Agile Trekker: Bass River State Forest, NJ

June 9, 2012
Distance:8.4 miles
Time: 4 hours
Map: Bass River Trail Map
Parking: Large parking lot across from Lake Absegani beach. Everyone parking here was going to the beach, not hiking.
Restrooms: Composting toilets near the beginning of the trail by the campgrounds. Probably toilets at the beach.
Directions: Bass River State Forest
Post hike dinner: Veggie Grille, 500 Albany Ave, Atlantic City, NJ

Hike notes:
This was a very easy hike - the hike was level. The trails were usually sandy, and sometimes covered in pine needles, making them soft on the feet. Sometimes the trails were very wide - 10 feet! I'm guessing the park rangers drive on them. There were signs that the trails were used by horses, but we saw none. Other trails in this park were more normal - 2 feet wide. We only saw one other person on the trail - he had a baby carriage, and was maybe 50 feet in from the start of the trail. Other than that, we didn't encounter anyone on the trail. Everyone was at the beach of the lake! Parts of this trail have no shade - I felt this would be better to done on a cooler day, because it was in the 80's and sunny, which made it a hot hike. I didn't think that ticks would be a problem, since a lot of the trails were so wide, but we did end up having many ticks on us. The trail has around 3 street crossings. I kept my dogs on leash a lot, as I kept expecting to meet a park ranger truck or a horse or other hikers - but we saw none of these. There were many park rangers & park police near the beach.

This shows how level the trails were

An even wider trail

Not so nice view of power lines for .4 miles

These pine trees were planted by the CCC (Civilian Conservation Corp) in 1933. There were 200 men working here after the Great Depression for $30/month ($1 day). $25 went to their families, and $5 to the men who worked here on conservation projects.