Explore the best rated trails in Westfield, NJ. Whether you're looking for an easy walking trail or a bike trail like the Timp-Torne Trail and Palmer Township Recreation Trail (Towpath Bike Trail). With more than 102 trails covering 835 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.
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...
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...
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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...
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...
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...
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...
Although just a mile long, the Beach Channel Drive Greenway in Queens offers expansive views of Jamaica Bay and the beautiful Marine Parkway Bridge as it traces the border of Jacob Riis Park. On the...
The Doylestown Bike and Hike Trails system provides a convenient car-free network of paved pathways to get around this eastern Pennsylvania community, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. With more...
The Bronx River travels from the mouth of the East River north to the Kensico Dam, providing views of the natural history of the area. Because the trail is under development, there are several gaps...
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...
Although the Neshaminy Creek Greenway is only about a half mile long, big things are in its future. One day, the greenway could span as much as 33 miles, reaching the Delaware River. Currently, the...
The former “Old Put” commuter rail corridor that ran from the Bronx to northern bedroom communities in Westchester and Putnam Counties is popular once again, only this time it’s for people riding...
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...
When complete the Green Brook Multi-Use Trail will meander for 7 miles through the communities of Plainfield and North Plainfield, New Jersey. The trail will connect major regional trails and parks as...
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...
You’ve heard of the Steel Belt and the Sun Belt. The 6.7-mile Plainfield Township Recreation Trail passes through an area known as the Slate Belt. The quantity and quality of local slate made this...
The Cross Island Parkway Trail closely follows its namesake thoroughfare through northeastern Queens. From its northern end, you will soon enter Little Bay Park, which offers lovely views of the...
The Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk follows Staten Island's eastern shore from Miller Field -- a recreational area for sports, picnicking and bird watching -- to Fort Wadsworth. Highlights of the...
The Calhoun Street Bridge spans 1,274 feet across the Delaware River, connecting Trenton, New Jersey, on its east bank with Morrisville, Pennsylvania, on its west bank. Built in 1884, the intricate...
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...
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The Patriots' Path covers roughly 35 miles of terrain and is open to mountain biking, horseback riding, cross-country skiing and hiking. The multi-use trails links parks, open space, recreational...
The two diverse sections of the Shore Parkway Greenway Trail blend urban and scenic, offering views of sights ranging from the Statue of Liberty to wildlife refuges. Following the Belt/Shore Parkway,...
The Joseph M. McDade Recreational Trail runs nearly the length of the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area on the Pennsylvania side of the Delaware River across from New Jersey. The protected...
Splayed over 1,146 acres in northwest Bronx, Van Cortlandt Park has a lot going on. The park is New York City's fourth largest and is home to the oldest municipal golf course in America. There are...
The Hudson River Greenway (HRG) is one of the most popular places to ride, walk, and jog in New York City. It makes up part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway loop, the cross-state Empire State...
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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...
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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 Calhoun Street Bridge spans 1,274 feet across the Delaware River, connecting Trenton, New Jersey, on its east bank with Morrisville, Pennsylvania, on its west bank. Built in 1884, the intricate...
With the 32-acre Poquessing Valley Park and the 500 acres of parkland of the Benjamin Rush State Park, it’s easy to feel like far Northeast Philly is fortunate when it comes to green space. But the...
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 Doylestown Bike and Hike Trails system provides a convenient car-free network of paved pathways to get around this eastern Pennsylvania community, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia. With more...
The High Line trail runs 30 feet above the bustling Manhattan streets and sidewalks below, which for trail lovers makes it an attraction in the same league as the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State...
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 Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway is a 12-mile linear park that runs from the town of Ossining north to Westchester County's Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill. The trail is built on land...
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...
This trail goes through the Black River Wildlife Management area along streambeds and forest. Equestrians must have a NJ Wildlife Permit, which is available from NJ DEP for a fee. The trail follows...
Even before the a trail was developed, the residents of Stockertown were enthusiastically walking along the former railroad corridor that cut through the borough. Now, 1.1 miles of packed cinder...
The Kingston Branch Loop Trail is a trip up one side and down the other of the scenic tree-lined Delaware and Raritan Canal. The eastern half of the loop follows the bed of the Rocky Hill Railroad and...
The Jack Harrington White Plains Greenway was recently renamed to honor a long-time member of the city's conservation board. The trail's corridor follows the former New York, Westchester & Boston...
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...
DESCRIPTION: The Created by Union Forge Heritage Association in 2007,Taylor SteelWorkers Historical Greenway is a 7 mile trail that winds its way through High Bridge criss-crossing a number of...
The two diverse sections of the Shore Parkway Greenway Trail blend urban and scenic, offering views of sights ranging from the Statue of Liberty to wildlife refuges. Following the Belt/Shore Parkway,...
The Hudson River Greenway (HRG) is one of the most popular places to ride, walk, and jog in New York City. It makes up part of the Manhattan Waterfront Greenway loop, the cross-state Empire State...
Since it opened as a railroad spur in the 1800s, this pretty trail has always been about connections. In 1834 the Philadelphia and Trenton Railroad launched the spur to carry goods from Bristol,...
