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On a beautiful Black Friday, we avoided the insanity of mobs of people at the retail stores to embrace the insanity of herding five small children down trails in the woods. After a visit to Batsto, the little ones and I explored the Rechnitz Pine Barrens Preserve in Browns Mills, established in...

Late to the party, but finally made it out to explore this one. A friend of mine gave me a push by telling me it's his favorite trail right now, but I still managed to underestimate how nice that it was. I mean, cedars and a 200 year old road, how could it not be nice? Trail write up...

Went with the two oldest kids on Saturday. Nice 2 1/2 mile loop with the Yellow and Red Trails. I usually hate paved trails, but this one has some pretty views across the fields. The Red Trail goes up Arney's Mount itself (highest point in Burlington County). Sadly, the summit is private...

Few weeks back in the rain and cold, took the family exploring. I finally managed to make it to Webbs Mill Bog to see the pitcher plants. The boardwalk is short and sweet, but finding the trail was a bit of pain (drove past the trailhead twice). Rain suit kind of day... Boardwalk is...

A week ago, we attended the grand opening of the Dr. James Still Nature Trail, located at the Dr. James Still Historic Office Site & Education Center! The trail, kiosk, and herb gardens were created as part of a pair of Eagle Projects from two Boy Scouts in Medford and Medford Lakes (article on...

Little outside the pines, but fascinating finds in Camden. "Thousands of Native American artifacts unearthed in Camden archaeological dig" By Kevin Riordan Full article...

Apologies for no posts then a million posts, getting caught up on trail reviews today... My dad passed just before Thanksgiving, so I took a day at the end of the month to take the oldest kid hiking. We opted for the Port Republic Trails. We'd done the Mill Pond Loop in the Spring, so we...

Christmas Eve Eve, the oldest kid, a buddy, and myself went to try out the trails at Bear Swamp at Red Lion Preserve (Section B) (the various preserves at Bear Swamp Preserve are a bit confusing), located off of West Patty Bowker Road. Two short forked trails here, about a half mile apart...

Took all three of my boys out a few weeks back to check out the Piney Hollow Preservation Area off of Piney Hollow Road. The map says less than 2 miles of trails marked, but we managed just under four miles without hitting everything. Caught a beautiful sunset, which I managed a decent shot...

Don't know if I deserve the promotion to "Pinelands People", but I do love it out there. :) Full article from Inside Jersey Magazine I think my 15 minutes of fame have to be coming to a close soon...

Just finished a book called They Took to the Waters by Harry Weiss and Howard Kemble (The Past Times Press - 1962) that explores the heyday of the mineral springs resort decades in New Jersey and the Philadelphia region of PA. Pretty interesting look at the old "spas" used for health (and by...

Went out in the heat of late July (upper 90s with a enough humidity to smother you to death) to do the 8.4 mile Penns Hill Trail (or Marci Trail, depending if you believe the map or the signs at the trail). Despite heat, humidity, sun, and a brutal (but thankfully short) attack by pine flies...

At the risk of tooting my own horn, I was in the Inquirer today. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/south-jersey-mans-hiking-blog-has-half-million-fans-and-climbing-20170611.html I don't know if everyone who ever visited my page is a fan, but I'll take it.

The Scouts practiced their boating skills at Penbryn Lake in Winslow a few weeks ago. The lake isn't very special, but we caught a helluva sunset. Been fishing here before too. Didn't catch anything, but its a nice spot. More info on Penbryn -...

Back in March I went to check out the Mill Pond Trail, part of the Port Republic Trail System (and am just getting around to looking at my pictures now). It's a nice 1.8 or 1.9 mile loop. My favorite spot on the trail... Some handy, dandy pioneering work: Only warning is, like...

ADHDing my way through Google tonight, and found the full text of the Kite Report. This was part of the fraudulently done study by the Vineland Training School on the piney "Kallikak Family" in the early 1900s. It branded all pineys as degenerates, and was brought to fame in Henry Goddard's...

Or at least the 14 best in my opinion. https://southjerseytrails.org/2017/03/15/besthikesinthepinebarrens/ What's your favorite trail in the pine barrens?

Finally hiked this in the ice cold a week and a half ago (been waiting for the intersection of having a whole day free, decent weather, and my 4 year old having a restful enough week that he could do 6 miles... at least I got the first and third part), and it was amazing. I'm sure there...

I had a great time at this event this year (as always) and spent entirely too much money on pine barrens books (as always). Thanks to a last minute invite to share his table, got to spend the day with Kayak Karl talking hiking and backpacking with folks that wandered on by, which was a blast...

I stumbled on this one years ago when trying to make my way home through a blizzard, but the wife wasn't too keen on taking our newborn out hiking in single degree temperatures. Finally made it back a few weeks ago. It lists at 6 miles of trails, but the ones through the woods are closely...