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Learn about Leave No Trace - https://lnt.org/ is a good place to start. Imagine the effect of you times 100, or 1000. There are good reasons for these signs:

What I've heard is that what's coming 'real soon now' is a new printed Batona Trail brochure, plus new display panels (those big 3'x4' signs in metal frames at various points along the trail which have a map and other info). I do not think they are doing anything new with the existing on-line...

In case you are interested... a Natural Area is just an area of State Park Service-managed land that is set aside for additional protection. Presumably because it has some interesting or unique plants or animals inside. N.J.A.C 7:5A is more of a template, but each Natural Area has similar...

Yes, every mile has a half-mile marker. There should be a marker approximately every half mile along the entire trail - unless someone stole it, which happens. Every half and whole mile marker sign has a pink ring around the tree. Mostly every whole mile marker also has N and S direction signs...

The Batona GPX file from hiking.waymarkedtrails.org is now fixed. As of today it downloads as a single track segment with an overall southbound route, 52.67 miles long. (Before today it downloaded as 10 track segments in mixed-up order and direction.) Re: GPS units, I think at one point the...

I should qualify that. The NGIN errors are in isolated areas, and most are relatively small. Sometimes the trail was moved off a road, and nobody told them; the NJGIN data still has the trail following the road. In some places they seem to have just messed up - they are way off where the trail...

Hello, there are several maps of the Batona Trail, all different. The trail changes occasionally and maps get out of date. The most recent accurate one might be the one on openstreetmap.org . This is not official data but is more accurate than the state's data because it is crowd-sourced...

I'm happy to say I have not encountered this in Bass River SF. Must be those northern NJ types doing it. Gross. Today I picked up: 2 empty cigarette packs, a mylar balloon, Dunkin' and Wawa coffee/drink cups, several unhealthy sugary drink cans - empty, plus the usual random paper and plastic...

It's pretty close to the term used in the State Park Service Code: "Established public roads". As in, you - a licensed driver - can drive a registered vehicle on any established public road, except when posted otherwise. (NJAC 7:2-3.4.) They don't define that, so I made up my own...

Example of a "messy trail" from Saturday. Taken by a forest friend and posted with her permission. She said: She climbed over and her dog went under.

Hopefully they (the state) won't over-react. I was at Bass River SF. Yes there were a lot of people. The weather was perfect and it was a weekend and the first day open, so of course there were a lot of people. Everyone I saw was behaving properly. Several people told me (talking at a distance...

I hope it does last. Unfortunately there seems to be no shortage of "knuckleheads". https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2020/04/when-nj-parks-reopen-this-weekend-dont-let-a-few-knuckleheads-ruin-it-murphy-says.html

"Before all this" I used a 3M N95 particle mask with valve, when I needed to do something dusty for example. The valve helps a lot, if you get the rest of it to fit right, to prevent glasses from fogging up. With a regular N95 I would be unable to see within a minute. Of course those are now...

OK let's go somewhere else: State Parks and Forests reopening. Some news reports I read are unclear about a few things, so I looked at the actual Executive Order here: https://www.nj.gov/infobank/eo/056murphy/pdf/EO-133.pdf Face coverings: The EO does not require wearing face masks. It says...

I think if you are caught by State Park Police walking (alone, say) in a closed park you will be told to leave. If you are with a group, you will be told to disperse and leave. I doubt you would be charged unless you refuse to leave / disperse, or otherwise behave badly. I think the charge is a...

A video featuring the Director of Fish and Wildlife about fishing during COVID-19:

I took a walk once through the "rectangle" or "box", which state maps show as being part of Penn State Forest. On an east-west track, I came across several old POSTED - Private Property signs, some on trees and some on the ground. They had Haines name on them. When I asked the state, I was told...

Puzzling fact, confirmed by many: If you filed 2019 taxes but did not supply bank information to the IRS, you can go to the IRS "Get My Payment" site to enter your bank information in order to get a direct deposit rather than a paper check by mail. But if you neither received a refund nor owed...

Good advice. But a question: If you call, I think the first thing you are asked (by the voice response system): is this an emergency or not? That's how I remember, anyway. What would you say in this case? People with wood, cutting trees, looks like they are about to start a fire - emergency or...

Not a problem, thanks to our Governor. Hiking trails are going to be a real mess after all this. Smart move would be to let the various trail maintenance crews in before opening to the public. Unlikely to happen, in my opinion though.