The Peace Valley Park Hike & Bike Trail offers 4 miles of blacktop along the shores of Lake Galena, just north of Doylestown in eastern Pennsylvania. The scenic trail travels through woodlands 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 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 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 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...
Randall's Island Park Trails offer a series of interconnected paved loops on an island in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The park offers a quiet setting, especially enjoyed by runners, with...
Even before the a trail was developed, the residents of Stockertown were enthusiastically walking along the former railroad corridor that cut through the borough. Now, 1.1 miles of packed cinder...
With the 32-acre Poquessing Valley Park and the 500 acres of parkland of the Benjamin Rush State Park, it’s easy to feel like far Northeast Philly is fortunate when it comes to green space. But the...
Tatamy Trail begins in West Easton and heads north to Tatamy Borough, primarily along a former railroad corridor. On its southern end, it meets the Palmer Township Recreation Trail, which connects 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...
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 Saddle River County Park Bike Path is a beautiful suburban trail that winds alongside the Saddle River. Most of the trail runs through moderately dense suburban development, with residential and...
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The 1.5-mile Thomas F. Hampton Trail was named for a past executive director of the New Jersey Natural Lands Trust. Now an interpretive nature hike, the trail occupies the former rail bed of part of...
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...
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 Briarcliff-Peekskill Trailway is a 12-mile linear park that runs from the town of Ossining north to Westchester County's Blue Mountain Reservation in Peekskill. The trail is built on land...
We chickened out last year about half-way down and turned back because it was getting too thick with brush. Decided to take another crack at it by myself today and I found it an interesting challenge. Rocky and hilly with loose dirt and sections where parts were washed away, which made it somewhat of a challenge if youre moving at any significant speed. I ended up with a few scrapes from the sticker bushes, some of which you cant avoid because youre too busy watching the trail to make sure you dont get your wheel caught in a rut in the washed-away sections.
All in all It was a short, somewhat challenging trail, with some nice views of the river at the end. At 2 miles, it should be a nice chal;lenge for a novice or intermediate mountain bike rider, but you definitely should not try this on a road bike.
I first rode the north section of this trail in Lawrenceville, which is disappointingly short and I noticed it could also use some improvement. I can report that the town is working on that; an architect friend of mine is involved in a project to improve the trail through various additions like benches, planters, and signage that points out the history, and I believe also cutting back some of the trees and vegetation and straightening the path where needed. I’m not sure of the exact details but knowing my friend it will be a substantive upgrade...as an architect he specializes in historic restorations. I hope they eventually restore the right-of-way north as far as possible. The trolley originally went to Witherspoon Street in Princeton, although much of the right-of-way north of the current trail head in Lawrence (near the Starbucks parking lot) has been bought up and developed in the ensuing decades. Perhaps there are some sections that can be restored between there and Princeton. But today I finally took a drive down to the South section. It is awesome - it continues a lot farther south, as I had hoped. I could see in Google Maps that it seemed to continue south of Shabakunk Creek (farther than the Trail Link app indicates) and it does by a lot. (I turned on my Strava app during my ride and it’s 2.4 miles one-way.) Although the farther south you go the more unimproved it gets. There’s a baseball field park just to the east on Eggert’s Crossing Road where you can park to access the trail. This point puts you about 2/3 of the way down from the current North trail head behind Rider University. This north section has a more medium-sized coarser gravel overall and a sandy consistency that gave my thinner hybrid tires a little trouble, so I had to ride on the wide grass medians. For that reason, along with the unimproved south end where you will also encounter some large mud holes (with frogs in them!) I will be using my hybrid-mountain bike on this trail from now on. In fact, this trail has the most diverse range of surface textures I’ve encountered in one rail-trail—sandy gravel, hard-packed fine crushed gravel, dirt, and paved blacktop. It makes for a diverse rail-trail riding experience. I know some riders like more consistency, as do I, but I thought it was a fun diversion from the usual. The only part that made me huff and puff a little was getting back up the slight uphill grade on the paved section just south of Eggert’s Crossing Road. You can get just over 6 miles out of the Johnson Trolley Line-South if you want. You start at the Eggert’s Crossing Road access point, head north to the end (3/4 mile), then turn around and go all the way to the south end (2.4 miles); then you can go all the way north again (2.4 miles) and then back down to the access at Eggert’s Crossing Road (3/4 mile). That’s exactly 6.3 miles and a very nice ride. I only had to dismount once and push around the edge of a large mud hole near the south end. Hopefully Ewing Township will continue to make needed improvements in this area, which ends at 5th street. The trail could even be continued south towards its original Trenton terminus via a bike lane along 5th street (which now occupies the old route) and then through a long wooded section just south of that, then along various parking lots and industrial yards eventually ending at W Ingham Avenue in Trenton. Wouldn’t it be nice… But this is a great trail! It’s only a half hour from my home in Hillsborough (most of my favorite rail-trails require an hour drive to get to) and it’s long enough to get a decent ride. My sincere hope is that a bridge can be built to cross I-95/295 and connect the north and south sections. I can’t wait to ride the Johnson Trolley Line-South trail again, especially this Fall - the colors will be spectacular.
