Cataract Park is an often overlooked park in Washington Township. Despite this, the park offers a surprisingly rugged, but well-maintained trail system to the impressive Cataract Falls and the remains of a small mine.
Explore North Jersey Review: Very good hiking for a town park
Cataract Park
Parking: 40.814229, -74.818743 (Schooleys Mountain Rd, Long Valley, NJ 07853)
Location: Washington, Morris County
Website: N/A
Trail Map: There is no trail map available online. The attached map is a picture of the map at the park.
Restrooms: No
Price: Free
Activities
Hiking
Cataract Park is exclusively used for hiking and features a few short, but steep trails
Points of Interest
- Cataract Falls
- Young’s Mine
The Trails
Cataract Park features a handful of well-maintained trails. While the trails are not particularly long, they are steep at times.
Cataract Falls
The main attraction and namesake of the park is the 51.5-foot-tall Cataract Falls. The waterfall has two designated viewing areas, the “Lower Falls” at the end of the Blue Trail and the “Upper Falls” at the end of the Red Trail. Despite being labeled as two separate waterfalls on the map, this is just a singular, but very tall cascade. Unfortunately, it is impossible to see the entire waterfall at once, making it appear as if there are two separate waterfalls.
Young’s Mine
On the Orange Trail is a large mine opening. The mine itself is small, but visitors are able to walk into the entrance. A scannable QR Code at the mine entrance opens a text file that reads:
Locally known as Young’s Mine, this opening may have been originally part of the Marsh Mine complex as it is located just 0.5 miles north of the main shaft of the Marsh Mine and located on property owned by W. W. Marsh in 1868. The main Marsh Mine was worked between 1855 and 1868. Attempts to find additional ore were attempted in 1872 and 1882 but were generally unsuccessful.
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