New Jersey Kayaking

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

The Rahway River Parkway is a greenway of parkland that hugs the Rahway River and its tributaries. Formed by the Union County Parks Commission in the 1920s, it was designed by the Olmsted Brothers firm, who were the sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted.

The Cranford Canoe Club is one of the oldest canoe clubs in the United States and a community landmark known as part of Cranford, New Jersey's historic fabric and identity for over 100 years. The current canoe club, while not the first, is the last surviving canoe club on the Rahway River.