Wharton State Forest is a great area of the Garden State to get away from the suburban sprawl and the densely packed roads and houses. It's located in the Pine Barrens, a roughly one million acre forest stretching across the southern portion of the state. There's a lot of history and natural beauty in the Pine Barrens. Tons of ponds and lakes and sandy trails to get lost on whether on foot or on bike or ATV. My son and I occasionally camp at Goshen Pond. It's a very primitive campground with nothing but a pit toilet and a hand pump for water in terms of amenities. Each campsite has a fire ring with cooking grate. Campsite #3 is nice as it's on the edge and somewhat secluded from the rest of the campground, but #13 and #14 are probably the best in terms of proximity to and view of the pond. We normally camp in the spring or fall. Would not recommend the summer as ticks and chiggers can be out of control. read more

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I came here to hike the Mullica River and Batona Trail loop, which turned out to be 13.7 miles. The trails were well-maintained, there was plenty of space n the parking lot, and there were bathrooms at the trail head and even one on the trail. Any hike here is more of a nature walk because of the flat terrain, but the trails do well with immersing you into the trees. There were a few pretty sites along the way as well! read more

Wharton State Forest - Mullica River and Batona Trail loop - Hiking Near Me - Hammonton, New Jersey

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TLDR: Main roads are easy travel but bumpy, side roads I do not reccommend using a normal car. Lovely views and forestry. 4wd not required. Vehicle: Stock 2018 Tacoma Trd Off Road Came here just a stop on a road trip to drive through and explore. Some lovely views with accessible main roads for all vehicles. Drove a little over 30 miles of roads/trails. The side roads can be a little tricky with some puddles about 6 inches deep that have plenty of traction. Some side roads have decent whoops that I would not reccomend attempting in a normal car, ground clearance was not an issue for my stock height truck . Some portions I did recieve some pin stripes from the trees. I never needed to use 4wd. read more

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Writing particularly about my 1 night experience when I was invited by a friend at Atsion Lake. The cabins are cute and were built by the WPA although I understand they are demoing 2 so they can put in modern air conditioned units. Booooo! The road is close to the cabins so don't expect quiet. Apparently you can't swim in the lake unless you pay to go to the beach. Money grab! In fact you can't even sit at the edge of the lake and dip your big toe in. The lifeguards on the other side of the lake are like the PPA just waiting to come tell you to not get wet without paying. The first lifeguards that kayaked over while we were waist deep were nice and we were nice back. Then we were sitting on a log with our feet Ii the water and some fat ass on a surfboard came over and was nasty. When we told her to send the ranger she got so excited she looked like a motor boat until she ran out of breath. Buuuuuutttt....feel free to kayak or paddleboard to your hearts content and accidentally go for a swim. And then they sent the police. The cabin itself was dirty and the thin plastic pallets on the single beds ridiculously uncomfortable. I'll never go back.If zero stars was an option that's what I would have given. read more

I live in Philadelphia and was looking for the cheapest possible place to camp. So I found this state park in the pine barrens. I booked it right away. Then I read reviews. One review gave rated it poorly due to how many ticks it had. I thought to myself this is the dumbest review ever. It's a Forrest. After staying there I can say I spent a lot of time pulling ticks off my dog and all by the camp fire. We were covered in different kinds, shapes and sizes! I still found them on us up to two days after we left! It was like an infestation. I still think it's a really cool spot. Just get up early if you want to canoe. They only let you on the water until 3. Also check in before 4. We got there late and were not able to get our fire wood until the next day. Don't forget wet wipes and toilet paper. You'll literally be shitting in a hole. Oh yeah when we got there we found a tiny baby deer just hanging out at our site! This is untamed camping for sure! read more

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Godfrey Bridge Campground is in Wharton State Forest. Camp sites are nice, clean and very well space from each other. Much better than most places, in which camp sites are close as condos. This is rustic camping. One water source from a hand-crank pump. No sinks, toilets, showers or running water other than the pump. Outhouses spread around the place. No picnic tables. Can't recall ever going to a campsite that didn't have tables Nice place to stay and a great price. Close to the Wading River. Very big downside is that the place is walking distance to Wading Pines Campground, a private RV location that has several HUNDRED RVs. The place is very loud. They have a band most Saturday nights and their "quite time" doesn't start until 11 pm. While the camping was good I would not go back just due to the ridiculous amount of noise the RV park generates. Unfortunate, because otherwise I'd easily recommend camping here. read more

