Six Mile Run

We took advantage of a break in the heat one Sunday morning to check out Six Mile Run in Franklin Township, Somerset County, New Jersey.  There are three parking areas for the park, which is part of the D&R Canal State Park, and we started at the Canal Road lot.


For a trail map, click here.

Our original goal was to hike to the parking lot at the eastern end of the trail, on Route 27, and then come back.  We started on the Blue Trail, and I immediately loved it.  It moved from forest to wide open fields and back, and it was just so peaceful and lovely.  The trail was very winding, almost curling back on itself several times.  This area is also really popular with mountain bikers, and there were quite a few of them on the trail that day.

However, after being on the trail for a really long time and still not coming to the intersection with the Red Trail, our plan changed.  I feel like either the map wasn't super accurate or I had completely misjudged the length of the hike.  

When we finally reached the fork in the trail, we met up with some bikers we had come across a couple times.  They told us if we made a sharp right turn on the Red Trail, it would take us almost straight back to the parking lot, in half the time it took us on the Blue Trail.  This isn't marked on the map, so I'm glad they confirmed it for us.  And since we had been out there for almost 2 hours already, we took that option! 

The Red Trail was so scenic, overlooking the creek.  Although it had a couple big dips (very popular with the bikers), it wasn't a hard trail at all.

Overall, our hike was almost 6 miles, and we barely covered half the park.  I would love to go back someday and start at the other end, to see the rest of the area.