We have been here many time to hike with our dogs over the last few years. Great views of the…read moreHudson River and surrounding area from the North Point/ Pitching Point Loop Trail. We always get there early (7 AM) because the lot for North Point/ Pitching Point Loop is super small. Great hike with great views !

Are these views to die for? Highly debatable. We came after a day where it rained the night before…read morein the late fall. There's some really cool views of what appears to be a lake, but it could also be the Hudson River. I am not sure because I had no signal at this park. When I said are the views to die for, I mean some of our hiking crew probably would have died if we weren't paying attention. There's a lot of trails that are especially narrow, on a cliff's edge, and the leaves are super slippery. Should be warning signs like die at your own risk or something. There are certain paths with wooden bridges and guard rails, but they are not frequent. If you are planning to have a picnic here, I'd suggest going to a local park instead. The only benches are at the parking lot, and there are no bathrooms... Unless you count mother nature as a bathroom.

If you ever need a timeout and take a break, this is one of the best drives in the state of New…read moreYork. The drive takes you past lakes, the beautiful green scenery etc. If you plan to drive here at night, it is pitch dark, I don't recall seeing a light post. There is a boating dock along the drive. It is close to the Woodbury outlets and bear mountain, so you can make a full day of activities. Restrooms may be hard to come by.

This is a great drive, especially in the fall. In fact, I came here twice in the last 2 weeks (and…read morethis is over an hour away from my place). Fun roads, with minimal traffic (at least early). Lots of great scenery. There are a few cool small roads that intersect it that are really fun. Many hiking options. We did one that was fairly nice, and a little challenging in fact (some minor climbing). I can't remember the name, but the entrance is right by the visitor center. Tip: Storm King Hwy is not far, and is a REALLY fun drive!

I have grown up in Goshen my entire life and never knew this place was so close by! It was a great…read moreafternoon adventure for those that are avid hikers or those looking to try something new. We parked at the lot off of Clover Rd. I warn you it's super small and people seem to get a little creative with parking spots as the day goes on. I would recommend a morning hike or later in the afternoon in order to find a spot. You can't park anywhere on Clover or will risk getting a ticket! The white trail is located just down the road from the parking lot. There is a sign with the trail map so I recommend snapping a picture is printing a copy from home, there weren't any available when we arrived. The trails are moderately well marked. When in doubt you can usually tell you are going the right way from the walked on path, there is a lot of brush around you that will make it clear if you've gone off the path. We walked up the white and started part of the orange trail to get to the top views and ended up back down the same way given the time. It was about 6 miles and 3 hours. Keep in mind there is no restrooms or information center so be prepared! Happy hiking!

Ok as a city person finding the trail opening and feeling certain it was the accurate path was…read morecomplicated lol but you park on the side of the road (a mini lot) and then the brush across the street turns into a flatter bush path that leads to a forest hike. Slightly rocky areas but our dog loved this! Definitely wear long pants because there's lots of tall grass. A pretty chill hike with lots of flowers and nature.

Norvin Green is one of my absolute favorite places in NJ to hike. It has a tremendous variety of…read moretrails with different terrain, difficulty level and unique environments; if the mood strikes you, it's possible to hike up and down a few mountains with gorgeous 360-degree views, or something much easier that involves exploring some of the mines on the eastern side of the forest, closer to the reservoir. There's something for virtually any type of hiker, and because so much of the area is rugged, you're not likely to find too many ignorant young hiking pups wandering aimlessly without water or a map. I usually get out here at least a few times every year, and most recently stopped by with one of my chums two Saturdays ago for an 8.1-mile hike. If you're approaching Norvin Green from 287, I would strongly recommend stopping by the Quick Chek on 511 - the bathroom options are pretty much non-existent in the forest (apart from strategically placed foliage), the employees there are always very pleasant and you have a lot of hiking snack options if you haven't had time to preplan that aspect of the adventure. We did a circuitous route beginning at the Weis parking lot up the green trail, past the natural pool to the kiosk, then up blue to Wyanokie High Point, back down and continuing on the blue trail to Carris Hill, then taking the yellow trail from there down into the wetlands, turning west onto the blue trail, past Chik Falls and over to Otter Hole. At that point, you can either take the green Otter Hole trail back to the kiosk (I think that's about 6 miles), or turn west again in .2 miles onto yellow and up Buck Mountain, meandering along the ridge until you hit the woods road (subjective term) and can follow it back to the green trail/kiosk. Deciding to incorporate Buck Mountain adds about two miles to the trip, so if your haunches aren't up to it, just keep going north on green. You'll still get a workout in, regardless. The climb up to Wyanokie is fairly strenuous. I'm in very good hiking shape and can do it without any breaks if needed, but you're definitely earning the views once you ascend past the main tree line. The view on top has to be one of the top two or three in the state; on a clear day, you can see the NYC skyline (that's true as well for the top of Buck Mountain and several points along the yellow trail before it descends), as well as the mountainous regions to the north and west. It's gorgeous, and the only damper on this particular day was the obvious effects of the seasonal drought - tons of brown foliage and several of the water features were dried up or close to it. Especially down in the wetlands, you're usually hopping over a small stream or two. Not on this day, and Chik Falls was a barely discernable trickle. The Buck Mountain climb is one of the toughest in the area - if you can do it without taking a breather, god bless. It's something like an 800-foot ascent in .1 miles; it doesn't require actual rock scrambling or climbing, but it's probably in the tier right below that. But as with Wyanokie, you're getting amazing views for the sweat expended on the incline, and because it's a nastier section of the forest, there isn't nearly as much foot traffic. It's not unusual to get some solid wildlife sightings up on the ridge. This particular hike certainly had its share of wildlife. We saw either a garter or ribbon snake with Pittsburgh Steelers coloring, a skink, AKA the corgi of lizards, oodles of small frogs (presumably panicking over the lack of water), and met two canine chums, Nala and Argo. A very solid crop, and not out of the ordinary for this area. I couldn't recommend this place more highly. Nearby Wanaque doesn't have a lot of great eating options, so given that you've more than earned your calories from tromping around in the woods, I'd venture a little further south to sup on scrumptiousness.