This trail is totally inaccessible from the southern trailhead.
18.35 mile round trip for me from the Cedar Creek Park on the Jones Beach Bikeway connecting to the Ocean Parkway Coastal Greenway at the Jones Beach theater. Beautiful ride, the food stands come in handy too!
Took my 9 year old for his (and my) first ride on this path today. Easy and relaxing bike ride. Wasn't sure he would be into doing the whole 7 mile round trip on his first time out, but it turns out we were having so much fun we just kept on rolling! Excellent ride for beginners, and still fun for more experienced riders. I love that it is mostly all shaded too! We will definitely be back sometime soon!
Beautiful views and diversified trail, from flat and wide to narrow and curvy. Loose gravel and dirty add to the fun. Helps if you have a hybrid bike with front suspension. Five stars!
The trail offers the opportunity to ride in the green and without cars for most stretches, but its views are limited.
The first part through Yonkers is very uninspiring, it looks more like a landfill than a nice trail, so I would definitely skip that part next time. Coming through those Hudson villages is nice, but it also creates the necessity to cross a lot of streets. That wouldn't have been much of a problem if the trail was designed for it, but the way it is now you need to dismount your bike because the curbs are just too high to bike over, so that definitely takes the flow out of the ride.
Signage is poor at some places as well, I would recommend a GPS unit to ride the whole trail. There are also a couple of unbikeably steep sections that also require you to dismount. The final destination, Croton dam, is impressive to see and the highlight of the route.
All in all a very mediocre biking trail, but options are very limited anyway, departing from NYC. I think I won't be riding it again.
Biked from North to South, White Haven to Jim Thorpe, July 2019. Trail is gradually downhill. But you still have to pedal. You will see some old locks along the trail. There really isn't much else to see. The Lehigh River would be on your left and it's over the hillside and through the trees so if you are looking for a riverview the entire trip, it's not going to happen over the Summer. Buttermilk Falls is near the Rockport access. You pass through Glen Onoko just before Jim Thorpe. In Jim Thorpe there are various places to eat and interesting history to see. Spend time in Jim Thorpe if you get a chance.
I just cycled the new 2.2 mile Heritage Trail extension from Goshen to Hartley Road. It opened July 18 and today (July 29) I did not see a single person on this section going 4.4 miles round trip . Not one. I feel that the county spent a million dollars paving it just for me. I also cycled to other end at Harriman. This is the easiest 30 miles round trip that one can do. Kudos to Orange County for replacing eroded sections with root bumps with smooth new asphalt (lots of the Westchester rail trails sections need this improving). A review below says the trail isn’t 15 each way. It is. The Harriman to Goshen main trail ends at Saint James Place. There are no signs telling you where to pick up this new section. Common sense tells you to follow where the rail line once was. Hint: Railroad Ave. past the old train station. I had to go through an apartment or condominium complex through an open gate and there it is. Beautifully done. This just adds to the greatness that is the Heritage Trail. It is the best within 50 miles of NYC and NNJ. Dutchess Rail Trail to the Walkway Over The Hudson is the best within 100 miles. The Heritage just ends there at Hartley Road. Goshen has lots of place to eat, though, back in the town. Trailside Treats abuts it and is nice (but doesn’t open until noon).
I have ridden this trail about a dozen times over 6 years using 4 different bikes from road bike to hard tail mountain bike. I find a hard tail mountain bike with 2.5" wide tires the best match for the crushed stone.
I like how the steep hills and sharp turns break up the monotony characteristic of many rail-trails I have ridden (especially in Florida).
My latest ride was during the severe heat advisory weekend of July 21. It was very tolerable given the ample shade and cooler temperatures of the forest it mostly traverses. In the afternoon, the tree line along the fields provides good shade. Even 209 heading south is mostly shaded after 2:00 PM. I was able to bike leisurely from Bushkill to Milford and back in 8 hours with many water breaks. However, I like it best in the spring and fall when it is easier to view the river without all the undercover.
Water is available at trail-heads spaced no more than 10 miles apart, so that was no problem. Many good eateries are found in Milford but I recommend the Rooster deli at Bushkill for great hoagies and snacks. I park at the Bushkill Meeting Center next to Bushkill creek; plenty of parking with no fees.
I would rate this trail five stars except for the no bike sections between Milford and Dingman's Ferry. I really don't like biking 209 since the shoulder is very narrow with large RVs wizzing by. Also, I don't recommend biking at dusk as the trail gets difficult to navigate in the forest at low light.
Started at the Milford Beach parking on Sunday July 21st. Didn't see anyone on the trail. Enjoyed the scenery. This is definitely a trail for a mountain bike. I should have done my homework - there's a section of the trail between Pittman Orchard and Conashaugh and another section between Conashaugh and White Pines that are for hiking only and closed to bike riding. You will need to ride on US 209. I will come back to the trail at another time to ride other trail sections. JC Capote
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