Ramapo Reservation is a great convenient place to get away right here in the suburbs of NJ. Within minutes you can disappear into the woods for hours without seeing a sole other than a deer or occasionally a black bear!

Bathrooms are available year round at the bottom (behind the Search and Rescue building to the left of the bulletin board). Cell phone coverage is available in most areas. There is plenty of parking and NO fee.

Trails are maintained by New York New Jersey Trail conference. Please support them by donating, buying maps, etc.! Thanks to NYNJTC , all trails are very well maintained and quite easy to identify. All trails have markers nailed to trees every few hundred feet.



Please note - if you plan on hiking these trails, please get yourself a pair of Kahtoola Microspikes available below or from CampMor, Ramsey Outdoor, EMS, etc. Unless you are just staying at the bottom, please avoid "YakTrax" which end up falling apart within a few days.



For a printable map, see this link provided by NYNJTC.org



Hikes are listed in order of increasing duration/intensity. All hikes start from the parking lot on Route 202. Any hike can be done backwards just as easily.

Note - Durations are based on an experienced hiker with a heavy pack, times may be longer or shorter depending on your experience and speed.

To access all trails - cross the foot bridges across the Ramapo river...



Note - the ORANGE trail from the bottom pond floods frequently. If it is impassable, you can always turn back and go up the main semi-paved trail:

There are usually one or two large white swans in the bottom pond:



The newly finished (Winter 2009/2010) resevoir dam:


The Ridge Trail / Blue Trail
Length: Approximately 1:30+
Difficulty: Moderate (some rocky terrain but nothing requiring hands for climbing)
Map: Lighter shade indicates add-ons



Description: The Ridge trail is probably the most popular trail at Ramapo. It takes you up to the MacMillan resevoir and then in a loop around the surrounding woods.

Directions: From the bottom, walk on the silver trail (the main trail) which will take you over several foot bridges and past Scarlet Oak Pond where you may see several large white swans dunking their heads under water. Continue straight and the trail will abrutply become steeper as you start your ascent on a paved to semi-paved road that goes up to the resevoir.

You may want to stop at the resevoir to enjoy the view or allow your dog to go for a quick swim (note dogs are to be kept on the leash at all times!). Continue past the resevoir and you will come to a slight "Y" intersection with the orange trail on the left, and you will want to stay to the right. Three solid blue trail blazes mark the start of the blue. You will descend and pass two quaint streams. After ascending for a while you will come to another "Y" where the Blue-white trail divides off of the blue trail.

You will want to stay to the right to stay on the solid blue. After a while meandering you will eventually come down a hill and join up with the white trail, where on the right hand side there is a great marked "scenic view" point (a very short side trip - 3-5 minutes) before you are dumped back onto the main semi-paved path that leads up to resevoir and back down to the parking lot.

Add-ons:

1) At the very beginning, take the orange trail on the left immediately after the foot bridges over the Ramapo river. The orange will take you close to the river and then left across a stream over a boyscout built bridge where you will see remains of an old homestead. After this you will ascend on a tricky steep single track that goes right next to a constantly flowing stream with a nice waterfall. It will eventually meet up with the main semi-paved path that leads up to the resevoir. Adds approximately 15-20 minutes.

2) At the "Y" intersection with the blue and blue-white where you see the "Ridge Trail" sign, you may chose to go left on the blue-white trail rather than right, which will take you across the gas company fire road and to the white trail. You may turn right on the white trail and you will eventually (cross the fire road again and) meet back up with the blue right before the scenic viewpoint. Adds approximately 10-15 minutes.

Schuber-Ridge-Havemeyer (Orange -> Blue -> Blue White -> Green)
Length: Approximately 2:00+
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult (some rocky terrain and some very steep portions)
Map: Lighter shade indicates add-ons



Description: This trail takes a combination of many of the most popular trails and combines them for a nice solid long hike. You will see waterfalls, stream crossings, steep descents and ascents and a very great lookout near the end.

Note: Don't miss the cairn marking the steep green trail ascent near the end:



Directions: At the very beginning, take the orange trail on the left immediately after the foot bridges over the Ramapo river. The orange will take you close to the river and then left across a stream over a boyscout built bridge where you will see remains of an old homestead. After this you will ascend on a tricky steep single track that goes right next to a constantly flowing stream with a nice waterfall. It will eventually meet up with the main semi-paved path that leads up to the resevoir.

