The
Pine Barrens in New Jersey is a great place to go wheeling! The area is flat
with lots of water and mud. When wheeling here expect to get your wet feet and
your 4x4 dirty.Pine Barrens 4X4 Trails
Pine Barrens, New Jersey
by
Chuck Holl
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The
Pine Barrens in New Jersey is a great place to go wheeling! The area is flat
with lots of water and mud. When wheeling here expect to get your wet feet and
your 4x4 dirty.
Almost
any 4x4 can wheel here. The first 2 just happen to be the JEEPS that I own, the
rest are friends that I wheel with.
I
own a 1997 TJ Sport with an ARB locker in the rear and an 8000 lb. Ramsey winch. The TJ now only goes on trails where it won't get any more scratches. It had 3 inches of water in it, from the Pine Barrens, when it only had 3,000 miles on it. It was fresh water so I just pulled the plugs and then used a wet/dry vac to get the rest out. It still had the new car smell.Now I use it to tow my 1946 CJ2A. I set the Willys up to wheel almost anywhere but with Pine Barrens in mind. All the components have been water proofed. The transmission,brakes,and diffs had the air breathers extended to the air cleaner which is waterproof The diffs have Lock Right lockers in them. It also has a Ramsey REP 8000 lb. winch powered by a Mechanical Man 145 amp alternator. The fire comes from a Jacobs electronic ignition. It runs on BFGoodrich 31 in. tires and Willys combat rims, you can ride on the rims without tires. The Willys goes wheeling about 3 times a month.
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All levels of people come here. There is the Pine Barrens Jeep Jamboree here every April. There are go-arounds for 95% of the deep water so you have nothing to worry about. If you do get stuck you should not spin your wheels as the ground is very fine sand.
The Pine Barrens is where most of the cranberries that Ocean Spray uses in their products are grown. They have collection points all over the place.
When the water dries up or should I say gets a little shallower there is lots of mud. All terrain tires work most of the time but if you don't have lockers I would suggest mud terrain tires.
Pine Barrens is home to a lot of history. It was the first place in America that iron ore was mined. The ore from here made many of the first weapons in our fight for independence. Many sites of former homes can still be seen. While wheeling you will even come across the marked graves of some of the first settlers.
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If you like nature you will love to wheel here! There is much to see from the wildlife to the plants, some of which only grow in the Pine Barrens. THe Pine Barrens today are almost as they were when man first saw them. They are protected by law and you cannot build anything here for the most part. The roads that we wheel on are roads cut by the forest service to fight fires.
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When wheeling here you will need tow hooks, tow rope, first aid kit, and a SPARE TIRE (you might end up 40 miles from your starting point), bug spray (if it is summer we grow them big), cell phone (a C.B. radio might not work as you are very far from the main roads sometimes), some type of spray to dry your ignition wires if they get wet, and enough oil to do an oil change in case your engine drinks some water (be sure to take something to bring the used oil out in too).
The best place to meet up with firends would be at historic Basto village. It is marked on all road maps and if you want to talk to a ranger or buy topo maps this is the place to do it. It has a huge parking lot if you trailer your rig. You can also leave an itinerary with the rangers in case something happens, they will at least know you are out there.
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Always try to travel with two vehicles for safety reasons, if you decide to go by your self, I would suggest you have a winch. The black mud here can suck a vehicle down to the head lights.
This is a great place to wheel but people across the country don't really know about, if you come here you will have a GREAT TIME. Hope to see you here. I can be contacted at
wendholl@aol.com.New Jersey Trail Guidebooks, Trail Maps, and Trail Videos
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