Cold February Day at Institute Woods and Princeton Battlefield

A nice varied walk – easy trails and a super cool swinging bridge over Stony Brook.

We’d had this on our list of “under an hour away short hikes” since I’d noticed it in Hiking New Jersey (2023) which came out in 2009.

We’d never gotten around to it because more of a casual walk than a hike. With yet another super cold day that is exactly what we were looking for.

For a detailed hike guide visit our main “Institute Woods, Rogers Refuge, Princeton Battlefield” page.

There’s also a refuge known for birding, and a Revolutionary War battlefield with a funky colonnade near a memorial gravesite.

Optionally continue over the swinging bridge and link up to the D&R Canal Towpath.

You can even wander the adjacent Institute for Advanced Study’s grounds which I read have sculptures but decided to save that for another day as it was like 18 degrees.

So on the way back we “needed” to get a macchiato with an extra shot and toffee nut syrup instead of caramel. Purely for medicinal purposes of course.

NEW! Downloadable guide to the Swinging Bridge.

This is an enhanced version of the directions and trail map on our main hike page, featuring an easy to understand trail map plus turn-by-turn hike directions with photos at key intersections, parking and restroom info, and hike photos in a compact format to print out or use on a mobile phone.

Get the Swinging Bridge Guide!

Parking lot