Detailed hike info and directions on our Woods of Wenonah page.

We decided to check out this small park as part of our South Jersey Sampler – we were in the area for some post-holiday gatherings, so we had hiked Estelle Manor the day before, spent the night in Williamstown, and hit Wenonah on the way to the Turnpike.

The Woods of Wenonah is a U-shaped wooded area that surrounds the town of Wenonah. It has several short trails, with access paths that lead off into neighborhoods. It’s not remote by any means, as houses are visible along most of the route. It’s a nice little park though, and we felt the Comey’s Lake area was the prettiest part.

If you are in the South Jersey, this is certainly worth a visit. It’s hillier than you usually get in southern Jersey, and it’s not in the Pine Barrens. For those in north Jersey with all the rugged hiking surrounding you… it’s probably not worth driving down to this park.

Oddly, we only ran into a handful of people on the trail. It was chillier this day than the warm weather we had the day before, so maybe that is why… but we’d assume this trail has to normally be full of joggers/walkers/dog-walkers. It has such great access for the people in the town to walk out their street and have a nice trail right there to use. Hey, all towns should have hiking trails attached to them, right?

The trails aren’t blazed, but marked with signposts at intersections. There are a few spots that it was a little difficult to figure where to go, so we recommend picking up or sending for the trail map.

Miles: 6.0 – [This is combining every trail, most individual trails are under 1 mile.]

Parking: N39 47.922 W75 09.138 [Wenonah Lake lot, which is not marked as parking on the trail map!?]

Route: Wenonah Lake Trail – Break Back Run Trail – Mantua Creek Trail – Monongahela Brook Trail – Eldridge Trail – Monongahela Brook Loop Trail – Eldridge Trail – Comey’s Lake Trail – Eldridge Trail – Monongahela Brook Trail – Mantua Creek Trail – Break Back Run Trail

Detailed hike info on our Hartshorne Woods page.

We took a little time off around the holidays so of course we needed to get some hikes in. Since it was a weekday we wanted a park that was no-hunting (though it is closed a few days in December) plus we didn’t feel like driving far so we decided to hit up Hartshorne Woods Park in Middletown.

It was also forecast to be very cold (like in the mid-30s brr) so we wanted a park we could bail on if we had enough. Of course, the forecast for the next day changed from rain to the 50s as we were heading out the door. Ah, well.

We knew it was a long time since we’d been to this park, but until I couldn’t find an entry in our Trail Blog (which goes back to 2006) I didn’t realize how long. I had to root through our photos to discover we’d last been in 2003. Yikes.

It’s a very nice park but we had found the multi-use trails a nuisance – not that the bike riders were anything but polite – we just prefer to hike without the possibility of a bike whizzing ’round the corner, so we had put the park on a back burner. Even on a chilly Thursday we saw a handful of bike riders, so imagine on a warm weekend.

The trails are not blazed but are marked with signposts at intersections, which mostly works ok – but make sure you pick up or print out a map. We managed to piece together a decent size route by combining the outer trails of the entire park, and checking out some of the battery/bunker buildings.

The Rocky Point end of the park was used as a military coastal defense position in WWII, and there are some bunkers to check out. There are also views of the Navesink River and the ocean.

Miles: 9.1 miles (8.7 if you skip the boring Command Loop like we should have done)

Parking: N40 24.064 W74 00.774 [Buttermilk Valley Entrance]
Roughly 35-40 min from central NJ, New Brunswick-ish area.

Route: Laurel Ridge – Grand Tour – Rocky Point – Battery Loop – Cuestra Ridge – Laurel Ridge

Snack Time: Clif Bar recently sent us this cute little box with some samples. On this hike we tried the White Chocolate Macadamia Mojo Bar and the Chocolate Peanut Butter Builder’s Bar.

White Chocolate Macadamia Mojo Bar Verdict: 2 thumbs sideways. While the bar tasted good, we probably wouldn’t purchase them. Mojos are usually salty-savory and we get them when we want a change from the usual energy bar, so we didn’t see a benefit to making it taste like a sweet bar.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Builder’s Bar Verdict: 1 thumbs up, 1 “eh”. The bar tastes good, with chocolate and peanut butter over a crisp rice layer. But bars with crisp layers can be on the hard side, especially in the cold, so I gave it an “eh”.

Complete hike details found on the South Mountain Reservation page.

With mild weather in the forecast for Jersey – in the mid-50′s in December! – we had to go hiking. Sometimes, you just need to ditch things and go for a hike.

Our compromise was heading to a park under an hour away, where we could get a moderate hike in while leaving the rest of the afternoon open to attempt to be mildly productive. We’d been saving South Mountain Reservation for just such a situation.

