Minisink Park — Attraction in Smithfield Township

Peggy, my black lab, and Bill and I love to wander around Minisink. I am a wannabe photographer and Bill and Peggy are walker/runner(s). I've taken some photos I think are beautiful at Minisink and my successes are because of the natural beauty of the park. We walk first across the field that is broken into 4 fields for soccer, little league and other field sports. I especially want to note that the grass on the field is beautifully maintained. Sometimes it looks like the grass surrounding a golf hole. Beyond the field are 2 entrances to the woods and alongside the field are paths down to the river where fisherpersons are often seen. It's my understanding that there are a few good fishing locations just off the paths in Minisink. The path through the woods is essentially a I with the 2 entrances on the field. Peggy and I love walking to the tip of the U where the river is gorgeous and there are loads of well rounded river rocks I like to collect. Peggy collects plastic water bottles which people occasionally and unfortunately leave on the ground. I'm attaching some pictures of the river rock area. Of course we never walk on the rocks in the water because that's against the rules. And Peggy is always in her leash - another rule. The most important rule of all - clean up after your dog! Too many people do not and that ruins this gorgeous park for the rest of us. Enjoy fishing, hiking, jogging and playing field sports in...

A very nice walk in the woods (if you can ignore the I-80 traffic noise 😉) I have been driving past this area for about 50 years and never stopped to check it out. The trails were well groomed and easy to walk. I loved strolling along Broadhead Creek and was thrilled “to discover” 😂 the confluence of that creek with Cherry Creek. Based on another’s review, I was primed to criticize the “misinterpretation of history” on the trail side markers. I anticipated a Euro-centric bias praising the early French settlers such as Nicholas DePuy or the industrialist C. C. Worthington. What I found were, from my perspective, science based bits of information about the geological processes that formed the plateau and Water Gap, the original pre-European settlers, and ecological facts about the local area, including the invasion of Emerald Ash Borers (who have cost me many trees) and even the Spotted Lantern Fly! I will post a couple of the boards to allow you to judge for yourself as...

The trails were very nice to walk. There are options on how far you want to walk including several trails which I liked. Well the trails go around two athletic fields and out into the woods near some Creeks that are quite beautiful. Many trees have come down and they are quite unsightly in places. It's a lot like walking through a logging site where the mess has not been cleaned up from cutting down the trees and the branches are laying around.

They were multiple bulletin board stations throughout the walk purporting to explain the history of the area but with a political bias that seemed more like a misinterpretation of History than actual fact. However these can...