Maple Way Woodlands
Managed by Borough of Mountain Lakes
55 acres1.5 mi of trail
Red TrailGreen TrailBrown Trail
Dogs on leash
Directionsto the parking lot
Photo: Jerrye & Roy Klotz, MD · CC BY-SA 3.0AOutdoors
Outdoors in Mountain Lakes
Mountain Lakes has 7.9 miles of mapped trails, 3.0 for every square mile of land
98% of residents live within a half mile of a park. 176 acres are parks and preserves, 38 per 1,000 residents. The biggest trail networks: Maple Way Woodlands (1.5 mi), Tourne County Park (0.5 mi).
Ahead of 95% of U.S. towns · #113 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it
Conserved land
7%
120 acres · of 2.6 sq mi of land
Trails
7.9 mi
3.0 per sq mi of land
Park land
176 ac
38 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
98%
of residents within ½ mile
Bike routes
0.5 mi
0.5 mi paths
Lakes & rivers
5
2 beaches
What kind of outdoors town is Mountain Lakes?
Read from the map. The page puts what stands out first.
Outdoors grade
How much outdoors does Mountain Lakes have?
On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Mountain Lakes is ahead of 95% of U.S. towns, #113 of 468 in New Jersey. All four inputs are above most U.S. towns; trail miles rank highest, conserved land lowest.
A
OutdoorsA character grade: shown, never part of Mountain Lakes’ overall grade.
Conserved land7% of the land · typical NJ town 11% · U.S. 4%B+Trails3.0 miles of mapped trail per square mile of land (8 mi) · NJ 0.7 · U.S. 0.4A+Park land38 acres of park per 1,000 residents (176 acres) · NJ 25 · U.S. 13A−Parks close to home98% of residents within a half mile of a park · NJ 98% · U.S. 72%A
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 95%
LessMore
New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 76%
New Jersey towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 11%; the U.S., 4%), so Mountain Lakes’ 7% is ahead of 34% of New Jersey towns, while its trails per square mile lead 96% of them.
Water is 9% of Mountain Lakes’ area (0 of 3 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 6%.
How sure. Graded on any three of the four inputs instead, the letter would range from A 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
The longest trail network is Maple Way Woodlands, with 1.5 miles. Directions go to the nearest trailhead or public parking.
Tourne County Park
Managed by Morris County
22 acres0.5 mi of trail
Red TrailBlueRed & BlueBlue Dot Trail
Dog rules not recorded
No trailhead mapped yet
Who protects it
120 conserved acres
7% of Mountain Lakes’ land. Water is left out: Mountain Lakes has 2.6 square miles of land and 0.3 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Mountain Lakes’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Town or city99 ac
County21 ac
Not recorded21 ac
Local Park · 116 acLocal Conservation Area · 21 acLocal Other or Unknown · 4 ac
The biggest protected parcels
| Parcel (PAD-US) | Managed by | Acres | Public access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Halsey A Fredrick Park Local Park | Town or city | 65 | Open |
| Tourne County Park Local Park | County | 43 | Open |
| Medvale Park Local Park | Town or city | 21 | Open |
| Taft Memorial Field Local Park | Town or city | 13 | Open |
Things to do
4 places to go in Mountain Lakes
Beaches, playgrounds, peaks, falls and more. Pick a kind.
Beaches in Mountain Lakes
Birchwood Lake Beach
DirectionsIsland Beach
DirectionsPlaygrounds in Mountain Lakes
2 playgrounds without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see them.
Trails & water
12 named trails and 5 lakes & rivers
Named trails
Open to bikes · 2.1 miHorses · 2.2 miUnpaved · 5.0 mi
Red Trail1.8 mi
Birchwood Loop0.8 mi
White Trail0.8 mi
Blue Dot Trail0.4 mi
Sled Trail0.4 mi
Green Trail0.3 mi
Brown Trail0.3 mi
Blue0.2 mi
White0.1 mi
Red & Blue0.1 mi
2 more trails
Purple
0.1 miPink Trail
0.1 miLakes & rivers tap for directions
Biking & sports
0.5 miles of bike routes
Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
0.5 mi
off-road bike paths
Courts & fields
9Tennis
4Baseball
3Tracks
2Soccer
1Beach volleyball
1Basketball
1Football
1Lacrosse
Includes school and college facilities, which aren’t always open to the public.
History along the way
History →2 places on the National Register
The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 3 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.
When to get out
The best walking months in Mountain Lakes: 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 | 14.4 | 15.1 | 14.8 | 13.8 | 12.4 | 11.0 | 9.8 | 9.2 |
| High (°F) | 38 | 41 | 49 | 61 | 72 | 80 | 85 | 83 | 76 | 64 | 53 | 42 |
| Rain (in) | 3.6 | 2.7 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 3.6 | 4.3 |
February is the driest month (2.7 in) and July the warmest (highs of 85 °F). 4.7 inches fall in June, the wettest month. The climate in Mountain Lakes →
Next door
Mountain Lakes and its neighbors
Tap a town to see its outdoors.
Parsippany-Troy Hills Township43 miBoonton Township14 miMountain Lakes7.9 miParsippany4.8 miBoonton1.2 miRainbow Lakes0.5 mi
| Town | Conserved of land | Trail mi per sq mi | Park acres per 1,000 | Near a park ½ mile | Outdoors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mountain Lakes | 7% | 3.0 | 38 | 98% | A |
| Parsippany-Troy Hills Township | 25% | 1.8 | 67 | 99% | A+ |
| Boonton | 7% | 0.5 | 14 | 97% | A− |
| Rainbow Lakes | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Parsippany | — not graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town | ||||
| Boonton Township | 28% | 1.7 | 286 | 99%+ | A+ |
The four inputs of the Outdoors grade, from the engine; shares are of land, not water.
Questions about parks and trails in Mountain Lakes
Where can I hike in Mountain Lakes?
The longest trail networks: Maple Way Woodlands, 1.5 miles; Tourne County Park, 0.5 miles. Each one is on the map above, with directions to the nearest trailhead or parking.
How much of Mountain Lakes is conserved land?
7% 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 Mountain Lakes’ trails?
OpenStreetMap records dogs as welcome at Maple Way Woodlands (on leash). For the rest, check the signs at the trailhead.
Where can I bike in Mountain Lakes?
0.5 miles of bike routes are on the map: 0.5 of off-road paths.
Is there public land near Mountain Lakes?
55,379 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Mountain Lakes or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 176 of them inside the town line.
How much outdoors does Mountain Lakes have?
Ahead of 95% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #113 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 Mountain Lakes 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 →