Mills Reservation — Attraction in Cedar Grove

This is a beautiful park with a high tree canopy. Most trails are shaded and remain surprisingly cool even on hot sunny days. The trails can also be rocky and uneven and may not be suitable for people with mobility issues. We didn't find the trail maps that others have mentioned, but we thought that it made for great spontaneous and random exploration and discovery. We saw surprisingly few squirrels, but lots of chipmunks. We also stumbled on a small herd of deer. It is also easy to imagine seeing lots of birds if you come at the right time.

Many visitors bring their dogs with them and many do not keep theirs on a leash. The dogs were all friendly, though one of our group has a fear of dogs and it was an issue for us. We also saws dogs chase after the aforementioned deer. Fortunately, the deer were too fast and remained uninjured, though they surely felt a bit harassed. Please leash your dogs.

Finally, note that the official parking lot is small and holds probably only 20 cards. We don't know if the surrounding neighborhoods allows street parking for...

Many of the dog owners in this park are very pathetic. I have had many problems there with dog owners unleashing and not monitoring their dogs. I quit going to this park awhile back after two dogs aggresively pursued my dog and me. When I reacted by threatening to call animal control I was told by some other dog owners in the park that I was the problem should just leave if I have a problem with it. (By aggresive I don't mean playful. I've been around dogs my hole life. I know the difference.)

Unfortunately my wife decided to try this park today. She called me at work to tell me that someone's dog pursued her and our dog through the woods while she screamed at the dog. The owner ignored her yells and only called his dog after several minutes. My suggestion is go over to Eagle Rock in West Orange where, for whatever reason, I've had little problems with...

This was a beautiful hike with lots of trail options. I chose to stick to the outer perimeter trail which took me on about a 2 mile loop. Nothing was too steep and myself and my 11 year old dog had a great time. If you stick to the perimeter, it is pretty quiet. Some of the trails aren't marked great, but you are never too far from civilization to make you nervous. My only complaint would be that there were a lot of people who let their dogs off leash. As someone with a nervous rescue dog, this annoyed me to no end. My dog was perfectly well behaved, but I worry about people who don't realize that it doesn't take much to set off some dogs. My advice if you plan a trip out is to go early! By the time we left late morning, there was no...