Highlands Preserve is a moderately sized county park in West Milford, featuring a handful of easy hiking trails, a playground and three baseball fields. While not overly exciting for hikers, the park is a good spot for locals looking for a high-quality and interesting playground, and easy trails to walk on.
Explore North Jersey Review: Okay park that pales in comparison to neighboring Abram S. Hewitt State Forest
Highlands Preserve
Parking:
- Main Parking: Arlington Ave, Hewitt, NJ 07421
- Large paved lot
- Warwick Turnpike: 22 Warwick Turnpike, Hewitt, NJ 07421
- Moderately sized gravel lot
Location: West Milford, Passaic County
Restrooms: Portable toilets in the main parking area.
Price: Free
Activities
Hiking/Walking
The park features about four miles of marked hiking trails, plus many more unmarked trails. Additionally, there is an easy paved loop around the baseball fields.
Sports
The main parking area features three well-maintained and professional baseball diamonds
Playground
The main parking area features a modern playground
Park History
Highlands Preserve was previously a West Milford Township park named San Cap Recreation Area. In 2017, Passaic County assumed management of the property and undertook extensive renovations, including the addition of a new pavilion and playground, as well as improvements to the existing softball fields and trail network.
Unfortunately, the property has a history of illegal ATV usage, which the county has attempted to mitigate by installing gates at park entrances and barriers at unofficial entrances. Unfortunately, many trails do have large puddles created by the ATV activity.
The Highlands
The park is named after the New Jersey Highlands, a mountain range spanning from the Pennsylvania border just south of Phillipsburg to northern Passaic County and into New York State. The Highlands are the oldest area of New Jersey, formed over a billion years ago. The Highlands are the largest source of drinking water in New Jersey and are protected from damaging future development.
Despite being named for the New Jersey Highlands, the property is actually very uncharacteristic of them. Whereas most of the Highlands features frequent rolling hills, Highlands Preserve is actually relatively flat and level and parallels the long Bearfort Mountain Ridgeline. This is because geologically, the park is actually not even part of the Highlands, instead being part of the Green Pond Outlier, a thin stretch of sedimentary rock located in the igneous and metamorphic Highlands.
Trails
The park features about four miles of hiking trails along six marked trails. Surrounding the marked trails are many more that are unmarked. Additionally, there is an easy paved loop around the baseball fields. Many trails pass next to beaver ponds, and there are a few obstructed views of Greenwood Lake. Despite being adjacent to Abram. S Hewitt State Forest, there are no official trail connections.
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