Brendan Bryne Campground Brendan Bryne State Forest New Lisbon, Burlington County, NJ

Address: Highway Route 72 East, New Lisbon, NJ 08064 (Note that this the address for the forest, the campground is not located on Route 72, but is inside of the state forest near Pakim Pond) Coordinates:  39°52’23.10″N,  74°31’24.58″W

Directions: Turn into the park off of Route 72.  Turn right and pass the park office.  Stay on that road until it dead ends at a “T”.  Turn left and pass Pakim Pond.  The campground will soon be on both sides of the road.

Access: All paved park roads.

Website for official [...]

Batona Campground Wharton State Forest Tabernacle, Burlington County, NJ

Address: Carranza Road Tabernacle, NJ 08088 Coordinates:  39°46’52.11″N,  74°37’55.10″W

Directions: Coming from Route 206, turn onto Carranza Road.  Drive 7 1/2 or 8 miles down that road.  Along the way, you’ll pass through Indian Mills, pass farms, and have the road turn from new pavement to old pavement.  When you spot the Carranza Memorial on your right, then the campground entrance road will be on your left.  If the road turns completely to dirt, you just missed the turn.

Carranza Memorial on the right.

Access: Short [...]

Updated: December 8, 2018

At 52.7 miles, the Batona Trail is South Jersey’s premier (also, only) long distance backpacking trail.  This trail can be backpacked in 2, 3, 4, or 5 days, which means at some point, you’re going to have to camp.  Dispersed, or “cowboy camping”, where you can set your tent up any old place along the side of the trail is expressly forbidden in all three state parks and the privately owned Parker Preserve.  So where can you camp along the Batona?

You have five options – Godfrey Bridge Campground, Buttonwood Hill Camp, Lower Forge Campground, or Batona Campground, each in Wharton State Forest, or Brendan Bryne [...]

Bass River State Forest  – Bass River, Burlington County and Ocean County, NJ Distance – 23 miles total (13 miles of which will be covered in this post) Type – Various loops and out-and-backs Difficulty: 2 of 10

Entrance fee – Memorial Day to Labor Day – $5 per car on a weekday ($10 out-of-state) and $10 on a weekend or holiday ($20 out-of-state) (2018 numbers).  Free rest of the year.

Website – Bass River State Forest website Open – 8 a.m. to dusk, camping areas open 24 hours.

Terrain – Woodlands, swamps Surface – sand or cinders

Trailheads – 39°37’27.32″N,  74°25’31.23″W (Red, [...]