Explore the best rated trails in Orange, NJ. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Norwalk River Valley Trail and Timp-Torne Trail. With more than 98 trails covering 796 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.
The Ocean Parkway Trail closely follows its eponymous thoroughfare nearly 5 miles through several Brooklyn neighborhoods, ending only a block from the popular Coney Island boardwalk. Those traveling...
The Mosholu-Pelham Greenway connects several parks and recreational opportunities in New York City's north and central Bronx neighborhoods. A portion of the trail is also part of the growing East...
Traveling north-south through Wall Township is the Route 18 Bike Path. The northern terminus is the Municipal Compex, which houses the County Library, the Municipal Court and the Police HQ, as well as...
The Sandy Hook Multi-Use Pathway travels 8.7 miles alongside the picturesque beaches and historical monuments of the Sandy Hook peninsula. The pathway begins in the Gateway National Recreation Area...
The tree-lined 22.5-mile Henry Hudson Trail is the definition of scenic variety. Traversing both urban and natural environments, the route passes wetlands, streams, fields, and the Garden State...
Running alongside a New Jersey Transit passenger line, the Traction Line Recreation Trail has been around since 1986, when Jersey Central Power & Light donated portions of the land to the Morris...
The Columbia Trail has the distinction of being named for a natural gas pipeline that runs beneath it for 15 miles in rural northern New Jersey. The crushed-stone trail rolls along the South Branch of...
The 2.8-mile eastern phase of the Bedminster Hike and Bikeway allows pedestrians and cyclists to safely traverse part of Bedminster Township by crossing over I-287 and US 206/202 via a series of three...
Built on the former Erie Railroad main line, the 15-mile Heritage Trail runs through the small Orange County towns of Goshen, Chester, Monroe, and Harriman. The shaded trail runs through different...
Like Wantagh State Parkway, Ocean Parkway was built in the postwar 1930s to provide access to the crown jewel of the state park system, Jones Beach State Park. Unlike the former road, however, this...
When completed, the Norwalk River Valley Trail will run from Danbury to Long Island Sound in southwestern Connecticut, for a total of about 27 miles. Currently, several disconnected sections totaling...
The Paulinskill Valley Trail follows a creek by the same name through a section of rural New Jersey with a strong German influence. In fact, the word kill is Dutch for “riverbed or stream channel.”...
The Fort Washington Park Greenway brings residents and visitors to Washington Heights right up to the edge of the Hudson. The mile-long trail begins near the pier at the end of Dyckman Street and...
The paved pathway running through West Hudson Park offers a scenic, tree-lined escape between Harrison and Kearny, NJ. The trail provides access to the park’s stocked lake, water park, athletic...
This bike-ped path in Roselle Park, Union County. The bike path is nestled at the bottom of the railroad embankment carrying New Jersey Transit's Raritan Valley Line. Stretching between Galloping Hill...
The Ramsey Bike Path is a recreational path built on the former Paterson to Suffern trolley line right-of-way. The path extends along a north-south route from one end of Ramsey to the other....
The Lawrence Hopewell Trail (LHT) offers more than 19 miles of pathway on a developing loop through public and private land in Lawrence and Hopewell Townships, about 5 miles north of Trenton. The...
Prepare to be whisked into the past when you take the Edgar Felix Memorial Bikeway. The paved trail follows a short-line railroad corridor from the coastal city of Manasquan to a village at Allaire...
The West Essex Trail follows a short distance (just under 3 miles) of the former rail bed of the Caldwell Branch on the old Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. The trail runs between the EssexPassiac county...
The Manasquan Reservoir Trail is located in the Howell Township and provides a great natural destination in the heart of the town. The trail forms a perimeter loop around the 770 acre reservoir...
It’s hard to believe that a noisy locomotive once ran through here, given that stillness is a defining characteristic of the Middlesex Greenway. Even when people pour onto the trail from the adjacent...
The tree-lined 22.5-mile Henry Hudson Trail is the definition of scenic variety. Traversing both urban and natural environments, the route passes wetlands, streams, fields, and the Garden State...
The Hudson River Waterfront Walkway is a 1.5 mile walkway along the bank of the Hudson River in Jersey City. The walkway offers stunning views of Manhattan as well as access to a number of ferries and...
The Mosholu-Pelham Greenway connects several parks and recreational opportunities in New York City's north and central Bronx neighborhoods. A portion of the trail is also part of the growing East...
This trail is much better suited to walking than to biking. It provides excellent access to the Pequest River which is stocked with trout. Not all of the bridges across the river have been decked and...
The paved pathway running through West Hudson Park offers a scenic, tree-lined escape between Harrison and Kearny, NJ. The trail provides access to the park’s stocked lake, water park, athletic...
