Lumberton Nature Trail – Lumberton, NJ

Lumberton Nature Trail – Lumberton, Burlington County, NJ
Distance: 1.9 miles total out and back (just under a mile one way)
Type: Out-and-back
Difficulty: 3 of 10.

Terrain – hills, fields, stream

Trailheads – on Dartmoor Drive –  39°57’54.22″N,  39°57’54.22″N.  Can also be accessed from the sports fields on Municipal Drive.

Trailhead.

Directions:  Drive down Municipal Drive, turn left onto Waverly Dr, then a left onto the very, very, very short Dartmoor Drive.

Parking: A few spots on the side of Dartmoor Rd.

Markings – None, but mostly covered in stone, so very hard to lose.

Description:  It was the beautiful Saturday before Easter, so the kids decided to take us hiking.  Our goal – the Lumberton Nature Trail.

The trail starts from a very unassuming dead end road.  I was unsure it was a trail at first until I saw the park bench just a bit down.  The trail drops down a steep bit of walkway to Bobby’s Run, a tributary of Rancocas Creek.

Beginning of trail.

How do trees do this and still stand up?

Definitely a trail.

Down the hill.

At full speed?

Once you hit the bottom, the trail follows along the creek, which is in a large bowl-shaped indentation in the earth.  It’s pretty awesome.  You’ll cross a nice wooden bridge, then climb back up to the rim of the bowl.

Bobby’s Run.

Also, the Pres runs.

Bridges are fun.

Up, up, up.

At the top, you can step off the trail to the right a few steps and get a nice view up and down the gully.

If the trail had stopped here (maybe 0.3 of a mile in), I would have been very happy with the hike.  But once it hits the top of the rim, it keeps going for over half a mile.  On the edge of soccer fields.  And lacrosse fields.  And parking lots.  And behind the school.  It’s not a bad thing to have a walking path around those areas (we’re reviewed several of them on here), but I was disappointed, because this was billed as a nature trail, and only a small section was really in nature.

Not that they aren’t nice fields.

And we did see a few birds in this patch of trees between fields.

I selectively took pictures of not-playing-fields, which is why you don’t really see them here.

Meh.

When you get to the end (near the school building), turn around and come back the way you came.

Also in the area: An old Nike Missile Base is just around the corner from this trail.