Wickecheoke Creek Preserve South, NJ

ABOUT THE PARK:
Wickecheoke Creek - New Jersey Conservation Foundation
Wickecheoke Creek Preserve - New Jersey Conservation Foundation

DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 40.437207, -74.965861

Pull out parking along Lower Creek Road with room for 2-3 cars.

TRAIL MAP:
Wickecheoke Creek Preserve South Trail Map - New Jersey Conservation Foundation
(Note:  The current online map is outdated.  Some trails no longer exist - or can't be found - and there are additional trails not on the map.  I'll show snippets at those points along the way.)

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HIKE DISTANCE:  9.8 miles

THE HIKE:
I hiked Wickecheoke Creek Preserve North with Shawee in 2014 but never returned to hike the southern part.  It consists of fragmented trails connected with road walking.  At this time when all NJ state and county parks as well as many township trails are closed, there is not much available.  The New Jersey Conservation Foundation has closed the larger, more popular properties to hiking but have left others open (check their web site for current status).  That works for me and I am very grateful to have had the Wickecheoke Creek trails open to hike.  I was pleasantly surprised to find more trails than shown on the map, the road walks were not bad, the scenery was fantastic and I ran into nobody else on any of the trails.

I started out turning left from the pull out parking area heading towards the covered bridge to hike  Loop 2 on the map. There should have been a creek crossing and a trail where I parked.  There were no trail markers on either side of the creek and no way to cross the creek without fording.  Maybe I was missing something and would see it coming from the other direction. If not, then I would just continue road walking to form a loop.

Lower Creek Road

Lower Creek Road runs along Wickecheoke Creek.

Palm Warbler

Coming up on Green Sergeant's Covered Bridge.

Wickecheoke Creek from the bridge.

Keeping left across the bridge and continuing on Route 604.

It's very pretty and peaceful with farm views.

Red-winged Blackbird

Eastern Meadowlark

This is where I thought the turn was to do Loop 2.  There were no signs or trail markers and turning before this hedgerow on the mowed meadow perimeter seemed to be the way to go.

This leads into the woods high above Wickecheoke Creek but this couldn't be right because there was no way to continue left and I would have run into a house.

There was somewhat of a path down to the right to the creek where I thought I might cross on the rocks just ahead but turns out the drop off was not doable and it would have landed me in deep water.

So we headed back up the steep hill diagonally along a faint path.

Northern Flicker

Heading back along the edge of the meadow.

White-throated Sparrow

Back at Route 604 I turned left to continue road walking.

Here is the online map of Loop 2 versus my GPS track.  I obviously missed where I should have turned but everything else looked like private property and without any kind of trail marker showing the way, there was no place else I felt comfortable turning.  I would guess Loop 2 no longer exists so if you do this hike, you probably want to skip this part.

Continuing south on Route 604.

Balloon #19 of the year.

An old, old gnarly tree.

Coming into Rosewood Village.

At the stop sign, left on Route 519.

At the next stop sign, left on Route 29.

Coming up on New Jersey Conservation Foundation boundary signs.  There was supposed to be a loop around the meadow on the left but I did not see it.  Turns out it no longer exists but I didn't know that until I saw the map at the entrance to Loop 1 a bit later in the hike.

Wickecheoke Creek way down below.

Litter makes me angry any day but this kind of litter just sends me over the edge.  What is wrong with people?

Coming op on Lower Creek Road which would be our return route.

Crossing a bridge over ...

... Wickecheoke Creek.

On the right is Prallsville Mills but that is state property so it is blocked off with yellow tape.  Would have been nice to have gotten off the road a bit and walked past those buildings but nope, not allowed.  Yet up ahead I saw all kinds of people on the Delaware and Raritan Trail that is supposedly closed.

On the left is the Prall house and since that is New Jersey Conservation Foundation property, there is no yellow tape at this time.

Going around to the right of the Prall House and up those steps ...

... to a trail which was supposed to be a short out and back along a pond.   But wait, there are more trails on this map!

The trail proceeds steeply uphill behind the Prall House ...

... to the top overlooking the little pond passed on the way up.

We continued on the marked trail counterclockwise where to the right ...

... was an old cemetery.

The stones were pretty hard to read and most seemed to be unmarked field stones.

A few dated back to the 1700's.

These old cemeteries are always in such pretty, peaceful spots.

Continuing on where the trail loops left just before a meadow.

We had passed a narrow, unmarked trail to the right but I wanted to finish the loop and come back to that.

Having finished the loop, we headed back up the center of the loop on an unmarked trail.

Then left on the marked trail back to that unmarked side trail which led ...

... to a marked trail that descended  steeply through a very pretty area.

This trail comes out at Worman Road where we turned left.

On Worman Road heading back to Route 29.

I spotted a balloon on the other side of Wickecheoke Creek just before the Route 29 bridge.  Would I be able to get down there to get it?

We turned right on Route 29 ...

.... crossed the bridge ...

... then turned right just after the guardrail when I happened to see a trail marker.  There was nothing along Route 29 to indicate this was the trail, I just happened on it on my way to nab that balloon.

On the trail below the Route 29 bridge ...

... where I nabbed balloon #20 of the year.  Had it not been for that balloon I might have completely missed this trail.

Continuing on the trail along Wickecheoke Creek.

The trail is well marked but seems to be rarely used as the ground is soft so there is sometimes no visible trail to follow, just need to go from marker to marker.

The trail comes out at Lower Creek Road where there is a trailhead map facing the wrong way.

Turning right on Lower Creek Road ...

... along Wickecheoke Creek.

Left to the Loop 1 trails.

As you can see, the meadow loop on the map no longer exists but the trail now has a small loop and extends out some ruins.

A grassy mowed path ...

... to the orange loop on the left.

This loop is a pretty overgrown in places but still passable this time of year.

The trail ascends to a small pond.

We startled ...

... a napping deer who apparently did not accept my apologies.

Descending back down to ...

... left on the mowed path passing by a trail on the right to a parking area.

The trail continues uphill ...

... and along the meadow where the loop trail used to be.

I had seen this birdhouse from the road walk.  I had to really zoom in to see an American Kestrel sitting on top.

At the far corner of the meadow the trail enters the woods...

... and descends to ...

... old house ruins at a small creek where the trail ends.

Retracing back along the meadow.

Descending to the trail to the parking lot.

At Lower Creek Road, parking for a couple of cars, a kiosk and another trail beyond the kiosk.

Domestic ducks in the creek.

This trail follows the creek through a scenic area.

Eastern Wood Peewee

At the end where the trail comes out at Lower Creek Road there were suddenly lots of people road walking so we retraced on the trail.

Back at the kiosk we turned right on Lower Creek Road and  crossed the bridge.

It was easy enough to avoid others by everyone staying on their side of the road.

Left to the last trail.

Although this trail is very well-defined and apparently more frequently used, there was nobody else on it.  Everyone was street walking.

Left on Lower Creek Road for the last section of road walk.

Four pair of cyclists passed us.  None of them bothered to pass single file which resulted in much less than a 6 foot distance as they whizzed by me.  Cyclists - please be more mindful of this when you pass pedestrians!

Back where we parked on Lower Creek Road.

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