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. Read more…

NJ Hiking NJ General Central NJ, Historical, Moderate, Viewpoint

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.

Read more…

NJ Hiking NJ General Essex, Historical, Moderate, Waterfall

Hike details found on the Belleplain State Forest page.

After a few weekend obligations and my nagging cold kept us from getting in any hikes other than a couple jaunts at Cheesequake, we were happy to get back out this weekend.

Since we were dog-sitting in south Jersey we took advantage of having lodging only about a half hour from Belleplain (normally would be about 2 hrs from central NJ). Bela is an avid hiker, but at age 15 with cranky joints is now retired from long hikes, so we couldn’t take her along (although she’d still try and hike all day if you let her!)

Belleplain State Forest is in the New Jersey Pine Barrens… so it’s all endless pine and Atlantic white cedar – quite different from the north part of NJ. South Jersey is also flat as a pancake so the hiking is easy. Read more…

NJ Hiking Pine Barrens Lake, Moderate, South NJ

Hike details found on the Thompson Park page.

We were looking for a hike that was relatively nearby and not too long, as we were going to be out late the night before. Thompson Park (not to be confused with Thompson Park in Middlesex County) was on our list of ‘short hikes to check out’.

I’d always thought this park was just a take-a-stroll, play-some-soccer kind of park until I stumbled upon it’s trail map online. The longest trail on the park map listed was the Reservoir Loop, described as a 4.8 mile loop around the reservoir and lake, so we opted for that.

Overall, this hike was the right choice for a nearby park we could still get some miles in… but it traveled a lot more through fields and on grass than we care for. It was also very sparsely marked, BLUE marker posts were only at some junctions. We could mostly tell where we were by looking at the map, but it required many stops to double check. Read more…

NJ Hiking Other Central NJ, Easy Hike, Lake, Monmouth

Hike details found on the Jockey Hollow page. 

We ended up at Morristown National Park for Veteran’s Day Weekend, hiking Jockey Hollow and a bit into the adjacent Lewis Morris Park. It had been over two years since we’d done the Grand Loop and Mt Kemble Loop trails.

As soon as we drove into the park, it was apparent that Snowtober had taken it’s toll with many toppled trees, trees snapped in half, and many downed branches. Of course it was more of the same on the trails themselves.

Even though all the trails had been cleared, we passed so many blowdowns… many still with full fall foliage on them. Foliage was well past it’s prime at the park and the trail was covered with a thick carpet of leaves, but there still was the occasional tree in full on yellow or golds.

We had decided to just go for a hike and not lug around the SLR or the video camera for a change, figuring that the park would be on the brown side… and it was. This is a beautiful park regardless, but there aren’t many overlooks and w/o green or fall foliage, there wasn’t enough for us to warrant hauling the gear. Sometimes you just want to hike. Read more…

NJ Hiking Jockey Hollow, Morris County Parks Central NJ, Historical, Moderate