Complete hike details, photos, and video on our Washington Valley page.
We were looking to do less driving during the holiday weekend. I didn’t have a lot of info on the park, it’s not in any of our books, no trail mileages to really gauge the park by… but it was only 30 minutes away so we didn’t have much to lose. Boy was it HOT though …. 95-ish and sunny HHHHOT. The weather has been brutal for hiking lately.
The park was just OK for trail interest and scenery. Other than walking by the reservoir on the RED trail… not too much to see. The hawk watch looks over a quarry. While interesting… it’s not the best view. It’s certainly decent for a park in Central NJ, but it lacks ooomph.
This is a biking-allowed park and the trails are geared as such… some seemed to twist around more than needed. We find that a bit tedious to hike, but since there are less parks available for bikers than hikers in NJ… it’s not really a complaint… just an observation.
Slight road noise throughout the park… you are never far from a road.
9.5 miles roundtrip (8.8 if we hadn’t got off track a bit) – easy to moderate trail surface. Hard-packed and rocky, but with loose, smaller rocks… easy to slide on. Minimal elevation changes. Read more…
Located in Somerset County, off of Rt 27, our hike info is here.
11.7 miles, moderate… but you can certainly do shorter loops.
It was supposed to be bitter cold so we wanted to do a short hike, nearby. We hadn’t been to Six Mile Run in quite awhile, after doing the short BLUE there trail years ago and didn’t think that much of it, as it skirted a lot of fields and such.
Just wasn’t that much of a hiking-thru-the-forest type of hike, when you compare it to North Jersey, but we came to realize that a lot of central hikes are like that. (With central Jersey being so developed, you often find yourself skirting backyards and fields, crossing streets… which can still be fun of course)
I had just read that JORBA (jersey off road biking association) had been developing trails there, and found a new map on their site that listed more trails so we gave it a shot. It turned out to be a nice sunny day and we ended up doing 11.7 miles, all of the park but the Blue trail… Read more…
For detailed hike directions, maps, photos and GPS coordinates, visit our Helyar Woods page.
With a ton of snow predicted and it already flurrying, we headed for a short hike at Helyar Woods, a small parcel of woods adjacent to Rutgers Gardens, in New Brunswick.
2.5 miles; very easy, little elevation gain. This is a very short, easy hike at a piece of woods mainly used for dog walking and light walking. Some of the trails are marked, others not, in a seemingly haphazard way… but it’s not a large or confusing park. There may be a trail map available but nothing was open the day we were there, and I’ve located nothing online.
For detailed hike directions, maps, photos and GPS coordinates, visit our Watchung Reservation page.
Located in Union County. Parkway to 78W, exit 43… directions here. The Trailside Museum at the main parking lot is open 12-5 and is very nice. Other restrooms were open earlier in a nearby building, follow the signs from the lot.
Did the Sierra Trail, an 11-mile loop around the perimeter. We have mixed feelings about this park. In fact, we’ve been here only once before, about 5 yrs ago, and it’s taken us this long to give it another go. With rain forecasted for Sunday and recent snows in northern Jersey, we were looking for a park that was no-hunting and not snow covered… Read more…
Headed to our favorite go-to park when we don’t have a lot of time to drive to something longer: Cheesequake State Park. Did a quick 4.3 miler that combined the YELLOW, BLUE and GREEN trails. It was a nice day, but you could certainly tell that winter is coming – was glad I grabbed my fleece at the last moment.
A lot of the park is marshy with boardwalks and the trail surface is easy. One of our favorite parks for getting a quick 4 or 5 miles in.
We were looking to do less driving during the holiday weekend. I didn’t have a lot of info on the park, it’s not in any of our books, no trail mileages to really gauge the park by… but it was only 30 minutes away so we didn’t have much to lose. Boy was it HOT though …. 95-ish and sunny HHHHOT. The weather has been brutal for hiking lately.