With a few years of COVID teaching behind me, I needed a break.  My wife and I have been to 47 states, but we’ve spent less than 8 hours in Colorado (and most of that trying unsuccessfully to fix a flat tire).  So neither gas prices nor inflation nor crazy weather nor a three month old baby were going to stop us from a exploring the heck out of Colorado (although man did they all come close at certain points).  3 1/2 week road trip… here we come!  This is how we spent our Summer vacation.

Frank Llyod Wright’s masterpiece Fallingwater. These two and the baby weren’t allowed in… their reputations [...]

Riverview Beach Park – Pennsville, Salem County, NJ Distance – About 1 3/4 to 2 miles total miles of trails.  Our loop was maybe 1.3 miles. Type – Loop Difficulty:  1 of 10

Website – Pennsville Recreation Department Open – Sunrise to Sunset.

Terrain – field Surface – paved with some dirt

Trailheads – N 39° 39.449 W 075° 31.246

Directions – 5 N Broadway, Pennsville, NJ 08070

Parking – Medium sized lot

Dog friendly? Unsure Stroller friendly? Yes Benches? Yes

Facilities?: Bathrooms and playground

Markings – None Map –

Description [...]

Arney’s Mount Trails – Columbus, Burlington County, NJ Distance – 3.85 total miles of trails (1 mile of which is a horse trail), we did a 2 1/2 mile loop Type – Loop Difficulty:  3 of 10

Website – Burlington County Parks Open – Dawn to dusk (Burlington County Parks posts a paper in the trail kiosk for when the park closes each time of the year.  It changes seasonally, so doesn’t always fall after sunset.

Summer closing?

Terrain – Three big hills (well, South Jersey big), one of which you can choose to take a trail over, plus a huge field and some woods. Surface [...]

Van Nest Refuge WMA – Hamilton Township, Mercer County, NJ Distance – Did 1.7 miles loop.  Trails connect into Mercer County Park, so can expand this hike much, much further! Type – Loop-ish Difficulty:  5 of 10 – some bridges were out when we were there, which involved some fancy footwork.  If they were/are replaced, it would be a 2.

Website – None Open – Sunrise to Sunset?

Note – This is a WMA, but it seems to be closed to deer hunting due to it’s connection with Mercer County Park.

Terrain – Forest and swamp Surface – dirt trails

Trailheads – N 40° 16.137 W 074° [...]