popular with local walkers and runners and the marked hiking trails, which range in difficulty from easy to moderate, are well-blazed and well-represented on the trail maps available on the park's website and along the trails throughout the park. The longest hiking trail is the 6.5 mile white-blazed Grand Loop Trail, which circles the entire Jockey Hollow site and intersects with the Patriots Path trail system that traverses Morris County. Some of the other hiking trails include the 3.0-mile blue-blazed New York Brigade loop trail, which offers a fantastic view of the distant New York City skyline from the top of Mount Kemble, and the 2.25-mile yellow-blazed loop trail, which connects the key historic sites throughout the park. There is no fee for the park and there is plenty of free parking at the visitor center, the soldiers' huts, and the trailheads.

Black River County Park is full of awesome hiking trails and picnicking areas. The Black River…read moretributary which runs through the Park is one of my favorite local trout fishing destinations. The NJ State Fish & Game regularly stocks this River and anyone with a valid Fishing License and Trout Stamp can have access to this activity along the River. Disabled Veterans and Kids under 16 are allowed to Fish freely without either. Plenty of excellent sites to check out including the Nathan Cooper Gristmill, Kay Pond, The Black River, and the picturesque Waterfalls. The Mill was built in 1826 and is still in operation as one of the only remaining water powered mills that has been restored in NJ. The Park often has guided tours and you can take home stone ground flour & cornmeal that's made right on site which is pretty cool. Open Wednesday - Sunday 10 till 5 [12 till 5 Sunday]

Black River County Park has a lot going for it. It's in a convenient location right off of a county…read morehighway and is only a few minutes away from downtown Chester aka a solid handful of post-hike meal options. In terms of the actual hike, you have high quality water features, with the Black River itself and its accompanying rapids the notable highlight, along with one of my all-time favorite hike characteristics - ruins. But the positives are slightly tainted by the lack of overall maintenance, which is a shame. I came here for a 6.4-mile hike with one of my chums last Saturday. It was a nasty, humid scorcher of a day and predictably we didn't see too many brave souls out there. It was character building at least. For those familiar with the park, we took the blue trail from the mill, which more or less runs parallel to the river, following it up past the environmental center to Pottersville Road, and then took the red trail on the right down to the Black River, meeting up again with the blue trail. The first part of the hike is in a lower-lying area with a lot of muddy sections, but the park has been pretty accommodating in building a lot of little bridges to get over those parts without getting your feet sopping wet. We're also in the midst of an epic drought, which at least helps for these types of adventures - I've seen it much muddier than this. A significant portion of the trail early on takes place on top of an abandoned railroad bed, and you could see a few ancient wood pilings down the slopes here and there. All of the trail markings here were pretty decent, and you have some pleasant visuals this time of year, including Kay's Pond. Once you start climbing up toward the environmental center, the trail markings and maintenance begin deteriorating. Both of us are experienced hikers, and we had to stop several times to make sure we were actually on the right trail. There's A LOT of offshoots and obvious places where additional markers should have been painted to steer people in the right direction. As a result, we actually missed the correct path to the environmental center and basically walked parallel to it from a distance in the cornfield. Thankfully there's no tree cover there and it was easy to orient ourselves, but it shouldn't have been an issue at all. Shortly thereafter, we ended up on the wrong part of the red trail for about 10 minutes, which we were able to figure out and retrace easily, but again, the lack of helpful trail markers loomed large. Right around this area (probably not a coincidence), we kept encountering random stretches of 50 feet or so where the path was totally overgrown. It wasn't a huge deal, though we definitely had to spend a little extra time checking for ticks, but these weren't huge areas of need - you could get a county worker to come in here with a weed-wacker and take care of these sections pretty quickly. And it's not clear why the rest of the path WAS maintained. Very strange. In terms of difficulty, there are a few stretches where we were a little out of breath, but nothing crazy (we're both in decent cardio shape, so your mileage may vary). I don't want this to come off as a purely negative diatribe, because there WERE positives. The canine chum situation was one. This is usually a very popular pooch spot but the heat kept most of them away. Thankfully we encountered a delightful, freshly sheared poodle named Toffee who was very accommodating (see attached). The wildlife sightings were solid as well. My eagle-eyed chum noticed a praying mantis on the road, and we met up with a nervous garter snake as well. We've both been here before and romped around in Kay's Ruins before - a remarkably solid foundation still remains there right on the river, and it's an awesome photo opportunity. Especially with the foliage in abundance, the optics are great. Additionally, because of the length of the trails it's easy to do a hike here with decent mileage where you get a legit workout. But this park could take some lessons from nearby Hacklebarney when it comes to making this park a little more hospitable for its guests.

This Morris county park offers a mix of broad Patriot's path trails, mostly level, and its own…read morenarrow paths through the woods, often scrambles across rocks and roots, also up and down some hills. You can clock almost 7 miles on the outer loop trail, blue and red. Much of the time you're walking along the Black River which is really nice. Don't miss the remains of old stone houses along the way, also a couple waterfalls. The paths are blazed reasonably well, but there are many parallel paths and it's easy to get confused. We kept ourselves oriented with the all trails app, sorry I don't mean to sound like an advertisement, but there are no paper trail maps to take along anymore and few signs along the way, you're kind of on your own. Very little trash in the woods, they're taking good care of this place. The northern parking lot at the Cooper grist mill (old Rt 24) probably has room for 50 cars. The eastern parking lot (Pottersville Rd) is large also.

Renters BEAWARE of Rent-A-Wreck of Chester & Hackettstown. They charged us nearly $1,000 for miles…read morebefore went took out the rental truck. After we when returned the truck without any damage, they cheated us by fraudulently recharged us again for the same amount, then deceitfully deducted some free miles, lied about our invoice which was given to us is not the one they gave us initially before we rented that day!