"Hiking the Jersey Highlands: Wilderness in Your Back Yard" 2007, 1st Edition Is Here!

May 25, 2007
Amber Ray
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference

Title

"Hiking the Jersey Highlands: Wilderness in Your Back Yard" 2007, 1st Edition Is Here!
Hiking the Jersey Highlands Book Cover

Body

A illustrated guide to 35 hikes in the Highlands of New Jersey, with a trail map for each hike, introductory chapters on Highlands history and preservation, geology, plants, and wildlife, and a special 16-page insert of color photos of wildflowers seen along the trails. The hikes are graded from starter hikes for beginners to challenges for experienced hikers. The author, George Petty, is a long-time Highlands resident and a NY-NJ TC trail maintainer. 419 pages.

About the Book

Hiking the Jersey Highlands: Wilderness in Your Back Yard, 2007 1st Edition
George Petty
List price: $22.95 ISBN 978-1-880775-49-3
New York-New Jersey Trail Conference (November 2007)


All of the hikes listed in this recent guide have been walked by the author and field checked/reviewed by NYNJ Trail Conference members and Trails Chairs of the NJ Highlands areas where the trails are found. Hiking the Jersey Highlandshas more than 300 pages of 35 hikes, each with background info, easy-to-follow detailed directions, and a map. These hikes are sequentially listed by length (mileage), difficulty, and estimated time required. An extensive final section closely covers the Highlands Trail as it travels through New Jersey. The 16-page insert of color wildflower photographs and introductory descriptive chapters on the history, geology, birds and other wildlife that one might encounter, greatly enhance the Highlands hiking experience, especially for hikers who tune into their natural surroundings!

At a Glance

  • Look inside a sample chapter
  • 16-page color photo insert of wildflowers found in the Jersey Highlands 
  • Information about parks, preserves, sanctuaries, protected open space, and their trails
  • Maps and photographs
  • Chapters on local geology, habitats, flora and fauna
  • Driving directions
  • Park contact information and index

About the Author

George Petty has roots a century old and four generations deep in the Jersey Highlands. He learned about Highlands birds and wildflowers from his grandmother, and his children grew up roaming Highlands ridges and hollows. In his working life he has been an aviation mechanic, a flight engineer, a union president, a newspaper reporter, a college teacher, and a poet. Now a Professor Emeritus of English at Montclair State University, he has served as a trail maintainer and as Publications Committee Chair for the New York - New Jersey Trail Conference. He is an Associate Naturalist at the Weis Ecology Center of the New Jersey Audubon Society, leading spring and fall wildflower hikes. Although his work has taken him all over the world, he has always returned to the Jersey Highlands, where he makes his home today.

About the Trail Conference

The New York-New Jersey Trail Conference is a volunteer organization dedicated to creating, protecting and promoting the nation's finest network of foot trails in a major metropolitan area. The Trail Conference is a coalition of 100 clubs and 10,000 individual members that maintains over 2,000 miles of trails in New York and New Jersey. Its website, www.nynjtc.org, and its hiking books and trail maps provide detailed information that enable hikers to enjoy some of the most remarkable trails in the country.