I did this trail a few days ago from Freehold to Highlands and back on my hybrid. I don't recommend a road bike b/c of the countless crossing streets along the way which would necessitate clipping in and out every other minute. The scenery is varied and nice. However the signage is not adequate so you MUST bring phone with maps app. If you're planning to do most or all of this trail, give yourself plenty of time and be patient. It took me almost 5 hours to go 57 miles. Don't plan on setting any Strava pacing records lol...

Recently rode this from Freehold to Highlands on my hybrid bike. I would not recommend a road bike because of the countless # of crossing streets which would require clipping in and out every other minute. Overall the scenery is nice. However the signage is poor in some parts where the trail is disconnected. You MUST bring a phone w/maps app in order to not get lost. Also if you plan on riding all or most of the trail give yourself lots of time. It took me nearly 5 hours to ride 57 miles so no Strava records lol

Beautiful flat paved trail that continues for 5 miles

The map here shows the Little Falls section and that does not match the description. Trail head is in Little Falls NJ near the intersection of Reiners Rd & Cedar Grove Rd and ends near the corner of Lynn Pl. and Stewart Ave from there it converts to a painted Bike path on a very busy Browertown Rd. tto a bumpy

Recently I rode on the canal path from canal Park in Allentown to Freemansburg PA. Numerous homeless encampments along the trail. Four young ladies running and people with families riding bikes on the trail it is super scary something should be done . The homeless encampments have tripled within one year

We biked from Easton to Bristol and this part of the trail is terrible with washouts, rough spots and places where bridges are out. We biked it because was awarded trail of year in PA. We've been on many other trails in PA that far exceed this trail.

Driving west on I-80, we chose this trail as our midday recreation stop, and were looking forward to discovering the gorge. So we were very disappointed to find it closed in both directions at White Haven. Reconstruction? No information seemed available, and the local bike shop was also closed. Guess we should have read the trail reviews more carefully; I don't remember seeing anything about this closure in the Trail Details.

If your only exposure to New Jersey has been a stressful and decidedly UN-scenic drive along the Turnpike, you’ll be pleasantly surprised by this picturesque waterside trail.
We decided to “put in” just outside of Princeton; we parked at a Homewood Suites a super-short ride from the Canal at the southern tip of Carnegie Lake. The lake actually seemed more like a wide river that bordered the trail on the left as we headed north, while the canal flowed on our right. So, there were several stretches where we had water views on both sides.
Like a lot of canal trails (maybe all of them on the East Coast?), the D&R was unpaved with varying degrees of gray cinder or yellow pea gravel surfaces. In some places, however, both had been worn away and it appeared to have rained recently, so there were occasional puddles and deep muddy ruts left by bikers before us.
We initially headed about ten miles north passing canal locks, stone tender houses, cobblestone spillways (that required us to walk out bikes over), a tunnel, and several wooden bridges. At many of the locks, the water rushed through, but on the long stretches in between, the water was placid and only the sound of wildlife could be heard. Heading south, where the trail was slightly more rustic and grass grew between the two crushed gravel lanes, we came across a number of families canoeing on the canal.
When we erroneously thought we’d reached the end of the trail, a delightful pair of bikers corrected us, one of whom was a Brit who serves as a trustee on the West Windsor Bicycle and Pedestrian Alliance. (Cheers to this org for advocating for trail access and safety on behalf of users!)
We rode and chatted with them for a few miles, learning interesting facts about the area (e.g., in 1938, Orson Welles based the landing of space aliens in a nearby farm during his infamous radio broadcast of H.G. Wells’ “War of the Worlds,” and New Jersey was once the telecom capital of the country as home to Thomas Edison, Bell Atlantic and shortwave radio farms during the World Wars). Who knew?
We headed into Princeton after our ride to visit NJ’s first brewery.

We loved this trail! The combination of parks and water views on one side and the vibrancy of New York City on the other made this one of our favorite rides. After biking through city traffic from the brewery where we parked and, of course, later patronized, to the shores of the Hudson River (not for the faint-hearted, but not that scary, really), we began our trek north on the two-lane, almost 13-mile, paved trail.
The Hudson River Greenway starts at the bottom of Manhattan in Battery Park, meandering among the promenades of tall apartment buildings with spectacular views of the river and the steep embankments of New Jersey. The busy Westside Highway separates the trail from the residential towers and commercial warehouses, and when we crossed it, the sound of horns and rumbling trucks seemed to be absorbed by the river.
While the trail is said to be the most heavily used bikeway in America, we pedaled easily around the bikeshare-riding tourists and occasional rollerbladers as we passed Chelsea Pier, the new Little Island, the Intrepid aircraft carrier, and other well-known tourist attractions. There are numerous intersections along the trail, but more are for pedestrian crossings than cars.
Around 100th street, the traffic on the Greenway started to wane as the trail wound under the highway, up some short hills and down below the embankments now rose on the New York side of the Hudson, too. With no view of the city — just the sight of sailboats moored on the wide river — our only reminder that we were still in Manhattan was the far-off expanse of the George Washington Bridge. Eventually, we made it there but had to turn around before the trail’s steep rise, as it continued well past the Bridge to the northern trailhead.