Palmyra Nature Cove Revisted – Palmyra, NJ

Our second guest post!  This one is from my buddy Dave, who (along with his wife Mary) have been loyal followers of this blog, suggesting some great trails that I’ve gone to check out, and hiking many of the trails featured here.  Thanks for sharing your adventure Dave and Mary!

Palmyra Nature Cover (Revisted) – Palmyra, Burlington County, NJ

Distances: 8 miles of trails (this hike covered four miles)
Difficulty: 2 of 10
Rating: 8 of 10

Highlights: Wildlife and views of Pennsylvania and the bridges

Took advantage of the recent cool weather and got in a 4 mile walk at this hidden gem.  It’s located at the foot of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge on the South Jersey side. Just take the jug handle for in front of the F.C. Kerbeck auto dealer and follow the signs to the park.  The park has a large visitors center which was closed before we finished but definitely worth checking out.  The first thing to mention about this is that it is a nature park. That means no pets allowed. (Our dog Jodi was rather insulted by this).  The trade off is you can walk right up to wild turkeys and deer with no problem.  We saw a group of about 8 turkeys and over 6 deer during our trip.

 

We took the Yellow Cove trail out.  There is another trail along the sandy banks of the river during low tide.  Wouldn’t advise it.  You’re walking in sand, and get to wade through all the garbage that the Delaware washes up.  The Yellow Cove trail goes close enough to the river and unfortunately shares its pollution.  It tracks the bank of what formerly was an area where the Army Corps of Engineers dumped the spoil it dredged up while keeping the Delaware shipping channel 40 feet deep.  Part of this trail was almost completely surrounded by large (10 foot high) phragmite reeds and considering the pollution present wasn’t that great.  But then the trail came upon some wooden walkways that allowed you to walk out into the cove and further in along the shore.  These areas were much more scenic and worth the trip.  Great views of the Tacony Palmyra, Betsy Ross, Pennsy RR Bridges and the Philly Skyline as well.

So this made up for the garbage heaved up by the Delaware.  On our trip back, we took one of the side trails that really get into the nature preserve.  These were spotless, well marked, and full of wildlife.  This made the whole hike really.

Our walk was just under 4 miles but there are over 8  miles of trails you can hike.  Terrain is flat but varies from riverbank, to wooden catwalk, to woodland trail, to several ponds, coves, and other wetlands.  Difficulty is 2 out of 10, a really easy walk, depending on how far you want to go.  Overall rating an 8 out of 10.  Would’ve been perfect but for the Delaware River refuse which they really can’t control.

Thanks Dave and Mary!

For more info and a map, see our original posting where we covered just the Cove Trail. This was one of the blog’s first posts, look how tiny The Pres was!