Bob and Mark's bike trails in Princeton

Routes on pavement in town

Mostly on quiet streets. In the few cases where the trail involves a busy street
such as Rte 206 or Princeton Pike (Mercer St.) use the sidewalk.

1. Bob MacPherson's safe route from IAS to the middle school with pedestrian lights at each intersection.
Don't let your kids ride their bike through downtown Princeton:
the streets are dangerous and you can't ride on the sidewalk.
Use our secret route.

2.   A quiet route to Carnegie Lake along city streets.
Good when there is too much rain or mud to use the tow path.
About 4 miles each way.

3. Trail to Ettl Farm, ETS, Carson Road Woods, and Mercer Meadows: Trail to Mercer Meadows
The whole thing is about 10 miles each way
and many options in ETS and in Carson Road Woods.
Mercer Meadow connects to a large park system including the AT&T "pole farm" and Rosedale Park.

4. Twelve mile loop; passes over a nice bridge on the Stony Brook
12 mile loop
I like coming back through the Princeton Univ. parking garage ramp.

5. Fifteen mile loop, a bit hilly: 15 mile loop with hills

Routes involving the tow path

1. Two Beer Loop. This loop crosses Rte 1 near Princeton Forrestal campus: Two Beer Loop

First beer at "Tre Piani", a bar/restaurant that closed down about a year before the pandemic hit.
(But you can still get a first beer at the bar in the Westin Hotel in Forrestal Village.)
Second beer at the Princeton Marriott at Forrestal Hotel hotel bar.
(We never had two beers anyway.)

2. Delaware and Raritan Canal is a tremendous resource.

Go Northeast from Princeton as far as New Brunswick.
Or go Southwest to Trenton; then follow the Delaware river (on either side) North to Easton;
then follow the Lehigh River West to Bethlehem for a total of 80 miles.
We usually put the bikes on the car, here are some favorite parking spots:   Parking map
There are many options for loops along the Delaware, one leg on the NJ side, return leg on the PA side.

3. Another great path in Princeton is the Lawrence-Hopewell Trail (LHT)   http://lhtrail.org/

It is about 20 miles if you do the whole thing, plus however long it takes you to get to the trail and to return.
A convenient access point leaves from the canal in Princeton (see the map on their home page).


A little further away

You can drive or bike to the starting point.

1. The coppermine loop: A great hill climb if you like hills. Kingston to Coppermine

2. Rosedale Park to the Watershed Rosedale Park to Watershed
Follows the LHT. Return by same route. Don't forget the many trails in Rosedale Park and the Pole Farm.

3. The Pole Farm Pole Farm
Mercer Meadows and the Pole farm provide a huge area of bike trails.
AT&T had arrays of enormous 120 ft radio towers for international telephone calls, 1928-1970.
There is a great map of these arrays etched on the ground tiles at the station.

4. Aunt Molly Road and St. Michael's (to be completed)

The Delaware Loops

There are now six (!) loops along the Delaware River
that involve the tow path on either side, the last two
are the result of the spectacular bike bridge alongside the
I-295 Scudders Mill Bridge crossing that opened, after 5 years
of construction, in November 2021.

Map of Delaware Loops


Delaware Loops Main site