It’s summer.  Hiking is hot.  But you still want to do it.  Because its awesome. But it’s hot.

Solution?  Go for a hike, then for a swim! Here are six South Jersey hikes that you can swim after without having to get back into the car to go somewhere else!

Note -click on the name of the trail to go to the trail information about that trail!

#6 – Red and Blue Trails – Wharton State Forest – Shamong, Burlington/Atlantic County, NJ – 1 mile Cost – $5 per car during the week, $10 per car on the weekend (2017 – New Jersey residents, more expensive for those from other states) Official information – Wharton State [...]

In the Junior Ranger Sarah Blog (Sarah Hullihen For President 2044! She has my vote already), Sarah and her friend Buddy Bison check out a lot of great places in South Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Some are nature, some are history, all are great!

Well worth checking out.

Sarah’s Full article

Mill Pond Trail – Port Republic Trail System  – Port Republic, Atlantic County, NJ Distance – 1.9 miles total (does not include the cut through, nor the access trail to get to other parts of the wider trail system) Type – Loop Difficulty:  2 of 10 Total score: 7 of 10

Website – Port Republic Trail System (Facebook page, no website) Open – Sunrise to Sunset.

Terrain – pine forest with a bit of swamp Surface – dirt

Trailheads –  39°30’39.03″N,  74°30’15.30″W

South Jersey Trails is four years old!   In celebration, I highlight an area I’ve been blessed enough to spend the last 24 years exploring – the Pine Barrens.  I started with a post on the Best Hikes in the Pine Barrens.  But hiking isn’t what hooked me on the pine barrens all those years ago (and boy, what great hiking there is there), it was the history.

So when you think of ghost towns, you probably think like me: cowboys, swinging doors, tumbleweeds…

You know, this. (Note – Bodie State Park in California).

But the pine barrens have dozens of ghost towns of their own.  Sure, there weren’t many shootouts [...]