Happy New Year friends!…read more 2026 is my year (I say this every year) and I wanted to center my well-being today. So I joined my body affirming hiking group (ask about us!) for our Jan. 1 First Day Hike to Garret Mountain. Imagine our collective surprise when we woke up to a phantom overnight snowstorm! Still we persisted. Our group of 6 was suited and hiking booted for the wooded trails only to discover a thick layer of ice under and over the rocks headed into the forests. Even our microspikes wouldn't have been much help due to the steep declines. So we backtracked and decided to walk the auto loop instead. We got a mile into our 3 miles and Passaic County PD came around and announced the park was closing due to ice and dangerous conditions. So we walked back up to the auto lookout and headed out. 2 of 3 miles wasn't bad considering that I was cold in places I've never been cold before, and had just said to my friend, "I have a bad feeling about this hike today" right before we had to come out of the woods due to ice. Listen to your intuition! I know this park will be stunning in spring so I can't wait to return. The mountain views and gorgeous NYC skyline are not to be missed. Keep in mind: -The Tower was closed for maintenance so check before you go -Microspikes are a must in the winter - and even then... -It's a good 7-8 degrees colder up high in the park. 22 felt like 15. -the wildlife does not gaf. The deer stepped to us as if WE were the exhibit. Love that for them tbh.

Come here for a quick workout . You can do 2 miles and see horses and other wildlife. This place is…read moresecure there's camera surveillance. Such a great place to come and relax. They also have fitness bars to do pull-ups however I'm not at that level yet.

Nice park for the beginner or more experienced hiker or just someone who wants to have some peace…read moreand quiet outdoors for a couple of hours. The parking lot is big and there is a bathroom, which is appreciated. I took a look at the trail map before I left to find one of a decent length, so check out options, but the trails are well-marked. Once you get past the main train next to the lake, you can find yourself pretty alone except for another occasional hiker, but you can vibe with nature, see a waterfall, and just breathe in the fresh air. Some of the trails are long, but I paced one that was only a couple of miles and still got some nice scenery and a lot of steps in. It's great this park isn't too far from the urban areas of Northern NJ and there are many trail options so you can visit again and experience something new. There's also a sign for trout fishing if that's your thing. Check it out if you want to get away for the day.

This was my first time and what a blast! What I love about…read morehiking is that there's so many cool and magical places that you can't get to by car. For decades I've driven up 287 and wondered what was in all the hills and mountains and today I finally got to see. I met up with my local plus size hiking group for our last hike of the year and Ramapo was a first for all of us despite being longtime New Jerseyans. We did the Macmillan trail and clocked about 3.5 miles total. We went the long trail around the reservoir and then dipped back down the waterfall trail. Very thankful we did it that way - I think all the stairs on the waterfall trail would have been treacherous given the conditions and a bit demoralizing. Getting the big hills out the way first and enjoying the lake made the waterfall that much sweeter. So many dogs and kind people on the trail. Trash was almost non-existent. Tons of rocks and logs to sit a spell - but at below freezing temps we kept it moving lol. Highlights: -ample parking (bc it was cold) -giant rocks -waterfalls -exposed slabs -gorgeous vistas -the swan!!

Imagine a dog park covered entirely in fish tank gravel, with such soft footing that neither dog…read morenor human can walk comfortably, let alone run. This is easily the worst dog park in Passaic County, entirely due to the ground surface. Who came up with this idea? It's a nice park. It's conveniently located. It has tremendous potential! There are nice facilities, umbrellas for sun shelter, a doggie water fountain, etc. But the dogs just cannot run around comfortably on gravel. This is just parks planning gone wrong, likely conceived by someone who doesn't have dogs.

*Playground review!*…read more This one is a good one, y'all. It's definitely on the newer side and is a decent size for a bunch of kids to run & play. The brightly colored slides, tunnels, swings can be seen from Black Oak Ridge Rd. so it's hard to avoid when cruising the nighborhood -- I speak from experience! :-P There's a couple different structures -- one for smaller kids (1-3yo, I think) and one for older/bigger kids. My son has a blast climbing up the tunnels and down the slides every time we visit this playground. Note: the parking lot is a good size... but fills up quickly as it shares the lot w/ the dog park... and there's really no street parking along the park as it's a pretty active intersection.

I love Grrmonds. I swim about 4 days a week when it is open. The water this season was amazing…read more wish it stayed open though September.

