Road Trip Across New Jersey
Driving from Great Barrington, MA to Cape May, NJ | Stephens State Park | Waterloo Village Historic Site | Morristown National Historic Site | Belle Plain State Park | May 2025
After our weekend in the Berkshires with family, it was time to leave the Northeast and make our way to the Southeast. We had 6 days to make the drive to North Carolina, and we decided to finally take the coastal route road trip that we had planned almost 2 years ago. It wasn’t supposed to be too hot, it wasn’t quite the summer busy season yet, and we had enough places that we wanted to see that could fill the 6 days while also not having to drive too much every day.
We took Charlie on one last walk, then said our goodbyes and got on the road. We drove into New York and took the Taconic State Parkway South to I-84, West to I-87, and South into New Jersey. While doing so, we managed to enter Rockland County, NY, which leaves only 3 counties in the state – one borough of NYC and the two that make up Long Island.
Once we entered New Jersey, we took I-287 to I-80, and made our way to Stephens State Park. NJ is sort of notorious for not being very Vanlife friendly, so for our two nights camping in the state we were planning on camping in different state parks. When we arrived, we decided to start off in the picnic area and check out some trails before heading over to the campground. We parked, then began following the trail along the Musconetcong River to find a place for lunch. After we ate, we continued on the trail, making a loop around — not entirely exciting, but we did see a blue heron in the river.
Next, we decided to make our way over to the campground. We didn’t have reservations because reserving online in advance requires you to book a minimum of 2 nights, but we called ahead and were told that if we waited until the day of, we could reserve for just one night. We knew from checking online that they had several openings, so we claimed one of them and then attempted to pay for the spot. It turned out that the website didn’t allow us to book for one night (or at all because it was the same day), so Curtis tried calling and walking to the visitor center, but no one was there so he got no response from either. We started to debate whether to just stay anyway and have cash ready should anyone come by, or to try to find another spot. While walking Charlotte around the campground, I had started to become unimpressed with the campground — there wasn’t a lot of room, and it was pretty close to a busy road.
Since it was still early afternoon, we decided that we should at least do something more to fill the day, and maybe we’d come across a better camping option. Curtis recalled passing a historic site on our way, so we drove a few miles North to Waterloo Village Historic Site to kill some more time. This is the reconstruction of a 19th century town about half way along the Morris Canal, which connected the Hudson and Delaware Rivers. Since there were no events going on, it was free for us to visit, and there was hardly anyone else here. It turned out to be a lovely place for a walk: we started out following the canal, passing by several historic buildings and houses, then crossed the canal, admiring some small waterfalls, then came back through the center of the village. As we were nearing the end of our walk, we came across a pen with alpacas who were very interested in Charlotte — naturally, she couldn’t care less.
When we returned to the parking lot, Charlie found a nice place to lie down and take a nap. Curtis noticed that there was a nearby trail he wanted to hike, so he prepared for another hike while I sat with Char. He set off on foot, then texted me shortly after that the trailhead was unmarked, away from the road and had no ‘no overnight parking’ signs, so there was a chance we could get away with boondocking here. I waited until Char woke up and was ready to move on, then drove across the road to get a feel for this spot.
Curtis: My hike was to a minor summit overlooking the historic village aptly named Waterloo Mountain. Mostly, I just wanted a hike along an established trail with promises of a view. And this hike offered that well enough. I followed the Highlands Trail – a long distance path through the ‘Highlands’ of NJ. About a mile in I was greeted with a rocky outcrop with views of the valley below. A quick bushwhack to the true summit, and then I was back down the trail where I met Jess, Charlie, and the van.
After much online searching for city ordinances and park rules, we came to the conclusion that we could probably get away with staying here, and so we did. I can’t say I had the best night of sleep as there was still a part of my mind that wondered if we’d get in trouble, but we made it through the night with no knocks and no one even entering the parking area.
Our plan for the next day was to drive all the way to Southern New Jersey, getting as many new counties as we could. We knew going into the day that it wouldn’t be fun, but that it would be satisfying once we could fill in all those missing counties on the map and not have a reason to make this drive again. The morning started with going out of the way to tag a county, then we made our way to our main attraction for the day, Morristown National Historic Site.
Unfortunately every single park office for this park was closed today, so we would not be getting the full park experience. But it was still worth it to us to visit, so we drove to the Jockey Hollow unit and went for our morning walk here. Jockey Hollow (and other parts of Morristown) mark the winter quarters of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Notably, it was the winter quarters during the ‘Hard Winter’ of 1779-1780, argued to be the coldest winter on record. But the Army persevered, with a surprisingly low loss of life. We walked around the Wick House and gardens, reading the signs along the way and making the most of our short visit.
When we were ready to move on, we went on a short driving tour of the park, then got back on the road. Within a half hour, it started to rain, and the rain didn’t let up until the next morning. And so today was spent driving state highways, zigzagging our way South claiming as many counties as we could in the pouring rain. It wasn’t that enjoyable and we didn’t see anything that makes us want to return, but the important thing is that we did it and now we don’t have to return to most of the state — after this road trip, we now only have 3 counties that are adjacent to NYC and can hopefully be claimed via public transportation next time we’re there, and a couple that are East of Wilmington DE that we have plans to visit later.
We finally made it to our chosen campground for tonight in Belle Plain State Forest. We were actually able to reserve a spot for one night, though they threw so many fees at us that it hardly seemed worth the cost, especially because it rained the entire time and we were mostly confined to the van, except for a few short Charlie walks.
