Black River County Park, Chester, NJ. with Bri and Tracy. 7 miles. Park at Cooper Mill, portas in lot.
BLUE to RED at Kay, cross the road follow around, cross the road again, walk up the drive to KAY then pick up BLUE again.
Black River County Park, Chester, NJ. 14.8 miles.
Warm and humid. Rt. 206N to 513 W. Park at Cooper Mill.There are bathrooms open when the Mill is, but also two Portas in the parking lot. Kiosks at Cooper, Kay, Bamboo & Willowbrook have nice maps.
BLUE trail along the river (very scenic, lots of people take this pleasant walk but don’t go very far) then to Kay Enviromental center which doesn’t seem to have bathrooms outside and always seems closed so not sure if they are inside. Have to walk along the road of Kay then cross and walk along a residential road to re-pick up BLUE (can take red instead and bypass Kay but it is harder and more hilly).
BLUE continues then follows Bamboo Brook to Lamerson Road. At this point, the trail becomes less maintained and has a LOT of sticker bushes to walk thru – long pants needed, we got scratched up. We had a storm the day before and had to scramble thru a blown down tree. Eventually ended up at corn field that you walk around, then cross Longview road and meander thru some fields as well. Intersting mix of trail.
End up at Bamboo Brook Outdoor Center (follow signs to single bathroom inside). From here the trail continues thru fields and over a river, to Willowwood Arboreum where we stopped for a snack. There are bathrooms inside surely, but I opted for the porta in the parking lot which was the fanciest I’ve ever seen (flushing mechanism and foot pump operated sink).
We back tracked the same way, except opting for RED around Kay… much more challenging than we remembered. Heard four-wheelers in the are between Longview and Lamerson road, did not hear them in the morning. Barely saw anyone all day, until we were within a mile of the car.
*Bonus – this park is mere minutes from the Wendy’s on 206.
6.7 mile roundtrip. BLUE “Black River Trail” to RED to BLUE again.
Parking: Cooper Mill. Route 206 to Rt 513 W in Chester, 1.5 mile down the road on the left. Porta-johns in parking lot. Trail maps at trailhead (both for black river and patriot’s path).
General: Very scenic area. Cooper Mill area probably very popular in season, several cars in the lot even on a very cold (15 degrees) windy day. First section of trail very easy for non-hikers. Cooper Mill was closed of course this time of year. In fact the wheel had massive icicles covering it.
Trail: Followed the BLUE trail. Easy, level, road visible to the right. (traffic noise not bad). Take left where BLUE splits. At open junction follow signs to Kay Enviromental center. Follow BLUE around building (unsure if bathrooms here) along road. Trail a little unclear, just follow center’s road until Pottersville Road. Cross the road, walk on left side of the road until BLUE ducks back into the woods.
Trail gets more interesting and remote here. Joins RED, follow back around and cross over Pottersville Road again into a nice evergreen forest. Follow along, skirting the river and then back around. At an unclear intersection of GREEN and some unmarked trails, don’t go left down the hill and over the bridge – continue straight until BLUE and follow back to lot.
Trail description can be found as a “Hike of the Week” here
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