Snowshoeing through pine forest, around a lake, and to the Manasquan River.
Normally it always seems to snow on like a Wednesday and by the weekend when you can finally get out, the snow is either all churned up… or gone.
So the January 29, 2022 storm was sort of a perfect storm for snowshoeing – a decent amount of snowfall finished by Saturday afternoon so there was ample time to dig out, followed by a bright and sunny Sunday to enjoy.
Miles: 5.0
Route: Alder around the lake – Manasquan Trail – Park Road
For detailed hike directions, see our main Turkey Swamp County Park page.
I’d actually pegged Wells Mills County Park to go for deep snow. But all Ocean County parks were closed on Saturday and when I tried calling Sunday morning there was no answer. It made sense they might be still plowing the lots, and later I saw that they’d opened at 12:30pm, but it was a bit of a bummer.
So it was on to the backup plan, Turkey Swamp (nice park, not very enticing name).
We headed right over to the lake first. A great blue heron that was sitting at the edge took off as we came up. Ah, so that’s what had made the large bird tracks in the snow.
Snow depth was about 7 – 8″. Plenty to snowshoe but there were boot tracks around the lake as well – surprised that someone was out even before us.
Related: Snowshoeing in New Jersey – locations and rentals.
We kept heading on Alder as it circled the lake. The lake was frozen but not solid – there were “no ice skating” signs up.
It was brrrrrisk out but the sun helped a lot. Temperatures were probably in the low 20s plus a decent wind chill.
Many people don’t even consider going outside in the winter but it’s totally fine as long as you are prepared with the right gear. Snowshoeing warms you up too – we even unzipped our jackets and removed our gloves eventually.
Related: Winter Hiking Tips | Snow Depth Maps
Alder comes out to skirt a field for a bit.
The flat snow had ridges and shadows that made it look almost like marble.
We like Turkey Swamp for snowy hikes / snowshoeing as it’s mostly level and there is plenty of green pine – always a welcome sight in the dead of winter.
Once we went around the lake we picked up the Manasquan River Trail. The snow was unbroken on this trail almost the entire way.
Related: Buying Snowshoes | Winter Traction Devices
This continues for a ways before crossing a small stream on a wooden footbridge.
The trail makes a few angled turns before reaching the Manasquan River.
The river wasn’t entirely frozen and had interesting lumps of snow all along it.
At a bench the Manasquan Trail turns to head back.
We were nearly back when we finally encountered other hikers post-holing their way towards us. Soon we reached the park road.
The idea of hot coffee had gotten too strong so decided to just walk the park road directly back to the lot, cutting off maybe a quarter mile off our normal hike route.
Post Hike: Pistachio lattes on the way home.
Related: All Snowshoe Posts on the Site