The Paulinskill Valley Trail follows the abandoned New York, Susquehanna, and Western Railroad right-of-way for 27 miles, beginning at Sparta Junction in Sussex County and terminating between Hainesburg and Columbia in Warren County. The overall area of the right-of-way is approximately 193 acres.

From southest to northeast some of the towns the trail goes through are Columbia, Hainesburg, Blairstown, Paulins Kill (Paulins Kill Lake here), Washingtonville, Halsey, Warbasse, and Sparta Junction.

For most of its length the right-of-way is 60 feet wide, though it becomes wider where there were stations, junctions, and sidings.

The Sussex Branch Trail

This 20-mile trail skirts swamps, lakes, fields and several small communities. The trail corridor exhibits many features of the trail’s former existence as a railroad. Among them are graded fill areas, cuts through bedrock, underpasses that allow the passage of farm equipment and dairy cattle from one side of the tracks to the other, and bridges crossing the Pequest or Paulinskill Rivers. The flat cinder base of the trail permits multiple uses including hiking, horseback riding, biking, cross-country skiing and dog sledding. The trail provides access for fishing and for wheelchairs in certain areas. The Sussex Branch Trail also crosses through Allamuchy Mountain State Park.

Sussex County

Warren County