Hike New Jersey is an incomprehensive guide to hiking and walking in the Garden State. The Appalachian Trail may cut through its northern tip, and thus can be a hike just to get to for some, but the rest of the state is littered with trails and hiking areas that might be just minutes from where you live.
While not covering every park, or even parks in every region of the state the intent is to stimulate exploration and provide some information to help you enjoy the trails in whichever part of the state you may be in.
Latest Articles
Quick Review – Mountain Hardware WINDSTOPPER Half Flex Balaclava
It’s been a cold, windy and snowy go of it here in New Jersey this winter. Though I’ve left my real gear monkey tendencies behind years ago, each season it seems I pick up a few new things and one of them really stands out and makes me wonder how I ever did things without it. This winter it was the Mountain Hardware WINDSTOPPER Half Flex Balaclava.
A lightweight neck and face mask great for those winter activities.
One key to keeping warm in the winter is staying dry by regulating temperature and avoiding sweat. I find being able to pair this half balaclava with different weight hats or just rip it off when too warm [instead of wearing "double" hats like rolling a full face balaclava up] goes a long way towards helping regulate things. Whether its for hiking and snowshoeing on the local trails, biking, or going on slow paced photowalk with lots of stops and starts the thin weight windstop fabric keeps the cool and wind off without making my face sweat from my own breath. I’ve used full fleece windstopper balaclavas in the past and they can be just too bulky and overly warm for the 25ºF winter weather we see most of the time in this area. As its made for mountaineering it also works well and doesn’t get in the way of a bike helmet.
This is a “one size fits all” item and I’ve found it fit me well and I think it would be comfortable going up or down the spectrum. Those with small heads may want to find a way to pin or sew a small pleat to get it to fit snugly and stay up.
MSRP for the Half Flex is $30 and it was money well spent. I purchased this in the beginning of the season at Paragon Sports in Manhattan, but check the Mountain Hardware product page for dealer locations. Product photo from the Mountain Hardware site.
My rating: stars
Deer Hunting Again Closes Several Essex County Parks
As has become routine in the last couple of years Essex County will be holding a closed deer hunt to combat overpopulation at three local parks. On select Tuesdays and Thursdays through January and February parks and trails will be closed to the public. Below is a schedule sent out recently to residents of area towns:
It’s important to stay safe and be aware of various hunting seasons and activities before going hiking or backpacking. NJ hunting schedules and regulations can be found at the NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife web site and the NY-NJ Trail Conference often posts hunting location and hunting season notices.
New Year’s Day Hike 2010
I’m not one to make grand resolutions for New Years, but I do want to do two things in 2010 — get some more miles under my feet and keep exploring parks that I’m a regular at. Friday I did a little bit of both with a 7.6 mile hike around the snowy and slushy trails of South Mountain Reservation.
NOTE: The above map and route was made with RunKeeper Pro, a GPS based activity monitor for the iPhone.
One of the nice things about the trails in South Mountain is that its easy to orient yourself based on the slope of the ridge and the nearby roads making it difficult to be lost for long and easy to wander from trail to trail. This is just what I did once I crossed South Orange Avenue into the northern half of the park. Jumping from the green trail markers to orange back to green as the terrain or pretty wintery scenes caught my fancy. Finally coming back to the yellow [Lenape] and white trail markers for the walk back to the Locust Grove lot in Millburn along the water.
For the first day of the new year the traffic on the trails was light and peaceful. The usual mix of families and dog walkers stuck to the areas around Hemlock Falls, the Dog park, and the larger parking areas, but the trails felt like they were all mine. A wonderful way to kick off a fresh year.
How did you spend this first weekend of the 2010?
