Overpeck County Park — Attraction in Leonia

Overpeck Park is definitely a great place to enjoy sports and leisure. The park is in an ideal location, with a wonderful view of Overpeck Creek (lake). The facility has a lot to offer for families and individuals alike. However, the designers of the park obviously didn't foresee the popularity of watersports in our area demographics when they set out to draw up the blue prints for this very successful park. No sooner the park opened, the Hackensack River Keepers moved their canoe and kayak facility from the Meadowlands to Overpeck Park, quickly followed by Bergen County Rowing Club. Both these facilities are a fantastic addition to the park and a great asset for anyone that loves boating and fishing, or even just to watch. Unfortunately the parking lot serving these two very popular facilities is way too small to accommodate ample parking for everyone. This is one of the top favorite areas of the park, and people often have to wait or circle around in the parking lot in their cars with the hope that someone soon leaves. People bringing their own boats often need to park and unload their boat on side of parking lot opposite and farther from the boat dock, making it difficult for many boaters to portage their boats to the kayak dock. The solution is to expand the size of the parking lot and provide at least four [car] spaces, closest to the dock, strictly for the purpose of loading and unloading boats. Another issue is the the location of the fishing dock (pier). It is located far from the nearest [main] parking lot making it very difficult for sports fishermen to transport their fishing gear from the parking lot and the fishing dock and back. The fishing dock itself needs to be expanded to accommodate the [unexpected] large volume of users. More waterfront picnic areas need to be created. Most people enjoy the very peaceful, lovely, and natural view of the lake.

And lastly, more needs to be done to prohibit traffic between the park entrances of fort Lee road and Rt-95. It is very dangerous for families with children, and individuals crossing this road. This is a park access road, not part of the Rt-95 highway system. It's an accident...

EDIT: I have now been consistently visiting the park for a full year now and don't have the rose-tinted review lens I had initially. This park is very much a county park for county purposes and big events (as you can tell with huge empty grounds and paved roads and parking lots). It's not a local park for local residents. There's no human, walkable/bikeable connection to the park from neighboring towns. What purpose is there for a bikelane when it cuts off the moment you try to bike down Fort Lee Rd.

There is no shade, the trees are all away from the walking path and in the summer, it becomes unbearable to walk down anywhere because you don't receive any protection from the sun where pedestrians are guided to walk. Where can I sit and enjoy ANY view of either Overpeck Creek - the benches are stochastically placed and clustered in random areas. I don't want to sit on a bench and look at a corporate building nor do I want to stare at large stalks of nothing when there are actually nice views that can be for benches spread out along the entire park.

Original: Good, well-manicured park in the newer section. I usually visit on the weekdays so there's ample parking everywhere. There's always people on the courts around the park and there's always a handful of people scattered around the park. When it rains, there are multiple areas on the walkway that fill with water and forces you to walk on very narrow paths and/or the grass itself. The calisthenics park has everything you need for a...

This park is not so good, in my opinion. There are very few trees and most of them are quite young, affording little shade. This is particularly poorly planned because the park abuts Route 95, an extremely busy multilane interstate highway with lots of noise and pollution. The park is basically paved over and mowed over, which is a double shame, because the entire tract used to be densely wooded and full of wildlife. There are some ball fields, a bandshell/stage, and a nice paved track with some variances in elevation alongside Overpeck Creek. The track is shared with bicyclists, skateboarders and rollerbladers. There is a kayak rental stand at the north end if the park. Fishing is allowed with an NJ permit. There are restrooms on the south and north side of Fort Lee Road, a very busy street that splits the park. Also, the few times we've walked our dog on the path there, he has picked up multiple ticks each time. Overall, I'm not impressed. I bypass it regularly to go to other much more attractive and relaxing parks in the area that have an abundance of trees, birds, and the occasional chipmunk or deer. The big positive part of this park is the view of Overpeck Creek from the east side of the park, which is rather wide in that area. Otherwise, the fact that Bergen County Commissioners thought it was a good idea to clear-cut a peaceful wooded area that absorbed so much pollution and was home to teeming wildlife alongside a major highway is beyond my...