Jenny Jump State Forest

Yesterday, I was a slacker.  I didn't run or do anything at all.  I had to run today.  Figuring out where to go was another story.

I didn't work, so I headed out early in the afternoon.  I planned on going to the AT, about an hour and a half away in New Jersey.  Before I got into NJ, I hit a big snowstorm.  I didn't want to get trapped by the snow, so I started to head to the nearby part of the AT.  As I headed north, it cleared and was sunny again.  It was just a band of snow.  I decided to go into New Jersey, but not as far as originally planned.

I went to the Jenny Jump State Forest, just off of Route 80.  I was glad there were signs because I didn't know how to find it.  I was also glad that they had an office with a park map.  I had no idea where I was.

I parked near the office and ran the main train, The Jenny Jump Trail.  It started across from the main office.  The trail goes 6 miles, but I planned to only run 3 miles each way.  It was blue blazed and easy to follow in the beginning.

I wore a light weight long sleeve shirt with my fleece vest.  I had gloves and a headband.  I also wore tights.  It was kind of warm, over the freezing mark, but also quite windy.  The sun was setting too.

The trail was a blast in the first mile.  It was a fun singletrack.  There were some neat, old stone walls.  There was a little up and down, but not too much.

There were a couple views that I had to run to.  They had views of the DWG and the ridge that the AT runs along.  The first one kind of sucked, as it was blocked some by the trees.  It's probably not much of a view in the summer.  The second one wasn't great, but it was a little more open.

The trail was covered in a layer of snow.  It was mostly crunchy snow.  At times, the trail was a bit icy, but I had no trouble.  I ran without my MICROspikes and it worked out just fine.

The climb to the views was slightly tough in the snow.  I was able to run it though.  After some of the views, the trail got to be a mess.  It was overgrown a bit with sticker bushes.  Sometimes finding the trail was even tough.  It was disappointing. 

I wanted to run out to 3 miles, but I wasn't enjoying the trail conditions and I figured it might get worse.  The trail started going downhill too and I didn't want to do that.  I turned around early at 2.25 miles.

Going back wasn't bad and it was more downhill.  This trail was nice to run on for almost two miles.  It would've been better if it was longer and more clear.  Near the end, I saw a split in the trail.  I took the white trail, instead of the blue.  It went around a frozen pond and added some distance to the run.

I went out to the road and headed back.  This worked out well.  I got back to my car at mile 5.  I could've stopped there, but I wanted some more.  I parked across from the Orchard Trail.

I ran on the Orchard Trail.  That was through a nice pine forest at first.  Then, it went behind some houses and had a good view of the mountains.  I saw some turkeys and tried to take a photo, but it didn't come out so well.  Around 5.5 miles, I turned and headed back.  I finished up with 6 miles.

This was an okay run for a Friday.  I was just disappointed that the trail isn't more well maintained.  It is the main forest trail.  They have camping and a park office.  I would've figured that they would do more to maintain it.  It does make me appreciate well maintained trails.

Tomorrow, I'm hoping for a real quality run.  I'd love to run 2 of the 10 mile loops at Trexler.  I'm hopeful that some of our warmer weather made it less icy.  I'll give at least one loop a go regardless.

6 miles - 1:11:08 (11:51 pace) 734 feet of elevation gain