This is a copy of the old Trail Information Page which has been replaced by the Go Hiking page on the new site. It has been modified to point to new information where available and will continue to be modified to reflect newer information. The old links remain and some of them may never be moved to the new site. Some will be be put in new, more logical places. The text in the green background are links to the new site. |
Trails in the bi-state area
The Trail Conference maintains over 1,700 miles of trails in the bi-state area. Click on volunteer above to see some of the opportunities to help make the trail systems even better. The Trail Conference is running a major project to refubish all the trails on Bear Mountain. Learn how you can help!
- Overview of Trails
- Overview Map of Area Served by the NY-NJ Trail
Conference
- New Trails 8/5/2008 (may not be in guidebooks or on maps)
- Trail Relocations 8/5/2008
- Trail or Road Closures 11/8/2008
- Locator maps from the Trail Conference maps
- Major trails
- The Appalachian Trail (Participate in the Bear Mountain Project)
- The Long Path ( update 8/31/2007 for
Warners Creek relo)
Shawangunk Ridge Trail 8/8/2008 free maps now available
- The Adirondacks
- Farny Highlands
- Campgaw Mountain County Reservation
- Hike of the Week - weekly column in The Record (Bergen County, NJ) and Poughkeepsie Journal
- Easy beginner hikes
- Other local trail descriptions
- Picture Gallery (perhaps you will see a picture of someplace interesting to hike)
- Free Trail Brochures 12/29/2005
- Where to ride your Mountain Bike
- Where to Camp/Backpack
- Where to park maps (AMC meeting places)
- Hiking NYC Watershed Lands
- Rock Climbing in New Jersey
- Handicapped Accessible Trails
- Horse Trails
- Multiuse Trails (mostly rail trails)
- Greenways
- Stewart State Forest
The Trail Conference publishes a number of books and maps for the local area.
Destination Finders
- See above for local trails
- Finding non-local trails
Things you should know before going hiking
- Check for new, relocated or closed trails which might affect your planned hike.
- Map Reading
- Leave No Trace (LNT)
- Lightening Safety
- Storm King State Park (Special Restrictions)
- Trail conditions report
- New York State Fall Foliage Report
- Fall Foliage Report
- Hiking permit areas
- Pequannock Watershed Permits
- Weather
- Hunting Season
- Tips on: GPSing, Map Folding, Magnetic Declination, Fuel Names, Poles, Water Purification, Boot Lacing
- Bears and other animals
- Health Concerns of Hiking
- Health Benefits of Hiking
- How to respond to trail emergencies: crime, fire, search & rescue
- Survival Techniques After Falling Through the Ice (movie clip)
- New Books of Interest to Hikers
- Books for Hikers
- Commercial Manufacturers, Books, Maps and Tours
- Plant Lists
- All About Birds
Vandalism
Occasionally parking areas have vandalism problems. You want to be careful about using these parking lots (particularly overnight). It is highly recommended that you leave no obviously valuable items in view.
Help us monitor the trails
- Procedures for Reporting Problems ( brochure)
- Submit a trail problem report
- Submit a report of illegal vehicle usage of trails
- National Park Complaint Center (please report Appalachian Trail problems locally)
Volunteer to maintain a trail
Transportation
Topographic Maps
- Trail Conference Maps
- TopoZone.com free download
- MyTopo
- Offroute
- MapCard
- DRG Exchange (has NJ TIFs) free download (Broken)
- The New York State GIS Clearinghouse Home Page free download
- USGS 1-800-USA-MAPS
- DeLorme CD
- TOPO! Interactive Maps Wildflower Productions CD
- Maptech CD
- Trails Illustrated
- Geographic Names Information System (GNIS)
- National Geodetic Survey Benchmark Lookup
- Canadian Topos
- International Maps
Overview of Trails
Within a couple of hours of NYC are over 2,000 miles of quality hiking trails. The closest are on Long Island, Staten Island and along the NJ Palisades.
A little further afield, but easy to reach by car or bus, are the 200 miles of trails in the ever popular Harriman-Bear Mountain State Park. These trails have a great variety of length and difficulty.
To the west of Harriman, lie the 20 thousand acres of Sterling Forest State Park. Located between the Appalachian Trail corridor on the North and New Jerseys Wanaque, Passaic and Ringwood park lands to the South and Greenwood Lake to the West, this newest addition to the regions publicly-owned lands offers the hiker over forty miles of blazed trail and numerous, marked woods roads.
A little further north in Orange County are the trails of Storm King State 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 areas can hold their own with any in the country.
And then there are the hundreds of miles of hiking and backpacking opportunities in the Catskill Forest Preserve, including many in state-designated wilderness areas.
On the east shore of the Hudson are Putnam County's Hudson Highlands (30 miles ) and Fahnestock State Parks (20 miles). Further upstate are the magnificent South Taconics, with 20 miles of trails in the tri-state border area of NY/CT/MA.
The major hiking area of northern New Jersey are in state parks and forests such as Norvin Green, Ringwood/Skylands, Hewitt, Ramapo Mountain and Wawayanda, mostly in Passaic County. Most are reachable by public transportation as well as private car. Closer in, try Bergen County's Ramapo Valley Reservation as well as the trails above and below the Palisades 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 Water Gap National Recreation Area.
Tying many of these networks together are the three backbone hiker highways. The Appalachian Trail (162 miles of the 2,100-mile total are in NY & NJ), the 300-mile Long Path and the new Highlands Trail (some built, the rest in the planning stage).