Griggstown Native Grassland Preserve

Griggstown Native Grassland Preserve (1/19/2013)

We've been section-walking the D&R Canal since Hurricane Sandy, and have recently branched out to areas nearby. Last weekend we hiked in Six Mile Run, just east of the canal at Blackwells Mills. Today we returned to hike in land through which Ten Mile Run flows. We were again east of the canal but this time near Griggstown Causeway, just south of last week. When we were at Six Mile Run last weekend, our friends Shawnee and her human companion Daniela were at Ten Mile Run. Small world!

Using this map we started at the large parking lot east of Canal Road and took a series of trails which covered a very varied terrain. We first skirted the open field south of the parking area on the Blue trail, then the field east via the Red trail. We continued east on Brown through the forest, which was littered with Sandy blow-downs, but passable. This took us to the eastern section of the preserve where we hiked the Purple loop (which is really blazed Blue). We headed back west on Brown, taking the Yellow trail to Orange, which we finally took to Red (which paralleled the Ten Mile Run for a stretch, and which is also littered with blow-downs), then Blue, just east of the lot and back to the car.

Total distance hiked today was just over 6 miles in 3 1/4 hours.

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