New Jersey trails · Highlands Trail
Highlands Trail
A 7.2-mile out-and-back in New Jersey, with 244 ft of climbing. Reaches Hemlock Lake and other lake destinations. Managed by New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.
Elevation profile
The climbing is spread fairly evenly along the route. It gives back about 463 ft along the way, so it rolls rather than climbing steadily.
3-D terrain
USGS 3DEP ELEVATION × ESRI WORLD IMAGERY · VERTICAL ×1.5
Reaches
- Hemlock Lake (lake)
- Dallis Pond (lake)
- Wolf Lake (lake)
- Andover Ponds (lake)
Getting there
Unnamed trail access. 40.98059, -74.74038 · directions
Daylight at the trailhead
On August 31, 2026 — the day this page was generated — first light reaches this trailhead at 5:56 a.m., the sun rises at 6:24 a.m. and sets at 7:33 p.m., and the last usable light fades about 8:01 p.m. (EDT) — 13 h 09 min of daylight. At about 2.7 mph plus 30 minutes per 1,000 feet of climbing, the 14.4-mile round trip takes roughly 5 h 35 min, so leaving the trailhead at sunrise puts you back around 11:59 a.m. — 7 h 34 min before sunset.
Loop options
- Hill Acres Trail + Highlands Trail + Brookside Trail — 1.1 mi loop, 158 ft gain
- Highlands Trail — 3.1 mi loop, 90 ft gain
- Highlands Trail + Burnt Meadow Trail + Tapawingo Trail — 2.9 mi loop, 568 ft gain
Nearby trails
- Lehigh and Hudson Trail — 3.5 mi
- Sussex Branch Trail — 4.5 mi
- Highlands; Lake Hopatcong Trail — 6.2 mi
- West Morris Greenway (Main Line) — 10.3 mi