The New Jersey Outdoors

Where should you go outdoors in New Jersey?

Start with High Point State Park, Island Beach State Park and Wharton State Forest, then use the guides on this page to choose by what you want to do. Trails, hours and fees change, so check each park's official page before you go.

Making a drive of it? See New Jersey road trips, or browse places by region.

Parks and sights worth the trip

• High Point State Park: The summit of the Kittatinny Ridge, at 1,803 feet the highest elevation in New Jersey.
• Island Beach State Park: A narrow barrier island stretching 10 miles between the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay.
• Wharton State Forest: Over 124,000 acres of the Pinelands, the largest single tract in the state park system.
• Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area: Over 70,000 acres on both sides of the Delaware River, with over 20 miles of Appalachian Trail.
• Worthington State Forest: Mount Tammany rises above the Delaware Water Gap, and a 1.5-mile trail circles glacial Sunfish Pond.
• Liberty State Park: The Manhattan skyline, the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island as a backdrop, with no entrance fee.
• Cape May Point State Park: Cape May Lighthouse, a World War II gun battery and migrating monarch butterflies on 244 acres.
• Barnegat Lighthouse State Park: Climb Old Barney for a panoramic view, then walk one of the last remnants of maritime forest in New Jersey.
• Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park: America's first planned industrial city, set up in 1792 around the Great Falls of the Passaic River.
• Thomas Edison National Historical Park: Thomas Edison's home and laboratory in West Orange, where visitors can tour his estate, Glenmont.
• Morristown National Historical Park: The site of the Continental Army's 1779-80 winter encampment under General George Washington.