Shallow Brook Woods
A paved path, ideal for strollers, scooter and bikes, skirts the woods that separate the neighborhood homes from Shallow Brook. A dirt footpath loops through the woods to another world…
Mount Rose Preserve
In the end, Nature always wins. [mic drop] Ok, I’m back. Turning into the driveway leading to the parking lot, you’ll pass unexpected relics of the time when the nation’s…
Lakeside Village Trail – Mercer County Park
There is something for absolutely everyone here. Rent a boat, play beach volleyball, stroll along a waterfront footpath and into the woods, grab a snack at the concession stand (open…
Duke Farms Trail
How privileged we all are, with our open invitation to step into this timeless, seemingly boundless, no-expense-spared, aristocratic park at our leisure (Tuesday through Saturday, 8:30am to 6pm). From the…
Crystal Lake Park Trail
Dense woods, open meadows, bike paths, horse riding trails, hawks, herons, lake views, water lilies, fishing nooks, level pathways, steep plummets, rhododendron groves, wistful benches…. few places let you choose…
Allaire Village Trail
Pretty wooded and riverside trails are spun around the pristinely restored early 19th century Allaire Village and Howell Iron Works Company. As you stroll past the row houses, blacksmith shop…
Pine Creek Railroad at Allaire State Park
The New Jersey Transit Museum has made its captivating home here since 1952, showcasing turn of the century railcars and locomotives. Its Pine Creek Railroad is one of the oldest…
Ronald Rogers Arboretum Trail
Founding member of Friends of West Windsor Open Space (FOWWOS) and lifelong conservationist, Ronald Rogers was known as West Windsor’s Forester. His dedication to community forestry is honored here in…
Skillman Park Trail
Over 2 miles of paved pathway, ideal for bikes and scooters, loop around the park and school. And a charming mowed trail parallels the brook with pretty vignettes and wetland…
Cross Estate Gardens & Trails
A secret garden. Right here in New Jersey – and complete with ivy-covered stone walls, trellised passageways, a romantic estate, rolling meadows and even a Rapunzelesque stone tower. No doubt…
Jockey Hollow Preserve Trail
It was literally, technically and absolutely freezing cold the day we journeyed through Jockey Hollow – all the better to empathize with the soldiers who huddled here long before we…
Rosedale Park Trail to the Historic Hunt House
Yes, it has that – whatever it is you’re hoping for. Lake, picnic benches, covered pavilions, paved trails, unpaved trails, hidden footpaths, playgrounds, bathrooms, dog park, historic house, connecting trails,…
Mill Creek Marsh Trail
A former wasteland between Bob’s Furniture Outlet and Interstate 95, this meandering little eden is a beacon of green in the Meadowlands. Narrow pathways snake and intersect across the grassy…
DeKorte Park Trail
Happily ever after its landfill and wasteland past, DeKorte Park is a wide expanse of breathtaking views. A splindling of narrow walkways cuts through a flat tidal marsh and waterscape…
Helmetta Pond Trail
The T-shaped pier was what drew us here: a perfect place to read and picnic while watching hawks circling overhead. After a quick stop at the playground, we drove to…
Hartshorne Woods Trail
One of the highest points on the Atlantic Coast, Hartshorne Woods includes 14 miles of trails, including the adventuresome one that led us to a secret beach! The park’s elevation…
Barbara Smoyer Park Trail
This park checks every box for every age and interest. With several entrances, the park evolves from a serene, lake side historic garden to a playground and soccer recreation field…
Stonebridge Preserve Trail
Tunnel through the cedar grove, shimmy along the dramatic river ridge, amble around the pastures and drift through the wildflower meadows – four landscapes in one footpath! There are several…
Millstone River Park Trail
As always, nature holds a lovely surprise for you in this strip of space between the Penn Medical Center and the Millstone River. The parking lot is usually empty (save…
Clover Hill Park Trail
This expanse of rolling farmland and forgotten pastures, plastered over here and there with crusted bands of weed-breached pavement seems not to be top of anybody’s mind. Combine that with…
Hamilton Veteran’s Park Trail
You’ll see a fighter jet, 911 memorial, veterans’ memorial, formal gardens, Seward Johnson sculpture and sprawling playground before you even reach the main parking lot. Explore the 333 acres a…
Lenape Trail
Driving past this place and not stopping shows phenomenal restraint. From the road at Mill Pond Park, between lily pads and onto a long and skinny peninsula, the sandy path…
Greenway Meadows Trail
If the great meadow were the entirety of this preserve, it would be a phenomenal destination. But instead, that marvelous sloping pollinator extravaganza/ sledding paradise presides over: an allee of…
Mountain Lakes Preserve, Tusculum Meadows & Johnson Boardwalk Trails
In the middle of Princeton, Mountain Lakes Open Space Area encompasses five distinct natural worlds, one more enchanting than the next. Mountain Lakes Preserve sits in the middle, surrounded by…
Montgomery Veterans Park Trail & Arboretum
First things first: there’s a zipline! In fact, absolutely nothing’s missing from this gargantuan recreation area made up of an amazing new playground, expansive park, arboretum and adjoining soccer complex.…
Community Park North & Pettoranello Gardens Trails
A paved pathway ambles around Pettoranello Garden’s pond, passing scattered picnic benches and a charming amphitheater on its way. As you head North, asphalt gives way to a footpath that…
Butler Tract (Princeton’s Unofficial Bike Training Ground)
What better place to learn to ride a bike, scooter, rollerblades, etc. than a relic of a neighborhood with all the roads and none of the traffic? A big oval…
Beech Woods Park Trail
Orderly, spacious and groomed as a country club, this park tucks its adventure all into one corner – and when you tuck into there too, the park’s name makes perfect…
Mercer Meadows Trail
Boardwalks add lots of pizazz, in my book, and this place is among the boardwalkiest of them all! And it’s a perfect place for biking with its endless sprawling acres…
Brearley Great Meadow Trail
At the end of a country lane, settled in meadow, sits the home of John Brearley, one of the signers of the U.S. Constitution (now home to the Lawrence Historical…
Lawrence Brook Trail
Your choice of paved or unpaved path ambles through this unexpected corridor of wilderness, complete with colonies of beavers, a tranquil river, wetlands and a railroad. ACTIVITIES: Train Gazing DIRECTIONS…
Cypress Court Trail
If the performance we enjoyed by the deer is any indication, not too many humans take this little corridor connecting Cypress Court with Dey Road. Not a destination, in and…
Four Paws Trail at Stephen Way
If your posse includes advanced as well as beginning bikers, this place is perfect for you. A flat, paved trail runs between neighborhoods – alongside glorious little woods with a…
Schoolhouse Trail at Schuss Woods
Squeezed between Orchard Hill and Montgomery Middle Schools and along Back Brook, the trail gets its name from the sweet one-room schoolhouse still perched at the edge of Schuss Woods.…
Van Horne Park Trail
Hidden in plain sight, this spacious park is an excellent place for strollers or taking off the training wheels. A paved path encircles a large deer wilderness as well as…
Metro Park / Dinky Line Trail
The skinny little path from the parking lot is a portal to another world that magically fits into this wild wetland space between office parks. We like to pretend we’re…