Explore the best rated trails in Hillsdale, NJ. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Walkway Over The Hudson and D & H Canal Linear Park. With more than 104 trails covering 744 miles you're bound to find a perfect trail for you. Click on any trail below to find trail descriptions, trail maps, photos, and reviews.
Fantastic ride, very smooth well-maintained. Enjoyed the views and shade with my wife. Recommend for novice bike riders.
Did the 13 mile loop on our e-bikes. Our observations: Absolutely gorgeous trail, wildflowers were in bloom, a small waterfall, pretty bridges to ride over and slate “cliffs” to ride between. Trails need some serious maintenance. 3 places where trees were over trail, needed to lift bikes over in 2 places, shove bikes under in 1. Trails get very narrow on several places, only room for 1 bike to pass. Poison ivy abounds. Bone jarring areas full of rocks. bikes over in 2 places, had to a
Crushed stone most of the way made it a somewhat noisy ride. A gentle upgrade most of the way out then the reverse coming back. When on dirt was quieter and more peaceful. We rode yesterday (a Saturday) so we had lots of fellow riders on the trail. Unfortunately a good number of them fail to follow basic biking courtesy and call out when passing you. Was a lovely day to ride. The trail is well maintained and the rating of a 2 out of 3 seemed appropriate. We would definitely ride there again.
I rode it with my bike it was good ride.I will be doing it again. It was clean and well maintained. A lot of walkers.
4/21. We parked at the Beardley Zoo parking lot and biked only 1 mile until we couldn't go any further. There was flooding and construction was taking place for a new water pipe. So we had to go to our car and start somewhere else. We parked on Trumbull Ave. at the Dept of Parks and Recreation as the parking lot for the trail on Trumbull was closed. We biked about 5 miles to Whitney Ave. and there was another sign that the trail was temporarily closed. The 5 miles we biked were lovely along the river. I'm not sure who you would contact to find out the status of the trail. We were hoping to do 26 miles round trip and got in 13.
Might be a bit easier hiking, but the trail itself is rather bumpy riding a bike. Starting from the Hatchery / finish parking lot, heading southwest towards Buttzville it’s a slight decline as it parallels US-46. Only one road crossing before the end of the trail. The trail officially ends at an old rail bridge crossing, though the right of way looks to continue further. Heading northeast from the Hatchery parking lot it’s pretty flat and not nearly as bumpy, but the trail becomes increasingly narrow and overgrown. I wasn’t able to make it to the end due to all the thorn bushes in the way. Would be a nice short round trip if the trail was better maintained / a smoother ride, but I probably won’t go out of my way to ride it again until then.
Not too surprising that this trail hasn’t seen a review since 2018. I parked at the parking lot just off US-46 near the Pequest Trout Hatchery. Heading southwest from this parking lot towards Buttzville, it’s just over 2.5 miles one way. The majority of the trail is rather rocky, so if you’re on a bike you’ll be rattling quite a bit. There are stretches of just grass and less bumpy dirt / gravel, so it’s not all bad. The last tenth of a mile as you near the end of the trail on the map it gets a bit narrower / bumpy / poorly maintained, but then you stumble upon an old rail bridge and crossing. Heading northeast from the Hatchery parking lot, at first isn’t that bad. You cross a bridge quickly, but about a quarter mile past that the trail becomes narrow and overgrown. Thorn bush branches stick out and it’s pretty much impossible to not hit them. I turned back before making it to the northeastern terminus. You’ll be on a slow decline heading west, and a slow incline heading east. Overall, I likely wouldn’t go out of my way again to ride on this trail.
Not too surprising that this trail hasn’t seen a review since 2018. I parked at the parking lot just off US-46 near the Pequest Trout Hatchery. Heading southwest from this parking lot towards Buttzville, it’s just over 2.5 miles one way. The majority of the trail is rather rocky, so if you’re on a bike you’ll be rattling quite a bit. There are stretches of just grass and less bumpy dirt / gravel, so it’s not all bad. The last tenth of a mile as you near the end of the trail on the map it gets a bit narrower / bumpy / poorly maintained, but then you stumble upon an old rail bridge and crossing. Heading northeast from the Hatchery parking lot, at first isn’t that bad. You cross a bridge quickly, but about a quarter mile past that the trail becomes narrow and overgrown. Thorn bush branches stick out and it’s pretty much impossible to not hit them. I turned back before making it to the northeastern terminus. You’ll be on a slow decline heading west, and a slow incline heading east. Overall, I likely wouldn’t go out of my way again to ride on this trail.
I'm slowly checking trails that make up the Empire State Trail off my list so I will compare the Putnam Trailway to its adjacent trails.
Both the North County Trailway and Maybrook Trailway offer a better riding experience in my opinion. They are both slightly longer, are a little less hilly (which could be a positive or a negative) and are in better shape. All three trails provide similar scenery with a good mix of residential, tree cover and a few lakes/revivors.
That being said the Putnam Trailway isn't a bad trail by any means. It is hillier but that breaks up the monotony of a flat trail. Some of the hills are a fair challenge but they are not very long so its a few short climbs followed by a exciting downhill. There are a fair amount of road crossings especially around Baldwin Place but only two or three are busy, the rest were very quiet. I would say the roughest part of the trail is also around Baldwin Place, nothing crazy just a few bumps and cracks. I have a hybrid bike and had no issues with the trail.
The Rail Trails of Rockland county are simply wonderful!
We had a great experience! Beautiful scenery. The trail is paved and very clean and well kept. The ride is not hilly. Round trip we recorded 22 miles.
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