Photo: Forrest R. Whitesides / Culturejam23 at English Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 3.0

Outdoors in Hopatcong

24% of Hopatcong’s land is conserved, and 99% of residents live within a half mile of a park

24% of Hopatcong’s land is conserved, about 1,695 acres. 20 miles of mapped trail cross Hopatcong, 1.8 per square mile of land. 1,115 acres are parks and preserves, 77 per 1,000 residents.

Among the top 1% of U.S. towns · #26 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it

Conserved land

24%

1,695 acres · of 10.9 sq mi of land

Trails

20 mi

1.8 per sq mi of land

Park land

1,115 ac

77 acres per 1,000 residents

Near a park

99%

of residents within ½ mile

Highest peak

1,165 ft

Lookout Mountain

Lakes & rivers

1 beach

What kind of outdoors town is Hopatcong?

Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.

Land that stays wild24% of the land is conserved; a typical New Jersey town, 11%.A trail town1.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land, more than 92% of U.S. towns.Parks close to home99% of residents live within a half mile of a park.

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Hopatcong have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Hopatcong is among the top 1% of U.S. towns, #26 of 468 in New Jersey. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; conserved land ranks highest, park acres per resident lowest.

A⁺

OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Hopatcong’s overall grade.

Conserved land24% of the land · typical NJ town 11% · U.S. 4%A Trails1.8 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (20 mi) · NJ 0.7 · U.S. 0.4A Park land77 acres of park per 1,000 residents (1,115 acres) · NJ 25 · U.S. 13A⁻Parks close to home99% of residents within a half mile of a park · NJ 98% · U.S. 72%A

All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Among the top 1%

LessMore

New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 95%

New Jersey towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 11%; the U.S., 4%), so Hopatcong’s 24% is ahead of 77% of New Jersey towns, while its trails per square mile lead 87% of them.

Water is 12% of Hopatcong’s area (2 of 12 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 22%.

How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would still be 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

The longest trail network is Hopatcong State Park, with 0.1 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.

Hopatcong State Park

Park

1 acres0.1 mi of trail

Dog rules not recorded

Directionsto the parking lotWebsite ↗

Who protects it

1,695 conserved acres

24% of Hopatcong’s land. Water is left out: Hopatcong has 10.9 square miles of land and 1.5 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Hopatcong’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

Town or city645 ac

Land trusts & nonprofits521 ac

Other or Unknown Local Government425 ac

State natural resources359 ac

Joint188 ac

State Park · 359 acLocal Conservation Area · 346 acPrivate Other or Unknown · 340 acAgricultural Easement · 340 acForest Stewardship Easement · 188 ac

Good to know

Conserved doesn’t always mean open to visitors. 189 acres are conservation easements, usually private land. Public access isn’t recorded for 9 of 52 parcels. The walks above are places people visit.

The biggest protected parcels

Parcel (PAD-US)	Managed by	Acres	Public access
Hopatcong State Park State Park	State natural resources	359	Open
Natural Area Preserve Local Resource Management Area	Town or city	337	Open
Tax Exempt# 1912-05-027 Private Other or Unknown	Land trusts & nonprofits	297	Unknown
Camp Casperson Bsa Private Recreation or Education	Land trusts & nonprofits	182	Closed
Civic Center Field Local Recreation Area	Town or city	96	Open
Tomahawk Lake Watershed Protection Area	Other or Unknown Local Government	76	Closed
Mountaint Inlet Wildlife Sanctuary Local Conservation Area	Town or city	64	Open
Tax# 1912-05-027 Private Other or Unknown	Land trusts & nonprofits	39	Unknown
Playground Local Recreation Area	Town or city	24	Open
Hopatcong Borough Natural Area Local Conservation Area	Town or city	23	Open

5 smaller protected places aren’t shown.

Things to do

8 places to go in Hopatcong

Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.

Playgrounds in Hopatcong

Thompson Playground

Directions

Plus 5 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.

