Cove Avenue Park – Northfield, NJ – 0.8 of a mile

Cove Avenue Park Trails – Northfield, Atlantic County, NJ
Distance –  0.8 of a mile total
Type – loop with some spurs
Difficulty:  3 of 10 – could be a little wet underfoot in places, trails can meader off and dead end.

Website – None?  Town website lists only Birch Grove Park.
Open – Sunrise to Sunset.

Terrain – Woods and bay
Surface – Dirt, mud, leaves, grass

Trailheads – We used the trailhead at N 39° 21.625 W 074° 33.210.  There is also a trailhead at N 39° 21.525 W 074° 33.276

Directions – Cove Ave, Northfield, NJ

Parking – A spot or two at the end of Cove Ave and E Glencove Ave

Dog friendly? Unsure
Stroller friendly? No
Benches? None
Facilities?: None

Markings – None
Map –

Description –

I had sat through teacher convention for hours.  I’d already explored a new set of trails.  I found a lovely little backyard park.  The hour was getting late (well, for November) and the light was fading and oh look it’s another park like right next door with no information available anywhere about it!  I should probably go home and try that another day.

And if you thought I went home, you have not been following this big, dumb blog for long, because we NEVER pass up a chance to explore a park with no online information!  We LIVE for parks with no online information!  Sure, it usually goes horribly, but what’s a little meandering deer trails/ticks and chiggers/being turned around between friends (or between myself and myself in this case)?  A geocache supposedly in there didn’t hurt either.

This was not one of those disastrous no info ones, this was a lovely little hike with some magical little nooks.

I went in at Cove Ave, which I would not do next time, since the trail seems much easier to pick up from East Glencove Ave.  It was narrow with overhanging plants, and my hopes were pretty low at this point.

But once it hit the main “loop” (and turned right to head toward the other trailhead), the trail widened out a bit and, with the ivy and only a little bit of sun left, became magical.  The leaf cover was still pretty thick, so there were dark areas as well despite the sun still being up!

The trail ended in a T intersection just next to the second (better) trailhead.  I peak out at the road, then headed toward the bay (which would have been left if I’d turned when I first got to the intersection).

The English ivy (thankfully not the poison kind) was thick here, which usually annoys me (unless I’ve accidently touched it without looking at it to closely, in which case it relieves me!), but was pretty charming here.

The trail split near the water.  I could see that the right split almost immediately petered out, so I went for the left split, which quickly crossed a stream.

The trail paralleled the bay here, with glimpses of some reeds through the trees, but no views of the water.  I passed the second end of the cut through we passed earlier, continuing onward.  The trail clearly headed left, but a faint trail went right, so I decided to try that way.  It was fairly distinct, and eventually led to a faint trail out to a water view, complete with old couch that I definitely was NOT sitting in, drought or no drought.

With a pretty view of the wetlands accomplished, it was time to head back to the loop section.

I made the right at the next opportunity in my backtracking to finish the final leg of the loop.

The next intersection was a little goofy, and I ended up turning wrong and redoing the first leg of the loop for a few seconds.  I’m still not sure what I was supposed to do (or I don’t remember).  So be smart and park at the second trailhead that I didn’t use, because then this won’t happen to you.

I made it out to the car with about 15 minutes left of daylight, so I checked out a nearby old schoolhouse and then went to see the sunset over Atlantic City.

Rating – 6/10 – In case you hadn’t noticed by the ridiculous amount of photos I’m posting for a short, unmarked trail, I enjoyed this one a lot!  Even if I couldn’t find the geocache.

Nearby: Levitt Backyard Habitat is practically next door.  Northfield also has one of our favorites – Birch Grove Park – with miles of trails and zillions of little bridges.