You may want to stop at the resevoir to enjoy the view or allow your dog to go for a quick swim (note dogs are to be kept on the leash at all times!). Continue past the resevoir and you will come to a slight "Y" intersection with the orange trail on the left, and you will want to stay to the right. Three solid blue trail blazes mark the start of the blue. You will descend and pass two quaint streams. After ascending for a while you will come to another "Y" where the Blue-white trail divides off of the blue trail.

You will want to stay to the left to take the blue-white trail. You will cross the gas company fire road and hit the white trail shortly there-after. Take a left to stay on the white/blue-white. In a few minutes you will come to the "Y" of the white and blue-white. Stay right to go on the blue-white and descend. You will descend steeply for a good 20 minutes or so when you finally get down to the green-white trail where you will make a right turn to head back towards the parking lot, but not before a vigorous ascent and descent! The green/white trail ascent is marked by a small cairn on the right and is sometimes easy to miss (see above). If you go too far you will run into private property and be in someone's back yard.

After your big uphill climb you will pass the gas company fire road again... you're almost there! You will descend for about 20-30 minutes passing 2 separate view points (the second, lower view point is actually better, named Hawk Rock) marked by very obvious rock outcroppings. Be particularly careful at one point where the trail makes a sharp left and descends, people will often accidently make a right hand turn onto what looks to be a trail but leads no where. Remember most trails are marked very well every 50-100 feet. Another few minutes and you are back down to the bottom Scarlet Oak Pond.

The view from Hawk Rock:



Add-ons:

1) When you get to the "Y" intersection of the white and blue-white (before your steep descent on the blue-white), stay left to go on the white. The white will eventually meet up with the green/white where you can take a right and descend less steeply and come out on the other side of the river (easy to cross by rock hopping). You will end up at the bottom of the hill on the green-white where you continue straight for a while and then make your right hand turn at the rock cairn to ascent the green-white as per the original directions. Adds about 20 minutes.

Bear Swamp Lake Loop (Silver -> Orange -> Red Silver -> Blue -> Blue/Yellow -> Yellow -> Green)
Length: Approximately 3:00+
Difficulty: Moderate to difficult (some rocky terrain, steep portions, stream crossings and overall long duration)
Map: Lighter shade indicates short-cut



Description: A nice long hike that takes you past the "far" lake of Bear Swamp where there are many ruins of old houses around the lake.

Description: As always, you can take the orange trail right after the 2 foot bridges crossing the Ramapo River at the bottom to extend this hike slightly. Otherwise take the semi-paved trail from the parking lot, past the lower pond, up the hill and past the resevoir. At the "Y" intersection with the Orange and Blue, take the left to go on the Orange trail. When you meet up with the Red/Silver, take this, and you will immediately cross a stream. After a good hike of 30 minutes or so you will cross a service road, and then finally come up to a paved road with the Bear Swamp Lake ahead of you.

Take a left to follow the lake around and at the southern most end of the lake you will make a right hand turn to cross over a small bridge. Stay on the blue trail until it combines with the yellow trail. There will be both yellow and blue markers for a a short distance. When the blue and yellow "Y" off, take the yellow. Again after a short distance the yellow will stop (marked by three yellow blazes) and the green/white will take over.

You will cross a cute little foot bridge and eventually make it to the gas company service road (If you lose the green/white and hit the pavement, take a left and you will meet back up with the trail at the gas company service road). Here, you will continue across to stay on the green as it wraps down and around, bringing you across a river, and then flat for a while until you reach the ascent of the green/white trail.

The green/white trail ascent is marked by a small cairn on the right and is sometimes easy to miss. If you go too far you will run into private property and be in someone's back yard. After your big uphill climb you will pass the gas company fire road again... you're almost there! You will descend for about 20-30 minutes passing 2 separate view points (the second, lower view point is actually better, named Hawk Rock) marked by rock outcroppings. Be particularly careful at one point where the trail makes a sharp left and descends, people will often accidently make a right hand turn onto what looks to be a trail but leads no where. Remember most trails are marked very well every 50-100 feet. Another few minutes and you are back down to the bottom Scarlet Oak Pond.

Short-cut:

1) After the yellow turns into green-white, and you reach the gas company road crossing, you can take a right here, and then take the gas company fire road back to the parking lot either on the white or green-white.

2) Instead of going on the yellow, stay on the blue. This will take you ina full loop around Bear Swamp Lake and you can return on the red-silver the same way you came.