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The Pine Barrens, also known as the Pinelands, occupy 1.1 million acres which is 22% of New Jersey's land area. Wharton State Forest located in the Pine Barrens is the largest state forest in New Jersey. It is comprised of over 100,000 acres of land in 5 counties.
 
2Sweet and myself headed out, for a day of wheeling, to the town of Atsion which is located in Wharton State Forest in Burlington County. The once thriving village of Atsion used to be an iron-making town, as many towns were in the Pine Barrens. The forge and furnace were in active operation in 1770. During the American Revolution, Atsion forge produced iron materials for the Americans. In its heyday the town also a had grist mill, three sawmills, and a massive paper mill.
 
We began at the Atsion Range Station located about 10 miles south of Red Lion Circle which is the intersection of Route 70 and Route 206. The trail pictures below are southeast of the ranger station. The trails are very flat and I believe the highest point was about 40-50 feet above sea level. Many of the trails begin as unimproved sand roads and there are plenty of side trails. Some of the side runs get pretty narrow but no permanent damage, ie. custom pinstriping, was had. No permit is needed to drive on these trails as long as you do not make any new trails of your own. The water table in the Pine Barrens is very high. We went there on a day which followed 2 weeks of no rain and still found many large mud puddles. Overall we drove around 35+ miles off-road this trip and had a great time.