Trip report
Aug 14, 2010 — Brendan T. Byrne State Forest is one of many preserved section of the New Jersey pinelands (pine barrens), where the Jersey Devil is said to live. We're friends, of course.
The area is generally really flat, and the sandy, nutrient-poor ground makes for a unique biodiversity, much of which isn't visible to the untrained eye. To me, it's sort of an endless, unchanging landscape of pitch pines, many of which are blackened from regular forest fires, that is only broken by the occasional stream riddled with cedar trees. In my opinion, the most interesting part of the barrens are the waterways, and more specifically, the deep burnt orange color of the rivers created from the cedar trees. There are swamps and ponds scattered throughout the pine barrens, and cranberry bogs pop out of nowhere. I feel a connection to the pine barrens because they're my local wilderness, but it's definitely a pretty boring area, in my opinion. There are more cranberry bogs in Double Trouble State Park.