ABOUT THE PARKS:
Elephant Swamp Trail - Elk Township, NJ
Elephant Swamp Trail - Upper Pittsgrove Township
Legend has it that in the 1800's an elephant escaped from a circus train that traveled these railroad tracks, never to be seen again.
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 39.65217, -75.14867
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| Elk Township parking lot on County Road 538. |
TRAIL MAP:
Elephant Swamp Nature Trail Trail Guide - Elk Township (covers the first 1.7 miles)
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HIKE DISTANCE: 8.25 miles (4 miles each way plus loop around ball park)
THE HIKE:
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| Starlings everywhere. |
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| Hundreds of them hanging out in the fields and trees around the parking lot. Then whoosh, they were all gone in a split second. |
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| The trail entrance heading south in the parking lot. The trail also goes north across the street for 1 mile but it runs parallel to the road so we skipped that part. |
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| It looks like a tunnel to infinity. |
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| Frost in the fields along the trail. |
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| Interpretive signs and benches all along the Elk Township Nature Trail portion. |
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| Muddy Run or Reed Branch, not sure which. |
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| Apparently there was a big ATV problem at one point and I read the trail was not in good shape from it but all sections looked good when I was there so maybe they cracked down on ATV riding on the trail. |
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| A 1949 post at the Gloucester/Salem County line. |
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| The end of the Elk Township Nature Trail portion which dumps you right out at ... |
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| ... the Monroeville Fire Station. |
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| Cross over Monroeville Road to the start of the Upper Pittsgrove Township section which is the same rail bed. |
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| Through town for a short distance... |
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| ... then over a side street. |
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| Northern Flicker |
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| At several points along the trail there are mountains of railroad ties off to the right. |
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| Crossing Pinyard Road then through a power cut.... |
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| ... with soaring turkey vultures and ... |
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| ... a red-tailed hawk in a big hurry. |
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| And there he goes. |
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| I spotted something up ahead and zoomed in to find Mr. and Mrs. Deer. |
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| Something spooked them, then they started charging up the trail straight towards us ... |
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| ... freezing when they saw me and Shawnee hugging a tree, then darted off into the woods. |
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| Railroad tie in the trail. |
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| The end of the Elephant Swamp Trail at the ball fields. |
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| We walked a loop around the ball fields. |
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| Then headed back on the Elephant Swamp Trail. |
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| Muddy Run |
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| Turkey Vulture |
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| Blue Jay |
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| Joggers on the trail. |
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| Sign pollution. |
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| So much to ... |
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| ... sniff. |
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| Almost everyone we ran into on the trail had dogs along. |
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| Back at the parking lot. |
