Autumn is here and we’ve fallen for the beautiful foliage in the Garden State. This holiday weekend, spend some time enjoying the best views.

We recently hiked a Skylands trail through the forests of Stephens State Park along the Musconetcong River in Hackettstown.  With the river bubbling right next to us, we felt like we had walked into a picturesque autumn postcard.

For fast fall foliage facts we turned to expert Tom Drake, publisher of Skylands Visitor.

As he explained to us “Unlike New England where foliage is dominated by sugar maple trees, the Skylands of Northwest New Jersey have a wider variety of trees and therefore more brilliant, vibrant colors to take in.”

The Skylands are home to NJ’s most elevated site, High Point State Park, which, according to our expert, “offers a spectacular view, especially of the fall foliage.”  

You can join a Fall Foliage hike that will take place on Monument Trail there on Saturday, October 20 at 10:00 am. The 3.5-mile hike is designed for adults and kids over age nine to see the breathtaking views. Renee Bonham at High Point recommends wearing comfortable shoes and bringing lots of water!

You can check out the Foliage Network for current reports on fall foliage conditions throughout the United States.

The unseasonably warm temperatures have slowed peak colors, so you’ve got a little longer this year to enjoy the autumn. Strap on your walking shoes and take a hike!

When it comes to picking your own apples, we’ve got a few picks of our own.

At Riamede Farms in Chester (www.riamede.com) apples are the main attraction. Owner Debbie Post says the farm tries to maintain the ambiance of an old time orchard The quiet farm has apple trees that are half a century old and produces 30 varieties of apples including heirlooms such as Baldwins.

We enjoyed the free hayride into the orchard and were thankful for Debbie’s “meticulous maintenance” when we bit into clean, healthy apples straight from the tree.

Debbie says this year’s crop is huge. Apples are so bountiful that Riamede recommends more than one trip, to be sure and catch each variety at its tree-ripened best.

At Terhune Orchards in Princeton (www.terhuneorchards.com/) it’s Apple Day all weekend!

In case you long for more than plain apples, they have a jug band, fresh apple pies, a pork roast and, our personal favorite, cider doughnuts. There’s also a farm with live music, a barnyard, pony and wagon rides and food.

Fall Family Fun weekends at Terhune run from September 29 through the end of October. Owner Pam Mount said this year’s festival features The Legend and Lure of Corn, a fun, educational “corn-y-copia” barn and the popular corn stalk maze.

Both Riamede and Terhune also have pumpkins to pick, but we’ll cover that in the near future. For now all you’ll have to do is pick a date—and get ready to bite into nature’s harvest!

Contributor Sandra Kenoff wrote this story

Here’s a brisk fall hike that’s just long enough to give you a cardio workout, but with an even greater benefit.

Stop by the Tourne, a sprawling 540 acre Morris County park that encompasses land in Denville, Mountain Lakes and Boonton Township. You could choose a long flat hike through the scenic woods and meadows that ultimately leads to Birchwood Lake. Or you can climb to the top.

The Overlook trail loop is roughly a half-hour walk. The first few minutes are deceptively level, but plan to chug upwards for about ten minutes, until the angle gets a bit kinder as the trail encircles the top of the hill.

At the top, you are at nearly 900 feet. At one clearing, your view is the pristine, undeveloped highlands to the north. Next overlook, you’ll see the walls of trees that cover the Tourne, to the south.

But the lookout that faces due east will stop your trek. A gap in the trees, from where you stand on the jutting rocks at the top.

It is one of the rare views across 40 miles of northern New Jersey that catches just a hint of the city skyline in the distance. To mark the spot, there is a simple memorial to the fallen World Trade Center towers. A simple wooden pole, decorated with yellow ribbon, a bundle of flags, some stuffed animals, and a sun-faded photo of the skyline with still standing towers.

You can catch your breath here. The little memorial—–and the photo—fills in the gap with a poignant reminder of how this view has changed.

Here, at the top of the Tourne, you are closer to New York City than you ever imagined.

The male Northern Harrier glides low over the mudflat silent like a gray ghost, carrying something furry in its talons. He swoops down to a landing on a small island in the marsh, next to a female harrier and a mound of dried twigs. Out of the nest the pair built on the ground pops the head of a hungry chick eager for the rodent dad brought home.

Watching wild raptors feed their young could make you forget where you are. Not quite.  As you look at the birds through binoculars you can’t miss the 18-wheelers roaring behind them and  the big green Turnpike sign that says “Exit 15W 2 miles.”

Richard W. DeKorte Park, off Rt. 17 in Lyndhurst, is an amazing sanctuary of nature in the midst of one of the most industrialized and foul-smelling spots in the state.

All around it are flat office buildings and warehouses. In the distance rise the smokestacks of power plants, the steel girders of the Pulaski Skyway and the Manhattan skyline. Behind the entrance is a landfill. On the far side garbage trucks rumble up a hill to dump their load at yet a second landfill. Hell, part of DeKorte used to be a landfill.

But the thousands of tons of household waste got capped; in 1982 the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission opened the site to the public as a 110-acre nature park with glistening ponds and trails winding through salt marsh cordgrass.

DeKorte has become a key stopover for migrant birds; 260 species have been counted. We spent an hour and a half a few days ago walking the easy marsh trails, and saw 24 species including ruddy duck, with its reddish body and bright blue bill. Not exactly rare, but bet you won’t find them in your local park with the Canada geese.

If you are very lucky you may see a migrating bald eagle high above, or an osprey dive into the water feet first just yards from where you are standing and emerge with a fish in its talons.

Terrapin turtles, water snakes and muskrat also hide in the reeds, and there’s red fox among the wildflowers.

If you work in the area, grab your lunch and stop by the swamp. You’ll never see this kind of action at the office.