Hey! Why is this huge area of woods off of Routes 18 and 9 NOT DEVELOPED?!? Because it's in the PINE BARRENS!

Well, not the actual The Pine Barrens, but a weird island not connected with the main Pine Barrens. Only pine trees grow here due to the sandy and swampy conditions.  The best view of the Spotswood Outlier is from Route 18. You probably noticed it at some point on the this road in between Route 9 and Old Bridge.

The Spotswood Outlier is a Pine forest running from Jamesburg northeast to Sayreville. This band, or island, of Pine Barrens looks just like the main Pine Barrens located many miles to the southeast in Monmouth County; sand is underneath your feet, the land is flat. There is a Native Pitch Pine forest, consisting of Pitch pine, Pinus rigida, just like in the Pine Barrens.

<The yellow area here depicts the main Pine Barrens

But why is it here? Because of geology. See the band of green with dots marked "RS" on the above map? That is Raritan Sands. The limits exactly match the extent of the Spotswood Outlier. In these sands, the normally fertile Inner Coastal Plain soil is not present. Here, the soil is sandy, acidic and does not drain well. That is why settlers left this land basically untouched and moved on to better areas to farm and build. So thank the Pine Barrens for this wonderful forest which is now a Park (John A. Phillips Park) and which will not have much future development due to these poor building conditions. 

To log this Earth cache, send me the answers to the following questions:

1. Brush the pine needles away under your feet and scrape down to the dirt. What color is the sandy soil underneath? 

2. Do you think you are on the Outer Coastal Plain or the Inner Coastal Plain?

3. About how many miles do you think you are from the "main" Pine Barrens to the southeast?

4. What is an "outlier" and explain in your own words why this area is called an Outlier.

5. Provide a photo of yourself or of your favorite Geocaching item with a Pitch pine tree :)

For further reading:

A Field Guide to the Pine Barrens of New Jersey. Howard P. Boyd, 1991. Plexus Publishing.

Pine Barrens- Ecosystem and Landscape. Richard T.T. Forman, 1979. Academic Press.

Vegetation of New Jersey. Beryl Robichaud and Murray F. Buell, 1983. Rutgers University Press.

Soil Survey of Middlesex County New Jersey. United States Department of Agriculture; Soil Conservation Service, 1987.