I have been coming here for years and it has always been so beautiful. I love morning hikes…read more Seeing the water falls and hiking through the trails is so picturesque. It's a great cardio workout. We climb up trail stairs and down. We go up some hills and down. It really depends on the direction you decide to take. Fall is my favorite time of year to come here when the weather is a bit cooler and there is not as much people around. The trails in this this park is very clearly marked and you can see trails that were created by the parks department plus some that were created by people who wanted to adventure off the regular trails. There are some very very small caves if you look around hard enough. I see them take a quick peek and I am on my way. I am not that adventurous, lol. This is definitely a fantastic place to visit if you are in the area. Just a couple of things to remember. Bug spray is your friend. Spray yourself, ticks are not fun and also be careful when running your hands on the wooden handrails because there may be splinters. I now take tweezers with me just in case splinters or ticks but this park is still a fantastic place to visit.

Really beautiful site, but it was hard to find. The address in the tour book took us to a closed,…read moreprivate road, and it's a windy two lane road with no shoulder, so it was also hard to find a place to turn around. There is a bit of a pull off area, and there is a restroom, but when I went off season (warm but not declared in season) it was locked. So mileage may vary on its usefulness. Luckily, if your eagle eyes spot the pullover parking lot, the falls are a pretty short walk. I recommend taking the path to the right to the top of the falls so you can then move down the steep incline instead of going up. The view from the bottom is very pretty. It's a good view and only needs like 20 minutes tops of your time. It was quite doable for my senior mother, but some parts were very slow moving. She enjoyed it, so it does still work for beginners as long as it's not been raining. Would recommend stopping by if you like seeing waterfalls. It's the tallest in the state and very scenic.

Its super quiet. Barely anyone is there on the weekends. Trails can be a little difficult.read more

We ended up completing this hike right after it had snowed the day before. They ended up closing…read moreall the main roads leading to the falls, but even walking along the road was scenic itself. The trail is lined with a bunch of trees and continually crossed by a bunch of streams and rivers flowing from the Delaware Water Gap. The Buttermilk Falls are definitely a must see and with half of it frozen, it definitely gave me some white walker vibes. Overall the hike is pretty easy and scenic throughout so I'd definitely recommend (although I'd definitely check weather and road conditions before going).

I asked a local if there were any good hikes or trails in the area and they recommended the James…read moreLeach boardwalk trail. While boating on the lake, I saw the bridge of the trail and thought it would be worth checking out. At first we didn't see the entrance for the trail, until we saw somebody coming out. The entrance was in the back of this little park. The park has basketball courts, tennis courts, a jungle gym and a Porto-potty in addition to the trail. The trail was gravel, easy to follow and very clean. Because it was named James Leach boardwalk trail, I assumed that it would be a boardwalk. Only the bridge was boarded. It is a nice trail, and if you are a local and would like to take a little hike, then you probably aren't reading my review and it is worthwhile. But if you are visiting and looking to take a hike, I don't think this will satisfy you. The bridge is nice and view to the lake is nice but that's about it.

This review is for the Warbasse Junction- Lafayette, NJ section of the Paulinskill Valley Trail…read more The Parking lot has a solar powered bathroom shack and map of the trail. This area is actually part of a loop of trails- the Paulinskill Valley Trail (PVT), the Sussex Branch Trail (SBT) & Former LNE Trail. The Sussex Branch is located across the street but the third trail (LNE) was not to be found. Too bad the trail is not marked better. We tried to do the loop which would have included all 3 trails but we weren't able to find the LNE trail, so we biked back and forth on the Paulinskill Valley Trail. We started on the eastern side and biked west towards Smartswood Station. The Paulinskill Valley Trail extends 27 miles from Knowlton in Warren County (Smartswood Station) eastward through Blairstown, Frelinghuysen, Hardwick, Stillwater, Fredon, Hampton, and Lafayette, to its eastern terminus at Sparta Junction in Sussex County. So there is plenty more to explore. The Paulinskill Valley Trail is a very nice and shady trail and the surface is mostly compact gravel. It was easy to ride on our hybrid bikes but there were a few sections that had water, so it was a little muddy. We saw other biker, hikers, and horseback riders on our ride. We will return either to this or another section soon to continue exploring.