This state park is amazing. My family enjoys coming here to visit Atsion Lake. Surrounded by hiking trails, campsites, picnic areas, and playgrounds this red water lake is a ideal. There is something here for very one. At the entrance there is a small flat fee per car. They hand out trash bags , to ensure your able to clean up . There is p ample parking out side the visitors center and rest rooms. Yes, there are restrooms and showers, very convenient for little ones,which is why I like visiting. The Lake The waters are calm, I don't worry about waves knocking over or pulling the little ones away. I bring my umbrellas, blankets and cooler full of snacks. There is plenty of room to build sand castles, toss around a ball, or fly kites. Picnic Area Occasionally, we come here to grill. There are tables and grills spread throughout which are first come first serve. During the week, it's less congested. On the weekends, and especially holidays,it's better to show up early, to secure a spot. Also, it's always a good idea to call ahead to make sure they are life guards on duty - NO Swimming is allowed if they are not. Also, they close the gate once the area reaches capacity. Play ground My kids use the one closest to the lake. There are swings, a slide and a play structure. It's a nice break from swimming, and is across from the picnic. If your looking for a fun and stress free family outing this is it. My kids can never say their bored, there are multiple restrooms and parking is not an issue. Just relax and enjoy. My kids always have a blast. read more

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Lovely forest reservation. Campgrounds and blazes. To hike to the highest elevation in south jersey start at the Batona Campgrounds. I took my little siblings on their first hike and they loved it! They were able to keep up with me. Actually with my 50lbs pack i had a hard time keeping up with them! Traveling 3.5 miles NE on the pink blazes you'll reach Apple Pie Hill. There you'll find a ranger tower and can climb it to find a view of the top of the pine barrens. Its a fun and free afternoon! read more

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Wharton State Forest is 125,000 acres of Pine Barren adventure and is just 2 hours from NYC, 1 hour from Philadelphia and just 30 minutes from Atlantic City. It's a large area with great hiking, horseback riding and biking trails. The Batona Trail is one of the best. it's 50 miles long running through Brendan T. Byrne, Wharton and Bass River State Forests. Enjoy white cedar and pitch pine forests and maybe see a red-tailed hawk, great blue heron, owls, fox and deer. The trail is well marked and easily navigated. I suggest you go to Batsto Historical Visitor's Center first. At the Visitor's Center there is an outstanding museum, restrooms and it is where you can pick up a free map and camping registration. There is also a Mansion tour ($3) and Batsto lake. The Annie M. Carter Nature Center is also there on the lake. If you are interested in swimming the Atsion Camp Ground has lifeguards from Memorial Day to Labor Day and is only $10 on the weekends,($5) during the week from Memorial Day-Labor Day. There are showers, toilets, picnic tables (first come first serve), charcoal grills playground for kids and canoe/kayak launch site. For larger boats, Crowley's Landing on the Mullica River is a good spot. It's $12 for NJ residents from Memorial Day-Labor Day and free at other times. If you want to reserve a camp site you can go on-line to Reserve America. During the season it is ($20 per/night) for NJ residents. The Pine Barrens has a unique ecology well worth exploring. Most places are carry-in/carry-out. read more

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Just stayed here (Godfrey Bridge) last weekend with the hubs, our daughter and 2 doggies in a popup. Pros-secluded, real primitive camping. Exactly what we were looking for. Only 4 of 34 other sites occupied first night. Saw a Trooper 1x each day-no bother there. Peaceful. Cons- contrary to any map of the campground-NONE of the sites are actually on the water. Do NOT pick #5-especially in a popup. Very small and awkward. Picnic table staked to ground so we couldnt even work with what we had-(cant comment on the other sites tables..). Site #3,9,25-27 looked the largest and best set. There is a small 'beach' public launch for kayaks and canoes. We did learn that you can hire the peeps from the public campground nextdoor to drive you (and your kayak/canoe) about 20mins away and work your way back to this launch on the water. I wanna say it was $20/person (?) Now-the tick issue-ok-I read the reviews, figured someone had a bad experience and luck of the draw. We did tick checks and didnt see any. Figured we were ok. NOPE. We are home 2 days and I am now seeing that both my dogs are INFESTED. I dont mean a few..I mean I picked at least 30 out of their paws earlier- 2 baths each-and have had to high heat dry all bedding, pillows etc-vacuum vacuum and more vacuum-and I just found another 14 on the floor. These are mot the big tixks-they damn near look like a piece of dirt...until you see them crawling and realize what they are. Im actually very skeeved out. Anywhos-not saying don't go-just be prepared for a massive amount of ticks and I honestly wouldn't suggest taking the puppers... read more

