1
Watchung Reservation
Park
467 acres8.6 mi of trail
Sierra TrailWhite TrailHello Kitty Trail
Dog rules not recorded
Outdoors · Scotch Plains
Scotch Plains, NJ parks, trails & bike paths
About 21% of Scotch Plains is conserved land, roughly 1,225 acres. There are about 15 miles of mapped trails, and the biggest networks are in Watchung Reservation (8.6 mi) and Ash Brook Reservation (1.1 mi).
Conserved land, trails, parks and bike routes in Scotch Plains, measured from OpenStreetMap and USGS data.
At a glance
Scotch Plains outdoors
Conserved land
21%
1,225 of 5,761 acres
Trails
15 mi
1.7 mi per sq mi · 11 on conserved land
Parks & preserves
8
49 conserved acres per 1,000 residents
Bike routes
0.0 mi
0.0 mi lanes · 0.0 mi off-road paths
Conserved land is a share of the whole town area. Bike lanes are often missing from the map in smaller towns, so that number is likely low.
Map
Conserved land, trails & bike routes
Tap a number or a place below to zoom in© OpenStreetMap contributors · USGS PAD-US
Places to walk
Parks & preserves with trails
Ranked by mapped trail miles. Directions go to the nearest marked trailhead or public parking.
2
Ash Brook Reservation
Nature preserve
278 acres1.1 mi of trail
White Trail
Dog rules not recorded
3
Ponderosa Farm Park
Park
21 acres
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
4
Brookside Park
Park
19 acres0.1 mi of trail
Brookside Nature Trail
Dog rules not recorded
DirectionsTo the parking lot
All 8 parks & preserves
- Memorial Park and Pool4 ac · 0.2 mi trail · Directions
- Jerseyland Park6 ac · 0.1 mi trail
- Brunner Park6 ac · Directions
- Farley Road Park4 ac · Directions
Who protects the land
1,225 conserved acres
Who manages it, from PAD-US. Approximate, because parcels can overlap.
Conserved doesn't always mean open to visitors. 8 acres are conservation easements, which are usually private land. The places listed above are parks and preserves people visit.
Biking & sports
Bike routes, courts & fields
- Painted or protected bike lanes0.0 mi
- Off-road bike paths0.0 mi
- Shoulders & shared lanes0.0 mi
Courts & fields
- Baseball15
- Soccer15
- Tennis7
- Basketball6
- Softball5
- Multi-sport3
- Football2
Counts include school and college facilities, which aren't always open to the public.
Next door
Scotch Plains and its neighbors
Towns whose outdoors data has been built so far.
| Town | Conserved | Trails | Parks & preserves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotch Plains | 21.3% | 15.2 mi | 8 |
| Clark | 22.2% | 4.7 mi | 3 |
| Berkeley Heights | 14.5% | 9.3 mi | 5 |
| Watchung | 3.1% | 0.8 mi | 1 |
| Fanwood | 2.9% | 0.9 mi | 6 |
| Westfield | 6.4% | 7.1 mi | 8 |
| Plainfield | 7% | 1.7 mi | 3 |
Trail talk
Conditions & tips from neighbors
No recent posts about Scotch Plains's trails yet. Muddy, icy, a bridge out, where to park: a quick post helps the next person.
Sources: trails, parks, preserves, courts and bike lanes © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL), map data as of 2026-09-28. Conserved land: USGS Gap Analysis Project, Protected Areas Database of the United States (PAD-US). Measured against the Census town boundary.
How we measure
"Trails" are OpenStreetMap paths, bridleways, public tracks and unpaved footways, plus footways inside a park or preserve or on a named trail route. Sidewalks are left out. Areas are counted on a 20-meter grid, so overlapping parcels count once. "Conserved" includes conservation easements, which protect land from development but are usually private property. Trailheads are the nearest marked trailhead, public parking lot or information board within about 150 meters of a preserve. Dog rules come from OpenStreetMap when someone has tagged them; otherwise we show what's typical for the land manager, or say the rules aren't recorded.