high mountain park

Living nearby, I go here often for a quick escape. However, I can say that it's tough to find the trailheads such as the one on Resevoir Road, and the markers or ok, but they can "disappear" at certain places. One helpful note...use your phone and Google maps. You can track your location and the basic trail routes. The view at the top of High Mountain is great for rhe kids to see the NYC skyline. And it's only about a half mile to the top. However, Ramapo Lake, Ramapo Reservation, and harriman State Park are way better experiences.

This "park" is not even a park. It's woods with rocks and it looks dangerous. One slip and you're straight down. There are fallen trees and dried leaves everywhere. I even saw old rusty traces of a car that seems to have fallen off the rocky "trail".

An OK place to hike, but many of the trails are eroded old woods roads and illegal ATV riders tear them up. The view from the summit is excellent. There are many, far better places to hike nearby but if you're in the area and feel like a hike it's not a bad location.

For anyone planning this hike: as of August of 2013, there is a hiker's parking lot at the top of College Rd. where the head of the red trail is located. The reviews that I had read before heading out to High Mountain Park recommended parking in Lot 6 of William Patterson U, so that's what I did, and didn't immediately find the red trail head. I found the more convenient parking area upon leaving. The yellow trail climbs to the observation point from which the skyline of NYC is clearly visible. It's a nice quiet spot. There were plenty of deer and birds but I saw no other wildlife. The trails are well blazed - it's important to follow them because there are lots of old trails or woods roads intersecting the desired route. For those who want variety, it's possible to connect to Franklin Lakes Preserve (former Haledon Reservoir) by exiting High Mountain Park on the red trail at Reservoir Dr. and walking (there's a sidewalk) to the Reservoir. There is a fence around it but conveniently, there's an entrance with access to the white trail at the intersection of Reservoir Dr. and High Mountain Rd. A word of caution about Franklin Lakes Preserve: the blue trail that is supposed to connect the islands doesn't actually go across the reservoir (unless you want to swim, which I believe is prohibited). It's quite lovely though, again an unexpectedly quiet and peaceful area. Also, the white trail that is supposed to go around the reservoir was intersected by an inlet - it's possible to cross it over 2 downed trees if you have good balance. I estimate combining these routes makes the trek about a 7 - 8 mile hike.

Been hiking in High Mountain for the last 15 or so years, for the last 10 I have worked with the NY-NJ Trail Conf to maintain part of the trail system. It is a hidden treasure close to home. Watch out on some of the trails, ATV's have left their mark. Great views from the top of High Mountain.

I love this place,stopped there today and it brought back great memories of previous visits.Excellent for families,hiking alone or those classic days of romancing.

Great place to hike. Scenic. College kids seem to come and party in some areas not too far into the park, so, sadly, if you want to avoid the beer bottles & trash, keep hiking - the further you go, the less trash. Too bad the college kids can't take their trash with them.

We often visited this place with my family and friends and its really great, great out door and lots of fun.

This park is relatively unknown even to locals. Some call it High Mountain Park Preserve (Google Maps) and some call it High Mountain Wilderness Park (Bing Maps). It has marked trails and there many routes you could take within the park. I live near by and I go there often. In my opinion, the best trail would be the Yellow which takes you up the mountain. From there you have a rare view of New York skyline. On a clear day, you can see the Verezano Bridge, George Washington Bridge and of course all the buildings that form the Manhattan Skyline.It's a 45 minute walk suitable even for children 7 and up albeit with children it may take you an hour and 30 minutes and they need to be somehow used to walk, otherwise you will have to carry them. It is not the easiest hike. It is somehow steep and some parts have loose stones. The hike itself is within a natural New Jersey forest. I have never seen a black bear within the preserve, but I saw one just nearby and I believe it came from there.There isn't an official entrance to the park, so you can park by the roundabout (or circle) at the end of Reservoir road in Franklin Lakes. That gives you access to the Yellow Trail. On Google maps, if you zoom in enough it will give you a map of the trails with their color name. You will have to look for the entrance. It's not obvious. Another possibility - you could park at the parking lot of William Patterson University which gives you an entrance for the Red Trail.The peak of the mountain is in coordinates +40° 58' 10.83", -74° 11' 50.76" . If you copy and paste this into Google Maps, it will point to it with a green arrow.