This park is similar to Watchung Reservation and northern Jersey terrain, moderate, somewhat rocky trails. It’s also surrounded closely by development and has some traffic noise so it does not have the remote feeling that many of northwestern NJ’s trails do. It is unfortunately marred by graffiti on some rocks near streams as well as around Hemlock Falls.

But still, it’s a nice park and an easy getaway for a large portion of New Jersey. There is a viewpoint from Washington Rock (where a signal beacon warned the Army at Morristown of the British Army’s approach),  Hemlock Falls (a popular waterfall destination, though we had it to ourselves this morning) and a hike along the Rahway River. The other end of the park also contains Turtleback Zoo.

We kept to the hiking trails, but there are many easy, unmarked woods roads and that is mostly what people were using (lots of dog walkers and people out for a stroll on these wide, level trails). This route uses part of the 40-mile Lenape Trail.

*The park is non-hunting except for some days in Jan. and Feb. [haven't seen 2012 dates but in 2011 it was Tuesdays and Thursdays]

Miles: 6.1 miles

Parking: N40 43.699 W74 18.253 [Locust Grove Parking Area]
Under an hour from central NJ, New Brunswick-ish area.

Route: Lenape Trail (YELLOW) – Rahway (WHITE)

Holiday Bonus: There is an evergreen tree decorated with Christmas ornaments at the Washington Rock viewpoint.

Wildlife spotted: 5 deer bounding away over a hill.

Snack Time: Clif Bar recently sent us this cute little box with some samples (because somewhere along the way we subscribed to their newsletter or signed up for samples) We tried the White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clif Bar. Verdict: 2 thumbs up; we’d buy it. It was slightly sweeter than some of their other flavors but had nice taste. And let’s face it… can you go wrong when combining white chocolate and macadamia nuts?

When we were last at Jenny Jump we nearly got carted off by swarms of mosquitoes. So when a windy Saturday was forecasted we thought it would be a prime time to go back and check out the Jenny Jump Trail (even a gentle breeze usually thwarts mosquitoes).

Not sure how long this trail has been around or if it’s technically ‘open’ quite yet, but it was well blazed and even had nice “you are here” map plaques throughout the trail. There were a lot of thorns crossing the path… so wear long pants unless you’d like to rival my impressive collection of calf scratches (I need to accept that the weather is changing and I should retire my fave hiking knee pants until spring)

The first view on the map isn’t much, but the second is a very nice view of the Delaware Water Gap. If you’ve ever hiked to the summit of either Mt. Minsi or Mt. Tammany you can see where you were. To this viewpoint and back would make a nice easy 3.4 mile roundtrip hike.

The rest of the trail has no views but is through a nice forest that has the feel of being remote, even though you pop out and cross country roads several times.

Be sure to wear blaze orange or something bright. While the trail itself was marked with “safety zone” signs, there were several deer stands just a short distance off the trail. Check Hiking in NJ During Hunting Season for more info.

Parking: N40 54.720 W74 55.507 – this a 2nd lot in the main visitor area of Jenny Jump S.F. itself.  There is one easy-to-spot trailhead sign at the end of a large lot. For restrooms, go right down the road a sec to the other trail lot. There are also other parking areas along the Jenny Jump Trail that are marked on the map.

Miles: 11.4. To Lake Justit Road and back.

Route: Jenny Jump Trail (BLUE) out and back.

Jenny Jump State Forest Trail Map

Books: Not in any books yet that we’re aware of.

Wildlife Spotted: Near a dam of sorts a small snake and I startled each other. It jumped (slithered? threw itself?) into the water from the cement structure we were on. The water had a decent current so it swam in place, head poking out of the water, for a moment before getting enough momentum to swim away. Between being surprised and marveling at how adorable it looked swimming like that… I did not get a photo.

On the way back we ran into another small snake across the trail. Managed to get a great shot… it’s times like that that makes lugging our SLR around all day worth it.

While looking to ID the snake, I found this video on an Eastern Garter Snake. The UMDHGIC YouTube channel has more short, informative videos about snakes too.

There were lots of down trees visible throughout, but the park staff had already done a terrific job cleaning up the trails. In fact, it looked like many had been raked clear because there was so much debris that the trail would be hard to follow otherwise.

One large section of boardwalk was totally moved to the side, but the area itself wasn’t wet (it usually is). And other areas that are soggy on a good day, were no problem to pass. A lot of sand had been washed into these areas, and it had the effect of actually making the areas easier to cross. We had expected to see flooded areas and destroyed boardwalks/bridges, but even the normally wet areas around Hooks Creek Lake were fine.

