Solebury's stretch of the Delaware Canal towpath, from Centre Bridge north past Virginia Forrest to Lumberville, is now the most complete piece of the trail to start a walk from. Since Tropical Storm Ida, the trail beyond it has been broken in places. The repairs that reconnected it came in phases between late 2025 and spring 2026. What's left to work around this fall sits at the edges, about half a mile south of Main Street in New Hope and on the New Jersey bank at Stockton.
That matters for anyone who has spent recent years walking out and back from Virginia Forrest. With the middle repaired, the river crossings at Lumberville and Centre Bridge turn the towpath into a set of loops. Those loops depend on two state park systems, two bridge authorities, and a construction calendar in Hunterdon County.
Five Years, Two Structures
Ida hit in September 2021 and undermined the Lumberville Aqueduct so badly that it had to be removed. Farther north, at High Falls Creek in Upper Black Eddy, the storm took out the sub-canal culvert pipe and the towpath above it, washing both toward the river. The Friends of the Delaware Canal reopened the towpath at Lumberville on October 29, 2025, and at High Falls on February 27, 2026. On May 22, 2026, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources announced both projects complete, with more than $6 million invested between them.
The Lumberville work cost $3.7 million. The old aqueduct stood on a center pier. Its replacement crosses Paunacussing Creek in a single span with no center pier, and it carries a pedestrian bridge. High Falls cost $2.7 million and covered a new culvert, a restored creek crossing, stabilized canal banks, and a rebuilt towpath. In its August 17 newsletter, the Friends described the towpath as clear from Bristol to Easton, "with one break in the towpath in New Hope."
The Solebury Stretch, Mile By Mile
The Friends' 2026 Landmark and Mileage Chart measures every point in miles north of Bristol. Read in order, it shows how tightly the township's stretch fits together.
- MP 27.681, Centre Bridge–Stockton Bridge (Route 263). This is the southern crossing. Dilly's at Centre Bridge, at 7085 Upper York Road, says it's open for the season with burgers and soft serve. Hours change with the weather, so check its social accounts before counting on it. The Inn at Centre Bridge, at 2998 River Road, currently lists itself as temporarily closed.
- MP 28.967, Virginia Forrest Recreation Area. It sits about a mile north of Centre Bridge, just past 3292 River Road. The township lists ample parking, restrooms, a picnic area, and access to both the canal path and the river. It also has a two-plug electric vehicle charging station open to the public.
- MP 30.914, Lumberville–Bulls Island footbridge. This is the northern crossing, followed by Lock 12 at MP 31.018.
- MP 31.111, the rebuilt Lumberville Aqueduct. Two businesses are close by on River Road. Lumberville General Store, at 3741 River Road, serves coffee, breakfast, and lunch from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until 5 p.m. Friday through Sunday. The Black Bass Hotel, at 3774 River Road, serves lunch Monday through Saturday, Sunday brunch, an afternoon service from 3 to 5 p.m., and dinner nightly. It has posted that the entire hotel will be closed for a private event on Friday, October 16.
Subtract the mileposts and the scale is modest. Virginia Forrest to the Lumberville Aqueduct is a little over two miles. Centre Bridge to the Lumberville footbridge is about three and a quarter. Virginia Forrest is the only stop in that span with public parking and restrooms, so it works as the natural trailhead. It's also the township's best-equipped access point to both river crossings.
Every Loop Crosses the River
The two crossings are what changed the shape of a Solebury walk. In August, the Friends laid out a 7.3-mile loop from Lumberville to Bulls Island by way of Centre Bridge and Stockton, and a 7.1-mile loop from Centre Bridge to Stockton by way of New Hope and Lambertville. Each one leaves Pennsylvania for a stretch of the Delaware and Raritan Canal towpath on the New Jersey bank.
The northern loop starts at Bulls Island Recreation Area, at 2185 Daniel Bray Highway in Stockton. The New Jersey state page lists a Roebling-designed pedestrian bridge to Pennsylvania, a picnic area, a playground, no entrance fee, and gate hours of 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. At the southern end of that loop, the Stockton Inn sits at 1 South Main Street. An August profile in Bucksco.Today notes that the Centre Bridge–Stockton Bridge is free to cross on foot or by bike, and lists the inn's hours as 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, closed Monday and Tuesday.
