Godfrey Bridge Campground – Wharton State Forest – Jenkins, NJ

Godfrey Bridge Campground
Wharton State Forest
Jenkins (Washington Township), Burlington County, NJ

Address:
Godfrey Bridge Road
Chatsworth (Woodland Township), NJ
Coordinates: 39°41’20.26″N, 74°32’57.85″W

Directions:
If coming from Batsto (where you pick up your permit), head back out to Route 542/Pleasant Mills Road and make a left turn. Drive just over four miles, then make a left turn onto Route 563/Green Bank-Chatsworth Road (just after the old Green Bank Tavern). Drive down until you reach a stop sign (more than five miles down), at which point you will continue straight onto Route 563/Green Bank-Chatsworth Road. Just 0.6 of a mile after this stop sign, turn LEFT onto Godfrey Bridge Road (look for the big sign and arrow of Wading Pines Campground to know when to turn. If you pass Mick’s Canoe Rental, you went too far). You’ll travel a mile down this road, which goes from paved to not-well paved and then reaches Godfrey Bridge across the Wading River. Cross the bridge, at which point the road turns to dirt. This first area is NOT the campground, but is a picnic area. Travel about 0.2 of a mile further down the road, then turn left into the campground.

Access: All paved park roads.

Website for official info:
https://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/wharton.html

Website for campsite booking and pricing:
www.camping.nj.gov

Campground Map:

Pet friendly?: Yes, all campsites are pet friendly at Godfrey, Rules and regulations here. Accurate as of April 2019, call ahead or check their website to make sure nothing has changed before booking a site.

Godfrey Bridge Campground is one of NINE campgrounds in Wharton State Forest. What makes this one nice is that its right by the Wading River.

Facilities (campground):

Water: No water available in the campground, but water (via a hand pump) is available at the adjacent picnic area.

Bathrooms – Four pit toilets (think outhouse) and one handicapped pit toilet.  These are no water and no flush facilities.  They also do NOT stock toilet paper (it’s not that they were out, it’s that there wasn’t even a place to put the toilet paper in them), so make sure to bring a roll with you!

Trash – carry in/carry out

Food protection – no bear boxes (low bear risk, but have been spotted in the area, most famously on the school playground in nearby Atco). Store food in car, especially if you don’t want to make friends with skunks or raccoon. When backpacking, take appropriate precautions.

Facilities (each site):

Group campsites – No group sites in this campground.

Regular campsites – Thirty-four family sites. Each site has a small fire ring and a picnic table. Closely packed in in places, with a WIDE variety of sizes. We stayed in Site 27, which is very large. Sites 3 & 5 seem very popular, as they are on the Wading River.

Campsite 27.

Seasons: Open year round! I’ve camped here in the Spring without issue.

Other tips:

As with all sites in the New Jersey State Parks – no alcohol is allowed. They can and will write tickets.

This site is a good stopping point along the Batona Trail, as the campground is a 1 mile walk down the dirt road that leaves the back of the camp between sites 9 and 26 (heading out, walk down the dirt road, then merge left when you reach another dirt road. It’s a mile from this merge). The campground turnoff is just over 10 miles from the start at Bass River and about 42.5 miles from the end of the trail at Ong’s Hat.
More info on the Batona Trail.

Permit pick up is from the Batsto Visitors Center. It closes really early (4 PM) when it is open, so be aware. The park police are pretty good about if you don’t get there to get your permit in time, as most people work, but its a good idea to at least have a print out or screen shot of your online reservation (which is NOT the same as your permit). No park entry fee for this part of Wharton State Forest.

Positives – Good sized campground, right by the river. Convenient for canoeing either the Wading River or the Oswego River.

Negatives – Water is a walk (1/3 of mile each way from our campsite at 27), outhouses are not the best in Wharton, and in the summer, the noise from the private campground across the lake may be an issue.

Nearby trails and things to see:

The 52.7 mile long Batona Trail runs through the state forest.

Nearby Bass River State Forest has 23 miles of beautiful trails.

This campground is along the Wading River, which has beautiful canoeing. Also close the Oswego River. Mick’s Canoe Rental is just a few miles away, which has service for each of those rivers.

The four mile Harrisville/Martha/Lake Trail Loop is nearby.

Experiences at the campground?  Helpful hints for folks?  Please leave them in the comments for folks to see, or e-mail them to southjerseytrails@gmail.com and we’ll tack them onto the bottom here!