Sourland Mountain Preserve Family Hike Trip Report

Some friends invited us out to hike with them to the Sourland Mountain Preserve and we were happy to join them. We had not been there in a couple of years so it was nice to explore it once again. The Sourland Mountain Preserve is located in the Hillsborough Township, in New Jersey and is about a 27 minute drive from home. It's nice that it's another hike not too far from us.

At the trailhead there are porta potties which is always nice in case anyone needs to use the facilities. 

There is also a nice big pond in eye's distance from the parking lot. It looked pretty neat and we saw people picnicking by the pond. Seems like a nice place to sit and relax.

The preserve is pretty big at 4000 acres. Here is a map I got from their website:

Source: http://www.somersetcountyparks.org/parksfacilities/sourland/sourlandmtpreserve.html

With 4 kids total in our group and one of the kids being two years old, we knew we weren't going too far on our hike. That's what is great about the Preserve, is that you can go as far as 1-5 miles depending on the trails you take and still have a fun experience. 

Our goal was to head to Devil's Half Acre Boulders and do a loop to number 4 and head back to the trailhead. The trail was great for the kiddos because they loved the rocks along the way. They even made a game of stepping on the rocks.

There were some big ones along the way to the boulder field that they enjoyed climbing and sliding down.

When we got to Devil's Half Acre Boulders the kiddos had more fun trying to climb the rocks. If you have kids, just make sure you watch them as it can be dangerous.

After hanging out at the boulders for a while, we thought we headed on a trail that we thought was going to number 4 on the map, but turned out we took the wrong trail and ended up doing just the loop around the boulders at C and headed back down. 

The kiddos led the way pretty much the whole time and had a blast. I think they especially had more fun because they had their friend J with them. :)

On the way down we turned off to get a little bit of hiking on the boardwalk. I like the boardwalks because it is just something a little different from other hikes and it makes for great pictures. 

Overall, the hike is great for all! We ended up doing only 1.76 miles (according to Runkeeper). The kiddos had lots of fun. I would say the highlights of the trail are the big rocks and boulders. The kiddos loved climbing them. I also liked the boardwalk, even though we went on a small amount, it makes the trail a little more interesting being slightly elevated. I should also mention that you need to watch out for poison ivy along the trail. There was lots that we spotted. When we got home, we made sure to shower and soap just in case we got any on us. It turned out we were ok.  Living in NJ we also always need to check for ticks. NJ is one of the states with the highest risk of Lyme disease, so always make sure to check after hiking or being outdoors.