The Can’t-Miss New Jersey Hike for Every Nature Lover’s Bucket List

My outdoor bucket list includes a lot of nature preserves, most of which feature beautiful scenery, quiet trails, and the chance to get a little closer to local wildlife. Sometimes nature is just what we need to break up our day or week. As a writer, I’ve found that nature preserves also promise inspiration that fuels my creativity. If you’ve got a bucket list, add this can’t-miss nature hike in New Jersey, an idyllic way to spend an hour or two in any season.

Pack a picnic for your visit to Garrett Family Preserve in Cape May, a 180-acre natural wonder that features such beauty as a saltwater tidal marsh and scores of wildflowers in season. Plenty of manmade surprises, including bird blinds and artists’ easels, also await when you follow the Garrett Family Perimeter Trail, the perfect way to get to know the preserve if this is your first visit.

The Garrett Family Preserve is (leashed) dog-friendly only during the off-season from Nov. 1 through March 31 and is open during the day no matter what time of the year you visit. Ample spots, including ADA-accessible, for vehicles and bikes are available in the parking lot, near where you’ll find one of several kiosks with information about the preserve. Bring plenty of water and snacks since there is not a water fountain nor are there trash cans, so take out what you’ve brought in.

Kick off your adventure with a stroll along the Garrett Family Perimeter Trail, an easy, kid-friendly hike that tallies 1.4 miles. The predominately flat trail is stroller-friendly, so you can even bring along the littlest ones. Picnic tables and benches are scattered throughout the preserve, ensuring you can take a breather when you need one.

Stroll under canopies of trees, by railroad tracks, and past meadows of native seasonal wildflowers, which provide nutrition for the butterflies and bumblebees that call the preserve home. As you pass black cherry and flowering dogwood trees, you might even see fruit hanging down from other tree species if you visit in the right season.

If you’re an artist or an artist at heart, bring a canvas and your colored pencils or paint, grab an easel, and let nature set your imagination on fire. Three easels are dotted throughout the nature preserve, making it easy to create. Then pose for photos in front of the monarch butterfly statue.

Every season brings a different beauty to the preserve. Wildflowers tend to bloom between May and July. Raptor migration is at its busiest during the second week in October, and the marshes of Cape Island Creek are busy with northern harriers, a beautiful bird of prey, in the winter.

Find more information on the Garrett Family Preserve on the official website of The Nature Conservancy.

Do you have a favorite can’t-miss nature hike in New Jersey? Tell us about it by filling out this nomination form. After your hike, keep your adventure going by exploring more of Cape May, one of the best small towns in New Jersey, especially for solo travelers. Turn that day trip into a quick getaway by booking a local Vrbo.