Hiking around old cranberry bogs on a bright and sunny winter day.
This area has been on our winter hike list for a while. I’d just picked up the brand new Jersey hiking book, Best Day Hikes in New Jersey, which includes a route in Whitesbog so it reminded me of it so off we went.
Sand roads around cranberry bogs really stretch our idea of “hiking”, but they’re beautiful and a great way to spend a cold yet sunny winter day.
Plus, we generally stay clear of hiking the pine barrens in warm weather due to the absurd quantities of ticks.
Miles: 7.2
Route: Various sand roads that weren’t exactly marked.
For a detailed hike guide visit our “Whitesbog Village” page.
There are some historical village buildings and general store in addition to the bogs.
Fun fact: Blueberries were first cultivated through the efforts of Elizabeth White at Whitesbog. So the next time you’re shoveling delicious Jersey blueberries into your mouth, thank Elizabeth.
We arrived before the general store was open so we used the maps I’d printed out, and decided to do what was marked as “Cranberry Loop” on one map but not marked as anything in real life.
That looped past village buildings, a replica native American hut, and a cranberry bog before returning on the park road in about 1 mile.
Hawk checking us out walking the park road back to the lot.
Back at the lot again, we picked up the Nature Trail and wandered along until coming out to a sand road.
Navigation is a little tricky. There were some markings or wooden arrows at intersections, sometimes, but mostly nothing. We never figured out what those corresponded to as they didn’t match any map we had.
I’d printed a satellite view from Google and this proved to be the most helpful – the bogs and sand roads are visible.
Afterwards, we picked up a brochure at the store now that it was open. The map wasn’t that detailed for hiking but it’s possible we simply missed a better map there or perhaps you need to buy a guide.
Some of the bogs are still in use and we spotted a few old stray cranberries.
Did an out-and-back down one sand road a to small shack.
Trails were either sand roads along the open bogs or through pine forest. This is more varied than it sounds.
Came around to a washed out trail and another that was closed off and had to backtrack and adjust the route.
And a little reminder that, yes, it’s still winter.
Wildlife spotted: Hawk.
Post-hike: Deeeelicious chocolate covered blueberries and almonds purchased in the general store.