Institute Woods — Attraction in Princeton

We enjoyed so very much as a family. I am thankful that our state had the foresight to lay groundwork for positioning of walking, riding, hiking trails and that it continues to do so. It was however, disappointing to find access to trails at institute woods considering the grounds for parking were located on private land. In fact, while perusing the map for there & Rogers Refuge, there was no indication of public parking. It saddens me to think that land deemed public & accessible is so incredibly difficult to access. I worked for New Jersey Conservation Foundation thirty years ago. The trail system serves local indeed. « Act local think global » is certainly a mantra that has become me. However, Institute Woods and a handful of other « public access » lands make it questionably difficult to...

Very nice place to go and sit out in the sun, enjoy a nice hike by yourself or with a friend, and tons of history, flat trails, well groomed, couple small mud spots, you can bike, have a dog leashed, and just explore. You can walk for hours. We used the recommended 3.2 mile loop, which took you to all the highlights, and we tracked our progress via cell phone google maps, the trails could get a bit confusing but cell service and google maps worked fine. There are markers early on in the trail, but they eventually become far and few between. 3.2 mile loop took about 1 hr 30 minutes at a leisurely pace with some small stops...

This hike definitely has the potential of being gorgeous and relaxing. Unfortunately, my friend and I managed to hit it when the cicadas were out. We’re from an area in NJ where cicadas have never been something to consider and so made the mistake of not checking beforehand. The first thing that hit us was the rather loud swarming sound and then the somewhat muddy paths were littered with dead/almost dead cicadas. So it somewhat ruined the experience. Will probably try it again at some point but was not what I...