Best Hiking in Southern Ocean County?

[NJChileHead]

Hi Folks,

My wife has never hiked in the pine barrens before, and I am really excited to get her there. We were going to do the 8 mile loop in Wells Mills on Saturday 3/10, but I learned on here that there was a prescribed burn (thanks to GermanG our weekend was not a complete disaster!)

I was advised to call the park on Saturday to find out if it was also closed on Sunday 3/11, but there is no answer. We were planning on visiting on Sunday.

Does anyone know if the closing of Wells Mills because of fire extends to Sunday 3/11 as well? Also, if we found that it is closed, we were going to use either Bass River or Brendan Byrne as a backup. Would anyone advise us to use one over the other, or are there other hikes in closer proximity to Wells Mills that would be better? We didn't want to use Forked River Mountain or Candace Ashmun because I understand that there are no marked trails there.

Thank you, tremendously, for any help that you can give!

Chilehead

 

[dogg57]

From what it looks like to me (not a expert) The Fire Danger is a little high up that way.So I would think they are holding off doing burning

http://www.sectionb10.org/

 

[Gibby]

From what it looks like to me (not a expert) The Fire Danger is a little high up that way.So I would think they are holding off doing burning

http://www.sectionb10.org/

The Fire Service was doing what they had to today at Wells Mills. I could see the smoke from Stafford Avenue by the bay. I took the long way home to see what was going on there and the trucks were lined up along Route 532 keeping an eye on the burn working its way from the highway towards the lake. This was sometime after noon. I was surprised but the firefighters were struggling to keep the fire going. They had to relight it in a few spots.

 

[dogg57]

The Fire Service was doing what they had to today at Wells Mills. I could see the smoke from Stafford Avenue by the bay. I took the long way home to see what was going on there and the trucks were lined up along Route 532 keeping an eye on the burn working its way from the highway towards the lake.This was sometime after noon. I was surprised but the firefighters were struggling to keep the fire going. They had to relight it in a few spots.

There you Go.Thanks for the Update Gibby

 

[46er]

The Fire Service was doing what they had to today at Wells Mills. I could see the smoke from Stafford Avenue by the bay. I took the long way home to see what was going on there and the trucks were lined up along Route 532 keeping an eye on the burn working its way from the highway towards the lake. This was sometime after noon. I was surprised but the firefighters were struggling to keep the fire going. They had to relight it in a few spots.

Drove thru it myself going and coming; a nice, well controlled burn. Not sure how deep from 532 they went.

 

[NJChileHead]

Hey Dogg, Gibby and 46er, thank you for your responses! Is there any reason to believe that the park will be closed again tomorrow for burning, or should I consider us safe to make the trip to Wells Mills? Thank you again!

 

[Gibby]

Hey Dogg, Gibby and 46er, thank you for your responses! Is there any reason to believe that the park will be closed again tomorrow for burning, or should I consider us safe to make the trip to Wells Mills? Thank you again!

I just checked the Ocean County park's website and today is the only day that Wells Mills would be closed. Go for it! There might be a smoke aroma.

http://www.co.ocean.nj.us/OCParks/

 

[NJChileHead]

Thanks Gibby! I checked on the link for Wells Mills park but never went to the OC parks general site. That'll learn me! Thank you again!

 

[GermanG]

A call-out resulted in the nature center and phone being unstaffed yesterday while the remaining park staff were assisting the Forest Fire Service with the burn. I intended to post here that the park would be open as normal on Sunday, but I was unconcious a few minutes after getting home.

 

[NJChileHead]

Hey GermanG,

No problem! Like I said in the other post, I really appreciate you taking the time to post that advisory. We had a great time, although, for some reason, I thought that they were burning a relatively small area. Imagine our surprise when we started hiking and we saw such a large area burned. My eyes are still bloodshot!

It was my wife's first hike in the Pinelands, and I'd been talking it up for a very long time. Good thing the second half was less ashy and smoky! We hiked the white trail for the first half (counterclockwise, made a right after the nature center), we walked through some cedars next to the lake, saw some pitcher plants, teaberry, etc, made the trek through that first half of the white trail, and sat and had lunch at the bridge at Raccoon Branch. Seeing the tea colored water, sphagnum and cedar stands reminded me of my dad and our excursions down there in the canoe.

We then continued counterclockwise on green and yellow, eventually over Oyster Creek and back. I believe we did about 6 miles.

We're going to do Brendan Byrne soon. A few times I found myself saying to my wife "Byrne, not burned, honey".

All in all it was a great day. We might be swinging up to Baldpate Mountain with a few friends on the next hike, but we're looking forward to our next Pinelands hike.

Thanks again!