Welcome back 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 II, Overpack County Park."
Since deciding to write this series a few weeks ago, every time I have gone out for a little paddle boarding adventure I have ended up in conversation with someone walking by who is really curious about paddle boarding but had no idea how to start or even where they could go — literally, every time I have gone out. The common thread through all of these conversations has been “I want to but I can’t find the info I need, and it seems like there are so many rules.”
If that isn’t a beautiful confirmation for the existence of this blog series I don’t know what is. And that is exactly it! For someone starting off on their paddle boarding journey here in New Jersey it is super unclear how, when, and where you can go.
That is why we are here doing this. I’m taking the brave steps to go find out where and how. I guess when is on you, but mostly whenever you want (as long as you have a head lamp after dark).
So, let’s jump into this post’s adventure: Overpeck County Park, Bergen County.
A friend recommended we try it out - something like, their dad kayaked there once, pretty sure it’s allowed. So, I Google it, poke around for a while, and as is becoming usual, I don’t find much. Yeah, there is some info in a couple of places, but I could barely find what I needed; it is definitely not all in one place.
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Eventually, I was able to piece together enough information to feel confident to go try it out. It’s close by and easy to get to, so off we went on a little midafternoon paddle boarding adventure to Overprck County Park.
The cool thing about Overpeck park is that it is on the Hackensack River and within the park is an inlet toward the northern edge of the park where Overpeck Creek meets the Hackensack River - they call it Overpeck Lake. Right on that inlet is a paddling center connected with the Hackensack Riverkeepers, which is an organization dedicated to the conservation of the Hackensack river. Part of this paddling center are kayak, canoe, and paddleboard rentals, and of course, a car-top dock to launch from. Sounds like they do guided tours, and all kinds of stuff, but the launch is free and open to the public. (The sign at the dock says “kayaks only” but paddle boards are cool too. I asked).
We pulled into the (paved) lot right near the launch, took the boards out, and started to inflate. To be expected, I am finding, up walks future-paddle boarding-candidate number two! (The first candidate started a convo during our last paddling trip the weekend prior). We ended up in a really fun conversation about paddling and the variety of places near by to get out of the city and into nature.
After a few minutes of prep and chatting our boards were inflated and we were ready to go. We walked everything down the ramp to the launch, plopped down in the water, and off we went.
I have to mention that some of the spots we have been to early in our NJ paddling experience may have spoiled us in terms of water quality appearance… this water was a little on the brown side. I’m pretty sure it is because the inlet that the launch is in doesn’t get a whole lot of movement. It was certainly clean enough to be in but I’d be lying if I didn’t say it brought up thoughts about how the Hackensack River used to be. Thankfully there has been A LOT of work done to clean it up over the years.
That said, if you end up launching here, there is a possibility the water is on the brown-side when you get there, but by the time we got even a little away from the launch it had cleared up pretty well.
It was an easy launch and a fun paddle. A perfect short little paddle for an afternoon. Until....
Our trip got cut short this day. I am sure this won’t happen to you, since it was a bizarre once in a life time event. We didn’t know it at the time but it turns out this day was that random Tuesday when like all of Canada caught fire and ALL of the forest fire smoke got blown down the east coast. All we knew at the time was we were out paddling on an early Summer day around 4pm when all of a sudden the sky turned orange, the sun became fire red and the winds picked up something nasty. It was like some apocalyptic hell scape just rolled in out of nowhere and we were fighting our way back to shore.
It was pretty intense at the time, mostly because we had no idea what was happening. Today, it’s just kind of one of those fun stories to tell. “Hey, remember that time…”
All-in-all, it's a fun little spot for some "close to home" little trips when you're jones'n to get out. It was a cool experience (and a little weird) to be both in nature and simultaneously see tall building and hear the roar of the Turnpike. This is definitely not one of those "immersive yourself fully in nature" kind of moments, but more of a taste of what "nature down the block" might be like. Great for what it is, but don't go expecting it to be what it isn't.
For the sake of this series, we are kind of left with an open ending. There is definitely way more to be explored from this starting point but it looks like that is a story for another day or for you to create on your own. Head on out from Overpack lake and the Hackensack river awaits!
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