This weekend is perfect for the NJ hike I’ve been meaning to do for years

This weekend, the forecast is doing something New Jersey does not always get right — sunny mid-60s on Saturday, clear and cool Saturday night, sunny lower 60s on Sunday. No humidity. No crowds yet. The kind of spring weekend that was made for being outside.

I have a suggestion for where to spend it. And I will admit up front that I have never done this myself — which makes me more eager to fix that this weekend than I have ever been.

The Batona Trail — 53 miles of New Jersey most people have never seen

The Batona Trail runs 53.5 miles through the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens, from Ong's Hat on county route 644 just a few miles north west of Route 70 in the north all the way south through Wharton State Forest to Bass River State Forest. It passes through some of the most remote, beautiful and ecologically unique landscape in the entire eastern United States — cedar swamps, pine-oak forest, ancient cranberry bogs, ghost towns, abandoned railroads, and the Mullica River, which I wrote about earlier this week.

The name Batona is not mysterious. It is simply a compression of the phrase "Back to Nature." The trail was built in 1961 by the Batona Hiking Club — a group of Philadelphians who had been meeting since 1928 to walk in the Pines — and it has been maintained ever since by the South Jersey Outdoor Club. The blazes are pink. Once you know what you are looking for they are easy to follow.

I have family roots in the Pine Barrens going back centuries. I have canoed the Mullica, four-wheeled the sandy roads, stood on Apple Pie Hill and seen both skylines on a clear day. I have written about all of it this week. And somehow I have never hiked the Batona. That changes this weekend.

SEE ALSO: When NJ gets to be too much, I head down into the pine barrens 

You do not have to hike all 53 miles

The full trail takes most people three days. But the Batona is designed to be hiked in sections, accessed from multiple trailheads, and several of the day-hike options are genuinely spectacular.

The most popular entry point for a day hike is the Batsto Village section in Wharton State Forest off Route 542. Park at Batsto, pick up the pink blazes, and walk north toward Mullica River. The terrain is flat — this is the Pine Barrens, elevation is not the challenge here — and the cedar water crossings and the quiet of the forest do the rest.

Another beautiful option is the Apple Pie Hill section, accessed from Carranza Road. You can hike to the fire tower where, on a clear day like this Saturday promises to be, you will see the Atlantic City skyline to the east and Philadelphia to the west with nothing but trees between them in every direction. I have been to that tower before. The view never gets old.

For first-timers the stretch between Batona Camp and the Carranza Memorial is one of the most rewarding day hikes on the whole trail — roughly five to seven miles depending on your entry point, flat, well-blazed, and full of the things that make the Pine Barrens unlike anywhere else in New Jersey. Look for the yellow fringed orchids in season. Watch for the timber rattlesnake, which is endangered here and unlikely to bother you if you do not bother it.

What to bring and what to know

The Pine Barrens will humble you if you go unprepared, not because the terrain is difficult but because it is remote. A wrong turn on a sandy road or trail looks exactly like the right turn. Bring more water than you think you need — the cedar water in the streams is gorgeous but not for drinking. Download the trail map before you go since cell service in the Barrens is unreliable at best. Good hiking shoes with ankle support handle the sandy soil and occasional wet crossings well.

Parking at Batsto Village is straightforward off Route 542. For the Apple Pie Hill section, access is from Carranza Road in Tabernacle. Both are well worth the drive.

This weekend is made for it

Mid-60s. Sunshine. The pines in April have a quality to them that summer takes away — before the humidity settles in, before the bugs arrive in force, the light comes through the trees at a particular angle and the whole place smells like something ancient and completely alive.

I have been meaning to hike the Batona for years. This weekend I am out of excuses.

If you go — and you should — follow the pink blazes, take your time, and remember that you are walking through a million acres of protected land in the middle of the most densely populated state in America.

There is no other place like it.