Lord Stirling Park

Beautiful nature center with plenty of exhibits. Friendly, helpful staff. Lots of
Well maintained trails.

Have been taking advantage of the diverse landscape of NJ, and very happy I visited this place. Trails are great, well maintained, but you have to bring some sort of bug repellent (eco friendly of course), to avoid getting violated (everywhere, their mouths.... they were... they were. EVERYWHERE! ).

Plenty of parking.

All flat terrain with either a wooden boardwalk, gravel, grass, or woodchips. The red trail and green trail is an easy walk - most of it is shaded with a few sunny areas at the beginning and end of the trail.

The wooden boardwalk itself can be slippery due to the moss and humidity. Plenty of insects, so definitely have bug spray!

The building by the parking lot is fully air conditioned with some taxedermy animals to see and plenty of other educational things to see. It's not huge but nice.

***2 1/2 stars***

There are a lot of people out there who can and do enjoy this park. If you're a birdwatcher, this is a great place to ogle some waterfowl, probably one of the best in the area. Young pups can easily traverse the boardwalks and there's a lot of kid-friendly educational material for them to access along the way, so that's a selling point as well. However, if you're looking for a place to hike, this is one of my least favorite places to do it, and this review is from that specific perspective.

I came here on Sunday with my chum and her Wee One for a low-stress 2.9-mile hike. We started in the early afternoon, and it took about 2 1/2 hours. That probably seems inordinately high for the mileage, but it will make sense shortly. Unfortunately, it was cloudy throughout. I've been here once before and to areas of the nearby Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge a handful of times - it's definitely more enjoyable visually when it's sunny out, especially with so much water nearby to conveniently reflect the sunshine. Alas.

Our adventure took us on the Yellow Trail from the eastern side of the Environmental Education Center, veering right multiple times and going by Lily Pad Pond and the East Observation Tower. We then headed toward the boardwalk area via the Wood Duck Loop, traversed the Boondocks Boardwalk and headed back on the Red Trail past the Great Swamp Oak to complete a quasi-circular loop.

The absolute worst part of hiking here is that it does not matter when the last rainfall occurred - I have been here when it's been dry for a week and, as was the case this time, when it rained the day before. It's soggy and not a lot of fun to hike in and involves a lot of off-trail improvising through sticker bushes that massively slows you down. And if it rained recently? Forget it. Huge swaths of the path are glorified streams. They've spent a lot of time (and I suspect money) on their boardwalk section, but if they're trying to lure hikers in, that yellow trail really needs some TLC. Maybe you can just import some soil in there so it's a little higher, but it's rough going. Same token, the boardwalk is definitely deteriorating in parts. We saw sections that had recently been repaired, but there are still a lot of decaying/mossy boards out there. I don't recall a point where we were seriously concerned that the boardwalk was going to give out underneath us, but it's heading in that direction.

Second worst part of hiking here? No pooches allowed. Very sad, and I'm not sure if that rule is in place because of the terrain or out of an abundance of caution for the creatures who live here. But regardless, I did not have the pleasure of seeing any canines enjoying the fresh air. Additionally, there were no bathroom options when we came. They probably have facilities in the Educational Center but that was closed on Sunday. I definitely remember seeing a port-a-potty off to the side on my prior visit, but it wasn't there this time.

One positive though that deserves mention - the trail markings are excellent. I think some of the trails could be better assigned/distributed (there were multiple occasions when the yellow trail would fork, but it would be yellow both ways). We had a specific hiking itinerary but I'm sure that can be confusing for others. I'd just make one of the prongs of the trail fork a different colored trail. But regardless, every intersection was carefully noted and most had very visually appealing signs.

I'm not crazy about a lot of the hiking options in this area (mostly because the terrain isn't challenging and there aren't a lot of fun viewpoints), but I'd recommend Jockey Hollow over this. That said, if your idea of a great Sunday is staring at herons, by all means make the trek over here.

Such a special and magical place! There are many trail crossings yet each one is marked and extremely well. The trails closer to the nature center have more benches. The center was closing up when I finished my hike and they were very gracious and welcoming. You can tell the facility and staff are very well loved and cared for. There are fairy and herb gardens galore! Great place for imaginations to run wild—children and adults alike. Can’t wait to come back in the warmer months.

We had warm weather today for January and enjoyed our first hike here. The paths were muddy but waterproofed hiking boots didn’t stop us going. We saw kids wearing long rain boots which I would highly recommend to easy cleaning after the hike. We first took Yellow trail which was very quiet. Green trail at boardwalk was slippery. We took Red trail to see observation and finish with blue trail. It took us about an hour. Such a beautiful easy hike. We will definitely come back in different seasons. We enjoyed learning about swamp and animals at environmental center as well.

An obsoletely gorgeous area which is teeming with wildlife. We hiked the 2.5 mile red trail and did not see a single other person, but we did see plenty of wildlife and beautiful scenery! Highly recommend you use large amount of powerful bug spray, this is the Great Swamp after all! Enjoy the natural silence and beautiful scenery while taking a leisurely hike through the area.

A great place for a short to medium hike through the Great Swamp. The trails diverge in many paths, so you can easily choose your own route. Taking the short loop around the first pond will only take you 15 minutes, but if you stick to the perimeter it may take you over two hours to complete.

I recommend walking to the boardwalk sections on the north side of the park. The Boondocks boardwalk trail has been recently renovated and brings you to a beautiful part of the swamp. Wear a good pair of waterproof hiking boots; sections of the trail can get very muddy, especially in the spring.