St. Michaels Farm Preserve was formerly the site of an orphanage. Set on the northern slope of the Rocky Hill Ridge (though not quite at the top), most of the fields overlook attractive views of the main Sourland ridge, a … Read More
The Hunterdon County Sourland Mountain Preserve is located roughly 5 miles to the southwest of a Somerset County Park with a confusingly similar name. Both share the same ridge of Jurassic diabase, an intrusive igneous rock. The Somerset County park … Read More
For years I’ve heard about the Griggstown Native Grasslands Preserve but was never motivated to visit. Frankly, “Grassland Preserve” may be accurate, but it’s terrible branding for a woodland hiker who loves slopes and finds most meadow hikes as boring … Read More
Woosamonsa Ridge is possibly the most beautiful, small hiking preserve local to the Princeton-Trenton corridor, and compares to more distant favorites like Zega-Lockatong and Wickecheoke Creek. Those other preserves provide access to much larger and more dramatic streams. Woosamonsa Ridge … Read More
Zega-Lockatong Preserve is the most beautiful small preserve in central NJ, and provides one of its best hiking trails. Unusually, it combines an extended stream-side hike with a 250 vertical-foot climb up a steep, wooded hillside. Normally when I visit … Read More
This is a remarkably beautiful, entertaining hike redolent of the not so distant past when most Americans were employed as farmers, and NJ was nicknamed (without irony) the “Garden State”. There are still a few working farms in the area … Read More
On its own, this is a charming, fairly steep little climb of about 120′ vertical elevation up and over the southernmost ridge in the Sourlands. It is the northernmost section of the Watershed Preserve’s main trail, but except for the … Read More
The Curlis Lake Woods Trails loop through mature beech, maple, and oak trees and traverse a half-mile of undeveloped lake-shore. The trail system consists of a backbone trail used by horseback riders, cyclists, and walkers that alternates between open fields … Read More
Carson Road Woods is a superb, 183 acre swathe of preserved farmland midway between Princeton and Trenton. The preserve is a mix of woodlands and open fields, with mowed walk-ways along the margins. In a few places, trails are cut through woodlands, including, notably, an awe-inspiring stand of beech.
Every July, usually a week or two after the 4th of July, the wineberries (wild raspberries) start to ripen in open shade along the slopes of local mountains more than 300 feet or so above sea level. I’m not necessarily suggesting you need to go for a big harvest. My wife and I love hiking this time of year, just scanning the sides of the trail for ruby-red raspberries.