The best camping near Great Egg Harbor River

Floating on a canoe or kayak through New Jersey's Pine Barrens lets you enjoy the wild and scenic beauty of this untamed land. Sometimes, it's hard to imagine that this place sits in between two of America's largest metro areas. The Great Egg Harbor system gives you many ways to enjoy the water at a slow, leisurely pace.

The waterway starts small and gradually widens thanks to 17 rivers that empty into it. Over the course of the Great Egg Harbor River's 129-mile run through southern New Jersey, you'll see marshes, swamps, wetlands, and thick pine forests. There's plenty of room for boats. Fish, paddle, view wildlife, look for migratory birds, or camp along the way.

Every fall in Cape May, hawks migrate to the area to find food. Tall trees along the river make excellent homes for the birds, and they serve as good roosts to look for food. If you feel like you're being watched, it's probably a hawk keeping an eye out for a meal from their high perches. Warblers and other migratory birds fly through the river in spring and fall in between their seasonal roosts. This coastal area is a great spot for birding.

When you reach the harbor, you can choose to keep going to beaches of the Atlantic if you're on a summer vacation. Thanks to the many townships in the area, you can make your getaway as long or as short as you like.