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Stanhope United Methodist Church, Netcong, NJPhoto: Zeete · CC BY-SA 4.0
A−Outdoors
Outdoors in Netcong

21% of Netcong’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. 21% of Netcong’s land is conserved, about 106 acres. 99 acres are parks and preserves, 27 per 1,000 residents.

Ahead of 84% of U.S. towns · #243 of 468 in New Jersey. What drives it

Conserved land
21%
106 acres · of 0.8 sq mi of land
Trails
0.1 mi
0.1 per sq mi of land
Park land
99 ac
27 acres per 1,000 residents
Near a park
99%+
of residents within ½ mile
Lakes & rivers
2
1 boat launch

What kind of outdoors town is Netcong?

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

Outdoors grade

How much outdoors does Netcong have?

On conserved land, trails, park land and how close residents live to a park, Netcong is ahead of 84% of U.S. towns, #243 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 Netcong’s overall grade.
All U.S. towns we grade (21,298)Ahead of 84%
LessMore
New Jersey towns of 2,500+ (468)Ahead of 48%

New Jersey towns conserve more land than most (a typical one, 11%; the U.S., 4%), so Netcong’s 21% is ahead of 71% of New Jersey towns, while its trails per square mile lead 14% of them.

Water is 13% of Netcong’s area (0 of 1 square miles), so every share here is of land; over land and water together, the conserved share would read 17%.

NoteFew parks or trails are mapped in Netcong. 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
Who protects it

106 conserved acres

21% of Netcong’s land. Water is left out: Netcong has 0.8 square miles of land and 0.1 of water, so the share counts land only. Who manages Netcong’s conserved land, from the USGS Protected Areas Database. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.

State parks79 ac
State natural resources78 ac
Town or city26 ac
State Recreation Area · 79 acState Park · 78 acLocal Other or Unknown · 26 ac
The biggest protected parcels
Parcel (PAD-US)Managed byAcresPublic access
Lake Musconetcong State Park
State Recreation Area
State parks157Open
Netcong Borough Unknown
Local Other or Unknown
Town or city22Open
Dominick Arbolino Memorial Park
Local Other or Unknown
Town or city3Open
Joseph Direnzo Memorial Park
Local Other or Unknown
Town or city1Open
Things to do

3 places to go in Netcong

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

Playgrounds in Netcong

1 playground without a name on the map. Tap “Show all on map” to see it.

Trails & 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
2Basketball
1Tennis
1Baseball

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

History along the way

2 places on the National Register

The country’s official list of places worth saving (National Park Service). The map also marks 1 historic points from OpenStreetMap: plaques, memorials and old buildings.

History →
Palace TheatreBuilding · listed 1996
About it
Church in the Glen, TheBuilding · listed 2013
About it
When to get out

The best walking months in Netcong: April to June, August and 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)9.510.611.813.314.415.114.813.812.411.09.89.2
High (°F)363947607078828174625140
Rain (in)3.73.04.34.04.24.85.14.74.74.73.64.4

February is the driest month (3.0 in) and July the warmest (highs of 82 °F). 5.1 inches fall in July, the wettest month. The climate in Netcong →

Next door

Netcong and its neighbors

Tap a town to see its outdoors.

TownConserved
of land
Trail mi
per sq mi
Park acres
per 1,000
Near a park
½ mile
Outdoors
Netcong21%0.12799%+A−
Stanhope17%2.06175%A
Mount Olive Township31%2.822999%A+
Roxbury Township17%1.114999%+A+

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

Questions about parks and trails in Netcong

How much of Netcong is conserved land?

21% 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.

Is there public land near Netcong?

53,939 acres of parks and open public land lie inside Netcong or within 10 miles of it (PAD-US), 99 of them inside the town line.

How much outdoors does Netcong have?

Ahead of 84% of U.S. towns on the Outdoors grade, #243 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 Netcong 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 →