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New York-New Jersey Trail Conference

Farny Highlands Cluster

Park Acreage:
35000 acres
Trail Uses:
Hiking, X-C skiing
GPS:
40.953241, -74.442243
TC maintained

Directions

About two-thirds of the area is public open space, including the following parkland.  Click on individual parks for directions.

  • Farny State Park,
  • Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area
  • Mahlon Dickerson Reservation
  • Weldon Brook Wildlife Management Area
  • Rockaway River Wildlife Management Area
  • Pyramid Mountain National Historical Area

Park Overview

Admire the waterscapes and landscapes of a rugged 35,000-acre cluster of six parks and wildlife areas. Glacial erratics and extensive boulder fields are common.

Trail Overview

Use links above to individual parks within the Farny Highlands cluster

Park Description

Between I-80 and NJ 23 in north central New Jersey lie 35,000 acres of rugged land known as the Farny Highlands.  No other area in north Jersey has the large continuous forests needed to preserve populations of endangered hawks, owls, and increasingly rare songbirds.  Headwater streams flow through the area to reach, ultimately, the Passaic, Delaware, and Hudson river basins.  In the process they not only supply drinking water to one-third of New Jersey residents, but also make the region a waterscape and a forested, mountainous landscape.

Glacial erratics and extensive boulder fields are common.  Relics of the iron mining and smelting industry dot the area

About two-thirds of the area is public open space, including the following parkland:

  • Farny State Park,
  • Wildcat Ridge Wildlife Management Area
  • Mahlon Dickerson Reservation
  • Weldon Brook Wildlife Management Area
  • Rockaway River Wildlife Management Area
  • Pyramid Mountain National Historical Area