The New Springville Greenway stretches just over 3 miles, primarily paralleling Richmond Avenue on New York's Staten Island. A highlight of the paved pathway is its proximity to Freshkills Park, a...
The Wood Duck Nature Trail, appropriately named for the secretive duck, was made possible through the hard work and dedication of refuge volunteers. This beautiful trail now extends about 1.5 miles on...
At 2.6 miles, the Staten Island Greenbelt Multi-Purpose Trail offers a nice jaunt for joggers, walkers, and cyclists alike. The crushed-stone path is 6-feet wide and runs from Rockland Avenue to...
The system of trails in Loantaka Brook Reservation are open to hikers, cyclists and equestrians, although the trails are marked as to which uses are permitted on each segment. Loantaka Brook...
You might expect a 4-mile rail-trail that passes through three downtowns to be excessively urban, but the quaint town centers on the Joseph B. Clarke Rail Trail are compact and surrounded by...
Just an hour north of New York City, the Timp-Torne Trail offers a scenic hike through Bear Mountain and Harriman State Parks with panoramic vistas of the Hudson River. The rugged blue-blazed trail...
The Lenape Trail is an paved multiuse pathway stretching two miles end-to-end. The winding trail sits on the tree-covered bank of Plainsboro pond, home to geese, swans and other waterfowl. Residents...
The Hutchinson River Greenway offers a convenient alternative to the Hutchinson River Parkway, which it closely follows. Although adjacent to the busy thoroughfare, trees have been planted along the...
This 2.1-mile long paved path runs directly adjacent to (about 30-40 feet off of) the Boulevard in Mountain Lakes, NJ, and follows the exact route of a former trolley line operated by the Morris...
While not a "rail-trail," the Hook Mountain/Nyack Beach Bikeway is a very scenic trail along the Hudson River in Rockland County. The southern half of this trail is flat and runs right along the...
A former right-of-way of the NY & NJ Railroad. Near historical Mount Ivy which was the center of a Quaker settlement in the 18th century. Hiking along railroad bed and wildlife observation and...
The Randolph Trail system covers 16 miles of pathways through five parks, the Clyde Potts Reservoir watershed and 2,000 acres of pristine open space. The trails link schools and neighborhoods and also...
The City of Port Jervis is the latest community to save a portion of the former D&H Canal and turn it into a greenway for use by residents and visitors. A section of the canal, which is approximately...
Running alongside a New Jersey Transit passenger line, the Traction Line Recreation Trail has been around since 1986, when Jersey Central Power & Light donated portions of the land to the Morris...
Traveling north-south through Wall Township is the Route 18 Bike Path. The northern terminus is the Municipal Compex, which houses the County Library, the Municipal Court and the Police HQ, as well as...
Spanning more than 70 miles, the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park Trail is the longest completed multiuse trail in the state and is described by many as the crown jewel of New Jersey trails. A...
When completed, the Norwalk River Valley Trail will run from Danbury to Long Island Sound in southwestern Connecticut, for a total of about 27 miles. Currently, several disconnected sections totaling...
This pleasant, flat rail-trail parallels Capoolong Creek through the Capoolong Creek Wildlife Management Area for nearly 4 miles. The surface is varied, so the trail is best suited for hiking or...
When Jones Beach State Park opened on Long Island’s South Shore in the late 1920s, a series of scenic parkways was built on infill dredged from nearby towns to connect New Yorkers to the new public...
The nicely paved Bethpage Bikeway runs alongside suburban roads for long segments of the route, but it’s much more than a suburban trail. Each on-road suburban stretch is broken up by one of three...
The Eastern Parkway Trail is a 2-mile route along a tree-lined boulevard in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood. The path begins at Prospect Park, which houses some of Brooklyn's most popular...
The Lawrence Hopewell Trail (LHT) offers more than 19 miles of pathway on a developing loop through public and private land in Lawrence and Hopewell Townships, about 5 miles north of Trenton. The...
The Quarry Trail is currently a 600-foot long unimproved strip of land along what is known as Quarry Road in the Village of Hastings-on-Hudson, NY. The trail links Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic...
The tree-lined 22.5-mile Henry Hudson Trail is the definition of scenic variety. Traversing both urban and natural environments, the route passes wetlands, streams, fields, and the Garden State...
The Oxford Bikeway is a .9 mile long pave trail constructed on an abandoned railroad right-of-way. The trail can be accessed at three points. To the north the trail ends at Pequest Road, however there...
The South County Trailway rolls 14.4 miles through one of the most densely populated parts of New York, but its route through pocket woodlots, parks, and golf courses and along riverbanks makes it...
The City of Port Jervis is the latest community to save a portion of the former D&H Canal and turn it into a greenway for use by residents and visitors. A section of the canal, which is approximately...