I love the outdoors , but this hike was not my favorite :( it has an absurd amount of insects…read moreand YES I know it's a forest , but it not even well kept when it comes to markers on the trees for hikers . You can easily get lost because there's barely any markers or directions . The view from the summit is ok but even that doesn't have a sign either . They have bathroom signs to bathrooms that don't exist . Parking to a lot that says private lot .. nature is beautiful . But I wouldn't recommend this place , the pictures posted here are the ONLY thing to see . DO NOT RECOMMEND !!! There are other beautiful hiking places ..

We have frequented this trail with our dogs because it is close to home. The parking area (Turkey…read moreHill) is usually littered with trash of all kinds ( even clothing and shoes). This is an area that people frequently "party." Some areas close to Turkey Hill Pond have a ton of trash - lots of glass shards in areas. Definitely disappointing. We avoid certain areas of this trail to avoid the trash. We usually hike up Turkey Hill which is a short hike with pretty views. I wish people were more respectful and cleaned up after themselves.

Excellent hike, my 6 yr old twins did this hike in about an hour! It was my girls first real hike…read moreand they did Fine. It is rocky but they had no issues getting up the mountain.

What a beautiful and well kept Park. They've great paths for walking. It is easy to access and…read moreparking is simple.

Good exercise checkpoints and has very good views. It's nature is flourishing. I would definitely…read morerecommend going on the trail.

Wallkill River National Wildlife Refuge was established to conserve and enhance populations of…read morewildlife and their habitats, to protect and enhance water quality, and to provide opportunities for wildlife-dependent recreation and research. The refuge conserves the biological diversity of the Wallkill Valley by protecting and managing land, with a special emphasis on forest-dwelling and grassland birds, migrating waterfowl, wintering raptors, and endangered species. The North American Waterfowl Management Plan identifies the Wallkill River bottomlands as a priority focus area for waterfowl management within New Jersey.

***2 1/2 stars***…read more Wallkill was the site of our First of the Year hike this year, on a warmer than usual January 1 with some decent sunshine. We picked this based almost solely on location - in recent years, a Sussex native has been trekking all over the state to participate in this noble event so a nearby spot was selected as a gesture of good will. Our specific sojourn took place exclusively on the Wood Duck Trail, a back and forth hike that was about three miles in total (perfect mileage for this event). The parking lot is easy to spot, just off 23, and while the lot itself does not have a port-a-potty, the spiffy QuickChek nearby does - and for what it's worth, the bathroom there was pretty clean and the employees very pleasant. I am always warmly received in the Kingdom of Sussex. It absolutely could have been the time of year, but this place seemed super desolate and not conducive to decent optics. It's a lot of marshy/swampy areas off to the sides of the trails, which can be spooky under the right circumstances (maybe they could do some kind of Halloween hike over here with lanterns?) but after a while it's just repetitive. At the end of the trail (very easy to spot - it's literally gated so you have no choice but to turn around), there's a pleasant little off-shoot where you can get pretty close to the Wallkill River and admire the water features. Our Honorary Young Pup scampered down to the edge and played around there for a few minutes before we headed back. There were also one or two wooden bridges to cross over little streams, which were nice enough. However, they were a bit slippery - all of us watched the Honorary Young Pup skip across them with gritted teeth, but she stayed upright. I don't know if that's just the result of recent thawing and the prior day's rain, but something to keep in mind if you're tromping around there in similar weather. Once or twice we also encountered lookout points ostensibly to view birds and other wildlife, but they were not interested in making themselves known on January 1. Our only wildlife sighting of the day was a cardinal hopping around on the ice nearby. It would have been improved if this trail permitted pooches, but alas - only service animals are allowed, and they were off doing their duty elsewhere on this particular day. I don't see any reason why the powers that be couldn't at least allow leashed canines here - I can't imagine a tethered retriever doing any damage to the waterfowl, but I don't make the rules. On the positive side, the trail IS pretty well maintained. Part of that could be the minimal brush along the edges (there were a few sticker bushes but nothing that really hindered our journey), but it was very easy and straight-forward to follow, and even on a morning where everything was still in the process of drying out, I was impressed by how solid the path was. I'd anticipated navigating around a few puddles, and there really weren't any to speak of. Also in that regard, it's very young pup friendly. Our Honorary Young Pup is now a cagey veteran of this event and was comfortable frolicking by herself further down the trail and had no issues completing this adventure. This wasn't terrible by any means, but personal preference-wise, I prefer hikes/trails that are more interesting.

Beautiful park with variety of trails and scenic views…read more Harriman State Park has been one of our family's all-time favorites for the past 25 years, offering spectacular foliage and awesome hikes of different difficulty levels and lengths. The park features lakes, panoramic views, and scenic drives, making it a perfect destination just outside New York City. We highly recommend Harriman State Park for anyone seeking nature, forest hikes, and stunning views.