Rutgers Offers Batona Trail Backpacking Trip
Rutgers Recreation promoted a 2-night introductory backpacking trip on New Jersey's 53-mile Batona Trail through pine forests and wetlands, with registration open until March 30. The organized trip provides structured entry into backpacking for students and community members.
- The "Batona" name is a portmanteau of "BAck-TO-NAture," created by the Batona Hiking Club of Philadelphia, which conceived of and built the trail in 1961. - The trail is marked with distinctive pink blazes and was originally planned as a 20-mile footpath, but now stretches approximately 53.5 miles through the heart of the New Jersey Pine Barrens. - It traverses several state forests, including Brendan T. Byrne (formerly Lebanon), Wharton, and Bass River, passing through areas with names of former towns like Batsto, Martha, and Washington. - The full trail typically takes three to five days to complete, passing through remote sections of the Pinelands National Reserve. - The Pine Barrens is the largest remaining example of the Atlantic coastal pine barrens ecosystem, characterized by sandy, acidic, and nutrient-poor soil that supports unique plant life like carnivorous plants and orchids. - This ecosystem sits atop the 17-trillion-gallon Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer, which contains some of the purest water in the United States. - The trail has minimal elevation gain, making it physically accessible, with challenges coming from its length and sandy terrain. - Hikers might pass the Carranza Memorial, a monument to Mexican aviator Emilio Carranza who crashed in the Pinelands in 1928 during a goodwill flight from the U.S. to Mexico.
