Another couple of miles in the books with Team Salty Paws ! Yesterday afternoon Whiskey and I met Heather and Ellie at Croft Farm for a hike followed by a picnic lunch.
Croft Farm is on both the NJ and National registers of historical places and the farm house that is still standing dates back to the 1700’s.…Another beautiful trail system nearby that I never knew existed!
A spontaneous last minute decision to today with Team Salty Paws resulted in such a great day!
We chose Crows Woods Nature Preserve which is approximately fifty acres of fairly undeveloped forest with some ball fields and mowed lawn areas bordering the preserve.
We had such a nice time with our friend and team handler Heather and her pups Kayla and Ellie! Lillet Blanc came along for this hike. She’s doing so well on her pain medication and supplements for hips and is able to take longer walks now!
She also did a great job walking on lead at a safe distance (and closely monitored) alongside Kayla and Ellie of Team Salty Paws. (Lilly can be extremely selective).
The park has a pavilion where we stopped after the hike to enjoy lunch.
2023 began with a sunny 60°F day… so we decided to do a New Years Day hike in the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest which is made up of 38,000 acres, and is located in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.
On November 7, 2020, Margarita and I hiked in Bass River State Forest with our friends Jen and her English Pointer, Pearl as we completed the MY Running Buddy Rocks 5K hosted by Run Pups.
A percentage from this virtual 5K’s race fee 10% of your registration went to abandoned dogs being cared for by Charming Pet Rescue.
On March 8, Whiskey and Porter took a nice hike together at Long Bridge Park. This is a 115 acre park located along the Rancocas Creek in Southern New Jersey.
Margarita and Porter went on this hike with their fur-cousin, Clyde.
Blueberry Hill Conservation Area consists of 134 acres of wooded area in Gibbsboro, NJ. It features both paved and unpaved trails that are suitable for hiking or biking.
At 192 feet, Blueberry Hill is one of the highest elevations in Southern New Jersey.
From the top of the hill on a clear day you can see the Philadelphia skyline off in the distance.
The Philadelphia Skyline is just beyond the treetops
There is also a great view of a quarry at the top of another hill.
Margarita checkin out the views from the top of the hill as we approached the quarry:
A section of the quarry:
Porter and Clyde stop for a play-break:
Cousin Clyde is so handsome:
We enjoyed this adventure at yet another hidden gem we never knew existed in our area!
This 1,952 acre state park is located on the edge of the NJ Pine Barrens.
This park has some pretty cool history. This park served as home for the Civilian Conservation Corps from 1933 to 1941, a summer camp for the children of displaced Japanese Americans in 1943, a POW camp for German prisoners in 1944 and temporary housing for the Kalmycks who fled their homelands in Eastern Europe in 1952.
The park was purchased in 1930 for use as a state park. The remains of Native American encampments have been found in five different locations within the park.
We hiked the Parvin Lake Trail, which is 3 miles long.
Amico Island Park is a 55-acre peninsula in Riverside, NJ. This park features upland forests, freshwater ponds , wetlands, river shoreline and meadows at the confluence of the Rancocas Creek and Delaware River.
There were several entrances to the beach and Delaware River:
Confluence of the Delaware River and Rancocas Creek:
The Black Run Preserve is 1,300 acres of permanently preserved land in Evesham Township. A teacher that I used to work with retired in 2012 and helped found the Friends of the Black Run Preserve volunteer organization. Their mission is to preserve and protect the unique natural beauty and Pine Barrens ecology.