The marker in the lower-center of the map is a super-easy put-in on Whale Creek, above. The other markers are a longer slog over the beach. All have convenient free parking (don't leave your vehicle in the launching area, that's a dick move!)
The purple line on the map is the Delaware & Raritan, or D&R, Canal. The canal is a basically 40-mile-long pond. The water flows very slowly from west to east; it is essentially still. Access points generally coincide with bridges or locks.
This is the biggest of the lakes and ponds created by damming the Lawrence Brook. The map is centered on the northernmost launch site, which is the most central on the lake. There are two more access points to the south, which can be useful if you want to explore up the Lawrence Brook.
Lake Carnegie is a reservoir that straddles the borders of the towns of Princeton, West Windsor, Plainsboro and South Brunswick in Mercer and Middlesex counties in central New Jersey. The lake was created by construction of a dam along the Millstone River, though the lower portion of the lake actually follows the valley of its largest tributary, the Stony Brook, while the Millstone River crossed under the D&R Canal to the south. The lake is about three miles long, but only about 800 feet wide.
Lake Lefferts is a man-made lake, the result of the construction in 1928 of Lake Lefferts Dam, which captures and stores the flow of Matawan Creek. This is the nicest spot in northern Monmouth County. The lake is in three parts:
The lower part that contains the dam and the launch area and extends up to the Route 34 bridge. This part is fairly deep and free of obstructions.
The upper part from Route 34 to Route 516. This part is much shallower and weedy, especially at the far end.
An unusable section beyond Route 516. This part is pretty much just mud. It may look like water, but trust me - don't go there.
This is about the smallest body of water I would consider - more of a pond than a lake. But it is a nice place. Access could not be easier, the parking lot goes right down to the water. If you live nearby, it is a good place for a quick 'dip'. To go a little farther, you can hop over the railroad tracks and get into the far section and a little ways up the byzantine creek that fills the lake.
Much of this part or Raritan Bay is fenced-off because of lead pollution from the industrial slag used to build jetties and seawalls in the 1970s. Supposedly, most of it has been cleaned up, but the whole area remains 'off-limits'. Since the toxins leach into the water and are carried off by the currents, you really have to wonder about the entire bay. A quick search online will reveal more on this subject than you ever wanted to know.
The Rahway River rises in Essex County as two separate branches. The West Branch begins at spring-fed Crystal Lake in West Orange and flows south through the South Mountain Reservation in the valley between first and second ridges of the Watchung Mountains. It runs directly through downtown Millburn. The East Branch rises as a surface stream in West Orange and forms part of the boundary between West Orange and Orange, then travels through the towns of South Orange and Maplewood.
The two branches meet at Hobart Gap near Interstate 78, continuing south through the Union County communities of Springfield, Union, Cranford and Clark. In Rahway the river receives the Robinson's Branch and South Branch, which are approximately 10 miles long. The South Branch starts in Roosevelt Park in Edison behind the Menlo Park Mall, and flows through Edison, Iselin, and Rahway. The river's mouth is at the Arthur Kill between Carteret (on the south) and Linden (on the north), opposite Port Mobil on Staten Island.
Tributaries
Nomahegan Brook travels through Cranford, Kenilworth, Westfield, and Mountainside.
Gallows Hill Brook rises in Fairview Cemetery in Westfield, travels through Garwood and Cranford, and joins the Rahway River at Hampton Park
Orchard Brook travels through Garwood and enters Cranford by West Holly where it joins the Rahway. Kings Creek, Cross Creek, and Marshes Creek joins the Rahway near its entry into the Arthur Kill
