What do you actually do after the reservoir loop, once your legs are done and the light over Cushetunk Mountain has gone the color of weak tea? For most of the last decade, the honest answer was: drive home. The South Parking Lot at Round Valley Recreation Area empties out, engines start, and everyone scatters back into Hunterdon County without much reason to detour through downtown Clinton first.
That default is starting to look outdated, and not because the trails changed. The reservoir is the same 2,350-acre, 180-foot-deep body of water it's always been, the second-deepest lake in New Jersey and the state's largest reservoir, holding up to 55 billion gallons when full. What changed is what's waiting at the bottom of the hill once you're back in town, and it's specific enough that it's worth naming.
Four Trails, One Reservoir
Round Valley marks four trails from its South Parking Lot: the Cushetunk Trail in red, the Family Hike and Bike Trail in white, the Pine Tree Trail in green, and the Water Trail in blue. None of them circle the reservoir completely, which surprises first-timers who assume a lake this size comes with one obvious loop. Instead you choose your commitment level before you lace up.
The choice matters more than it looks like on a map. Here's roughly how the three most-hiked loop options compare, based on typical trail data for the area:
| Loop | Distance | Typical Time | Character |
|---|---|---|---|
| Round Valley Reservoir Loop | 2.7 miles | Under 1.5 hours | Flat, close to shoreline, easiest of the three |
| Mannon-Sauerland Pond Loop | 6.5 miles | About 3 hours | Moderate, circles a smaller pond alongside the reservoir |
| Cushetunk Mountain Loop | 10.5 miles | Nearly 5 hours | Moderate to difficult, climbs the ridge for the widest views |
Just south, the Cushetunk Mountain Preserve extends the network further. It's administered by Hunterdon County rather than the state, with its own parking area off Old Mountain Road, and its Ridge Trail delivers some of the better reservoir views in the whole system without requiring the full Cushetunk Mountain commitment from Round Valley itself. The two trail systems connect, so a hiker can start at one trailhead and finish at the other if they plan the cars right.
Fall Is When the Math Changes
New Jersey's state park page for Round Valley calls out fall foliage as one of the park's seasonal draws, alongside the more obvious summer swimming and winter sledding. The trails stay open year-round, but the hiking window that gets the most consistent recommendation runs February through November, which puts this exact stretch of the calendar near the sweet spot rather than the edge of it.
The terrain rewards some planning around weather. The ground here tends toward mud after rain, so a dry stretch matters more on the Reservoir Loop and the Blue Trail-Pine Trail combination than it might on a paved path elsewhere in Hunterdon County. Dog policies also aren't uniform across the network. Leashes are required through most of Round Valley, but the Blue Trail and Pine Tree Trail loop specifically allows dogs off-leash in some sections, which is worth knowing before you assume the rule is the same everywhere in the park.
None of this is new information to anyone who's hiked here before. What's new is what happens after.
What Used to Wait at the Bottom
For years, finishing the Cushetunk Mountain Loop meant the same short drive back into downtown Clinton that always followed a Round Valley hike, usually straight through without stopping. Downtown had its restaurants and its shops, the kind of small-town storefronts that make Clinton's Main Street feel distinct from the chain-heavy stretches nearby, but nothing built specifically around the rhythm of finishing a long hike hungry and ready to sit down.
That's the gap that closed in the summer of 2025.
The Building Two Years in the Making
As BizFayetteville reported, R&R Brewing, a brewery that got its start in Mount Olive, spent close to two years working toward a location inside the historic Henry Vann building at 104 Fayetteville Street in downtown Clinton. The team first announced its intention to move into the building back in 2023, then spent the time in between coordinating with local and state historical preservation organizations to renovate a structure old enough to require that kind of care.
The result opened its doors with a grand opening on July 30, 2025: a 2,000-square-foot taproom on one side of the building and a 6,000-square-foot restaurant on the other, serving an original R&R menu alongside the beer. The opening hours started conservatively, Wednesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., with the stated plan to add Sunday and Monday service as the operation found its footing.
Restoring a building of that age takes careful work from everyone involved, and the brewery and the preservation groups spent roughly two years on it. The finished building sits at 104 Fayetteville Street in downtown Clinton, and it gives the historic Henry Vann building a new use as a place to sit down after a day outdoors.
Why This Changes Which Loop You Pick
Here's the part that actually matters for a Saturday plan. Until the summer of 2025, choosing the 10.5-mile Cushetunk Mountain Loop over the easy 2.7-mile Reservoir Loop was a decision made purely on how much climbing you wanted that day. The reward at the end was identical either way: your car, then home.
Now the reward downtown is different enough to factor into the choice itself. A hiker debating whether to commit to the longer, harder loop has a genuine reason to say yes that has nothing to do with fitness goals. There's a place at the end of the drive that didn't exist before the summer of 2025, built inside a building old enough that its renovation needed sign-off from historical preservation groups, serving food and beer to people who just spent five hours on a ridge.
Fall adds one more layer worth knowing about if the day runs long. Voorhees State Park, a short distance from Round Valley with its own overlooks toward the reservoir, is home to the New Jersey Astronomical Association Observatory, which houses the largest working public telescope in the state. Sunset comes earlier this time of year, which means a hiking day that starts at Round Valley's South Parking Lot in the afternoon can plausibly end with both a meal on Fayetteville Street and a look through a telescope before the night is over, something that summer's longer daylight doesn't naturally set up the same way.
None of this makes the easy 2.7-mile loop the wrong choice on a short afternoon. It just means the old logic, that every loop ends the same way regardless of which one you pick, doesn't hold anymore. The trail system stayed exactly as it was. What's waiting at the bottom of the hill is the part that's actually new.
If you've found your own favorite way to close out a Round Valley hike, or you're curious what else has changed downtown while you weren't looking, Debbie McLain and the Team McLain group spend enough time in Clinton to compare notes. Let's Connect.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