5-ish miles, roughly… we didn’t take the GPS as we’ve been there soooo many times.

Route: YELLOW – walk around Hooks Creek Lake (not blazed) – walk across beach/playground to crabbing bridge -  Perrine Road (a dirt woods road) – BLUE around Perrine Pond – BLUE/Perrine Road – RIGHT on GREEN – GREEN back to lot

Cheesequake State Park Trail Map

**Bow hunting is allowed for the 2011 season at Cheesequake. This park used to be one of the few places in NJ you could count on to just go for a hike and not worry during hunting season. I don’t think a lot of people were aware of it, as we were the only 2 people wearing blaze orange.

Now, Cheesequake is not a large park, and in looking at the map there aren’t a lot of outer areas for hunters to be in that aren’t crossed by trails. While we assume that most hunting is done in the early A.M. so it’s not probably not an issue, we did see a hunter vehicle parked on Perrine right before the trail junction with GREEN around noonish. The campground also appeared to be full of hunters.

At any rate, heads up when you hike there and consider wearing some blaze orange… or dig your 80′s neon garb out of the closet.

Wildlife spotted: Three deer, and a ton of fiddler crabs by the crabbing bridge. I don’t know it we’ve just never noticed them before, or the water level was different and they were out… very interesting to watch them interact.

There are several nice scenic viewpoints, including of the Delaware Water Gap. The hike leads to Ghost Lake, which is a small but pretty lily-pond filled lake. The trails are very lush and green, and some areas remind us of the Pacific Northwest.

Miles: 5.7. Rocky with some hills – and the return from Ghost Lake is uphill.

ROUTE: Summit Trail (Yellow) – Ghost Lake Trail; out-and-back.

More info, photos, and video can be found on our Best Hikes in NJ: Jenny Jump page.

We had nice weather after a week of rain, and while the forecast called for potential showers in the afternoon, they didn’t materialize until the drive home. The mosquitoes, however, were unreal.

Since there had been a lot of rain and we’d run into bug issues here before, we covered ourselves in a fog of Deep Woods Off. Even so, it was like Pigpen from the Peanuts cartoon – except trailing behind us was a cloud of mosquitoes rather than dirt…

At Ghost Lake there was just enough breeze to keep them at bay, and half-way through the hike back they finally did let up.

This is a really wonderful park so don’t let our bad luck with bugs prevent a visit – perhaps we keep hitting this park at the buggiest time of year or the mosquitoes at Jenny Jump just find us irresistible.

Wildlife spotted: This must be the year of the Snake. We saw 4 on our last hike, and on this hike we saw 2 in under 6 miles. Both were black snakes, and the 2nd had to have been the longest snake we have ever encountered outside of a zoo – It was easily 6′, probably closer to 7′.

It’s been quite some time since we’d been to this very pretty park, as it’s more of a stroll around the reservoir rather than a hike. But by adding in the Cove Trail we managed to get in about 5.9 miles.

For 5.1 miles, just do the Perimeter Trail and skip Cove. You could tack on another mile and make it 6.9 if you take the Bear Swamp Connector trail out and back (it just goes to a small park, so we skipped it).

This is a popular place, with tons of joggers and handful of bikers/walkers. The trail surface is small crushed gravel and level. It’s easy to navigate as the unmarked loop simply follows around the reservoir.

We parked at the Environmental Center, but there is a smaller lot just past that (Chestnut Point) as well as a main visitor center lot. Bathrooms and trail maps are available at Enviro and the Main lots, and we noticed a portable toilet as we walked by the Chestnut Point lot.

The Perimeter Trail can be picked up from any of those lots. We took it from the entrance of the Enviro lot and turned right, following along the road and over the dike. Near the end of the hike, we turned left onto the Cove trail, which is pedestrian only and we had that to ourselves. This leads back to the Enviro Center lot.

Manasquan Reservoir Park Site – info, directions

Manasquan Reservoir Trail Map – the online map was slightly older than the one at the trail kiosk, which shows a few changes in the cove trail as well as marking it green, and shows the connector path to Oak Glen Park.

If you aren’t looking for a long hike and are more into short trails, playgrounds and picnic areas, you’ll still want to check this park out. From the small parking lot, take a short stroll down the red trail along the river – there is a bridge to cross and you can score a picnic table on a little island of land. There are a few small trail loops and a couple of playgrounds.

10.2 miles, moderate trail surface. Lots of level woods roads, with some steep sections.There were a lot of large areas of standing water… unsure if that was just because of the recent heavy rain or not. If you head there in the summer… have bugspray handy in case it’s mosquito central.