A former right-of-way of the NY & NJ Railroad. Near historical Mount Ivy which was the center of a Quaker settlement in the 18th century. Hiking along railroad bed and wildlife observation and...
The Sandy Hook Multi-Use Pathway travels 8.7 miles alongside the picturesque beaches and historical monuments of the Sandy Hook peninsula. The pathway begins in the Gateway National Recreation Area...
A short rail trail with two covered bridges occupying a portion of the former Mount Hope Mineral Railroad right-of-way in Wharton, NJ. In the future this trail will be linked with the Rockaway...
The Jones Point Path occupies an abandoned motor vehicle route (old US Route 9W). The path provides bicyclists with a relatively safe bypass to a dangerous section of busy US Route 9W near Bear...
The Landsdown Trail runs 1.8 miles between Lower Landsdown Road and W. Main in Clinton. The trail passes among open fields, woodlands and wetlands and provides access to the South Branch of the...
The Trolley Line Trail is a 2.5 mile paved pathway between Rabbit Hill Road and Penn Lyle Road in West Windsor. The trail is on the right of way of the former Fast Line electric trolley that connected...
At first glance, there’s no evidence that an aqueduct ever existed along the Old Croton Aqueduct Trail. The trail is often a singletrack dirt pathway that winds through communities and trees and...
We did the entire trail as an out and back on 1/18/21. This trail is a great smooth ride with some nice scenery. The western end is being extended and about 2.5 miles is now open, making the out and back 34+ miles. Another 2.5 miles or so in underway and looks to be close to opening.
This newly paved trail and great for a walk or ride. Enter either side. Great views and some nice rolling hills. Hopefully the trees along the sides will stay upright and not fall and ruin the new fences and pavement.
I have yet to find a similar trail since I moved to NJ. I am always trying to get back there!
A hidden gem in Queens. The actual Vanderbilt section might only be 3 miles but you can bike from Alley Pond Park near the tennis bubble all the way to Citifield in Flushing Meadows Corona Park. That’s more than 8 miles of biking only crossing 4 or 5 streets. All of it is through or alongside parks where cars cannot run you over. Great, underutilized trail!!!
Smooth trails all around. Mostly shaded area. Highly recommend any skaters to trail skate here.
We have been riding this trail for about the past 10 years. Our first time out, we started out at the Hialeah trailhead. Will not do that again. Only for the younger, more adventurous mountain biker, not older geezers like my buddy and myself. Now, we start at the trailhead near Bushkill. We bike out 12 to 15 miles and come back. Nice views of the Delaware. Trail is pretty well-maintained. No skinny tires recommended for this trail. Also not recommended for riders looking for a "smooth" ride.
This is not really a one long trail but a series of segmented trails. While the beginning of each segment is marked with an "OCA" post, at the end of most segments there is no indication about where to find the next thread of the trail. Often you have to go through busy suburban streets to make the connection, some of which are quite dangerous. Other reviews recommended using GPS on your phone, but Google maps only indicates where the various trail segments are and it is difficult to find out how they connect. My friend & I attempted to do the northern half of the trail from Tarrytown up to the Old Croton reservoir. When you get to the Clearview School in Scarborough, you have to ride on a very busy Rt. 9, which has no shoulder, until you can take up the trail on Scarborough Rd. When we got to Ossining, the trail ended with no indication how to continue, so we again had to ride on Rt. 9. Then my friend hit a broken drainage grate on the side of the street, which was covered with leaves so that she could not see the gap in the pavement. It threw her head-first onto the asphalt. She was knocked out for several minutes, had a concussion, was bleeding profusely and nearly broke her neck. I called an EMT which took her to a hospital, where she stayed for two days and had stitches to her face and several tests. She was lucky she was not paralyzed (thanks to wearing a helmet). Exercise GREAT caution if you take the Ossining part of the trail. Some of the other segments are O.K. but some of them are just like riding through peoples' backyards.
Took my bike for 30 miles on this trail. What a relaxing, scenic experience. You want to get out there early if your biking, as the foot traffic increases around 11am. I enjoyed the different surfaces, the natural areas. A lot of deer and chipmunks. Definitely worth the experience. Whether you are on foot or wheels, pack plenty of water and a light snack. You will need it on this trail!
Renovation wrapped in early November. The revamped and now paved Jones Point path is great, used it today. Quiet, scenic, and much gentler than the steep up and downs on the parallel segment of 202/9w. This makes the 9w corridor my favorite way to bike to Bear Mountain overall now. It's that good.
Lots of them! Worst part is the tick advisory is posted 2/3rds of the (1 mile) into the trail. Otherwise a very nice straight path, flat terrain hike. I will be going back in winter after tick season has passed.
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