Daddy-Kid Hike IV: Back to the Woods
Saturday, March 19, 2016
Black Run Preserve – Evesham Township, NJ
Trail info – Black Run Preserve
Back on Easter Saturday, we held our forth Daddy-Kid Hike at one of the best places in the history of ever – Black Run Preserve. We had some new faces and some returning faces, and everyone enjoyed a roughly 2 mile hike through this former bogland. It was a beautiful day, and a beautiful hike.
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Filed under Hiking, Outdoors., South Jersey
Cold Spring Nature Preserve Trail – Marlton, Burlington County, NJ
Distance – We did 1.9 miles with the roadwalk back to the trailhead. We missed a 0.9 mile loop trail.
Type – Loops and out-and-backs (or can make a loop with a road walk)
Difficulty: 2 of 10
Total score: 6 of 10
Note – One of our readers reports that there are trail hookups with neighboring Black Run Preserve. Yay!
Website – http://www.rancocasconservancy.org/
Open – Sunrise to Sunset.
Terrain – forest, swamps, and old bogs
Trailheads – 39°51’2.20″N, 74°54’24.92″W (Bortons Mill Road)
Filed under Hiking, Outdoors., pine barrens, South Jersey
I love this place.
Black Run Preserve Trails – Evesham, NJ
Distance: 6.5 miles of trails. My “regular” loop is 2.5, but I’ve done 7 1/4 miles in one go there.
Difficulty: 2 of 10.
Total score: 8 of 10.
Terrain – Woods, wetlands, old bogs.
Map – Updated trail map (updated link April 2014…)
Website –blackrun.org
Well done, informative promotional video – Sure, why not
Trailheads – Multiple. We used the one at Kettle Run and Borton’s Roads – 39°50’45.43″N, 74°53’57.03″W. You can get in on other spots on Kettle Run Road, as well as through the King’s Grant neighborhood.
Entrance on Kettle Run Road.
Directions: From Route 73, turn onto Braddock Mill Road (at Kresson Lake near the Voorhees/Evesham border). Drive down Braddock Mill Road. After the small pond on your right, turn right onto Tomlinson Road. Make an immediate left onto Braddock Mill Road (not a typo). At the first intersection, curve to the right onto Kettle Run Road and park on the side.
Parking: Spots for five or six cars just off Kettle Run Road.
Standouts – peaceful woods, old roads, large bogs and marshes.
Markings – Colored markers on trees – blue, green, orange, purple, red, and yellow on one side of Kettle Run Road, and black on the other side.
Thanks yous – the Friends of the Black Run Preserve do a great job developing and maintaining this place. Want to help out? They meet monthly at REI on Rt 73 in Evesham.
Description: This park in Marlton, NJ was suggested to me by Mark when I first started up this blog. . I took my son and a few of my Scouts out to check it out a few years back. I loved it so much I’ve been back three times. The first three times, I followed pretty much the same route. This last time, James and I (we’ve been trying to hike together for years) hiked pretty much every section of trail in the place, and it was great despite on-again-off-again rain.
Right from the start, I’ve been impressed with how well blazed the trails were. More recently, signposts with little maps have been added at all of the intersections to help you get your bearings (I still got turned around twice this last time).
For a nice hour walk (2 1/2 miles), I suggest walking in on the green trail, across the bridge to the junction of the blue and red trails. (I’ll share some looks at the other trails afterwards).
I always feel welcome.
Entrance on the green trail.
Nice views right away.
Blue trail to the right.
Red trail to the left.
What we did is make a loop of the blue and red trails. We started heading up the blue trail, which follows a dirt road through the preserve. It will cross the red trail, then the white trail, then the red trail again. Follow it to the second crossing of the red trail. This will be pretty much a straight shot through the preserve, and will give you a chance to see some nice scenery.
We took the blue trail.
View off the blue trail (its a few steps off the trail on the right. Look for the boards to get the right spot).
Blue trail.
Blue trail.
Blue trail.
Marsh.
When you hit the second crossing of the second trail, you’ll make a RIGHT turn onto the red trail. This will also follow a road for a bit, until it hits an old cranberry bog.
Switched to the red trail.
The trail will then turn right into the woods and follow the edge of the bog. This is a trail trail, not just an old road. It’s pretty easy to follow, except one or two spots where blow downs make the trail the tiniest bit confusing. Don’t panic, just look ahead for the next marker and you’ll be fine. The red trail will loop around through the woods with some nice water views until it crosses the white trail. The white trail seems to go both ways, the red trail is slightly hidden to your right. Again, it’s well marked. From here, the red trail will will keep going, crossing the blue trail again before stopping at the original red/blue trail junction that we started at.
What else is there to see?
The “tail” of the red trail that’s not covered above:
This small section of trail (out-and-back) goes through the fields,then down through the woods to a dead-end.
Across the fields.
Through the woods.
Dead ends at a mess. I really need to stick trash bags in my pack.
Blue/White/Yellow Trails (to complete a larger loop) – You can also follow the Blue Trail all the way around until it hits the road. Note that on the map, it hits the road. In reality, the trail blazes stop at a dirt road. Don’t panic, just turn right and walk down the dirt road until you hit the pavement at Kettle Run Road.
End of the blue trail blazes. No dumping!
Turn right and walk down the dirt road.
You will arrive at Kettle Run Road. Walk a very short distance and you can turn right onto the White Trail.
Once you hit the White Trail, you’ll go a short distance to the Yellow Trail. It’s worth walking down the Yellow Trail (another dead end trail) to see the old bogs on either side.
White Trail looks inviting.
Yellow Trail.
Bridges are always a good sign.
I love this place.
Purple Trail:
When glancing at the map, you may wonder why the purple trail would even be there? The answer it, because it’s awesome. Walk down it and you’ll get some more bog views and cross a great little bridge.
Between the Red and Blue Trails, the Purple Trail is nothing special.
Between the Blue and Orange Trails, it gets special.
I love this place.
Big thanks to James for exploring the preserve with me!
Black Trail (other side of Kettle Run Road):
Beautiful new sign board on this side of the road.
Nice, big bog on this side.
End of the line. There is more preserve on the other side, future site for a bridge?
Overall recommendation: I LOVE this place. I would not have expected such a nice, secluded spot so close to Evesham and Voorhees. There is a lot of work that’s been put into this place, and I know there is a lot more that they have planned. I’m excited to see what happens! We’ll be back many, many more times.
