This is the introduction to "Places to Paddle Board in New Jersey," a series that is exactly what it sounds like, places to paddle board in New Jersey. And this is "Part I, Monksville Reservoir (South Boat Launch)."
“I own my own paddle board. Where can I paddle board in New Jersey?” you may be asking to yourself. At least I was. If you are looking to go paddle boarding in New Jersey, especially if you already have you own board, it might not be so obvious where you can go or where you are even allowed to go paddle boarding. I searched Google for way longer than I’d like to admit and found nearly nothing helpful. Search results brought up stuff about rental locations and pretty much nothing else. So, I decided to start doing some real digging and share some of what I have found.
For a while now I have had this thought to combine my passion for the outdoors with my desire to help people live a better life. So I decided to finally start a blog about it. Some of the posts will lean a bit more toward the spiritual side of being in nature, but this one is pretty much just about “how and where.”
About 2 years ago my brother in Florida got me hooked on paddle boarding, and in Florida there is water everywhere. Water is basically a way of life down there. If the water is safe enough (from the gators) there are people in it. Pretty quickly I end up with a board of my own, because sharing wasn’t going to be an option for too long. It was real easy to find spots to go out when we were visiting. I never thought I’d have such trouble trying to find a place to even use it back home in Jersey. Paddle boarding is one of the fastest growing outdoors trends right now so I know there are people paddle boarding here… right?
Well if they are, they aren’t posting about it - at least not anywhere obvious. So, here we are… posting about it!
Determined to find at least somewhere to paddle board in NJ without ending up at a rental location, my Google sleuthing this week brought us to Monksville Reservoir, South Boat Launch, a free public boat ramp in Long Pond Ironworks State Park… or maybe Ringwood State Park. I’m not totally sure. That area seems like one huge conglomerate of different state parks and lakes, so here’s a map! (a couple of maps actually)
Click image for a full view
Side note: growing up, we lived on a deadened street, at the end of which was a forest. Our vacations in the summer were almost always camping. As we got older, we were frequently backpacking through major National Parks. Being out in the wilderness was like second nature. Enter adulthood and I end up living in a city where anything even remotely resembling nature felt well beyond a reasonable trip. The amount of time that I frequented nature dropped significantly. Well this week’s trip out to some-where-in-Passaic-County reminded me that these massive forest and foothill type mountains really aren’t that far away. This one is only about 45 minutes from the George Washington. Definitely a reasonable distance even for a short paddle. And, remote-feeling enough to know that you are in nature.
Anyway, it’s gorgeous! The water is gorgeous (and clean), the scenery is gorgeous, and its easy to get to.
When you get there, there is a turn off of Greenwood Lake Turnpike (not super obvious, but if you have GPS on it’s pretty easy to find) that quickly turns into a gravel road through some trees. Less than a quarter mile down that road you’ll find yourself in a gravel parking lot with a fairly well kept, pretty generic cement boat launch down into the reservoir. Free to park and free to play.
We got our inflatable boards out, plugged the electric pump into the car and we were good to go in no time. Walked our boards down the ramp and off we went (If you’re new to paddle boarding or haven’t started yet, check out my other post coming soon on getting started. All the stuff I had to figure out on my own and wish someone had told me). An important thing to note at this point if you are planning to make a trip out to this spot, or really any spot in NJ, there are some safety requirements to paddle board in NJ. I don’t know that I can tell you what they are exactly… but there definitely are some. Ha, kidding…kind of. I’m not a lawyer and I have yet to see a definitive explanation but my understanding is that in the state of New Jersey paddle boarders are now required to have Coast Guard approve PFDs. I believe you are also supposed to have an emergency whistle and signal mirror. You might want to do some Googling of you own on this one.
Back to our trip. With the wind at our backs we had an easy, sweet little paddle out into the middle of the lake to find an almost a 360 degree view of green sprawling mountains (mountains? I guess they mountains in NJ. Maybe considered hills in some other places). At times, we’d take a quick break sitting with our feet hanging off the board and taking in the view. While not a huge body of water, it’s big enough to loose your sense of how far off things really are. Which I think is one of the coolest things about the outdoors, those moments when the scale of things puts life into perspective. After about an hour of leisurely paddling and drift about we decided to start making our way back. Well, I don’t know if the wind always blows in the same direction on this lake, but the only way back was into the wind. It’s one thing to know this on your way out, that at some point you’ll be heading back the way you came, but that rarely translates to the feeling of actually doing it. If you do find yourself paddling this lake and it is a windy day, do keep in mind the direction of the wind when you’re out there.
Luckily, we had time and slowly made our way back throw the wind. We returned to the same boat launch we left from feeling refreshed and simultaneously ready to sit for a while. There is always something rejuvenating about nature in this way. There is a certain cleansing feeling from being that in touch with the water, like letting go of your thoughts and vibes and letting them get washed away. Combine that with the psychological effects of being amongst that much green and is a good day.
One major difference on this trip than any time paddling in Florida, what happens once you’re back, for us at least. The blazing sun and heat of the Florida Summers makes drying things off a real quick job. The board was usually dry before you even got back to the car. There is usually some grass to toss you board into and quickly deflate and pack up. Well, here not so much. Remember the gravel parking lot we came in on when we first arrived? Well that is pretty much the only surface around to pack up on. The short walk from the ramp definitely isn’t enough time for the board to dry off, and suddenly I’m a scenario I hadn’t thought throw. The wet board placed on the rocky, dusty ground doesn’t make for a very cleanly packing up. Next time, I’m bring some camp chairs to chill in and some lunch to eat while things dry off.
It might not matter to some about putting away wet and/or dirty gear, but ours would be folded up and puck back into the storage unit (it’s that urban life now). Wet gear in a storage unit don’t fly, so we waited for a bit to let things dry, introduced a towel to the clean up process, and eventually packed up and headed out.
All-in-all it was a great trip. 5-stars, would definitely recommend. If you’re anywhere in north jersey, this place is probably closer to you than you think and definitely worth the drive. Spend the day making your way around the whole lake or stop by for a quick rejuvenating paddle. However you do it, worth it.
Looking forward to bringing you insights into some other spots as we find them. Stay tuned.
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