Aquetong Spring Park
Aquetong’s cold limestone spring serves up refreshment for all of your senses at once! Cool water gushes from a clear pool over an 8 foot (ish) drop and gushes into…
Shipetauken Woods
Shipetauken’s are the perfect woods to get lost in – not only because of their timeless, enchanting setting with thriving wildflowers and a weaving stream under tall, fresh canopies –…
Ireland Brook Conservation Area Trail
Ireland Brook Conservation Area offers small, medium and large adventures over rolling forests, meadows and marshes – and connecting to neighboring preserves. From the Riva Ave. end, the sweet little…
Princeton Highlands / Griggstown Native Grassland Preserve Trail
For someone who is ever in search of the English countryside, these tree-lined rolling meadows come quite close. From the parking lot, there’s a trail leading in every direction and…
Rockingham Loop Trail
A short path loops from Rockingham’s parking lot down through the woods to the D & R Canal path, back up the hill and returning through the Rockingham grounds –…
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…
Maidenhead Road Trail
Hidden away behind the Maidenhead soccer fields, this under-a-mile footpath loops from just behind the playground, along a meadow ridge, through the woods and along a greenway. The path hides…
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…
Oxbridge Footpath
Some of the most enchanting adventures hide among “the in-betweens” – like this pretty, wooded one, in-between Montgomery Park and the Oxbridge neighborhood, cloaking Back Brook. A gravel, paved path…
Reinhardt Forest Preserve Trail
A simple, serene yellow-blazed 1.2-mile loop wraps around these sweet woods, with a red and blue trail through the middle, skirting what appears to be a shallow pond. A stream…
Natirar Trail
One of the Garden State’s most majestic rambles, the grounds of Natirar include a hilltop English manor and sweeping meadows with enchanting, hidden away nature trails at opposite ends. Each…
Sayen Garden & Trail
Formal gardens surrounding the Arts and Crafts era Sayen bungalow, dense woods and a beautifully landscaped park share this compact 30-acre corner in Hamilton – connected by a wonderfully convoluted…
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…
Watershed Boardwalk & Stony Brook Trails
The beautiful new boardwalk takes you by the feet from the nature center and deposits you at the Stony Brook trail, which loops to the river and back. Along the…
Allaire State Park – Robinwood Dinosaurs Trail
The Allaire Dinosaur trail is tingling with magic. You can’t help but feel it hovering under the dense canopy of wise old evergreens – especially when the first dinosaur comes…
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…
Pryde Point – Alexauken Trail
The scenery changes from moment to moment here. First, the yellow trail sets off through a long meadow, dives through some woods and then follows a sloping gravel road to…
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…
Lord Stirling Park Trail
We expected boardwalks to go to great lengths here – but we couldn’t have dreamed of this! Crossing a patchwork of lake, swamps, forest and meadows, boardwalks make up one…
Cheesequake State Park Trail
A diverse and unusual extravaganza of ecosystems awaits you at Cheesequake State Park – including salt and freshwater marshes, a cedar swamp, pine barrens, and a hilly hardwood forest. If…
Eames Preserve Trail
I couldn’t stop smiling along this enchanting sliver of paradise. Nature just feels especially gracious here. The parking spot is the highest point of the trail, and the picturesque bend…
Drexel Woods Trail & Lawrence Nature Center
These woods are stocked with every feature you could wish for – all in a mile-long loop: meandering boardwalks under a grand canopy, Shabakunk Creek with its pretty beaches, a…
Turtleback Park Trail
This short, sweet strip sneaks between Little Shabakunk Creek and neighborhood gardens. From the friendly turtle sculpture marking the beginning of the trail, it’s only a few steps to the…
Pinelands Batona Trail at Ongs Hat
We experienced only the very first of the 50 miles in this Pinelands haul. One lovely mile of fragrance, soft pine carpeting, and a fresh quiet that was interrupted a…
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…
Van Dyke Farm Trail
Across the street from Van Dyke farm’s barn and grazing horses, a small parking lot marks the beginning of this short, pond-abundant trail. The blue trail ambles toward the pipeline,…
Loveless Preserve Trail
A curtain of evergreens surrounds the trail head, revealing a long, beckoning corridor through the woods – a fitting welcome since the Loveless family formerly ran a Christmas tree farm.…
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,…
Woolsey Park Trail
What a compact wonderland this is, complete with 4 stepping stone stream crossings, a dense evergreen forest, a broad meadow, an anciently twisted and scraggly osage orange hedgerow, high ridges…
Dallenbach Nature Trail
