Burlington Island Trails – Burlington City, Burlington County, NJ
Distance – some miles of trails
Type – Part loop, part out-and-back
Difficulty: 10 of 10 (due to getting out to the island and safely back, the trails themselves are easy to navigate and well maintained in season).
Website – Friends of Burlington Island – why not join them so you can go to events like island cleanups?
Open – Sunrise to Sunset.
Terrain – Woods and riverside views
Surface – dirt, gravel
Directions – To get to the island, you’ll have to get across the river first! For your car, you can park at the Burlington boat ramp or in Bristol in PA. Burlington is closer to the two trail heads. Bristol, PA is in Bucks County required a launch permit from the county for unpowered craft.
Parking – About 30 spots in Burlington at the boat ramp, about 200 spots in Bristol (although some would require quite a haul to move your kayak).
Trailheads – First landing spot/trailhead (east side of island, closed to launch) – N 40° 05.020 W 074° 51.000
2nd landing spot/trailhead (east side of island, little further from the launch)- N 40° 05.100 W 074° 50.770
3rd landing spot/trailhead (west side of island, closest to Bristol) – N 40° 05.555 W 074° 51.100
Dog friendly? No
Stroller friendly? No. What if I take the stroller and attach innertubes and make it into a raft? Still no. What if two swallows grasped the husk together? NO!
Benches? None
Facilities?: None
Markings – Numbered and colored trail markers across the island.
Map – Official map:
Rules:
Other rules – no swimming, fishing requires a valid New Jersey fishing license, no camping, no fires, and other rules not listed here. Carry in, carry out, don’t leave your trash.
You can also forget the hiking and just do a paddle to the island and then into a giant lake on the island.
Description –
So this is the toughest hike we’ve ever posted, because you need to navigate out to the island with a boat (no swimming!!!!) just to get to the trailhead!
My lawyers (my children’s stuffed animals… this is a low budget family!) said I MUST remind you that the Delaware River is no joke. It has strong currents. It has big ships that go by.
Do not attempt this if:
- you don’t have experience kayaking
- you have an inflatable kayak or a toy kayak
- you checked the weather and it is not going to be safe conditions, such as a storm is coming or heavy winds.
- you checked the water levels and they are not safe (ie, flood stage)
- it is winter or early Spring and you do not own a wet suit or serious cold water kayaking gear. It doesn’t matter how well you swim, if the water temperature is cold enough when you go in, you will have your muscles seize and you might die.
If you decide to do this, DO:
- Take a buddy.
- Absolutely wear a coast guard approved life jacket.
- Tell someone where you are going and when you are going and have a set time to check back in with them after your adventure to let them know you are back safely.
Notice that I did not take my kids out for this one, and I am a person who will take my kids almost anywhere. Including hiking 10 miles through grizzly bear country when they are 2 and 4. Or hiking in the deserts in July.
Is it open?
Now that the safety talk is over, the most common question about the island – is it open? The answer is, part of it is and part of it isn’t…
“…You may have heard that Burlington Island is closed to the public. However, the Green Acres side of the island is open to the public. There are trails. This is because of hardworking volunteers and fellow island lovers. There are miles of trails that are maintained by the Board of Island Managers and the Friends of Burlington Island (FOBI). We ask that, if you do visit, please take out what you bring in and stay on the trails. The 100-acre lake is only for kayaking and canoeing. You can fish (with a license)…” ~ “Uncovering N.J.: Explore a beautiful island with a surprising backstory” Jersey’s Best website, Friday, June 3, 2022
You may notice that the top half of the island isn’t on the official trail map, and isn’t in my photos. The top half of the island above the blue trail is not part of the green acres property, and is off limits without permission. Yes, there are trails up there, reportedly complete with colored markers like the ones on the lower sections of trails (you can see some of them from the blue trail when you hit intersections, can see others in the Friends of Burlington Island Facebook group photos from trail maintainence days). Hopefully, something can be worked out at some point where there is uniform public access to all of the trails on the whole island, a process that could be greatly speeded up if any of you out there have a few million dollars to donate to a project to get a footbridge built to the island (or a time machine I can borrow to get a winning PowerBall ticket and I’ll gladly donate part of my winnings to get that bridge done).
