Trail Information (from old website)

This page is a modified copy of the Trails Information page on the old website, reached from the Trails menu at the top of old website pages. It will gradually dwindle to nothing as we move the information to the new website. It is not being maintained other than to remove items from it. Much of the material is seriously out of date.

Material that has been moved is marked with purple font and the links within it go the new location.

This page may remain helpful for those how are accustomed to its orginazation as a navigational aid. Most people will find the Go Hiking pages better organized. 

The Trail Conference maintains over 1,600 miles of trails in the bi-statearea. Click on volunteer above to see some of the opportunities to help make the trail systemseven better. The Trail Conference is running a major project torefubish all the trails on Bear Mountain. Learn how you can help!

The Trail Conference publishes a number of books and maps for the local area.

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Destination Finders

Things you should know before going hiking

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Vandalism

Occasionally parking areas have vandalism problems. You want to becareful about using these parking lots (particularly overnight). Itis highly recommended that you leave no obviously valuable items inview.

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Help us monitor the trails

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Volunteer to maintain a trail

Transportation

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Topographic Maps

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Overview of Trails

Within a couple of hours of NYC are over 2,000 miles of quality hikingtrails. The closest are on Long Island, Staten Island and along theNJ Palisades.

A little further afield, but easy to reach by car or bus, are the200 miles of trails in the ever popular Harriman-Bear Mountain StatePark. These trails have a great variety of length and difficulty. 

To the west of Harriman, lie the 20 thousandacres of Sterling Forest State Park. Located between the Appalachian Trailcorridor on the North and New Jerseys Wanaque, Passaic and Ringwood parklands to the South and Greenwood Lake to the West, this newest addition tothe regions publicly-owned lands offers the hiker over forty milesof blazed trail and numerous, marked woodsroads. 

A little further north in Orange County are the trails of Storm KingState Park, Black Rock Forest and on Schunemunk Mountain.

Even further north are the Shawangunks, including Mohonk Preserve,Mohonk Mountain House and Minnewaska State Park Preserve. These areascan hold their own with any in the country.

And then there are the hundreds of miles of hiking and backpackingopportunities in the Catskill Forest Preserve, including many in state-designatedwilderness areas.

On the east shore of the Hudson are Putnam County's Hudson Highlands(30 miles ) and Fahnestock State Parks (20 miles). Further upstateare the magnificent South Taconics, with 20 miles of trails in thetri-state border area of NY/CT/MA.

The major hiking area of northern New Jersey are in state parks andforests such as Norvin Green, Ringwood/Skylands, Hewitt, Ramapo Mountainand Wawayanda, mostly in Passaic County. Most are reachable by publictransportation as well as private car. Closer in, try Bergen County'sRamapo Valley Reservation as well as the trails above and below thePalisades north of the George Washington Bridge.

Further west are the Kittatinny Mountains: High Point State Park,Stokes and Worthington State Forests as well as the Delaware WaterGap National Recreation Area.

Tying many of these networks together are the three backbone hikerhighways. The Appalachian Trail (162miles of the 2,100-mile total are in NY & NJ), the 300-mile LongPath and the new HighlandsTrail (some built, the rest in the planning stage).

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