In sharp contrast to the showy waterpark it’s tucked behind, Dallenbach Lake is the picture of serenity. From his hand-written welcome note at its start to the densely-educational signs along…
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…
Sourland Mountains Kulak Preserve Trail
From its launch pad on Featherbed Lane, the trail crosses the Kulak Preserve and then mingles with other Sourland trails. In Autumn and Winter, a thick layer of leaves thoroughly…
Nayfield Preserve Trail
A broad meadow welcomes you at the very start of the trail, along with ecological art in the form of intriguing flower sculptures that function as bee coves. A lovely…
Buddhist Vihara Meditation Trail
Even as an unabashed construction site while the temple is added, this place is a worthwhile experience. The Samadhi (meditation posture) statue of Buddha is the largest of its kind…
Woodlot Park Trail
Hidden in plain sight, a wonderland of trails and little creek canyons weaves through the Woodlot Park woods. We dove in behind the pond and followed the yellow trail to…
Goat Hill Overlook Trail
Typically, it takes a moderate to intensely treacherous hike to reach a view like this – but at barely a mile on a broad path with a gentle incline, your…
Zega-Lockatong Preserve Trail
Old stone walls, shimmering meadows and the picturesque Lockatong Creek frame this timeless footpath. Over a small hill from the parking lot, the path remains level and easy to follow…
Zaitz Preserve Trail
Channeling through the dense, boundless cloud of Sweetpepperbush underbrush beneath the high canopy of Zaitz woods quickly takes on a meditative ease. While there are intriguingly lovely twists and turns,…
Bull’s Island Trail
Well it’s an island, so that’s a thousand enchantment points right from the get-go. And it over-delivers once you’re “tide-pooling” on the beach at its tip. There’s ample parking on…
Watershed Blue Trail (Moore’s Mill Mt. Rose Rd. to Crusher Rd.)
Bridging the beginning and end sections of The Watershed Blue Trail, this is a lovely amble through thickets and woodlands with a delightful and unexpected clearing in the middle. LEARN…
Watershed Blue Trail (Broad St. to Crusher Rd.)
Starting at the Broad Street end in Hopewell, this one is wonderfully overlookable – you will almost certainly miss it and have to swing back around. A straight, flat and…
Sunset Park Trail
Hovering between creepy and enchanted, Sunset Park is a veritable sculpture gallery with installations stationed along a 1/4 mile of adventurous tunnels through the junipers. Though the path is short,…
Broadmead Meadow Trail
This lovely neighborhood meadow and woods in Princeton proper hides in plain sight. The footpath winds from Western Way to Hartley Ave. through a narrow strip of woods that shelter…
Autumn Hill Reservation Trail
Tucked between Herrontown Woods and the Blue Spring Road development, Autumn Hill Reservation has quietly lingered under the radar for a long, long time. Quirky relics point to its history:…
Millstone River Trail at Grover’s Mill
This wooded trail is packed with well worn as well as spindly trails, high bluffs atop dipping valleys, and dense woods that flank a broad, ambling plain of wetlands –…
Constitution Hill Trail
Secret passages really do come true! …. usually in that one area that hardly seems worth checking. In this case, an unassuming corner of Greenway Meadows (as if it didn’t…
Roger’s Preserve Trail
So much personality is wedged into this former Christmas tree farm in a mini Bear Brook valley. From the parking lot, with its lovely view of Grovers Mill Pond, the…
Milford Bluffs Trail
You’ll feel like a Condor, perched atop the Milford Bluffs gazing over the Delaware River. Uphill from the wooded parking lot and through dense vegetation, the trail suddenly deposits you…
Ringing Rocks & Falls Creek Waterfall
Bring your hammers – and keep your kids close! Nature has really outdone herself here, serving up not one, but two distinctly magnificent spectacles. Just a few yards from the…
Woosamonsa Ridge Preserve Trail
Everything here happens under a vast, towering canopy – an excellent place to lose your mind and save your soul. Steep as the white trail trek up to the ridge…
Rocky Brook Trail
Stepping stones kick things off across the Stony Brook at a perfectly picturesque spot where you could happily spend the day stream stopping. But then you’d be missing the magnificence…
Millstone Park Trail
Sneaking off behind Rocky Hill’s municipal building and magical co-op preschool is a charming path through wildflowers and grassland down a considerable slope to the Millstone River. From stream stomping…
Scott’s Corner Conservation Area Trail
This sweet little gem hides behind cricket fields opposite the mammoth Rowland Park grounds. Your child will love decoding the trail markers to find the lake with its gentle, mossy…
Ettl Farm Trail
Just a hop down the Stony Brook from the Chauncey trail and yet it feels quite different. The beaches are shallower, the river more approachable, the woods denser and everything…
Baldpate Mountain Trail
Scramble up a boulderfall and through some enchanting passageways and you’ll see all the way to Philadelphia – telescope provided!
