Levin Nature Conservancy – Mt. Laurel, NJ

Melvin and Florence Levin Nature Conservancy – Mt. Laurel, Burlington County, NJ
Distance –  a little over 2 miles of trails (we did 2 1/4 miles with some backtrack and only missed one cut-through trail) total
Type – Loop with a cut-through and a spur
Difficulty:  1 of 10
Total score: 5  of 10

Website –  None
Open – Sunrise to Sunset.

Terrain – woods and swamp with a bit of grassland
Surface – some parts are boardwalk, some parts crushed stone dust, and some parts grass and dirt (or in our case, mud.  Thanks rain)

Trailheads –  39°56’51.50″N,  74°52’40.67″W – this is the main one off of the parking lot, although there are others along Hainsport-Mt Laurel Road, and along Hartford Road (this is the best spot to park)

Directions – 1215 Hainsport-Mt Laurel Road, Mt Laurel, NJ (rough address from Google Earth).  Turn here onto the driveway for the Cistercian Monastery.  The parking lot will appear within a few moments on the right side.

Turn at this arrow off of Hainsport-Mt Laurel Road.

Parking – Decent sized lot.

Dog friendly? As far as I know, yes.  No signs prohibiting it.
Stroller friendly? Should work with many strollers.
Benches? None
Facilities?: None

Markings – None, but can’t mistake the trail for anything else, as its mostly paved in crushed stone dust
Map – I missed a cut-thru trail on the big loop, but otherwise I got everything.

Description –

So I’d seen pictures of this one on the Jersey pine barrens Facebook group several times, but couldn’t quite figure out where it was.  With a helpful hint from a few people (across from Hartford School, but the parking is around the corner), I managed to figure it out on Google Earth.  So the next day while The Wife was at work, The Pres, Tree Rider, and I set off to explore this one.

We arrived after a rainstorm, and when we set off down the trailhead off the parking lot, we hit puddles pretty quickly.  This turned out to be the only wet section of trail though.  We followed the curve around until it met with a three way intersection.  We turned left.

In from the parking lot, behind the handicapped parking spots.

Down the wide, grass covered part of the trail.

Interesting little thickets along the sides.

Spring is here!  This seems silly to post in late May, but it was a big deal when we hiked in mid-April.

Puddles.  Luckily, the three year old went right into them.  *sigh* You can see the intersection ahead.  The right is where we’ll emerge at the end of this hike.  Up and to the left is where we’ll go now.  Through those trees is Hainsport-Mt. Laurel Road.

Going left!  The trail very briefly is dirt.

After turning left, we ended up on the outer loop paralleling Hainsport-Mt. Laurel Road.  Of course, we didn’t know this was a loop at time, but thanks our willingness to be South Jersey Hiking Trail Lab Rats, we all know now!  The trail was a straight shot until it neared the intersection of Hainsport-Mt. Laurel Road and Hartford Road.  Here, part of the trail went right out to the intersection (this is where the sign for the preserve is).  The main part of the trail curved to the left to parallel Hartford Road.

Coming up on the first of many beautifully done baordwalks.

After the trail curves around, it follow quite a while on this long side of the loop.  The trail splits to the right out to Hartford Road at least twice (the first time to go to the crossing area to the school).  At one point, a trail goes left as well.  The is a diagonal cut through of the big loop.

Trail right to Hartford Road.

Left cuts through the loop.  We went straight to stay on the outside of the loop.  This left stretch is the only part we did not capture on our map.

After the trail intersection, the trail does a big loop, crossing several wet areas on boardwalks.  Eventually, it emerges into a meadow area along the back stretch.  The cut thru trail rejoins toward the end of that meadow area, before turning sharply to the right and crossing the driveway to the monastery for the first time.

Knobby tree.

Tree Rider catching up after checking out some rocks.

Weaving through the woods.

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End of the long straightaway, the trail is curving now for the back stretch.

Small swampy areas.

Entering the meadows.  We saw some nice birds in here, including a cardinal.

To the left, the cut-through trail rejoins the outer loop.  We stayed right to continue the loop.

Almost immediately after heading right, you’ll cross the driveway to the monastery for the first time.

After crossing the road, the trail makes a sharp left to finish up the last side of the loop.  You’ll quickly pass the parking lot (but on the opposite side of the road) and realize that you didn’t have to hike through those puddles to get on the loop.  You’ll finish at a T-intersection.

Can go left here to go into the parking lot.  We kept straight.

T-intersection.  Here you could go left and quickly finish the loop where we got on it at the grassy road.  OR you can turn right and see what there is to see.  We, of course, opted for right.

So yes, we opted for right at the t-intersection.  What this stretch is is a straight out-and-back spur of the trail.  There will be a few places you can turn left to go out to Hainsport-Mt. Laurel Road, but we went straight, straight, straight until suddenly, the trail dead ended.  It’s not subtle.  There is even a sign there.

The split to the left goes out to the road.

See?

I love Spring!

Last of the boardwalks.

See?  Not subtle.

When you hit a dead end, the only thing to do is turn around…

… and head back.  We went straight back down the trail, recrossed the driveway for the monastery, and soon found ourselves back at the intersection of the grassy road that we first came to.

Blue sky?  I’ll take it!

We turned left, Tree Rider went immediately back into the puddled (*sigh*) and we arrived back at the parking lot and the car.

This is my intelligent child who goes AROUND puddles.

Nearby: The mysterious Mount Laurel State Park is just around the corner, and Mount Laurel also has the Rancocas Point Trail.