Winter Group Hike at South Mountain's Fairy Trail

Finally, the famous Fairy Trail and the proverbial selfie at Hemlock Falls

Last year, we hosted a series of Trashmapping group hikes for Trashmap.org

The objective was volunteering to collect trash on popular trails.

Guess which trails had the most trash? NJ trails.

That sounds both obvious and funny, but actually, it shows just how much Jersey loves their outdoors and supports its outdoor economy

So it should come as no surprise that the Fairy Trail gets it's name from so many little fairy homes built from repurposed deadwood by local kids in collaboration with local schools and libraries. This represents the ultimate community park, where locals take care of their park for everyone's benefit.

Since South Mountain Reservation was an Olmstead project (yeah, same guy who designed NYC's Central Park), Millburn loves it as much as New Yorkers love their Central Park. And they use it just as much, too.

But unlike Central Park, it feels more like "the people's park" vs. "rich man's park". It even has its own NJ Transit station. NJ wants to give its residents more access to more of its natural resources. 

So despite NY state having more public lands open to outdoor recreation than it's neighbor, NJ wins at recognizing that the easier you make it for people to get to it, the better for everyone #everyoneiswelcome

I can't believe I'm going to say this, but F_ck Yeah, Jersey! Show 'em how it's done! 

Big shout out to fam who joined me on this trip. 

#youareloved 

GALLERY

DID YOU GO?