Signal Hill Tract – Clementon, NJ

Signal Hill Tract – Clementon, Camden County, NJ
Distance – not sure how many  miles total, we did 1 1/2 and definitely missed some trails.
Type – Intersecting loops
Difficulty:  3 of 10 – hills!  Hills!

Website – None
Open – 8 am to dusk

Terrain – Hills and forest
Surface – dirt trails

Trailheads – 39°47’50.78″N, 74°59’32.44″W

Directions – Cherry Lane and Davis Ave, Clementon, NJ

Parking – Roadside parking

Dog friendly? It says dogs aren’t allowed on town land except “as designated”, and I didn’t see it designated.  So I think no.
Stroller friendly? No
Benches? None
Facilities?: None

Rules –

Markings – None
Map – None, here’s out track to give you some idea

Description –

So, as you all know, we got super into Geocaching in the last year and half.  One of the side benefits is every once in a while it leads us to a trail that we haven’t heard of, and we love new trails.  So back in May, we headed to a new one for us – Signal Hill Tract in Clementon.

This property was saved in 2005 after being slated for a housing development, and it’s an awesome piece of land.  It contains Indian Spring where Walt Whitman reportedly wrote the end of Leaves of Grass.  It also contains the 200 foot Pine Hill (which is where it gets a bit confusing, as it’s in Clementon and not in Pine Hill).

While there are no blazes, it’s a prime spot to wander around and explore, so that’s what we did.

We walked down the entrance trail into the woods.

At the split here, we took a right turn to crest Pine Hill.  It’s all downhill from here!  At least, until we need to come back up the hill to get to the car.

We then backtracked to the first intersection and headed the other way, which took us in a big loop.

It’s really remarkable how much this area is like the pine barrens, from the sandy soil to the trees and other plant life.

Downhill is easy!

We also made friends with a slug.  I love that the kids notice things that I would miss.

At the bottom of the hill, it starts to get swampier and more swampy.

At this point, the kids were a little overheated, so we looped back to the car.  What goes down must come up during a hike, which did not make for a fun final stretch!

I’m not 100% sure where the public land ends, but there were more trails back here that we didn’t check out, so we’ll need to come back and explore more!

Nearby: Some nearby trails are Rowands Pond WMA, or Silver Lake Park in Clementon, Lake Worth County Park in Lindenwold, and Whitman’s Walk in Laurel Springs.