Over the weekend my husband and I visited Wells Mills County Park for a challenging 8.5-mile hike. The park is located in Waretown, New Jersey, in Ocean County. It is set on about 900 acres of land in the Pine Barrens.

We arrived in the morning and made our way to the start of the Macri trail, marked with white blazes. The trail begins at Wells Mills Lake, which made for a picturesque start to our hike. During the hike we noted how the winding trail maximized the terrain’s elevation, fairly unusual in these flat areas of South Jersey. There were several sections that had steep inclines, particularly during the first half of the trail.

Parts of the trail converged with a few of the other, shorter trails. For the first several miles we didn’t see anyone else until we passed a few people biking. By the end of our hike, we saw a few more people, including a couple of hikers with dogs.

We kept a pretty steady pace during the hike, averaging about 20 minutes per mile. Admittedly, we’re both a little out of practice when it comes to long hikes, so we definitely felt the effects the next day! Overall, it was a fun hike, and we’re looking forward to our next visit.

— Katie Skrzek, vice president/digital director