Julian Bender spent most of his weekends in the spring and summer of 2024 dedicated to one project: creating a bikepacking route through the Pine Barrens. He mapped out campgrounds and sites of natural and historical interest. He rode drafted routes, ruling out options that weren’t suitable for bikes due to flooding or overly soft terrain.
He named what he came up with the Jersey Devil Hunt, an homage to the Garden State’s famed cryptid. It stretches 170.5 miles through the expansive South Jersey wilderness, from Trenton to Atlantic City. Both endpoints and various stops along the way are accessible by transit serving Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station.
“I knew that I wanted it to be connected to transit, because that’s how I would always get out there,” he says. “How can you cross the whole Pine Barrens? Well, you start at Trenton — there’s a train station there — and finish in Atlantic City — there’s a train station there. They both connect back to 30th Street. That just seemed like the natural beginning and end points.”
Bikepacking, as Bender explains it, is self-supported travel for more than one consecutive day using a bicycle. It’s essentially backpacking, but using a bike rather than traveling on foot. Bender’s longest bikepacking trip was a three-month, cross-country journey to Oregon.
He first ventured through the Pine Barrens on an exploratory bike trek with a friend more than 15 years ago after seeing the green space on the map and wondering if they could ride there from South Philly.
I can’t believe this is 25 miles from Philly. This is a whole different landscape.”
— Julian Bender, creator, Jersey Devil Hunt
“We had gotten to the edge of the woods, and we were way out there in the sticks,” he recalls. “It’s like, I can’t believe this is 25 miles from Philly. This is a whole different landscape.”
The Jersey Devil Hunt isn’t an event, nor does Bender host group rides along the route. It can be a solo trip, but those looking to share the ride can solicit partners in dedicated Facebook and WhatsApp groups that Bender monitors.
Bender says riders should have a basic understanding of their bike and its maintenance and know what supplies and food they’d need to pack for an overnight, energy-intensive ride.
But he says it’s a good start for people looking to try the hobby, and he encourages breaking the route into smaller segments for day trips to get the hang of the landscape and distance riding. Bender has compiled a comprehensive guide on his website, jerseydevilhunt.com, with itineraries for trips of various lengths, noting that peak seasons are April to May and September to early November to avoid mosquitoes and sweltering heat.
There aren’t rules for which direction riders must go, but Bender recommends heading southbound from Trenton so that the final leg of the journey is along the beach, which he thinks is a perfect conclusion to the long ride.
“Getting a funnel cake on the boardwalk in Atlantic City at the end is always kind of an iconic thing to do,” he says.
