Hiking the Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve, isn’t something I’d ever put on my bucket list, but it was a great way to get in a quick hike while vacationing near Cape May County, New Jersey.
The entrance is easy to miss, the parking is almost non-existent, and there are only two trails, but I’d still recommend hiking here.
What I Liked About The Lizard Tail Swamp Trails
Trail Maintenance – According to the signs at the front of the trail head, Exelon and the Nature Conservancy work together to help pay for and maintain the Lizard Tail trails.
The trails are really well marked and very clean. I walked both trails in their entirety in the heart of summer and didn’t see one piece of trash on the trails.
This being said, I think part of this may be due to the fact that the trails don’t seem to be used very often. Parts of the trail looked like they hadn’t been walked on in a while and I think I may have walked through 100 spider webs while on the trail.
Solitude – The plus side to all of this was I really felt like I was deep in the forest without actually having to walk deep into the forest.
In fact, when the trail looped around and I ended up back at the parking lot, I was kind of surprised.
Just ten minutes before I was thinking how lucky I was that the trails were marked so well, because if they weren’t I felt like I could easily have gotten lost back there.
Here are some views from the trail. Notice, you don’t see anything but forest.
Difficulty – These trails are very easy to navigate. The entire trail is basically flat and you won’t find anything to climb up or even really to step over. If you can walk down a typical city sidewalk, you can probably walk through the Lizard Tail Swamp trails.
Lizard Tail Swamp Preserve Trail Summary
Location – New Jersey
Zip Code – 08210
Parking – Steps away from the trail, but less than 5 marked spaces.
Parking Address –
460 Court House-South Dennis Road
Cape May Court House, New Jersey 08210
Number of Trails – 2
Trail Names – Blue Trail, Yellow Trail
Length – 3 miles
Difficulty – Easy
Trail Map – https://www.nature.org/media/newjersey/liz_tail_trails_july09.pdf
Trail Photos on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/p/BYjmsHIg6gN/?taken-by=carandtent
Trail Photos on Pinterest –