White blazes, with tree limbs lining the trail in most areas

Enter at Stuart Road entrance to PDS. Drive straight ahead and park in spaces alongside athletic fields. Trail can be accessed by heading north across the bottom of the field to a point just west of the landscaped berm along the entrance road. Please put a note in your windshield that says you are using the hiking trails.

Please put note in your windshield that says you are on hiking trails.

This trail is primarily intended to be a connector between the Mountain Lakes area and Woodfield Reservation. It connects with the Stuart Trail running from The Great Road to Mountain Lakes North, but the section from The Great Road to the PDS parking lot is currently (November, 2008) unusable, and hikers should instead parallel the route along the edge of the road (see description below). This situation will hopefully be corrected in 2009.

Princeton Day School is on The Great Rd. (Elm Rd.), approximately 1.6 miles north of Route 206 in Princeton Township.

From Philadelphia and the south:

Take Interstate 95 north across the Delaware River to Exit 7B (Lawrenceville/ Princeton) onto Route 206 north.

Drive approximately five miles north on Route 206 to Elm Road. Turn left on Elm Road, which becomes the Great Road.

Proceed 1.6 miles and then turn left into the Princeton Day School campus. Enter at Stuart Road Entrance and drive toward athletic fields. Park in spaces along athletic fields.

From New York and the north:

Take the New Jersey Turnpike south to Exit 9. Immediately you will see Route 18 North. Follow for a very short distance and look for sign to Route One south(Trenton). Take Route One south into the Princeton area. Turn right onto Washington Road, and travel through three traffic lights. At the third traffic light turn left onto Nassau Street.

Proceed through three more traffic lights, bearing left onto Route 206 south just after the third light.

Proceed through another traffic light and then turn right at the next traffic light onto Elm Road, which becomes the Great Road. Proceed approximately 1.6 miles and then turn left into the Princeton Day School campus. Enter at Stuart Road Entrance and drive toward athletic fields. Park in spaces along athletic fields.

At present, the section of trail connecting the Stuart Trail with the parking area by the athletic fields has disappeared from lack of maintenance. Through hikers should instead follow the west shoulder of The Great Rd. north to The Great Rd. West, and the latter to the Stuart Rd. entrance to the PDS campus. Here they can pick up the trail as it originates on the right side of the driveway and parallels the border with Tenacre Foundation property to the north (pretty views). In addition to white blazes, this whole section of the trail has been delineated with tree limbs along the sides, since no clear pathway exists. Just before coming to a small stream crossing (no bridge), the trail enters Pond View open space property. Beyond the stream, it leaves the woods and crosses a large, grassy area (blazes, but no trail), while descending slightly to the uppermost of the four very scenic ponds. At the far side of the clearing a trail can be seen, about 15 feet from the pond, and there are no further blazes. After a short way it joins a wider, wood chip trail coming down the hill from Pond View. (The latter runs through the entire Pond View development, and is intended primarily for residents.) 200 feet further on, a side trail goes to the right across the dam separating the upper two ponds, and very shortly intersects the South Loop trail in Woodfield Reservation. The wood chip trail continues beyond the turnoff, running along the southeast side of the next two ponds. Halfway along, it enters a pine forest, and the wood chips stop. At this point, it crosses into Rush Brook open space for 0.1 mile before coming to Cradle Rock Rd. There is no further trail after this point, although one is shown on various maps. However, a hiking easement exists, and there is a clear area through the woods that begins at the south end of the guard rail on Cradle Rock Rd. and ends after another 0.1 mile at Pretty Brook Rd., just over one mile from the start at The Great Rd.