Take a hike!

Now that the stockings are empty and the bellies are full, it's time to find a good winter hike as a postholiday gift to yourself.

No matter the economy, fresh air is abundant and free. There are plenty of places, too, to find nature at its best during winter. You might discover a bit of little-known history on your way as well.

Bill Poulson loves to lead winter hikes as a volunteer for the Outdoor Club of South Jersey. The 68-year-old retired Cigna executive from Marlton recommends an easy, flat hike along the Cooper River in Camden County.

Most often, Poulson starts his walks at the Yacht Club on the Collingswood side of the river on Park Drive and then winds around the river to the Pennsauken/Cherry Hill side, past the new Cooper River Boathouse. Sometimes, even in the winter, scullers will ply the river, a nationally known site where collegiate crew championships and even Olympic trials are held regularly.

After a few miles in open spaces, the trail crosses Grove Street in Haddonfield and moves along a wooded path in Cherry Hill for about two miles. Poulson recommends a rest-and-picnic stop at the tables where the path comes up against Kings Highway. A loop retracing the course will be about nine miles and should take about three hours, depending on the picnic-stop time.

"Winter hiking is a way to get us outdoors and keep us moving and enjoying the company of friends along the way," Poulson said. "No matter how cold it gets, the woods beat down the wind, so that is never a problem. You can always get comfortable in the winter with proper clothing, so it is often even better than summer hiking, where you can only take off so many clothes. No need to sit at home when there is something so pleasurable to do."

In 1942, although the United States had not officially fought in Europe, the government opened a prisoner-of-war camp for German soldiers in what was then remote Salem County, N.J. After that, the cabins there were used as a haven for Japanese Americans who had been interned during the war on the West Coast, some of whom ended up finding homes in Salem and nearby Cumberland County. In 1952, several groups of Tatars, seeking political asylum from the Stalin regime in Russia, settled there as well.

Originally, Parvin was meant to be a haven for naturalists. Soon after the land was purchased by the State of New Jersey during the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps hacked trails through the dense woods and put up cabins for campers.

Today, an easy five-mile trail winds through the park, starting at Parvin Lake and going through areas of holly trees and mountain laurel. There are small plank bridges and even mile markers left over from the CCC construction.

Parvin is actually better walked in the winter, since this part of New Jersey is renowned for its tick population, which is dormant in the winter months.

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the magnificent men and women of the flight game were the world's rock stars. Aviators such as Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, and Wiley Post were as lauded as baller LeBron James or singer Taylor Swift. The Mexican Lindbergh was Emilio Carranza, who in June 1928, at age 23, was greeted in New York and Washington with speeches and parades for his derring-do. On the way back home to Mexico City in his monoplane, though, he tried to make it through a thunderstorm and ended up crashing in the Pine Barrens.

The American Legion put up a memorial to him in remote Tabernacle, in the Wharton State Forest. The surrounding parkland through the pines has a wonderful trail that, in part, leads through the highest elevation there - Apple Pie Hill, 205 feet above sea level. The suggested trail is about a three- to-four-hour walk, perhaps eight miles. It starts at the memorial, about seven miles from Tabernacle.

There are lots of pines and bushberries, and you will cross the Batsto River. Note its tea-colored waters, typical of the cedars that grow in the wetlands of the Pine Barrens and whose residue ends up in the river - it is not pollution, but natural.

Mill Grove was the first home of naturalist John James Audubon, the painter/author of The Birds of America, still the seminal guide for serious birders; a copy of the book recently sold for more than $11 million. Audubon is the inspiration for the National Audubon Society, a major nature group. Surrounding the 18th-century home are 175 acres of rolling, walkable Montgomery County preserved land.

The walk is short - about two miles - and passes through a lot of wildflowers, dogwoods, sumac, and rose bushes. Songbirds warble, even in winter. No pets are allowed, and there is no facility for picnicking, but the home is usually open for tours, Tuesdays through Saturdays 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Sundays 1-4 p.m.

Hard by Philadelphia International Airport is a gem of a hike, about 8.2 miles, through the national refuge named for Sen. John Heinz, an advocate of natural preservation who died in a helicopter-plane crash in Lower Merion.

The hike starts in Southwest Philadelphia, at 84th Street and Bartram Avenue, and goes through marshland, with stops available at a central viewing platform along the bog. This walk is for the birds - or at least the birders. With luck, there may be an eagle, but there will certainly be egrets, swallows, blackbirds, and an assortment of turtles, frogs, and snakes as well. Pets are welcome if they are leashed.

Broad Street has often been said to be the longest straight street in any city in America, though Bruce Buschel claims that isn't true - that there is something longer in Chicago. Buschel should know, since he wrote the book Walking Broad (Simon & Schuster, 2007), for which he walked the length of Broad Street to discover his own, and the city's, history.

Walking Broad Street, in whole (about 13 miles from Cheltenham to the Navy Yard) or in part, is indeed a good way to get a feel for the immensity of cultures and experiences of the city. From Oak Lane to North Philadelphia to Center City to South Philadelphia, you pass through commercial, residential, school, governmental, arts, and eating districts of all sorts.

Plus, if you get tired, there is always the Broad Street Subway and the C bus along the trail to spell the trip.