The easy Pine Barrens hike that’s perfect for the whole family

It started with a wedding.

Our niece got married in Millville on Saturday — a beautiful South Jersey celebration — and we decided to make a weekend of it. Sunday morning we pointed the car north through Cumberland County, stopped in Buena for breakfast at Angie's Cafe on Route 54. After smashed sausage sandwiches and Jack's Yeager skillet — it was back north on 54 into Hammonton and over to 542 and into the pines!

The road to Batsto has a way of doing something to you. The further you go down 542, the quieter everything gets. The trees close in. The world outside — the taxes, the traffic, the news cycle — simply stops following you. About ten or fifteen miles in, you see the mansion on the left. You make the turn. You are there.

Batsto Village — before the trail

If you have never been to Batsto Village in Washington Township, Burlington County, put it on your list. The historic mansion alone is worth the drive — a striking 19th century structure rising out of the pines like something from another century, which of course it is. We are planning a full return visit to tour the mansion and the village properly.

But this trip was about the trails.

When you arrive, stop at the visitors center first. The staff are genuinely helpful, the trail maps are free, and there are bathrooms — which after a drive down 542 you will appreciate more than you expect. While you are in there, take a look around. There is Wharton State Forest merchandise, Jersey Devil souvenirs, Piney gear, and a serious collection of Pine Barrens history books. It is the kind of place you could spend twenty minutes without noticing.

SEE ALSO: When NJ gets to be too much — I head down into the Pine Barrens 

The Batsto Lake Trail

My son Steve suggested the Batsto Lake Trail — a flat four-mile loop directly behind the mansion, marked by white blazes. We set off clockwise along the Batsto River and Lake on an overcast April morning with the lightest possible rain coming down. The kind of rain you feel on your skin more than you hear.

The trail is flat and easy and genuinely accessible to hikers of any age or fitness level. There are multiple marked trails of varying lengths so you can make the hike as long or as short as you want. We took our time — about two hours — and never once felt rushed.

About halfway through, we met a woman on the trail who turned out to be a plant expert. She stopped and took time with our family — pointing out the unique small flowering plants along the path that most hikers walk right past. My daughter Lindsay was thrilled to spot a purple pitcher plant, sand myrtle and Savanna Pyxie Moss tucked into the landscape at ankle height.

I would never have noticed any of them on my own.

That is the thing about the Pine Barrens. The longer you look, the more there is to see. While my daughter and Linda were looking down at the small wonders along the trail edge, I was looking up — taking in the pitch pines, the cedar water light on the lake, the drama of the overcast sky over the wetlands. At one point we nearly stepped on a garter snake coiled in the brush alongside the path, tongue flickering, completely unbothered by us.

The Pines have always been like that. Unbothered. Patient. Still there.

What this hike really was

Here is the thing I keep thinking about on the drive home.

When our kids were little — seven and nine years old — we used to four-wheel drive the sandy back roads of the Pine Barrens in a pickup truck, following trails that went nowhere in particular. A few years later we were canoe camping down the Mullica River, sleeping on the banks, cooking over fires. Those trips are some of the best memories our family has.

Yesterday was different. Nobody needed a life jacket or a four-wheel drive. It was just a flat walk in the woods on a quiet Sunday morning — my wife, our two kids who are now 33 and 35, a light rain, and a garter snake.

On the drive out, Linda said it simply. She said how great it was to have us all together on that hike.

She was right. That is what the Pines do. They slow everything down long enough for you to notice what matters.

If you go, bring your family. Any age. Any fitness level. The trail will meet you where you are.