There is nothing more invigorating than a hike through NJ's largest forest range. There is so much rich history in this range, connecting some of the areas most interesting historic parks. If you take a ride to Atsion, and walk the trails, you can find abandoned railroad tracks dating back to the 1860's. See: New Jersey Southern Railroad and Raritan and Delaware Bay RR. Lots of interesting stories about the people who were the forward thinkers and developers of the industrial revolution transition into the second industrial revolution. It seems that the town of Atco may have been given it's name due to railroad routes; as well as Raritan Ave in Atco. There are plenty of great camp sites and trails that take you to a different view of the state of NJ. Another very interesting fact is the history of ownership for the New Jersey Southern RR. Jay Gould has quite the timeline. Check out the history of how "Black Friday" originated based on manipulation of the gold market and Grant Administration. So cool to learn all of the events that occurred to shape our current state. I'm certainly looking forward to taking advantage of absorbing the great history and hiking landscapes throughout the seasons and through the years. read more

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We stayed at the Atsion campsite at Wharton State Forest. The staff at the visitors center was not very forthcoming with the information. Just take your pass and go. No directions to the campsite. No helpful tips. No guidance at all. You need to be specific and ask for help because they are not going to volunteer anything to you in the way of information! Having been to many other visitors centers in the Northeast, I'd recommend some training for these folks. While they may be knowledgable when asked, they need to do a better job of welcoming visitors and making sure they have the info they need for their time at the Park. The restrooms at the Family Campground were AWFUL. They looked like they weren't cleaned at all during the entire Labor Day Weekend. The showers were full of mud and filthy. The soap dispensers were empty at times. I understand budget cuts and all that but why offer rest rooms at all if they are going to be left without any cleaning staff? That being said Atsion Lake was lovely. The scenery was worth the disappointing campsite experience. read more

This review is based of of camping only. Beautiful forest, the scenery was amazing, saw many deers galloping through the brush on multiple occasions. The rivers were nice was well. We stayed at Hawkins Bridge Campground and it was very remote, we had to take a long dirt road to reach it. The campsite itself was decent. Wished they provided a picnic table and a clean bathroom. However the site had a soft ground and the firepit had a built in grill which was very useful. The closet campsite to yours was at least 100 yards away which gave way for lots of privacy (so we thought). We really did not mind the dirty bathroom and the missing picnic table, after all it is camping. What really gave us a bad taste was the park rangers. It was around 9:30 pm and we were all sitting by the fire. Outside the glow of the fire it was pitch black, there was not way a person could see where they were going without a light. Suddenly, two rangers came out of nowhere and confronted us because we did not have our dog on a leash even though no other campsites were remotely near us. We realized that they had to be using some form of night vision to get to us without flashlights. A complete INVASION OF PRIVACY. The rest of the night we were wondering if the rangers were watching us through the bushes and waiting to do something wrong. Just when you think you have your privacy, somebody is watching... read more

I go kinda often its nice. I want to camp here at somepoint . Fall time the trees are amazing

Sorry for any grammatical or punctuation errors in the following entry. I can only write this post as a warning to those of you looking to have a weekend in the forest at the Godfrey Bridge campground. I can't speak to any others but I can only describe the experience as bizarre. Firstly, let me say that the Godfrey Bridge area campground is small with a lot of space in between each site and relatively isolated in comparison to other campgrounds. Also the sites were huge. With that being said, I will point out that the water is powered via old fashioned hand pump, half a mile out of the camp area down a sandy road in a parking lot. It's there! Just don't look for it at night. In addition, I was hoping that the pit bathrooms were port o potties. That was my fault. They really are holes in the ground with a toilet seat and a shack built around it. NBD if you've done AT hiking or the likes. Onto the bizarre. There is a private "family" campground adjacent to Godfrey Bridge called Winding Creek family campground. This is a JAM PACKEd camp "resort" where campers are piled trailer to trailer tent to tent with zero space in between. I mention this only because of the following oddities that we witnessed starting with crossing Godfrey Bridge. The creek is a murky swamp color due to the dark brown pine needles leeching into it. Countless fathers in cut off t-shirts standing waste deep in water were encouraging their kids to jump into said shallow water from the bridge. Also there were two rope swings in this same area as well as a multitude of other creek participants either sunbathing or soaking along the small beaches testing their feet for brown dye, groups of tubers floating coolers of beer, and canoers or kayakers. Also in that campground, they had a concert that lasted from 5 to 11 pm. It reverberated the very short distance to Godfrey Bridge campground with such an encompassing and inescapable loudness that the only thing to do was to surrender to the concert entirely. It included such classics as Brick House, Pour some Sugar On Me, and the encore song, God Bless the USA by Lee Greenwood. I'll briefly mention rally car looking Golf carts, neon tie dyed wearing drunken doe-see-doe dancers, and finally the similarly clad and inebriated adults on see-saws. Bottom line, if you expect peace and quiet in the Godfrey bridge area of Wharton park, you're out of serious luck on a Saturday. Check the schedule at winding Creek campground and if it says "entertainment" after adult crafts and hay ride, it will be an all night bad music jam fest. If you expect to have some space with wet fire food, no water and to have to shit in a hole, then you've found your place. read more

I go to wharton state forest every once in a while to offroad my Enduro motorcycle. There are so many neat trails to hit, the people are so nice around there and some cool trails for offroad trucks to have fun. I've never seen anyone in the woods messing up the terrain like some news outlets post about and I have never ran into trash. Only a small amount, here and there. I've been tempted to pick it up but if a ranger catches you with an open bottle your in trouble. read more

Kicked out of park today as NJ is under state shut down. On 4th of July weekend. Seemed like it would have been a nice place to stay. read more

Wharton State Forest - Budget failure - Hiking Near Me - Hammonton, New Jersey

After hearing all of the negative reviews about the water here and lack of modern port-a-potties in the secluded areas, I have to intervene. The water is called Cedar Water. Back in the day it was considered miracle water due to the healing factors from all the minerals, mostly iron-ore which creates the color. Stop at Historic Batsto Village to get the story about the iron-ore and how this area made the cannon balls and ammo during the Revolutionary War. It looks like ice tea and is so refreshing. Great to swim in, raft, go tubing, canoeing which I do, kayaking,,, Just don't wear good white items when you take the plunge. I am fortunate enough to have the Mullica River right in my back yard. Many chimneys still remain from the war, including 2 here in my development. It is so peaceful, relaxing, and FANTASTIC when I set up my tent at the river front. Being such an historic area, restrictions are put in place to keep it that way inside the state-owned campgrounds. That means a water pump and a hole in the ground as a toilet. There are so many ticks because the people who live around here PLUS the water you are pumping in those campgrounds are wells. From under the ground. Where insecticides would seep should the state spray for ticks. Spray yourselves plus the perimeter of camping area. Just a circle will do. Our wildlife would be affected too. Check out this area and all it has to offer. I tubed here back in the 70's and 80's and it was always on my bucket list to one day live here. finally at 49 I did. read more

This review is for the Batona campground. We stayed during Memorial day weekend. It was rainy, so not too busy. If the campground was full, it would feel cramped, as some of the campsites are very close together. Check in was simple at the Atsion office. Staff were friendly, and in hindsight I would have asked for directions to the camp site...it was a bit confusing as I could not find exact addresses on the website, but the Atsion Mansion is right next to the office which I found on Waze. Whatever address I found on Google maps for the Batona campground took us down a 4 wheeler trail, which was quite a thrill as it became increasingly clear we had gone astray. Fortunately my husband is a champion and was able to back out the 250 yards back to the road. All that is to say - be sure you actually know where you are going! Batona is a "rustic" camp ground: drive in, but the outhouses are pit toilets (stinky), hand pump drinking water, and no picnic tables. Each campsite does have a fire ring. The grill on ours (site 8) was bent so we couldn't move it up to make a fire under it. We looked around and noticed some of the other sites also had damaged grills. We hiked the Batona trail to Apple Pie Hill fire tower. It was a bit anti- climactic because without an attendant on duty, you can't go up it (monitored by camera). However, the trail was quite enjoyable: beautiful woods with lots of interesting mosses, soft (but not loose) pine needle trail, with a couple small bridges across marshy areas. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay, and look forward to exploring more of the Batona trail! read more