Trails & water

25 named trails and 5 lakes & rivers

Named trails

Horses · 0.9 miUnpaved · 17.9 mi

Highlands Trail3.1 mi

Highlands Trail/LHT2.6 mi

Lake Hopatcong Trail2.4 mi

Lake Hopatcong/Highlands Trail1.3 mi

Highlands Trail (Teal)1.1 mi

LHT spur (Brooklyn Mt.)1.0 mi

LHT (B-D: Senior Ctr to HMS)0.8 mi

Mt Inlet Loop (Yellow)0.5 mi

LHT (F-Veterans Field)0.5 mi

LHT (I -CC Loop)0.4 mi

15 more trails

LHT spur (Camp Tr)

0.4 mi

LHT Spur (Firehouse to HT)

0.4 mi

LHT Spur (Firehouse)

0.4 mi

LHT spur (Bowdoin Tr.)

0.4 mi

LHT Spur (H-Leo Ave)

0.3 mi

LHT Alexandria Spur (North-South)

0.3 mi

LHT spur (CC Loop)

0.3 mi

Scenic Overlook (Orange)

0.3 mi

LHT spur (Camp Tr.)

0.2 mi

LHT spur (Durban Ave School)

0.2 mi

Unblazed

0.2 mi

Alexandra-SPUR (East-West)

0.2 mi

LHT spur (Mt Inlet)

0.1 mi

LHT spur (Mildred)

0.1 mi

LHT Spur (Hilltop Field-2)

0.1 mi

Lakes & rivers tap for directions

Bear Pondpond Crescent Covelake Lake Hopatcongreservoir River Styx covelake Musconetcong River

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

6Baseball

6Tennis

5Soccer

4Pickleball

3Basketball

Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.

When to get out

The best walking months in Hopatcong: April 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	14.8	13.8	12.4	11.0	9.8	9.2
High (°F)	35	39	47	60	70	77	82	81	74	62	51	40
Rain (in)	3.7	2.9	4.2	4.1	4.2	4.8	4.9	4.6	4.6	4.8	3.7	4.5

February is the driest month (2.9 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 4.9 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Hopatcong →

Next door

Hopatcong and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

Jefferson Township83 mi Byram Township47 mi Roxbury Township24 mi Hopatcong20 mi Lake Hopatcong9.6 mi Byram Center2.5 mi Landing2.1 mi Mount Arlington0.9 mi

Town	Conserved of land	Trail mi per sq mi	Park acres per 1,000	Near a park ½ mile	Outdoors
Hopatcong	24%	1.8	77	99%	A⁺
Byram Township	24%	2.2	605	98%	A⁺
Landing	— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Roxbury Township	17%	1.1	149	99%+	A⁺
Lake Hopatcong	— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town
Jefferson Township	52%	2.1	519	92%	A⁺
Mount Arlington	2%	0.4	34	99%+	A⁻
Byram Center	— not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.

Questions about parks and trails in Hopatcong

Where can I hike in Hopatcong?

The longest trail networks: Hopatcong State Park, 0.1 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.

How much of Hopatcong is conserved land?

24% 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 Hopatcong’s trails?

Hopatcong State Park doesn’t have dog rules recorded on the map; check the signs at the trailhead.

Is there public land near Hopatcong?

74,705 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Hopatcong or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 1,115 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Hopatcong have?

Among the top 1% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #26 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 Hopatcong neighbors.

Town Square →

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 →

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24% of Hopatcong’s land is conserved, and 99% of residents live within a half mile of a park

What kind of outdoors town is Hopatcong?

How much outdoors does Hopatcong have?

Conserved land, trails & bike routes

Pick a walk

Hopatcong State Park

1,695 conserved acres

8 places to go in Hopatcong

25 named trails and 5 lakes & rivers

0.0 miles of bike routes

The best walking months in Hopatcong: April to September

Hopatcong and its neighbors

Questions about parks and trails in Hopatcong

Trail talk

Where this page comes from