Three tracks-to-trails efforts converge in this area near Lafayette to form a loop. A fellow hiker…read moreattested to a four mile loop, but the LNE's location is not clear on Google and Manda R. had trouble finding it. We did a shorter out-and-back on the Paulinskill, heading west from Warbasse Junction. The trail was flat and made up of a fine, gravely soil. Since it hasn't accommodated a train since the 1960s, it's pretty well shaded. It cuts through rock formations and local fields. We saw runners, hikers, and horseback riders.

Beautiful fall day exploring the trails with kids. Uphill trails for a challenge, climbing rocks,…read morewalking over streams, throwing rocks. Resting on benches. Lots to do and see. Bathrooms and parking available.

Had a planned family gathering and rented out the main covered seating area. We paid for the entire…read moreday and it was meant for us even though the park DID NOT SET A RESERVED SIGN ANYWHERE!!! So it started out bad. Multiple families had already setup shop and started to cook on the grills to have their picnics. We had to let them know that they had to leave and take their parked cars also. What a mess. Where are the forest rangers or cops to patrol... not anywhere in site! Other than that, it's a nice spot to hand and check out the pond. Besides the fact that it gets mobbed and parking is hard to find, I would come for a hike.

Last Saturday I came to High Point State Park with a hiking group called hiking with friends. It…read morewas my first time visiting High Point State Park. It was $10 for admission into the state park. Luckily the $10 wasn't per person but per vehicle. We hiked the Monument trail to the High Point Monument which is a 220-foot stone obelisk honoring New Jersey's war veterans, located at the state's highest elevation within High Point State Park. The monument trail was moderately challenging in terms of the path being a rocky trail and plenty of mini hills. During the hike it wasn't very scenic until we made it to the area of the monument. If you don't want to hike to the monument, there is also an option to drive your car up to the monument. Once we made it to High Point monument we decided to climb the 200 foot obelisk. I believe it is 291 steps to the top. So it was a bit exhausting to do after a hike but a few of us decided to take the challenge. There were some nice views from the top as well. Overall, I definitely recommend high point State Park. I also love that there are public restrooms and no porta potties. One thing to note is that the park enforces a carry-in, carry-out policy, meaning visitors must take all their trash and recycling with them when they leave. I did not see any trash cans at the state park so the policy makes sense.

This state park might fly under the radar given its proximity to the Delaware Water Gap National…read moreRecreation Area just to the south, but this is still a great park with lots of beauty and history. I visited during the first weekend of January with my girlfriend and spent two nights at the High Point Mountain Motel just outside the park boundaries. We first visited the park headquarters where we were able to get information and maps, then we did the 3.5 mile Monument Trail. The following morning we did a longer hike, a portion of the Iris Trail and then looped back on a section of the Appalachian Trail, the famed trail that goes from Georgia all the way to Maine. Both hikes provided beautiful views, were moderately challenging, and because it was 25 degrees in January, we had the woods almost entirely to ourselves for the duration of both hikes. We loved our time in this park and definitely want to come back in warmer weather to camp at one of the campgrounds and do more hiking.

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.

Great hiking there as usual. Took short hikes up to the Appalachian Trail…read more Saw some trail magic, so added to it for through hikers.

SHOTWELL -- I camped at a lean-to at Showell camp grounds. The shelter was great, had plenty of…read morespace for my queen sized bed and my double seater folding chair. I used my small portable generator for power/lights. Wood purchased at the ranger station seemed to burn better than any wood I found around the campsite so I used purchased wood to start camp fires then used wood found around camp. What I didn't like was the shower facilities are at another camp entirely, Lake Ocquittunk, and that kind of sucked especially when I went looking for it at night. It's about 6 miles away but it gave me the opportunity to pull off at the gas station for some snacks, still it's location is super inconvenient. This place is great for winter camping and although the shelters are relatively close to each other, it's so cold that nobody is out bothering anyone. I plan on visiting this place in the summer to see how the tent sites are but I'll bring a portable toilet since the bath rooms are relatively far from the better more private camp sites.