So nice. The pool is clean and the lifeguards are alert which makes me happy and also feel safe.read more

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! :)

This is an amazing hike! It's almost all shaded and once you climb the rocks, straight up on blue,…read moreit's quite an easy hike. Guys we hiked blue to purple to blue to orange (which comes back to blue and the parking lot) and it took 2 hours and 3 miles. We met people who thought the whole thing took 45 minutes and had the water to go with that. This is an intermediate hike and you really need the water, as well as trail map or at least pic of trail map, to make it happily. We met so many lost people on the trail. It's not marked as well as you think. Also we took the pup who thought lake at first sight, meant jump. Pro tip; keep them out of the lake. It's full of stagnant water and stinking mud. Your nose will thank me. Instead enjoy the bubbly creek crossing before and after the hike.

The fam was looking to take advantage of this beautiful fall weather that we have been having. I…read morerecalled doing this hike a number of years ago and enjoyed it, so decided to give it another try. The parking lot was not the biggest, but there seemed to be many spots on the street. Fortunately we were able to find a spot in the lot though. It is dog friendly, so we brought our little guy too. Since the my younger son is only 7 we decided to do the hike (blue trail) to Tripod rock and back, which is about 3 miles. It does have some incline, but didn't receive any complaints about this from the fam. Also there are a bunch of stones on the hiking path, so be careful not to trip. The trail is marked well (apart from one point towards the tripod rock where it splits) so we were able to get to our destination fairly easily. It wasn't too crowded, which was nice.

Beautiful park to see fall colors in October or the prettiest flowers in the spring. There are…read moremultiple parking lots so plenty of parking. The website has an interactive map if you get lost. I walked around the whole park in about an hour, it's not too big. Leashed dogs are allowed!

Beautiful nature walk and nice trails. The kids loved it very informative about the wildlife.read more

Huge local park in the neighborhood. It has a playground, water pad, carousel, pony rides and train…read moreand the zoo. It has multiple parking lots BUT it gets filled up quickly. Great place for kids to run around and release their energy. Ice cream truck and shaved ice truck on site. Good for the summer. The park playground is well maintained. It's spread out to different sections. It has for bigger kids and smaller toddlers. Many staff at the Carousel and train. Well organized. Tix required. It could be a long wait during weekends. Overall a great place for kids. Easily spend a day here.

One of the very, very BEST parks in NJ - if not the best…read more Bordering Paramus and River Edge, Van Saun County Park is definitely one of the most popular parks I've ever been to ... and there's very good reason for it. First, the park probably has the LARGEST playground I've everrrrrr seen at a public park with multiple playgrounds WITHIN the playground itself. As you can imagine, it gets quite busy on nice weekend days. Surrounding the playground are many pavilions and picnic tables for those that want to have BBQs or large gatherings, which can be had with a permit. In addition to one of the best park playgrounds, the Bergen County Zoo resides inside of the park, which is free to EVERYONE during the colder months of the year. During the warmer months, there's a small fee for Bergen County residents and non-residents. If that's not enough, there is a miniature train ride that takes people around the entire park for a small fee. And, let me tell you first hand that the train ride is actually quite long at 5-7 minutes. Nearby, there is also a carousel that you can ride on for a fee. And, guess what?? There's even more! There is a barn with ponies that let's people ride the ponies for a fee as well. There are also jogging, walking and biking paths too along with a few tennis courts. Besides all of the permanent amenities, there are also events during different times of the year including the Winter Wonderland, which ... surprise, surprise ... takes place during the winter months. If you're worried about parking, no sweat, there are multiple large lots inside of the park, so once you arrive you can start your day asap. Like I said, DEFINITELY one of the best public parks in all of NJ.

A beautiful day at Overpeck County Park. We came here a few years ago, returned today to explore…read moremore of the park than our first visit. There are trails, tracks, fields, a big playground, huge space to explore what the park has to offer. We live so close by, we will take more of an opportunity to explore more.

What an amazing time I had for the 4th of July at Overpeck park-Organizers great job -parking was…read moreawesome as they allowed disabled access parking which allowed my mother in law close access to activities. Music was better than great everyone dancing singing-Tommy Fox was stationed for beers wine -they had a great spot and had their own portable potty for guests-didn't have to wait on long lines for public bathroom. The fireworks were great expected better but good job -now leaving parking lot was crazy they sent all cars in one direction instead of utilizing all exits-took us an hour before we were out of the mess-but all in all nice time -let me not forget the delicious corn beef sandwich we bought from Pastrami grill from Garfield NJ -look them up

This place is so beautiful!! Great place to see the beautiful skyline of New York City. The open…read morefield that they have is great for sitting in the grass and just enjoying the sun on a beautiful day!!

Great view! Hidden gem. Great view of NYC! A nice tribute of 9-11 here. A restaurant near by…read morerecommend reservations. Nice to park and take in the views.