William and Marieann Bannan's Blog (9)

I took advantage of a beautiful day on Friday and decided to head to Fair Hill NRMA in Maryland (actually right across the MD and DE border on Rte. 273) GPS told me it would take about 90 minutes, however, I under estimated the crappiness of the NJ Turnpike and I-95, and it took close to 2 hours.  Anyway, I have wanted to do this hike for a while as it is a beautiful area with primary rolling hills and a mix of open fields and woods trails. I decided to start on the orange trail which is a…

Not too long ago there was an article in the local paper about a nature preserve in Cape May County that has received very little publicity, so I decided to check it out. I pulled it up on google and printed out the directions, which I soon learned were wrong ( I will give you the correct ones at the end.) This would be a very good hike to combine with Belleplain SF, as it is in the same forest area. No signage on the way there,  the first sign you will see is actually the parking area.…

Seeing that the weather on Saturday was suppose to be beautiful (for February anyway) , me and the wife decided we needed to do some hiking this weekend.  I decided on Washingtons Crossing since it was Pres. Day weekend, hoping something might be going on there. So we headed up Friday night, and stayed overnite in Ewing so we could get out Saturday morning. We headed out Sat. morning to Washingtons Crossing SP, and parked at the HQ by Bear Tavern Rd. and walked the Continental Lane the…

Finally, a decent day off with no rain in the forecast... I really wanted to get out hiking since I have not been able to do much this summer. Now, living in South Jersey, there is no where to go with any kind of decent views, so I figured I would have to drive a little bit. I had decided to go to Baldpate Mountain outside of Trenton, with a side trip to Washingtons Crossing SP in NJ/PA. The ride took about 1 1/2 hours , which really wasn't bad and faster than I thought. There are very few…

Finally, a nice day to do some hiking... unfortunately, since I only had a couple hours, a longer hike was out of the question. I decided to head to the southernmost state park in NJ, down to Cape May Point. when I left the house it was 68 degrees, however only 55 when I get to Cape May, but more than acceptable for February. Can't miss the entrance to the park, it is where the Cape May lighthouse stands. The park only has 3 trails, and 2 of them run together for most the distance. I was to…

(5.1 miles) I had decided that today would be a good day to go somewhere hiking since the weather was finally perfect. I chose to go to the Edwin B Forsythe NWR since it is about 15 mins. from my house. I think it is still a little early for migratory birds, as I did not see many at all. I set out on the 5.1 mile hike by leaving the parking area and heading on the path through the picnic area. After turning on to the woods road, I noticed that some trees are starting to…

My original plan was to go to Fair Hill NRMA outside of Elkton MD for a full day of hiking (anyone been there?) , but considering it was suppose to be 85 and humid in Elkton, decided to stay closer to home and go to Batsto Village in Wharton State Park. I decided to do the Batona Trail/ White Trail Loop which is 4 miles. All trails leave from the back of the parking lot by the picnic area.…

I have to thank NJHiking.com for this hike.. I live about 30-35 minutes from here and never knew it existed. I have tried to do this hike a couple times the past few weeks, but couldn't get a cooperative weather day, but since todays high is ONLY 92, I decided to give it a shot!! Being that this is South Jersey, I was expecting the hike to be fairly flat, and was actually surprised that it…

My wife and I decided to stop at Schooley's Mountain Park on our way to the Delaware Water Gap since we were travelling up 206 anyway. We have hiked Hacklebarney, and according to the map this wasn't too far passed that in Long Valley.. You can't miss the trailhead as there is a good size sign that says Patriots Path off of Fairview Ave. You immediately start heading uphill for the first 0.9 miles, which doesn't sound like much, except when it is 94…