Range of 1.3 miles to 5 miles

Picnic Rock Loop: 1.7 miles

Double Crossing Loop: 1.1 miles

Mountain Road Loop: 2.5 miles

Anywhere from 20 minutes to 2 hours, depending on which trail loops you choose and how fast you walk.

Markings: D&R Greenway triangular trail markers posted on trees.

Picnic Rock Loop which starts on Mountain Church Road has green markers all along the way.

Walking/hiking only. No motorized vehicles, horses or bicycles. Dogs must be on leash at all times. No exceptions, please. This area provides critical wildlife habitat for ground nesting and ground feeding animals. Please have the courtesy to pick up after your dog. No stroller/wheelchair accessibility.

Elevation: Minimal

Picnic Rock Loop: Slight slope

Easy. There are boulders in a few sections along the trail.

Picnic Rock Loop: Easy. Sections of the trail are wet, particularly heading north off of Mountain Church Road to Picnic Rock. Boulders in short section of trail along the Stony Br

Main Parking Area: A gravel parking lot for 8-10 cars on Mountain Road, 0.71 miles west of Rileyville Road in East Amwell Township.

Picnic Rock Loop: Park along Mountain Church Road. There is no shoulder. This loop has a trail connection to a D&R Greenway parking lot on Mountain Road.

Rileyville Road Connector

There is a small kiosk at the trailhead with a map. This connector trail provides another point of entry to the large Northern Stony Brook Greenway Preserve. Park in the Hunterdon County Sourlands Preserve parking lot across Rileyville Road, not on Rileyville Road. This short trail is marked with blue D&R Greenway trail markers.

Walking/hiking only. Waterproof boots or shoes are recommended.

Deer hunting is allowed in this preserve, but is restricted to a small number of hunters who have received permission from the landowner, The D&R Greenway Land Trust.

The deer hunting season extends from early September through mid February. Sundays are a good day to hike. There is no deer hunting on Sundays.

During deer hunting season hikers should:

(Please note: Preserve rules require hikers to stay on trail and keep dogs on leash year-round.)

No motorized vehicles, horses or bicycles. Dogs must be on leash at all times. No exceptions, please. This area provides critical wildlife habitat for ground nesting and ground feeding animals. Please have the courtesy to pick up after your dog. No stroller/wheelchair accessibility.

Picnic Rock Loop: After unusually heavy rains the stream crossing with the hand rail may be underwater. There is a good alternate spot to cross just 100 feet downstream which connects back to the trail.

Trailhead kiosks with posted maps at several trailheads within the trail network.

The 375-acre Northern Stony Brook Greenway Preserve is owned by D&R Greenway Land Trust and it is an important link in a chain of forested parcels that stretches for 60 miles along the ridge of Sourland Mountain. More than 150 bird species have been recorded in the Sourland forests. Numerous species of forest birds require the large, unfragmented tracts of closed-canopy forest that remain in the Sourlands in order to breed successfully.

Spanning 60,000 acres, the Sourlands region is a reservoir of biodiversity in central New Jersey. D&R Greenway has already facilitated the preservation of more than 3,400 acres in the Sourlands and is a leading partner with state, county and municipal officials, and private landowners, to continue preservation of this region.

Northern Stony Brook Greenway (also known locally as McBurney Woods) is a preservation project of D&R Greenway Land Trust, central New Jersey’s regional land trust.

PICNIC ROCK LOOP: Long sections of this trail wind through high-quality forest with mature trees and a decent understory. This is an excellent birding spot during migrations. It has gorgeous fall color. The trail parallels several sections of old stone walls and has a particularly pretty section along the Stony Brook tributary. Environmentally fragile vernal pools along the Woods Road section provide a spring frog chorus.

DOUBLE CROSSING LOOP: This trail gets its name because it crosses the Stony Brook two times along its route. This trail is in the woods. There is a house on private property with ducks, chickens and pigs in the doughnut hole of this trail loop. ATV tire damage from days past is evident in several spots. ATV’s are no longer allowed in this preserve. The double stream crossing is a fun part of the loop, and you’ll find yourself saying, “It doesn’t get any prettier than this” as you hike along the Stony Brook. Look for stoneflies on the beech tree trunks during the spring hatch and wood ducks in quiet pools on the brook.

Several organizations are working to preserve open lands in the Sourland Mountains. Please check the following websites for more information: D&R Greenway Land Trust; Sourland Planning Council; Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association; and New Jersey Conservation Foundation.

Northern Stony Brook Greenway Main Preserve

From Flemington:

Take Route 202/31 South to Route 602 (traffic signal, after Sweet Valley Farm Market on right). Turn left (Eastward) on Route 602. Drive about 2 and ½ miles and turn right onto Runyon Mill Road. Drive about 1 mile to Mountain Road. Turn left onto Mountain Road and drive about 1 mile, looking for gravel parking lot and kiosk on the right.

From Princeton Area:

From Route 206 going North from Lawrenceville area: As you approach Princeton you will see a traffic light at Elm Road. Turn left on Elm Road and follow up the hill. Elm Road becomes the Great Road. After you pass the Blawenburg post office you will see the intersection with Route 518. Turn left and take 518 West to Hopewell Borough. At second light in Hopewell Borough (you will see Dana Communications on the corner), turn right onto Greenwood Avenue. Road name will change to Hopewell-Wertsville Rd. and then to Rileyville Road. Go 3.1 miles to Mountain Road. (You will pass Featherbed Lane and then Mountain Church before taking a left turn onto Mountain Rd.) Proceed 6/10th of a mile and you will see a parking lot on your left.

PICNIC ROCK LOOP

From Flemington:

Take Route 202/31 South to Route 602 (traffic signal, after Sweet Valley Farm Market on right). Turn left (Eastward) on 602. Drive about 2 ½ miles and turn right onto Runyon Mill Road. Drive about 1 ¾ miles to Mountain Church Road. (Runyon Mill Road becomes Stony Brook Road and is mostly unpaved after the intersection with Mountain Road.) Turn left onto Mountain Church Road and drive about ¾ mile, looking for trailhead and sign on the left.

From Princeton Area:

From Route 206 going North from Lawrenceville area: As you approach Princeton you will see a traffic light at Elm Road. Turn left on Elm Road and follow up the hill. Elm Road becomes the Great Road. After you pass the Blawenburg post office you will see the intersection with Route 518. Turn left onto Route 518 West and take it all the way to Hopewell Borough. At second light in Hopewell Borough, turn right onto Greenwood Avenue(Dana Communications is on the corner). Road name will change to Hopewell-Wertsville Rd. and then to Rileyville Road. Go 3.1 miles to Mountain Road. (You will pass Featherbed Lane and then Mountain Church before taking a left turn onto Mountain Rd.) The entrance to Hunterdon County’s Sourland Mountain Nature Preserve is on the right just before the turn on Mountain Road.