ABOUT THE PARK:Wells Mills County Park - Ocean County Department of Parks and Recreation
DIRECTIONS:GPS Coordinates 39.795622, -74.276569
TRAIL MAP:
HIKE DISTANCE: 11.3 miles
THE HIKE:
The early morning temperature north of me was -2 degrees, south was 10 degrees. I didn't even look to see what the wind chill temp was - I might have never gotten out of bed. South Jersey here we come! I had hiked the 8.5 mile white-blazed loop a couple of times before but now noticed that a newer 6.2 mile yellow-blazed trail was available so I hiked that along with other trails I had not hiked before.
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| Heading across the grass between the playground on the left and the visitor center on the right. |
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| At the sand road, left... |
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| ... then left on pink. |
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| It starts out kind of icky ... |
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| ... but it does turn into a nice trail. |
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| Back at the sand road, left on yellow/green/white. |
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| White leaves to the left, staying with yellow/green. |
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| Green leaves to the right, staying left on yellow. |
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| Yellow actually goes right also but that would be the return of the loop. |
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| Now in Wells Mills Wilderness Area. |
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| You can tell when you have entered the scout reservation because there are private property signs EVERYWHERE! Just be sure to stay on the marked trail. |
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| Green and white join in briefly before white leaves to the left. We would be coming back that way in a bit. |
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| We stayed on green/yellow all the way out until what crossed over, then turned left on white, |
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| I had encountered a man who was looking for his hat that he dropped. I told him I would pick it up if I saw it and put it in the map box at the kiosk. I found it! |
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| White doubled back and came out at that spot where yellow/green/white all came together. |
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| Yellow leaves to the left (where we had come in from before). |
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| White leaves to the left; we stayed with green. |
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| At a fork there is a choice. Orange is to the left and it is a sand road. Green is to the right and it is a scenic path. They will both come back together at the other end. Right on green it is. |
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| It's hilly back in here but very pretty. |
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| A yellow/black dot trail goes downhill on the right ... |
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| ... to an old wildlife blind. |
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| One wildlife to be seen. |
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| Back on green/yellow-black-dot until ... |
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| ... white crosses over, then right on white. |
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| There were a ton of Atlantic White Cedars down. |
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| Blue is on the left but we went a few steps ahead first ... |
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| ... for a better view of Wells Mills Lake. |
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| Blue crosses over the canoe access road ... |
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| ... back over to the visitor center and parking lot. |
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| For all the cars that were now in the parking lot, I only ran into a couple of people on the trails. |
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| Stopped to empty out and sort Brodie's backpack contents that we had picked up along the way - hat to leave at the kiosk/trash/recycle bin. |
For Jim and anyone else who is interested, the old Wells Mills trail map before the newer yellow trail:
