Paddling the Pine Barrens

Went to NJ this weekend and did a little canoe trip on the West Branch of the Wading River. We put in near Speedwell.

Paddling was Jay, Doug, Kirch and I. After checking into camp at the Godfrey Bridge camping area in the Wharton State Forest, we didn’t get in the water till about 2pm. That was ok, because it was supposed to be an easy 4 hour paddle to the camp. It didn’t take us long to realize (actually completely second guess that this was the right river) the trip was going to be a little more difficult than expected.

The river at this point was very narrow (only 8′ – 10′ wide at spots) and there were a lot of fallen trees.

It took a little work to get any where, but we were having a good time anyway.

Even Doug was enjoying it, though being his first real canoe trip.

Kirch wasn’t convinced. He was sure we were actually in some cranberry bog drainage ditch.

Five and a half hours later, with canoes full of debris,

we pulled into camp where Jeff was waiting for us (Jeff only had time to camp out with us overnight).

Camp was kind of interesting. It was described as “primitive” with pit toilets and potable water. We assumed that would mean quiet with a few “real” campers around. That’s not what we got.

Our neighbors on one side apparently pulled up without a permit, jumped off the bridge into the river till 2am, passed out in their cars, then left in the morning for breakfast. Our neigbors on the other side peed in the river and dropped trash everywhere.

Anyway, we had steak and potatoes for dinner, sat by the fire and crashed around 11pm.

Most of us were up by 7am, but some slept in.

Jeff had a nice breakfast of turkey bacon, eggs, bagels and cream cheese made for us. It was awesome.

By 9am we were back on the water to finish the second leg of the trip.

Again the trip was supposed to take only 4 hours. Somehow we improved significantly over the day before (and the river got wider and nicer) and actually finished it in 2 hours.

Overall a nice trip. Makes me want to do more overnight boating trips, but we’ve got to get some of the logistics worked out a little nicer for next time.

– b