Recent Posts

OK, I'll be the first to post in the gear section :) Are you looking for a good backpacking tent that both is lightweight and provides good protection from the weather and bugs? If the answer is yes then let me suggest you check out the various tents at www.tarptent.com . My wife and I have 2 models, the Rainbow, for when either of us go out solo, and the Rainshadow for when we're together. Both of those tents also will accommodate a good sized dog as well as the human occupants. If the tarptents have a down side I guess it's that they are a little pricey, but I'll let you decide that for yourself. To us it's worth a few extra dollars to loose a few pounds from our pack weight.

i noticed this as well. the blazes seemed ok further along the trail though. there was also a huge pile of litter so i am thinking perhaps same people are responsible (or irresponsible)....

Starting from about .6 miles from the Johnsontown Rd. trailhead and extending to Almost Perpendicular, someone has torn off at least 5 or 6 of the plastic trail markers (and dropped them trailside) and carved away some of the painted blazes. It's still possible to follow the trail, however. Who would do such a thing?

Hello All, Last weekend, after contemplating an overnight trip on the AT from Pawling to Route 17 via public transport, Katie and I decided to rent a car instead and head down to the Pine Barrens in Batsto NJ where the weather reports were much more favorable. We parked at the Batsto Visitor's center at Wharton State Park (about a 2 hr ride from BK) and hiked out 5 miles to the Mullica River Primitive Campground. We set our packs at the site right at the bank of the river and proceeded to hike an additional 5 miles following the mullica north and around a short loop towards the lower valley forge campground and ending back at our campsite where we had left our gear just in time for dinner - (the trails here are all very well marked and you can grab a map at the Batsto center before you take off). http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/wharton.html There was an out house and a water pump at the Mullica River site and although it was a really windy day there were some other backpackers and canoeists that joined us at the campground. There were even some very seasoned campers who were roasting two whole chickens over a fire. Bravo for hiking in with those chickens! Everyone was very quiet and we had an extremely peaceful rest! The next morning we had a hearty breakfast of brown sugar oatmeal and sidled up our packs and headed north along the mullica towards Atsion and then veered off again towards lower valley campground but this time instead of swinging back to the mullica, we took the pink batona trail back south to Batsto. In its entirety the Batona trail is a 50 mile long path and we only did about 7 or 8 miles of it. I would love to do the whole thing sometime, even though its sometimes easy to lose the marker (at some point we missed a turn off but ran into to some mountain bikers who helped us get back on track)...What a great trip - i highly recommend it. Very flat and sandy - like hiking on the beach but with tons of tall pines all around. There is a similar route suggested in the 50 hikes in NJ book... Also, for your general enjoyment - here is a link to a funny silent film that we made while on the trip...have fun in the pines! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx4V6uYavmE Adam PS. This weekend we are planning a trip to Harriman. We've got our maps and we're thinking about a short hike into a shelter on friday evening and then a hike to another shelter for saturday, then hike back to our car on sunday. Anybody know of a big ol' loop that might work for us?