Hiking NJ: Bass River State Park – Ocean County [VIDEO]

It's our latest edition of Hiking NJ with a trip to Bass River State Forest - Ocean County. This visit to Bass River we are hiking the "Poppy Allen" Trail.

“Poppy” Allen was the first caretaker of Bass River State Forest in 1905. It is the "Yellow" trail at Bass River.

According to the State website, trail follows four- to five-foot wide, flat, pine needle covered paths and some short sections of sand roads.

The Poppy Allen Trail makes a large open loop, winding through the pine-oak forest. At the far end, it connects with Falkinburg Trail and leads back to the south end of the group campground road.

As the State website mentioned, one of the nice features is the wide trails along this 5K walk. Less worry about insects and plant allergies with extra wide walking paths. The paths are also well packed with just a few sandy areas. This trail obviously is graded as "easy" with no real elevation.

The trail is very well marked and easy to follow. As mentioned it basically makes a nice loop through the forest. We really enjoyed this trail, only negative not a lot of sights just flat - straight forest from start to finish.

The park features several trails all with various lengths. The longest is the Batona Trail which is about seven miles. The CCC Trail is four miles and the Falkinburg and Poppy Allen Trails' are three miles in length. There are also several others of shorter length.

Check with the park for COVID 19 rules and park fees.