There is only one viewpoint on this loop, and that is if you go all the way to the fire tower. The rest is mostly pleasant hiking, on a lot of woods roads. This trail is multi-use and we expected to see bikers, but we didn’t see a soul on the trail the entire day. Perhaps when it warms up a bit, it was still quite chilly (with one stubborn tiny pile of snow near the parking lot!)

For this 10.2 mile loop, print out this map from JORBA. The park map in the kiosk does not have these trails, nor was there a copy of the JORBA map. Updated: This area is now covered by the Jersey Highlands Trails map set.

Route: From behind the ranger station, pick up ORANGE and head uphill. WHITE – GREEN – PURPLE (kind of*) – GREEN – WHITE – RED/WHITE

*The PURPLE Fire Tower Loop was not blazed at the intersection with GREEN, and was only sort of blazed from the tower on. Almost as if the plastic blazes were removed. This was really the only confusing area of the hike. We’ll put together detailed directions when we do a page for this hike. It’s a short section that is unclear, if you want to give it a go in the mean time.

Stephens State Park site

Stephens State Park trail map

Wildlife: Spring is coming soon…. the frogs in several wet areas were making quite a racket.

8.1 miles. Trail surface is easy and level; this hike is moderate only due to length. Lots of opportunities for short hikes in this park (distances noted on the park map). We had to piece together all the trails to put together a long loop.

Started at the trailhead parking on Nomoco Road (at a maintenance building). There is a trail kiosk which had printed maps. Walk behind the building to spot the BLUE trail marker.

In a moment there is a sign; we headed RIGHT into the campground and took the 1 mile Blueberry Path (Blue).This loop is just ok, it was confusing to find the unmarked trailhead, and we had to walk down the dirt driveways of the campground. Only include it if you want to do the longest hike possible here.

Then we came back to this point and took the Metedeconk Trail (BLUE), which lead into the main park.

ROUTE: Blueberry Path (Blue) – Metedeconk Trail (BLUE) – Link Trail (GREEN) – Old Lenape Trail (GREEN) – Manasquan Trail (BLUE) – Alder Trail (GREEN) – Metedeconk Trail (BLUE)

The trails are mostly really well marked… mostly. There were a few instances at intersections where markings just were not there, and while we were almost certain of the way to go… it required walking blind for a bit.

Most users of this park probably do a short loop from the main parking, however, and are not tying a bunch of trails together.

The park was busy near the center parking, but we saw no one on Metedeconk and only a handful on the Manasquan trail.

Turkey Swamp Park - park site with trail map, directions, info. We parked at the trailhead parking just before the entrance to the Nomoco Rec Area, as that was gated. No restrooms at this trailhead.

Wildlife spotted: On the Blueberry Loop, a few deer and a wild turkey (a turkey in Turkey Swamp park… how cliche…)

It’s part of Thompson Park, which we’d checked out probably some ten years ago and determined there weren’t any trails there, just the usual park stuff, dirt park trails around playgrounds, a zoo… nice, but not what we were looking for. It’s possible we missed the trails because they are south of the main park, or that trail info online was so much harder to find in the olden days… or maybe they are just newer.

At any rate, this another addition to our list of close-by parks for a quick hike. At even less mileage than a park we did last week (John A. Philips Park) this is not a park to check out if you have to drive far to it.

2.6 Miles. We pieced together the longest route we could, without taking the spur trails and having the walk back along the park road. The trailhead is next to the dog run area (Perrineville Road to Fir Drive). No maps were at the kiosk. There is a restroom building near the parking lot.

Like any park with a tight inter-looping network of trails, pay attention to the blazes and the map to keep track of where you are. There were also a lot of other round paint color blotches on trees: these don’t correspond to the map and can throw you off. Basically, only follow the rectangle blazes which are the actual trails.

Route: RED to almost to its end, where its meets BLUE for a 2nd time. BLUE to a right onto YELLOW.

It becomes a bit unclear as YELLOW curves around. Pass an unmarked trail on the left, then a trail on your right which is actually GREEN but we didn’t see blazes for. Then after that, turn right onto GREEN (marked, and YELLOW heads left). GREEN goes over a stream on a small boardwalk, and immediately bears left. A trail also goes straight, to a clearing.

Take GREEN back to RED, at which point the parking lot is right there.

Thompson Park Conservation Area – park site, directions

Thompson Park Trail Map

Other: We were amazed to find snow on the trail in sections, after all the rain we just had. In areas with a lot of foot traffic, it was hard-packed ice and in one section it was pretty dicey going downhill.