I've been training for a 32-mile walk/saunter in Manhattan coming up shortly and needed a location to get about 15 miles in on a relatively flat surface. This park came up as a perfect option in one of my books, and turned out to be less than a 20-minute drive from where I live. Done and done.

This is a park you can utilize/access from a number of different points along the way, but I went with the official itinerary in my book, which started at the very northern tip by the Wild Duck Pond in Saddle River and went south along the literal Saddle River, through the Dunkerhook Playground area, under Route 4/208 by the Easton Tower, under the Garden State Parkway before finally looping back just before Route 80 and up. My book claimed this was a little over 15 miles but I think it was closer to 14 miles or so - regardless, quite a walk. It took about five hours, with one or two small breaks throughout.

I'm more of a rural hiker so my inclination is to narrow my eyes suspiciously at an adventure like this where you never truly stop hearing traffic. But this IS Bergen County, and there should be an expectation that you're never too far away from civilization. The one obvious upside to this is that the bathroom situation was about as good as you're going to get - the Wild Duck Pond had a clean public restroom, and there were perfectly fine port-a-potties scattered conveniently throughout my route. Sometimes I'm reluctant to get aggressive with my water intake because of the bathroom situation concerns, but that was not the case here.

Another positive is that this is one of the best-marked paths/trails I've ever seen - every tenth of a mile has a marker, and most intersections have a map or some type of kiosk to help lead the way as well. If you get lost here, that's on you. Another positive is that despite being in a very densely-populated area, this path never crosses any roads. You DO end up going underneath some busy highways, and it's definitely much louder/chaotic in the southern portion as you walk under the GSP by 80, but it's nice not to have to play an impromptu game of Frogger at any point.

The optics aren't bad, all things considered. Since my walk occurred in the early spring, there was some solid cherry blossom goodness going on, and parts of the walk were sunny/pleasant. (Conversely, I dealt with random hail three separate times, but you take what you get in April). Most of the parks I walked through had ponds/water features and were well-kept. I think the nicest was the first one at the top in Saddle River, but there was competition. The park area at the bottom in I think Rochelle Park seemed a little worn down but wasn't terrible. I also enjoyed walking by the Easton Tower, a ye olde water pump - was not expecting a preserved historic site right off 4. The area in the northern section is more rural so you're sort of in the woods right alongside Saddle River. Pretty tranquil.

I imagine this path can get pretty congested in warmer weather, but from my experience wasn't too bad. There were many canine chums as well, including my first paunchy Doberman sighting (just not a breed I've ever seen pack on the pounds). Wildlife is a bonus in Bergen, but there were tons of squirrels and deer, as well as a few ducks hanging out in the river.

Not my preferred type of walking/hiking, but I would come back for sure, and I think I could convince some chums to drop in for portions of this too. You could definitely do worse in this area of the state.