LOCATION
PHYSICAL LOCATION: 326 NEWPORT ROAD, GLEN GARDNER, NJ 08826
Location: Miquin Woods is located on Newport Road in Lebanon Township. The park is open from sunrise to sunset. No restroom facilities are available.
Directions from the Clinton Area: Take Route 31 north to the Boro of Glen Gardner. At the traffic light for Sanitarium Road, turn right onto Sanitarium Road and make the immediate left onto Main Street. Proceed on Main Street a short distance and turn right onto Hill Road (Rte 628). Stay with Rte 628 for about 3.5 miles and turn left onto Red Mill Road. In about 1.5 miles, turn right onto Newport Road. The park entrance will be on the right in about 3/4 of a mile.
Directions from the Califon Area: Take Route 513 south to Bunnvale and the junction with Rte 628. Turn right onto Rte 628 and proceed to past the Woodglen School. At the stop sign turn left and then right on to Red Mill Road. Than proceed as above.
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ABOUT MINQUIN WOODS
Long-time residents of Lebanon Township may remember Miquin Woods as Camp Watchung, a summer camp for the Boy Scouts of America. The Boy Scouts established the camp in 1928 for the Watchung Area Council, which comprised of the scout troops of Union and Somerset Counties, and Piscataway Township in Middlesex County. During its time as a Boy Scout Camp, about 1,300 scouts and scouters a year were exposed to fishing, nature, crafts, camping, and other related topics. The camp operated for 53 years before closing in 1981.
The property was sold by the Boy Scouts in 1989 to a housing development company. Due to financial difficulties and environmental constraints, this project ended and the company dissolved in 2003. The County was able to acquire the property, a total of 302 acres, the same year. The word "Miquin" is the Lenni Lenape word for "feather" and is a tribute to the scouting heritage of the property because the feather was the symbol for the Boy Scouts Order of the Arrow Lodge, which was located within Camp Watchung.
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TRAIL MAP
NOTE: Trail Guides are set up as foldable brochures. Please print and fold in half vertically to view in proper order. Additionally, you may have to rearrange pages. Maps should be printed on Legal Size Paper
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RECREATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Much of the trail system of Miquin Woods consists of the old trails created during the days of Camp Watchung. Many of the trails are several feet wide and are very easy to hike. Biking and horseback riding are possible on
most of the trail system. During the winter
some of these trails can be used for crosscountry
skiing. Bouldering is not permitted
within this park.
HUNTING: In order to control the deer population, hunting is allowed (by Parks Department permit only) in some sections of this park. Please wear blaze orange during hunting season or confine your visits to Sundays. See additional information on the Hunterdon County Park System Controlled Hunting Program.
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HABITAT
Miquin Woods is bisected by the Spruce Run. This creek is one of the main tributaries of the
Spruce Run Reservoir, which provides clean
water to four different counties. The creek also
feeds a small pond on the property. Together,
the creek and pond provide shelter to several
kinds of amphibians and reptiles. The pond also
supports Largemouth Bass and sunfish.
Two small
meadows exist
within the park
and provide a
mixture of
grassland and
forest-edge
habitat. Field and
Song Sparrows, Red-tailed
Hawks, and other
mixed habitat
species can be
seen. Within the
forest areas, one
can search for
several species of
woodpeckers,
Red-breasted
Grosbeaks,
Scarlet Tanagers, and
migratory warblers.
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