Ramapo Mountain State Forest

Ramapo Mountain State Forest, like it’s neighboring state and county parks, is a 4,200 acre park offering a multitude of scenic viewpoints, an extensive multi-use trail system, a lake (no swimming allowed), and some very interesting ruins. It also has some residential areas whose privacy should be respected. Over the last ten years I’ve noted an incredible increase in this parks popularity, and with good reason. It’s serenity and diversity of terrain from forested trails to rocky outcrops, provide the public with a magnificent place to get away from it all right in their backyard. The primary parking lots for this park will fill to capacity quite early in the morning on weekends, so it is advisable to visit on a weekday. If you can only visit on a weekend, try parking at Back Beach Park in Haskell, NJ and hike in to the central section of the park to explore Ramapo Lake, Le Grande Vista and the I-287 footbridge. The trails in the northern section interweave with the trails of Ramapo Valley County Reservation and Ringwood State Park, so if you plan to spend an entire day hiking that section, I would recommend you use the NY/NJ Trail Conference maps, Avenza Maps, or your favorite hiking app so that you don’t get lost if you follow a trail into another park. Many of my hikes here took place in a time when I was not documenting my hikes as thoroughly as I currently am, but rest assured I have hiked every inch of this place and were it not for my need to roam, I would most likely hike here every day. I personally prefer the northern section of the park (from Skyline Drive), but every acre here has a story to tell. This is a wonderful place to pack in and pack out with your pooch.