Mountain Ave Park

This is a hard to get to park, punch in the mountain park on google maps and it’ll try and take you to cedar rd, which is the over 55 community. Which happens to be a closed off road. Once I finally found the place parking is very limited and tight, my suggestion would be to park along the road by the water tower. The trails are steep in some places but overall it’s a nice trail, it understand that in some places it hasn’t been maintained very well. Volunteers needed. That an I got my feet a little muddy because of the streams running across the paths.

Update 10/15/2018 I woke up with a pain in my arm to find a tick, so please be warned and careful when in these woods, check yourself and the dog. Had it tested not a deer tick with lymes. Thank god because ive had it before or still do.

Hidden Gems

Had a great hike here. Parking's easy, not so plentiful, though the road up is quiet and free. There's a pipeline runs next to the park, and you may see people working on it.
First, I followed the blue trail up the mountain to the overlook (a star on the map), where I took those pictures of Manhattan and Jersey City. For the first twenty minutes or so, I could see and hear 287 clearly, though the noise soon fell away, and I became preoccupied with the steep rocky climb to the top. I liked this trail a lot for a number of reasons, the main being it had a sweet combo of climbing and level areas. There was enough elevation gain for me to work out, and enough flats to catch my breath.
Another thing is that much of the trail seems to have been carved out initially by streams. In early spring, many sections were flooded into pools or persistent streams. I recommend waterproof shoes or boots this time of year.
The lookout point, you can see from the map, is where most of the trails converge. From there, you can look down on Riverdale and Wayne and get a good scope of development in the area. Kind of surreal, definitely serene. Plus the sights of the cities and the intervening thirty miles is something to behold.

I took the yellow trail down, taking about thirty minutes. There's a fair chance you'll be climbing over rocks, but again there's a good mix of steep and flat, so those of you with sore knees, take care and you'll be fine.

Easy place to spend an hour or two. My whole endeavor lasted about an hour and a half. Bring your dog!