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.…
Iron Mike’s Trail
From the artisanal carved archway marking it’s beginning (on either end), this trail takes you by the hand and leads you on a sweet tour, curving through airy woods surrounding…
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 Road Natural Area Trail
Though this preserve feels sweet and discrete, it’s actually quite large. The tight, snaking purple trail is jam packed with lovely vignettes, mini pastures, creeks and cedar passageways and it’s…
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…
Institute Woods Trail
Timeless pathways for Sunday promenades connect vast prairies, historic landmarks, a wild life refuge and the D & R canal – not to mention the Institute for Advanced Studies. Technically,…
Carson Road Woods Trail
These are the things footpathing dreams are made of – all in one demure and lovely place. You’ll find a clear, level bike path, endless meadow, towering forest, subway-like tunnels…
Omick Woods Trail
A lovely loop through the woods with 3 distinct features: stone stairways crossing a picturesque creek, a pretty overlook, and a fairyland path across a dam that empties to a…
Sourland Ecosystem Preserve Trail
Ambling through woods and along boardwalks and leap-frogging boulders along streams, your path will be fairly level with the exception of one knoll in the Northeast section. LEARN / HELP…
Fieldston Road Dinky Line Footpath
Small but magical, especially if you’re a train gazer. This is no place for roving toddlers as the path runs between waterways and railroads. ACTIVITIES: Train Gazing DIRECTIONS
Kendall Woods Trail
Branching off from a tucked away little park and playground is this broad walkway through tall trees flanking the Kendall Woods. It’s an excellent place to practice biking – with…
Mershon Lane & Krebs Road Footpath
A sly little lake with a mini picnic meadow beside the railroad, this spot is absolutely ideal for train gazing – as long as little feet are well supervised. ACTIVITIES:…
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…
St. Michael’s Farm Preserve Trail (West)
If you’re a fan of the English countryside like me, your heart will swell at the views in this lovely shire, complete with a village steeple and farm silos. On…
Woodfield Reservation Trail
Trails scamper throughout this broad ridge, often across long planks and artisanal bridges with landmark destinations (like Counsel Rock or Pond View) that do not disappoint. You can spend a…
Maidenhead Meadows Trail
There’s the straightforward route along the spacious meadow and lollipopping through the woods – which is lovely – and then there are the wispy footpaths less traveled that lead to…
Heathcote Brook Trail
Part meditatively tranquil and predictable, part rambling meadows and all around, forest that few humans ever breach (at least, that’s what the fox told me). Connects to Kendall Woods trail.…
Kate’s Trail
This enchanting lollipop trail, squeezed between two estates, has become much easier to find thanks to the handsome new archway at the trail head. The path seems to have been…
Negri-Nepote Native Grassland Preserve Trail
There are woods – on the edges – but the substance of this lovely walk is tall, breathy grass. Scope and distance take on a meditative scale. Wooden pedestals along…
Carnegie Lake Trail
Even this well-groomed portion of Lake Carnegie tucks away a secret little wilderness, complete with a treehouse. Spanning the stretch of shoreline between Washington and Harrison, this footpath is as…
Grey Farm Footpath
This inconspicuous little footpath along the bluffs of Carnegie Lake and eventually down to the water’s edge hides beautiful views and wildlife watching opportunities. The path is lovingly cared for…
Cedar Ridge Preserve Trail
There’s an epic aura to this place – Sherwood Forest meets the Serengeti. Trails start from either Van Dyke or Stony Brook Roads; and either way you begin at a…
Bunker Hill Natural Area Trail
We waded in Huckleberry Finn’s footsteps here. Broad, mowed trails on the hill drop to an under realm of pure adventure. From the parking lot, paths lure you through the…
Otto’s Farm Park Trail
Sloping views sweep across farmland and forests in this beautifully maintained preserve with picnic benches scattered at meandering intersections. Natural arches beckon to be explored and timeless stone steps lead…
Audubon’s Plainsboro Preserve Trail
Audoban’s Plainsboro Preserve is as inviting to the rich wildlife it hosts as it is to its visitors with a welcoming nature center and trails that are perfect for little legs and still full of intrigue and adventure as they pass through butterfly gardens, along scenic bluffs, through shaded woods and past bird viewing platforms.
Children’s Discovery Trail
Educational, mindful and conscientious, this is an ideal adventure trail for Kindergarteners and up (many stretches of planks and some rock cascades might be tough for younger feet). Lots of…