Cedar Grove: Parks and Trails

If you are looking for a hotel for a stay in Cedar Grove, parks and trails may be part of your destination choice. The places and routes have different focuses: Mills Reservation has several hiking and jogging trails, while West Essex Trail features a former railroad embankment and a trestle bridge. Cedar Grove Park and the grounds of Canfield-Morgan Farm add two more park locations to these options. You can plan your trip based on whether you are more interested in trail networks, a former railroad line, a viewpoint, or parkland.

Mills Reservation: Trails and a Viewpoint

Mills Reservation is a 157.15-acre county park that extends across Cedar Grove and Montclair. The park has several hiking and jogging trails, including four main trails and numerous smaller ones. This selection sets the park apart from a single, clearly designated trail segment. Quarry Point, a viewpoint in Mills Reservation, offers a scenic view. The trail network and viewpoint are two different aspects of the same place: the trails are for hiking and jogging, while Quarry Point is for the view. If you would like to consider both when choosing a focus for your visit, you can find them together at Mills Reservation.

Lenape Trail and West Essex Trail

A section of the 36-mile-long Lenape Trail runs through Mills Reservation. The 36-mile figure refers to the length of the entire Lenape Trail, not the length of its section in the park. Another section of the Lenape Trail runs along West Essex Trail to just beyond Bowden Road in Cedar Grove, where it turns east. This identifies two specific reference points along the route: Mills Reservation and the section along West Essex Trail near Bowden Road. The full length of Lenape Trail and the two sections in the Cedar Grove area are different scales that you can keep distinct as you get oriented.

The West Essex Trail runs for just under 3 miles along the former railroad embankment of the Caldwell Branch of the former Erie-Lackawanna Railroad. The trail crosses the Peckman River on a trestle bridge. The railroad line and river crossing give this route a different focus from Mills Reservation, where several hiking and jogging trails and Quarry Point are defining features. If you are weighing the two options, there are specific differences to consider: the former railroad embankment and bridge on West Essex Trail, and the trail network and viewpoint at Mills Reservation.

More Parks in Cedar Grove

Cedar Grove Park covers 77 acres and is the fourth-largest park in the county park system. At 157.15 acres, Mills Reservation is more than twice as large. These figures compare the two parks by area; the ranking also places Cedar Grove Park in the context of the county park system. Another place to visit is the grounds of Canfield-Morgan Farm. Visitors can explore the 14-acre grounds, which are a park managed by the township. The three acreage figures refer to different places: Mills Reservation, Cedar Grove Park, and the grounds of Canfield-Morgan Farm. This lets you compare the park sizes while distinguishing between a park with multiple trails, a park ranked by area in the county system, and the visitable farm grounds.

Discover more destinations: Millburn, Irvington, City of Orange, Livingston, Maplewood, Bloomfield, Newark, Roseland

For the broader travel overview: Essex.