Double Trouble State Park – Cranberry Bogs and Sand Roads

With a name like “Double Trouble“, how can you not check out this park?

But, somehow, we never had in all our years of hiking. Mainly because the The New Jersey Walk Book listed it as having only a 1.5-mile trail, and driving an hour for 1.5 miles just isn’t our thing.

For detailed hike directions, see our main Double Trouble State Park hike guide.

I decided to look into it again recently [Feb. 2011] and found that there are trails in addition to the 1.5 marked nature trail.

I also found Jakes Branch County Park right down the street so we decided to do both on the same day.

The trails are actually sand roads to service the cranberry bogs. It’s interesting walking around and between the bogs… but it’s not really what we consider hiking.

It’s better for a little stroll or taking the dog for a walk, but fine for a cold weather hike too. Some of the sand roads were still covered in packed snow or ice, even though there wasn’t much snow elsewhere.

The sand roads are unmarked, so have the map with you – though it’s pretty easy to figure where you are at any time.

We did the 2.25-mile Perimeter trail and the 1.25-mile Reservoir Sawmill Loop.

The Perimeter trail goes through the center of the village, and around the cranberry bogs.

The Sawmill Loop passes a little cemetery for the Crabbe family and ends up at Mill Pond Reservoir.

The return portion of the loop was the most interesting section as it was actually a trail through dense pine (as opposed to a sand road), and running next to a creek.

The 1.5 nature trail is an inner loop of the park and overlaps some of the Perimeter trail, so we didn’t do that one.

On the map there is also a note of “to Lacey Road 2.5 miles”, so there is an option of doing an out-and-back on that too.

There is also a historic village with buildings to tour, an active cranberry farm, and canoe/kayak access.

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Hiked 2/13/11