Hamburg Mountain Wildlife Management Area
Managed by New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife
42 acres
Dog rules not recorded
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Doug Kerr on Flickr · CC BY-SA 2.0AOutdoors
Outdoors in Franklin
10% of Franklin’s land is conserved, and virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park
Virtually every resident lives within a half mile of a park. 294 acres are parks and preserves, 59 per 1,000 residents. 10% of Franklin’s land is conserved, about 267 acres.
Ahead of 87% of U.S. towns · #224 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Conserved land
10%
267 acres · of 4.4 sq mi of land
Trails
0.9 mi
0.2 per sq mi of land
Park land
294 ac
59 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
2
1 beach
What kind of outdoors town is Franklin?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Franklin have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Franklin is ahead of 87% of U.S. towns, #224 of 468 in New Jersey. The share of residents near a park holds the grade up; trail miles pull it down.
A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Franklin’s overall grade.
Conserved land10% of the land · typical NJ town 11% · U.S. 4%A−Trails0.2 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (1 mi) · NJ 0.7 · U.S. 0.4C+Park land59 acres of park per 1,000 residents (294 acres) · NJ 25 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to homeVirtually all residents within a half mile of a park · NJ 98% · U.S. 72%A+
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 87%
LessMore
New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 52%
New Jersey towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 11%; the U.S., 4%), so Franklin’s 10% is ahead of 46% of New Jersey towns, while its trails per square mile lead 21% of them.
NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Franklin. OpenStreetMap is mapped by volunteers and coverage varies from town to town, so a town with unmapped parks scores low on them.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A+. Trails and many small parks come from OpenStreetMap, mapped by volunteers, so coverage varies from town to town; the half mile is a straight line from each census block, so a river or highway in the way isn’t counted against it.
PAD-US, OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors), Census 2025 Gazetteer and 2020 blocks; details in Sources below. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →
The map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number to zoom to a park. Tap a layer to hide it.
Easements protect land from building but are usually private.© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Pick a walk
Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Who protects it
267 conserved acres
10% of Franklin’s land. Who manages Franklin’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Other state land132 ac
State natural resources79 ac
State fish & wildlife43 ac
Town or city11 ac
County1 ac
Not recorded13 ac
State Conservation Area · 176 acState Park · 68 acState Recreation Area · 19 acLocal Park · 11 acState Other or Unknown · 4 ac
Good to know
Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. Public access isn’t recorded for 1 of 16 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wallkill Preserve State Conservation Area | Other state land | 132 | Open |
| Kittatinny Valley State Park State Park | State natural resources | 68 | Open |
| Hamburg Mountain Wildlife Management Area State Conservation Area | State fish & wildlife | 43 | Open |
| Paulinskill Valley Trail State Recreation Area | State natural resources | 19 | Open |
| Firemans Field Local Park | Town or city | 11 | Open |
| North Dist.Maint.Fac. State Other or Unknown | State natural resources | 4 | Open |
| unknown Local Conservation Area | Not recorded | 1 | Open |
| Sussex County Trail Local Recreation Area | County | 1 | Open |
Things to do
3 places to go in Franklin
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Franklin
1 beach without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.
Playgrounds in Franklin
1 playground without a name on the map.
Peaks in Franklin
Mine Hill
DirectionsTrails & water
2 lakes & rivers
Lakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.0 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Courts & fields
2Baseball
1Basketball
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
When to get out
The best walking months in Franklin: April, May and July to September
NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals for the town and the daylight at its latitude. Outlined months have long days, highs of 59 to 86 °F and little rain for the place.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 9.5 | 10.6 | 11.8 | 13.3 | 14.5 | 15.1 | 14.9 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 36 | 39 | 48 | 61 | 71 | 79 | 84 | 82 | 75 | 63 | 51 | 41 |
| Rain (in) | 3.3 | 2.6 | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.7 | 4.4 | 4.2 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.3 | 3.3 | 3.8 |
February is the driest month (2.6 in) and July the warmest (highs of 84 °F). 4.4 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Franklin →
Next door
Franklin and its neighbors
Franklin has the second most mapped trails of the 3 towns around it. Tap a town to see its outdoors.
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Franklin | 10% | 0.2 | 59 | 99%+ | A |
| Hardyston Township | 45% | 0.7 | 629 | 68% | A |
| Ogdensburg | 24% | under 0.1 | 215 | 99%+ | A |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Franklin
How much of Franklin is conserved land?
10% of its land, against a typical 11% for a New Jersey town and 4% nationally (PAD-US). Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors: easements are usually private land.
Are dogs allowed on Franklin’s trails?
Hamburg Mountain Wildlife Management Area doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.
Is there public land near Franklin?
57,873 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Franklin or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 298 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Franklin have?
Ahead of 87% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #224 of 468 in New Jersey. The grade combines the share of land that is conserved, miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, park acres per 1,000 residents and the share of residents within a half mile of a park. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
Trail talk
Conditions, parking and favorite walks from Franklin neighbors.
Share a tip
Sources
Where this page comes from
Conserved and public land: USGS Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US), service updated July 2026. Parks, trails, playgrounds, beaches and other places: OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL), map data as of 2026-10-28. Land and water area: Census 2025 Gazetteer. Residents near a park: 2020 Census blocks. National Register: National Park Service. How TownRatings grades the outdoors →