Get On With It!
Now that we got the lawyer part is out of the way, Burlington Island is super amazing. It was the first place European settlers set up shop at along the Delaware River, with the Dutch setting up a trading post here in the 1620s. It was used for centuries by Native Americans, both before the Dutch arrived and after. It was taken over by the Burlington Island Board of Island Managers centuries ago (yes, centuries), who would use proceeds from it to support public schools in Burlington City (and who still manage part of the island today). Later, it was host to an amusement park that was reached by ferry which you should definitely check out all the old postcards from on the West Jersey History Project website.
Photo from the West Jersey History Project website.The park had a beautiful carousel, which left the island in 1932, after the park was hit by devastating fires (obligatory link to Paul Schopp sharing information. Paul is the best!). You can still ride that same carousel, but you’ll need to drive down to Seaside Heights to do so.
The island later became home to dredge spoils, which sadly destroyed much of the ancient archeological areas on the island (historian inside of me screams in pain). Small plots were also rented out per year to families, who built their own small vacation bungalows and built a lot of memories! They were evicted in the 1970s.
There’s a wonderful short film online that shares the history of the island.
Enough background, time to adventure! You’ll likely start at the boat launch in Burlington, although its possible to paddle over from Bristol, PA (Bucks County requires a launch permit).
Paddling up stream on the Delaware, you’ll reach one of the trailheads on the east side of the island. We started at the closer one (marked “1” on the map), because we did, but the second trailhead is just a few hundred feet further up the shoreline (marked “2” on the map).
Pulling our kayaks up safely out of the read of the tide (yes, the Delaware River is tidal this far up), we set off from the beginning of the blue blazed trail. This heads north, running roughly parallel between the river and the high hill of dredge spoils that surround the lagoon on the island.
You’ll approach the shed the holds the maintenance equipment, which is where the second landing in (marked 2 on the map).
Second landing, as seen from the trail.Just past the second landing, the yellow trail will split to the left. This is a connector trail that runs a very short distance to the orange trail, so we stuck with the blue trail for now. We kept heading up the short distance until the blue trail curves west to parallel the yellow trail and skirt the top of the large lake that is is completely surrounded by the island… a huge lake on an island in a large river… it’s unique!
This brings you to the heart of the island. The blue and orange trails take you around the outside of the lake and to the narrow spit of land between the lagoon on the island and the mighty Delaware River.
My favorite spot on the island? This is the base of the old carousel, one of the few remains of the amusement park era. This is just off the blue trail.
It is really hard to imagine just how big the lake is. Yes, this is the lake on the island. ON THE ISLAND.
This is not the lake. This is the Pennsylvania shore visible through the trees. PA side of the island (just means its closer to the PA shore… it’s still in New Jersey!), near where folks drag their kayaks up and over to get from the river to the lake at the end of the blue trail. It’s a narrow spit of land here between the Delaware River and the lake on the island.
Have fun exploring these trails!
There are some unmarked trails that head south from the landing spot where we started. Be careful, the wee folk are there.
I know this isn’t leave no trace, but it makes me smile anyway. I probably should have cleaned it up though.
But until then, hop on your kayak if you have the gear and the experience OR join Friends of Burlington Island for about the cost of a pizza each year and go out there on a scheduled outing to do a trash pickup or trailwork with them so you can experience the island.
But please, follow all that bolded safety stuff I wrote before. I’ve been out here four times so far and spent over a year working on this post, Burlington Island is amazing! But it’s not worth putting yourself in unnecessary danger. So be safe!
Nearby: Assiscunk Creek Park is nearby! Crystal Lake Park in Mansfield and Willingboro Lakes County Park in Willingboro are probably the next two closest hikes.
