A quick leg-stretcher hike through Helyar Woods and along Weston’s Mill Pond at Rutgers Gardens, in several inches of icy slushy snow.
We had limited time to get outside this weekend, so of course the weather hit 50+ degrees.
Still, we managed to fit in a test of our new snowshoes at a local field to get them adjusted.
There were still several inches of icy, crusty, wet, slushy slop that used to be snow but it was enough to get them set up for the next snowfall.
Miles: 1.6
For hike info, maps, and more photos, visit our “Helyar Woods at Rutgers Gardens” page.
The next day we swung by Helyar Woods for a quick hike while running errands out that way. We hadn’t been here in awhile, maybe not since 2012 (“Helyar Woods After Hurricane Sandy“).
This is a small park well used for short walks so I expected the trails to be barely snow covered at this point, but instead we found a mess of icy slush that had re-frozen.
We took the main entrance and then headed to the left, where the trail became increasingly snow covered, to the point we ended up on a middle trail that was unbroken. That was a surprise.
I can’t recall the last time we’ve had snow stick around this long in central Jersey, enough that there are trails with 5+ inches of untouched snow on them.
We made our way over to a main trail, taking that past fields and some pine stands.
All trails lead to a dam within view of an overpass to Rt. 18.
We returned via the trail along mostly frozen Westons Mill Pond. There trails in this park have blazes, but they are kind of a loose suggestion, and we’ve never seen a proper trail map anywhere.
Overall, the trail was a mix of slush, icy snow, frozen boot impressions, a few ski tracks, and a decent dose of slick ice.
There are a few short steep areas that we would have hated to do without our trusty MICROspikes.
This isn’t a park to drive far too, but it is good for a brief hike if in the area.