Paulinskill Valley Rail Trail

Three tracks-​to-​trails efforts converge in this area near Lafayette to form a loop. A fellow hiker attested to a four mile loop, but the LNE’s location is not clear on Google and Manda R. had trouble finding it. We did a shorter out-​and-​back on the Paulinskill, heading west from Warbasse Junction. The trail was flat and made up of a fine, gravely soil. Since it hasn’t accommodated a train since the 1960s, it’s pretty well shaded. It cuts through rock formations and local fields. We saw runners, hikers, and horseback riders.

This review is for the Warbasse Junction– Lafayette, NJ section of the Paulinskill Valley Trail. The Parking lot has a solar powered bathroom shack and map of the trail. This area is actually part of a loop of trails– the Paulinskill Valley Trail (PVT), the Sussex Branch Trail (SBT) & Former LNE Trail. The Sussex Branch is located across the street but the third trail (LNE) was not to be found. Too bad the trail is not marked better. We tried to do the loop which would have included all 3 trails but we weren’t able to find the LNE trail, so we biked back and forth on the Paulinskill Valley Trail. We started on the eastern side and biked west towards Smartswood Station.
The Paulinskill Valley Trail extends 27 miles from Knowlton in Warren County (Smartswood Station) eastward through Blairstown, Frelinghuysen, Hardwick, Stillwater, Fredon, Hampton, and Lafayette, to its eastern terminus at Sparta Junction in Sussex County. So there is plenty more to explore.
The Paulinskill Valley Trail is a very nice and shady trail and the surface is mostly compact gravel. It was easy to ride on our hybrid bikes but there were a few sections that had water, so it was a little muddy. We saw other biker, hikers, and horseback riders on our ride. We will return either to this or another section soon to continue exploring.