Bike Trails NJ. D&R Canal Trail
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Raw file: NJ D&R Canal Trail 3-15-15.gpx (690.95 KB)
My wife, brother and I are bicycle enthusiasts who enjoy riding the ever increasing number of rail / canal trails mostly in the Northeastern US. We also do volunteer work for NOAA by recovering US Coast & Geodetic Survey Benchmarks. We often combine these hobbies while trail riding.
Unlike geocaching, benchmark hunting serves a valuable purpose by providing NOAA with updates on the condition of their 700,000+ benchmarks across the Unites States. Information on Benchmarks is available here: http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/.
We have been riding these trails for over 10 years now and I decided to share some of the .GPX files I’ve created. Of the hundreds of trails available in this part of the country, I selected these for their quality, scenic beauty, lack of excessive grades or hazardous terrain and overall riding or hiking enjoyment. These files contain tracks for trails and waypoints for significant features such as road crossings, bike shops, campgrounds, points of interest and USCGS benchmarks along or near the trail.
These files were compiled using a variety of resources including:
Traillink’s website: www.traillink.com/
NOAA - http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/
Garmin’s Mapsource & Basecamp software
USCGS Topographic GPS Map Files. Available Legally at no cost for many States here:
http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/
Google Earth & Google Maps
Garmin’s Birds Eye Imagery
Camping Rivopom’s COMBINED US Campground POI file
Personal Knowledge
Various Internet & Print resources including:
New Jersey D.E.P website: http://www.state.nj.us/dep/parksandforests/parks/drcanal.htm...
Delaware and Raritan State Park website: http://www.dandrcanal.com/gen_info.html
TowpathGuy's Towpath Guide website: http://towpathguy.blogspot.com/
Traillink’s New Jersey D&R Canal Trail web page: http://www.traillink.com/trail/delaware-and-raritan-canal-st...
This file is the Delaware & Raritan Canal Trail which runs nearly 70 miles along the scenic Delaware, Millstone and Raritan Rivers in Central New Jersey. The well maintained, entirely off road, crushed stone trail passes through a mix of rural and suburban landscapes as well as the capital city of Trenton. Remnants of old canal structures and revolutionary war historic sites can be seen along the way. The trail is divided into two main sections. The “Feeder Canal” follows the banks of the Delaware River from Frenchtown to Trenton. The “Main Canal” parallels the Millstone and Raritan Rivers from Trenton to New Brunswick and once provided navigation from Delaware Bay to Raritan Bay.
Anyone interested in Benchmark hunting can obtain detailed data sheets for each mark by going here:
http://www.ngs.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/ds_pid.prl
The PID is the waypoint name symbolized by the color coded cube icons. Green= Recovered within the last 10 years. Blue= No recent recovery but set in a massive structure which still exists. Red= Likely missing or reported destroyed.
Be aware that the GPS coordinates provided in this file for benchmarks are scaled and can be off by as much as 600 feet. In most cases, the specific detailed information provided on the data sheets is necessary to locate the benchmark. The on line data sheets are easily converted into .PDF files and can be stored on most smartphones.
Free, legal, 24K and 100K topo map downloads for the states with these trails are available here: http://www.gpsfiledepot.com/
Segments of these maps covering the above trails can be loaded into many older handheld GPS receivers with limited memory by using Garmin’s Mapinstall program available here:
http://www8.garmin.com/support/download_details.jsp?id=3291
I’ll post more trail files as I update and clean them up. I always enjoy conversing with fellow bike trail enthusiasts so please feel free to contact me with comments, questions, inclusions or revisions. – Enjoy!
*** Update Information ***
3/15/15 – Added 165 waypoints.
Updated parking area locations and Information.
Adjusted track alignment for entire trail.
Updated website links and title page information.
POI Packages
Change History
charlesd45 - Mar 17, 2015
WAV