The footbridge itself is getting work, but nothing that should interrupt a walk. On July 27, 2026, the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission approved a $3,227,970 contract for cameras and architectural lighting on the Lumberville–Raven Rock pedestrian bridge. The commission plans to keep the bridge open throughout, and some work will likely run into 2027.
Where It Still Breaks
DCNR's alerts also list closures far from here, at the Adams Hollow Wastegate in Bristol and the Rodges Run Culvert near Durham. The closures that affect Solebury's loops this fall sit outside the township's stretch, at the points where its loops connect to everything else.
- Union Mills Bridge, MP 23.7, New Hope. The bridge runs over the canal from River Road to the Water Works Condominiums. DCNR has closed both the bridge and the towpath underneath it "until further notice," citing disrepair and the risk of falling debris. Its instruction is to turn around and not try to get past. The closure dates to March 2025. A New Hope Free Press report at the time said DCNR had given no repair timeline, and the current alert still lists none. Main Street sits at MP 24.20, so the break is about half a mile south of the village center. The Delaware & Lehigh trail organization posted a route through town in 2025. It sends southbound users from the Locktender's House down the Main Street stairs, across Waterloo Street, and along an alley toward River House and Odette's, where a towpath bypass rejoins the trail. That's general routing guidance, not a signed detour for this closure.
- Prallsville Culvert Pit and Spillway, Stockton. The New Jersey Water Supply Authority is repairing Ida damage near Prallsville Mills. Work was scheduled to start after Labor Day and continue for several months. While crews are working, the trail on both sides of the culvert pit closes to through traffic and users are detoured through the gravel lot beside the Sawmill. The trail reopens evenings and weekends, and whenever else it's safe. Signs are posted at Bulls Island, the Prallsville Mills parking lot, and the Ferry Street trail entrance in Stockton. The Lumberville–Bulls Island loop runs right past this site on its way south to Stockton.
- Covered Bridge Road, Solebury. The township has scheduled a closure between Pidcock Creek Road and Aquetong Road starting Monday, October 5, for culvert, endwall, and footing replacement. It estimates five weeks, weather permitting. Anyone who drives to the river that way will need another route to River Road until about mid-November.
Put those together and Saturdays and Sundays are when the northern loop runs without a detour, since the Prallsville trail reopens on weekends. The southern loop still has to get through New Hope's village streets on the Pennsylvania side. Through the end of the year, a Solebury loop has the fewest interruptions when it starts at Virginia Forrest and runs on a weekend.
The Water, and the Next Work on This Stretch
The canal has water past New Hope again, and Centre Bridge is the reason. The pump that feeds the canal in New Hope failed in April. High river levels kept crews from reaching it, and the canal bed dried and cracked. The Friends arranged a temporary pump at Centre Bridge while the original is repaired, and they're paying for its rental, placement, and operation. The group puts the cost of fixing the original pump at upwards of $25,000. Running it costs about $2,000 a month, an expense that local residents took on after the mule-drawn boat rides ended. Donations to keep it running go through the New Hope for the Canal fund.
The next planned work on the lower part of Solebury's stretch is botanical. The Friends, the nonprofit DC21, and DCNR hired AKRF/Stroud Water Resource Center to study the canal's fish, amphibians, insects, and plants, and to set a baseline for managing invasive vegetation. Fieldwork wraps up in fall 2026, with a full report due by winter 2027. Friends board president Brett Webber has called it the pilot for a larger vegetation removal project, "planned initially in the section between Centre Bridge and Lock 11." On the chart, that runs from MP 27.681 down to MP 24.30 at the edge of the village, the same towpath the southern loop uses on its way into New Hope.
Changes to the canal show up in what a River Road property means to live with: what's open at the end of the drive, which crossings work, and what's planned for the stretch beyond the lawn. If you own along this corridor and want to think through how it figures into your property's value or a future sale, Laurie Madaus would be glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
