From The Jersey Sierran, July - September 2022
Walking is perfect.
It is the most natural activity we can engage in.
I urge everybody to get out of your cars. Leave those steel clamshells behind and stand up on your own two feet. We are not designed to sit on our butts.
In Monmouth County, New Jersey, we have easy access to some wonderful outdoor places, including Huber Woods in Middletown. There is a visitor center and reptile house at the main entrance.
The 400 acres of Huber (separated by a single paved road from the 800 acres of Hartshorne Woods Park) combine a dense middle-aged oak/hickory forest with views of the Navesink River. Parts of the acreage consist of former estates and farmland, gradually rewilding toward natural habitat. There are no steep hills or dangers. The undulating terrain can bring tranquility.
I suggest you visit these woods often and with different attitudes. On certain weekdays, especially near sunrise or sunset, more especially when it is raining or predicted to rain, you might walk slowly and quietly, allowing the tranquility to pass from an old oak into you. Other times, you might stretch your legs by hiking the trail Many Log Run as fast as possible, or maybe you might even run it—the terrain will be rockier than you recognized on a slow walk. I like to think of Huber as a substantial part of my hometown and a remnant of the way things used to be: natural forest.
If you go to Huber often enough, you will see red fox and pileated woodpeckers (the only local place I know where these largest of the woodpeckers are reliably seen). There are hundreds of other bird species in Huber and coyotes are present but very rarely seen. I try to enjoy the deer and the squirrels, too, and not treat them as background. I feel sympathy for a squirrel panting on a tree limb on a hot August day. I argue for less salt on the highways, remembering that Huber’s deer, canines, and birds are relying on the tiny streams and man-made ponds.
One of the special treats is hearing the ocean. On a windless day just after a strong east wind (think March storm), the dull roar of Atlantic surf can be heard. It is just over a mile, as an eagle would fly, to the oceanfront at Sea Bright. And, yes, we have bald eagles—a nest has been in Hartshorne for several years.
We, the Jersey Shore Group, lead group hikes in Huber and several other places. They are fun and we try to be informative, but the nature of group hikes means conversation and a pace that requires compromises from the fit and the less so. I urge you to use the group hikes to become acquainted with new places and maybe with new people, to interact with experienced leaders, and to stretch your legs. But, you will really enjoy the woods when you go alone or with a compatible friend or two.
Don’t be foolhardy; learn to be safe. But don’t confuse safety with comfort. To frequently go outdoors, to frequently hike, you need to accept some tiredness, some hunger, some heat and cold.
I hope to see you on the trail, using your own two feet and opening your senses to Nature, from whence we sprang.