MAURICE RIVER NATURE AREA, VINELAND 114 County Road 671, Millville, NJ 08332

"This is a nice little hole in the wall trail that can be so easily missed. There are only a few small posted signs on a tree. On either side there are a lot of other signs for private property, so be mindful. It’s probably frowned upon to drive your car down the trail even though it’s wide enough. Even if you did, your car would end up a mobile hotel for a thousand different kind of bugs, and you’d end up being their complementary breakfast. I have been here twice at different times of the year and have yet to see any cool wildlife. No deer, no squirrels, no snakes, no birds. There are plenty of bugs though. And mushrooms! I don’t know anything about foraging mushrooms, but anyone who does might get something out of this trail. I also haven’t yet seen the end of a path. While the paths are generally flat and easy in that regard, there are large mud pits or flooded areas, or the path is getting overrun with brush (probably because hardly anyone comes through). There is some evidence of some people and the reason for 4 stars is the amount of litter, especially at the start. It’s clear this is a dumping ground for the redneck man to lose random pieces of car, construction clothes, and offload his empty bottles of Fireball whiskey, especially nearer the road. Someone back here has been hard at work and made something of a bushcraft living room complete with a chair, a rake, walls, all made from resources from the immediate area. There is even a very poor attempt at a Dakota fire pit. I don’t know why anyone would put so much effort to setting up a camp at this location because it’s way too close to civilization (a road, foot traffic), it’s probably illegal, and there is no sustaining resources like running water. This probably explains why there is no wildlife to see near here which is disappointing."