Herping spots in the NJ pine barrens?
 

Hello. I was just wondering if anyone knew any good herping spots in the New Jersey pine barrens. Is Wharton state forest good for herping?

Batsto Village in the southern corner of Wharton is great for fence lizards. Theres a wooden fence along the road on the western side of the village, always see them there. I also like Brendan T. Byrne State Forest. There's all kind of stuff in the Pakim Pond area, like fence lizards, skinks, frogs, ect. Depending on how far south your thinking of going, Lizard Tail-Swamp Preserve is neat although your almost down by the cape may peninsula. I always see eastern toads, fence lizards, 5-line skinks, and at least one Box Turtle.

When I used to live in Maryland, I loved going up to the New Jersey Pine Barrens and spending a day looking for stuff. I commonly found coastal plains milk snakes and northern pine snakes, and the occasional corns, and eastern kings. I used to have maps with spots marked out, but that was something like 25 to 30 years ago now. Even if haven't thrown those maps out, I'm not even sure the spots even exist any longer.

I would actually love to go back there for nothing more than to look at the insectivorous plants in the bogs. Used to be areas that were the ground was just covered with the thread sundews.

It's definitely an interesting place. But make sure you have your GPS with you. It's very easy to get turned around on those nameless roads that snake off in every direction. And 4 wheel drive is pretty handy to have too. Some of those sandy roads during dry seasons can be pretty challenging without it. And during the wetter seasons, you will have a fair number of water crossings you will have to deal with.

Ah, them's was the days....