Brendan Byrne – Pakim Pond and Mt. Misery

A great sample of New Jersey’s pine barrens: endless pine, sandy trails covered in pine needles, and cranberry bogs.

9.8 miles: Level, and covered with soft pine needles or walking on sand roads.

  • Shorter: About a 5.25 mile loop can be made out of the Cranberry and Batona trials, starting from either the visitor center or Pakim Pond lot.
  • Short: About a 2 mile loop from the visitor center using the Cranberry Trail and Cranberry Loop Trail from the visitor center lot.
  • Accessible: The Cranbury trail runs from the park office to Pakim Pond and is 2.8 miles one-way.
  • Nearby: Franklin Parker Preserve – Chatsworth; Franklin Parker Preserve; Whitesbog Village.

Our 2-cents:

This is a hike that is more about the journey than the destination: Mt. Misery is the goal but there is not much to see.

It’s just the back of some old buildings left from a 1930’s CCC camp. And it’s not even a hill, let alone a mount!

Pay attention to blazes as they can be vague/missing at times, and be sure you have a map and navigation tool like GPS, smartphone, or compass.

There are marked trails, unmarked trails, sand roads, park roads – and pine trees that all looks the same – so there are prime opportunities to get lost here.

Updated: 6/2020 – Page refreshed, not re-hiked. 3/2018 – New map links, minor changes to description; but did not re-hike.

Map:

Get a map outside the visitor center or print it out ahead. Note: On the map the ORANGE (Lebanon Loop) is the paved park road for a bit, then a bike trail.

Books:

This hike and a map diagram can be found in Hiking New Jersey (2023). A different route that takes in Pakim Pond is in 50 Hikes in New Jersey.

Parking: N39.87982° W74.53375°

Pakim Pond lot. From the park’s website: From the NJ Turnpike, take exit 7 and follow Route 206 south to Route 38 east, to second traffic light, then turn onto Magnolia Road (Route 644).

Follow Magnolia Road until you come to the Four-Mile Circle. From the circle take Route 72 east, at mile marker 1 make a left.

There is a forest entrance sign on your left as you turn in. Take the first right and the office is on the left.

Note: This hike starts at the Pakim Pond lot which is further down the park road, called Shinns Road. Follow Shinns from the office and turn left onto Buzzard Hill Road to get to the parking lot.

We didn’t notice signs for Pakim until close to the pond. If skipping the office, directly turn onto Buzzard Hill Road from Rt 72.

Rest rooms:

Inside the park office if open, or a porta-john in the lot. At the Pakim lot, restrooms and a porta-john. Composting toilet along the Mt. Misery Trail, at about 2.5 miles in.

Pakim Pond

Hike Directions:

Overview: WHITE (Mt Misery Trail) – RED (Cranberry Trail). The majority of this route in on WHITE, and only the last bit is on RED.

0.0 – With the parking lot to your back, head left towards trail signs for WHITE/PINK/RED.

Mt Misery trail junction

0.1 – Signs for the trail split for Batona Trail (PINK) and Mt Misery Trail (WHITE), turn RIGHT onto Mt Misery Trail (WHITE).

Cross over Pakim Pond on a boardwalk, with views of the pond.

Pakim Pond
Pakim Pond

0.3 – Continue straight on WHITE as the Batona Trail (PINK) veers off to the right. The blazes get a little sparse here.

1.7 – Turn LEFT continuing on WHITE. There are also ORANGE and GREEN blazes in this area. [GREEN was not on the map].

The Mt. Misery trail varies between soft pine needles and deeper sand roads surrounded by pine trees.

Mt Misery trail
Mt Misery trail

2.0 – Turn LEFT continuing on WHITE, just before a paved road. There are two white blazes on a tree indicating the left but are hard to spot.

Not long after that turn, there is another LEFT that is easy to miss (we’ve done it before).

Two faint white blazes on a tree indicate the turn, but there is also a path that goes straight.

[Not a huge deal if you miss it, as you end up on the road, and in a little bit the route ends up on there anyway].

2.3 – Turn LEFT as the WHITE trail now joins the paved road. Cross over a stream (McDonalds Branch).

2.5 – Composting toilet and sandy parking area. The WHITE trail veers RIGHT away from the paved road.

It’s just not hiking in Jersey without a rusted out car chassis along the trail (did not mark the mileage location of this but should be around here).

Rusted out car chassis along the trail

2.8 – In an somewhat open area, Turn LEFT continuing on WHITE. Blazes are faint and trail may be hard to spot.

3.5 – The WHITE trail comes to the paved road. Turn RIGHT as the WHITE trail follows the road a bit (white markers are faint).

Mt Misery 2 Miles Sign

3.6 – Turn LEFT as the WHITE trail leaves the paved road at the small “Mt Misery 2 Miles” marker post.

4.0 – Cross a woods road – Woodsmansie Rd (not shown on trail map) – the WHITE trail turns LEFT onto the road then RIGHT back off of it.

5.5 – Arrive at a woods road (Forest Road) and Mt Misery. The buildings are from the CCC camp of the 1930s.

There are 3 WHITE blazes denoting the trail end, but this is just around the middle of this route.

[There were also blue and orange markers… not sure what those correspond to].

We found this area lacking in indication of what to do next:

Cross woods road (Forest Road) and veer to the left, with the buildings on the right.

Watch for a path that turns LEFT, then the trail will turn LEFT again in a bit. Watch carefully for WHITE blazes.

6.8 – Cross the paved road and follow the blazes as the trail passes through cranberry bogs.

Mt Misery trail, approaching the cranberry bogs
Cranberry bog
Cranberry bog

7.8 – After the water, continue following the WHITE trail as it veers to the LEFT.

Shortly after that is junction with sand trails and RED-YELLOW-BLUE marks on a tree [again, not sure what those are for – not on the park map].

Continue following WHITE.

Pass a forest replanting at some point along the way.

Forest replanting

8.3 – Cross a woods road [Coopers Road].

8.7 – End of WHITE (Mt Misery Trail), marked with large trail head sign. It’s not indicated, but continue straight, now following RED (Cranberry Trail).

9.3 – Pass PINK (Batona Trail) coming in from the right.

9.7 – Arrive at Coopers Road, and turn RIGHT, crossing the road, continuing on the RED (Cranberry Trail).

Follow this back to the Pakim Pond lot, eventually seeing the restrooms in front of you, with the lot on the right.


Hiked: 2/20/11. Trail Blog: “Pakim Pond and Mt. Misery in February
Hiked: 2/21/10. Trail Blog: “Brendan Byrne and Pakim Pond in the snow
Hiked: 3/4/06. Trail Blog: “Brendan T. Byrne State Forest

This post may contain affiliate links. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these at no cost to you.