Calm, easy paddling with rides from Six Flags Great Adventure visible along the eastern half of the lake.
Miles: ~3.5, by exploring every cove. About 2.5 hrs at a slow pace. Lake Size: 80 acres. Average Depth: 4′.
- Park Info: Prospertown Lake Wildlife Management Area.
- Nearby Hikes: Clayton Park; Union Transportation Trail; Perrineville Lake Park; Turkey Swamp; Forest Resource Education Center.
Our two cents:
This was way more interesting and enjoyable than we expected. Watch the video to see what kayaking here is like.
Plenty of little coves and interesting areas, wildlife (herons and turtles… not escaped lions and tigers from the Safari!), with a unique opportunity to see a different side of an iconic Jersey attraction.
Even the noise once the rides started up didn’t take away from the experience. And of course… don’t land your kayak and trespass on Six Flags property!
Parking: N40.13509° W74.45803°
Prospertown Lake, 655 Monmouth Rd, Cream Ridge, NJ 08514. The lake is just a few minutes from Six Flags Great Adventure. Large gravel lot.
IMPORTANT! The parking lot for this WMA requires a Boat Ramp Maintenance Permit. A photocopy of a current hunting, fishing or trapping license showing the Conservation ID Number (CID#) is also valid as a ramp permit.
Available from any license agent, or get a Ramp Permit online for $15 (as of 2022), print out, and affix to the driver's rear window. Note: The account setup asks for a lot of personal information. Select “Wildlife Management Area Use Permits” after logging in and selecting to make a purchase.
Restrooms:
None. About 3 miles north on Rt. 537/Monmouth Road are multiple stores like Wawa, 7-11, McDonalds etc.
Book:
Appears in Quiet Water New Jersey (2010).
Note: Our go-to kayaking book is Quiet Water New Jersey (2010), available as an e-book or a used printed book.
The newer version is “Quiet Water Mid-Atlantic (2018)”. This contains 13 of the 52 locations in the New Jersey-only book and is available both in printed and online formats.
Related: Kayaking NJ overview page.
Launch:
The launch area at Prospertown has floating dock with a kayak cradle, or use the sandy gradual put-in on either side. This dock is new since we were here last in 2020.
The Route:
Prospertown is a long skinny lake that runs east-west with many coves to explore on the north and south sides. The launch is on the far west end. Six Flags Nitro coaster is about half-way down the lake.
From the the launch we headed to the right, past a dam into a small cove and then started working our way around each cove along the south shore.
One time we were here in the early morning when thick fog covered the lake. Mist obscured the roller coasters at Six Flags, and many people were fishing.
Pass a small island. The coves are pretty large so there is more paddling here than might appear.
As we made our way along, more of the rides became visible. This photo is from about half-way down the lake. The lake is calm and quiet and is a peaceful paddle.
Continuing along, we past a small island or two and paddled into a small cove with a narrow opening.
It’s quite small, this is looking into the cove from the narrow entrance:
Next, paddle by a narrow strip of land with a spillway and no trespassing sign.
Keep an eye out for wildlife, we spotted several herons.
The lake curves to the right and a shallow, narrow channel can be followed some before reaching the end of the line at the park boundary.
The tall “Sky Screamer” towers above the westernmost end of Prospertown Lake.
We started heading back along the north shore, which is closer to the rides. It’s mostly the blue and yellow “Nitro” roller coaster that is seen at the edge of the lake.
Paddling along the north shore, the coaster really looms above. There are two long skinny coves on either side of Nitro to get a closer look.
Empty coaster test runs started somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00am. Clack-clack-clack-clack-WHOOOSH. The screaming didn’t start until maybe 10:30 or so.
I thought having the coaster and people noise would be annoying but it wasn’t and it was actually rather fascinating watching it from this angle.
Keep paddling back along the north shore until reaching the launch area. Looking back, from closer to the launch:
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Kayaked 6/22/22. 1.9 miles with B&S.
Kayaked 8/23/20. 3.5 miles.