Hacklebarney State Park Family Hike

On Saturday we headed out to Hacklebarney State park for a hike. It was listed as one of the best fall foliage hikes in NJ on njhiking.com. On the drive there, we were seeing lots of fall colors here and there but when we got to the park, not so much (still a bit early). 

We got to the park about 10am and they have a huge parking lot. There weren't many cars so we had no problems parking. There are bathrooms at the start and maps available to take. The park is a good size. It is 465 acre of natural area.


From the parking lot, we went down the trail a bit and then took a left down some stairs down to this bridge.

We continued on to the first waterfall.

Once the colors start changing, I can see how this is hike is listed as a best fall hike.

The kiddos really enjoyed once we got down by the river. They always enjoy throwing rocks, leaves, and branches into the water. We found a nice spot by the river and ate our lunch. This pic was taken by our lunch spot.

There were lots of rocks to jump to and fro. Rocks are still the kiddos favorite when it comes to hiking.

I thought this waterfall was neat!

We continued on.

And of course had to hit the playground.

Hacklebarney State Park is a perfect place for hiking with kids!

It's nice because you can create your own hiking route so you can make it as short or as long as you want. 

The route we took is as follows: 

We started from the Parking lot onto the Main Trail and onto the Orange Upper Trail to the first waterfall. We continued on the Orange Upper Trail that turns into the dotted orange, Lower Trail. We followed the Lower Trail along the Black River until we hit the blue, 3 Pools Trail, that headed back to the Main Trail, up to the Playground Trail, then back to the Main trail to the parking lot. The route we took turned out to be about 3 miles or so total.

It was a fun day for all. Having the playground at the end, definitely helped push the kids to keep on going.