Picnicking
From High Point to Cape May Point, 33 parks across the state have designated first come first served picnic areas awaiting your arrival. Click here for a full list of picnic areas.
Help Keep Your Park Clean and Green! Protect plants and animals and care for your park by taking your trash with you. Whatever you carry into the park, plan on carrying it out too. It’s like crowdsourcing trash management! Bring a bag or two for trash, recycling and cleaning up after your pet. There are no trash receptacles provided in state parks. Thank you!
Find a State Park Near You!
Click here for Trail Tracker- the Interactive Trails Map of NJ State Parks, Forests & Historic Sites.Planning a Hike?
Click here to see detailed trail guides for many of New Jersey's state parks and forests or click on the trail tracker link above.Camping
To view availability and to book your campsite, please visit camping.nj.gov.
Discover on Your Own
New Jersey's state parks and forests offer a variety of public programs throughout the state, but we do understand some prefer to discover on their own.
Click here for self-guided activities, videos, crafts and recipes which will allow you to explore and learn about the historic and natural treasures found within your state parks at your own pace.
Plan Ahead for "Filled To Capacity" Park Closures
To ensure the safety of our visitors and protection of the park’s natural resources and facilities, our park areas have a limited capacity.
During periods of high visitation, when a park's capacity is reached, the park will be closed and traffic will be turned away from the park entrance. When that occurs, no additional vehicles / visitors will be allowed to enter the park, including those with members of their party who may already be in the park. If you are not traveling in the same vehicle with others in your party, we suggest that you all arrive at the same time.
Based on recent experience and visitation trends, and depending on good weather, most of our state park swimming and day use areas will likely fill to capacity on Fourth of July weekend. Please take this into consideration when planning your trip.
Sign up for text alerts for filled to capacity closures of Atsion Recreation Area and Island Beach State Park.
Filled to capacity updates are also posted on our Facebook page.
