Kresson Trails – Cherry Hill, NJ

Kresson Trails – Cherry Hill, NJ
Type: Loop trails
Hours: Dawn to Dusk

Distance: 0.4 of a mile and up (I combined the outside of the loops to do 2 miles)
Difficulty: 3 of 10.
Total score: 5 of 10.

Terrain – Flat to slight hills.  Wetlands and woods.

Trailhead – Parking lot off of Kresson Road (across from the road from the intersection of Ravenswood Way & Kresson Road)- 39* 53′ 04.92″ N 74* 58’20.47″ W

Markings – Tail colors posted on metal posts.  Many, many intersections, only one sign missing on the whole trail.  Make sure to take the map with you (either by printing it or saving it your phone), the loops can get a bit confusing.  Also, the map on the Cherry Hill website is not accurate, the one at the trailhead is.

Map – Map available here

UPDATE (1/23/16) – Red Trail has been devleoped since this write-up. I’ve also returned here three or four times, and enjoyed these trails thoroughly each time.  My favorite section might be the Green Trial that runs alongside the creek.   I’ve spotted deer here every visit.  These also have developed into popular biking trails!

Description: I put together my own loop – orange to green to white to pink to yellow to blue to the trailhead.  By staying on the outside of these loops, I put in exactly 2 miles on the trails.

So I’ll be honest, I was not at all impressed at first.  The trail head, with so many trails coming together, it kind of silly.  It seems to loop back and forth within site of the rest of the trails for more or less no reason.  The sounds of cars on nearby Kresson Road is also very offputting, especially as the orange trail I started on took me back toward the road instead of into the woods.

The trail soon descends into wetlands and meets up with the green trail.  You descend down into a lower area and start moving away from the road and things improve.  Soon you hit a tiny branch of the Cooper River.

If you hang left on each trail you encounter (not really a left, more of a straight), you’ll end of following the creek back for a while, from the white trail, onto the pink trail.  I saw not one, but two group of deer (widely seperated).  Eventually you curve around to follow another stream and come within view of the fields of Springdale Farm.

Eventually you switch to the yellow trail, which brings you back toward traffic noises and Springdale Road.  There are some tiny hills here, and the trail crosses them, then winds its way up a ridge.

To avoid paralleling right next to Springdale Road (as the yellow trail ends up doing), I switched the blue trail.  The part of the trail eventually brings you back to the silly parts of the trail, where everything squishes together and the trail turns and loops for no real reason.  This eventually brings you back to the parking lot.

If you are in the area, it’s a nice two mile walk once you get past the silly parts.  Wear boots, it got muddy!