Parking at Canal lot

[Aresab310]

Hi all,
I've only been to six mile once and parked at the RT27 lot, which was a PIA for me to get to (maybe I have a bad route there). I was thinking of parking at the Canal lot and hitting up red/blue trails with my wife and son. My wife does fine at Hartshorne, Chimney Rock and Lewis Morris, my son and I can ride much of everything. Is there a loop from the canal lot to red then on to blue? Is the canal lot real crowded on weekends mid-morning and if so is there a better lot that is not? Lately Hartshorne has been real crowded with this "Indian summer" so looking for a change. We live in the Clark area.
Thanks!

 

[rick81721]

Short loop is blue, red, white, red - canal road back to lot. About 8 miles

https://www.strava.com/activities/297414497

6mr in general is really crowded on weekends. Best time is very early or closer to dusk.

 

[clarkenstein]

doing ricks loop minus the white is even shorter - about 6 miles. just out blue and right onto red. if there's no parking, you can use the canal parking lot on blackwell mills rd too. that lot always has spaces.

 

[Aresab310]

Thanks for the updates, is the other lot far from the trails? I'm thinking of just going there. How is the 27 or Jacques lane lots
on the weekend, crowded as well? The one time I went it was a weekday.

We have no issues with the length, we do 6-10 miles each weekend.

Thanks again!

 

[rick81721]

27 lot is the largest but there are soccer fields there and might be packed on weekends, don't know as I rarely park there. Jacks (jaques) is probably the least crowded

 

[KenS]

Jacques is nearby, and usually less crowded. Also starts you on flatter trails which would be family friendly

 

[Aresab310]

Great info! Wife and son are seasoned enough, wife has survived Mount Creek, son and I go there a few times a year! Now I'll have to convince them to try something other that the 3 we typically ride.

Thank you everyone!

 

[icebiker]

One more thing to add...sections of red near Canal road are steep and gullied...nothing they can't handle if they've ridden Chimney, just be aware.

 

[jnos]

This time of year, weekend traffic is starting to fade. Canal will be crowded, but not insane like in the Summer.

 

[AndyJ]

Hi all,
I've only been to six mile once and parked at the RT27 lot, which was a PIA for me to get to (maybe I have a bad route there).

I typically park in the 27 lot, since that's the closest to me. The best way I've found so far is to take route 1 south and cross over to 27 at Cozzens Lane, which puts you on 27 slightly north of the lot.

27 lot is the largest but there are soccer fields there and might be packed on weekends, don't know as I rarely park there. Jacks (jaques) is probably the least crowded

Right, the 27 lot can be packed if there's an event going on at the soccer fields. A chunk of the lot was also blocked off during the nearby construction on 27. The fencing has finally been removed and the lot leveled off, but there were still a few construction vehicles parked there last weekend (although that still made enough room to fit quite a few more cars.)

 

[Ian F]

This time of year, weekend traffic is starting to fade. Canal will be crowded, but not insane like in the Summer.

It was pretty nuts at 1pm yesterday (Sunday). I've never ridden there on a weekend since it's almost an hour away (I normally ride there after work). But I needed to be in the office this weekend... the Canal lot was packed. People parked on the grass down the access road... on both sides... I got lucky and happened to pull in when a couple of normal spots were open.

The trail head for Blue starts at the Canal lot. Red ends at Canal Rd on the other side of the creek.

 

[rick81721]

I was there at 1:30 this afternoon and the lot was packed - had to park on the grass. Did everyone play hookey today?

PS new trail work on blue after the boardwalk - nice job jay!