Haley Wilmot

12/18/2020
Trail Mapping and Documentation of Two New Jersey Parks
Abstract

Hiking trails are widely used in outdoor recreation by hikers, bikers, hobbyists, and

others alike. A clear understanding of trail dynamics benefits these recreationists and offers

insight into properties of these trails such as length, type, and difficulty. Trail mapping of two

parks in New Jersey was done at Six-Mile Run State Park in Somerset County and Mountain

Lakes Nature Preserve in Mercer County. Trail scope, length, and type as well as significant trail

markers including trail heads, forks, and stream crossings were collected and any significant

areas deemed necessary. These trails were overlayed with satellite imagery of New Jersey to

properly and accurately display the collected data to be utilized by others and help to clarify

important trail aspects.

Introduction

Many trail maps do not depict detailed information of trail scope and significant points

that can benefit hikers and other outdoor enthusiasts. Additionally, maps do not always portray

the conditions and difficulty of various trails that can better assist others when deciding where to

hike while ensuring safety precautions are understood and followed. Points such as trail heads

and forks as well as elevation data and trail length can provide proper insight into trail conditions

and create a more detailed map to benefit people. Understanding the trails prior to exploring the

area is a useful aspect of trail mapping.

State and municipal parks offer a variety of recreational activities including hiking and

biking. Six-Mile Run Park, located in Somerset County, is a 14-mile network of trails on a
3,037-acre piece of state land and is part of the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park (New

Jersey Trails Association, 2016). It has long been known for its use by mountain bikers, hikers,

and horseback riders. Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve in Mercer County, once owned by the

Princeton Ice Company as a means of harvesting ice for homes and businesses before electric

refrigeration, is now designated as a State and National Historic Place and contains 9 miles of

hiking and biking trails on its 400-acres of protected open space and farmland (Historical Society

of Princeton, 2020). These trails are popular among outdoor enthusiasts and provide a large area

for exploring the outdoors while utilizing open space.

Methods

Data collection for this project took place at two different locations. The first trail

documented was a portion of Six-Mile Run State park in Somerset County and the second trail

was located at Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve in Mercer County. The two trails, one in each

park, were selected to be around 2 miles in length and did not cover the entire parks’ trail

network as they are very extensive. The trails selected provide a loop back to the beginning trail

head (Six-Mile Run) or include doubling back on the same portion of land first traversed to reach

the original trail head (Mountain Lakes).

The Juno Trimble 3B Handheld was the GPS receiver used for field data collection. Data

collection included the documentation of trails as line data, trail markers and significant points as

point data, and any significant areas as polygon data. A data dictionary was created for this

project with specific attributes. Trail attributes included trail ID, length, and surface type. Trail

markers attributes collected included type of marker (trail head, fork, stream crossing, etc.).

Elevation data was also found using the GNSS Height which calculates ellipsoidal height and

was the best available information for the trails.

 Figure 1: Data dictionary for trail mapping

Once the data was collected, it was imported into Pathfinder Office and differentially

corrected to obtain more accurate data locations in the final map and corrected any points or lines

that were far off from the correct locations. This data was then exported as shapefiles and loaded

into ArcGIS Pro. New Jersey Satellite Imagery (2017) from arcgis.com was used as a base map

to overlay the data and provide visibly accurate locations while displaying the different

conditions of the landscapes that are essential to trail mapping.

Results
 The differentially corrected data for the Six-Mile Run trail can be seen below. The

original uncorrected SSF file is displayed in red and the corrected file is displayed in green.

Figure 2: Six-Mile Run differentially corrected data

The horizontal precision for the first and second portions of the trail were 4.7 m and 7.4

m respectively and the horizontal precision of points ranged from 2.1 m to 8.1 m. The Mountain

Lakes Preserve data below also follows the same color designation for the uncorrected and

corrected data.
 Figure 3: Mountain Lakes Preserve differentially corrected data

The horizontal precision for the trail was 11 m while the horizontal precision of the

points ranged from 3 m to 14 m.

The resulting maps of the two trails can be found below. The legend details the features

of each trail, as there are some differences, and elevation data of trail markers are noted in white

by each point.
 Figure 4: Map of Six-Mile Run State Park trail

The trail length for Six-Mile Run was found to be about 1.92 miles using GNSS Length

data collected by the GPS. The trail ranged in elevation from 20.423 ft to 30.401 ft, which was

measured at various trail markers on the map using GNSS Height data. A deer exclosure, placed

to promote the growth of native flora and ensure the avoidance of deer foraging, was a notable

area on the map seen in yellow and one stream crossing was found denoted as the blue star.
 Figure 5: Map of Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve trail

The total length of the Mountain Lakes trail was 2.1 miles and the elevation saw about a

30 foot range from 45.731 to 72.714 feet. Notable features aside from forks included a street

crossing and valley that the trail crossed over.

Discussion

A reason for the large horizontal precision for the trail and points on the Six-Mile Run

map can partially be attributed to walking on the outer edges of the trail to avoid very muddy

conditions on the path. In addition, forest cover could have impeded satellite coverage and

accuracy. This correction helped to provide more accurate trail markings. The larger precision

rate of 11 m for Mountain Lakes may be due to more heavily forested area seen at this site
blocking or altering satellite reception and resulting in the large offset. This highlights the

importance of differential correction for accurate data processing and mapping.

The Six-Mile Run trail was of easy difficulty and primarily dirt. It is a great trail for

hiking and mountain biking and certainly dog friendly. This map displays a short hike to take

and identifies important forks and provides some insight into the slight elevation changes. The

Mountain Lakes trail was of average difficulty and primarily a dirt and stone path. It is great for

hiking with dogs or mountain biking. The landscape of this trail is certainly more variable than

Six-Mile Run as there are more stream crossings (some without bridges) and more rocky and

uphill climbs that provided a more diverse hike.

These maps provided detailed insight into the scope of two trails in the central part of

New Jersey. Updated map features such as trail markers and elevation data can be beneficial

additions to park maps and provide recreationists with a better understanding of trails in their

local communities while encouraging people to get outside and explore.

References:

Historical Society of Princeton. (2020). Mountain Lakes Nature Preserve.

https://princetonhistory.org/mountain-lakes-nature-preserve/

New Jersey Trails Association. (2016, June 9). Six Mile Run. Retrieved from

https://njtrails.org/trail/six-mile-run.