Kittatinny Valley State Park
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Park Overview:
The Kittatinny Valley is a relatively flat expanse situated between the Kittatinny Mountains to the west and the Highlands to the east. Two rail trails pass through the valley.
Park Description:
Kittatinny Valley State Park
Within the Kittatinny Valley State Park are four lakes, extensive wetlands, and limestone ridges. The Aeroflex-Andover Airport, operated by the NJ Forest Fire Service, is also within its boundaries but not open to the public.
Scattered throughout are numerous wetlands and open marshes of considerable biological interest. Limestone rock found in the area has created an alkaline soil in which only specially adapted species of plants can grow. Fortunately, many plants have thrived, and these marshes are considered to be places of unusually high natural diversity.
Trails Overview:
A 3-mile segment of the 20-mile Sussex Branch rail trail passes through the park, in addition to an extensive network of 11 blazed trails within the park. Use the Web Map link on this site to view a trail map. Hunting is NOT permitted on park property between Goodale Road and Limecrest Road.
Click to read a detailed description of a hike in the park.
Also administered by Kittatinny Valley State Park are the 27-mile Paulinskill Valley rail trail (friends group: Paulinskill Valley Trail Committee), and the Mount Paul Wildlife Management Area (click for a trail map) with 10 blazed trails totaling 10 miles, located north of Mahlon Dickerson Reservation.
Park Acreage:
5656.00 acresMunicipality:
AndoverThe Kittatinny Valley is a relatively flat expanse situated between the Kittatinny Mountains to the west and the Highlands to the east. Two rail trails pass through the valley.
Kittatinny Valley State Park
Within the Kittatinny Valley State Park are four lakes, extensive wetlands, and limestone ridges. The Aeroflex-Andover Airport, operated by the NJ Forest Fire Service, is also within its boundaries but not open to the public.
Scattered throughout are numerous wetlands and open marshes of considerable biological interest. Limestone rock found in...
Park Acreage:
5656.00 acresMunicipality:
AndoverContact Information
Web Link:
NJ DEP, Division of Parks and ForestryPhone:
(973) 786-6445Fees:
NoneDogs in park:
Not available
Directions to Trailhead
Public TransportationDirections to Trailhead :
To get to the park office from Route 80, take Exit 25 and follow Route 206 north for approximately eight miles through Andover Borough. Turn right onto Goodale Road and follow it approximately one mile to the park entrance on the right. GPS Coordinates: 41.016300, -74.743917
Support the trails with a donation!
The NJ DEP has issued a press release identifying this park as one of the Hidden Gems of New Jersey's Park System.
The release suggests that in the park "you are quickly immersed in a world of tall grasses, meadows filled with wild flowers, a haven for the likes of wild turkeys, beavers, muskrats, foxes and black bear. If you listen carefully, you can hear the sounds of silence that are sometimes so hard to find in an increasingly frenetic and wired world. Nature here buffers out most of the noise of highways and civilization, replacing it with whispers of light breeze, natural harmonies of songbirds, croaking of frogs, and the hums and clicks of bugs that call this place home. Butterflies gently roam the gardens and meadows. Egrets stand stoically in shallow waters. Bees buzz matter-of-factly through flowers, oblivious to the intrusion of humans."
For the full text click here.