A Gift for You - Directions to Local Parks

On Saturday, May 22nd, I decided to spend the mixture of sun and clouds on Washington Valley Park. As I hiked along my new favorite trail, the sun peaked through at random intervals resulting in the few shots with good lighting below. To supplement this week's post, since I have covered this route before, I snapped a few photos to aid in giving directions to a few of the parks I am fond of.


Around this time last year, I sat down with the maps from the Somerset County Park Commission website and Mapquest to determine the best route to reach the trail heads I wanted to explore. If you would like to visit the Hawk Watch platform at Washington Valley Park, make your way to Vosseller Avenue, where it crosses Route 22, in Bridgewater. A tiny road sign (above) off of Vosseller Avenue marks the entrance to Miller Lane, which dead ends in the Hawk Watch parking area.


If you see the sign above after passing by a residential area, you are in the right place. Bear left and you should end up in a parking area. Walk down the paved trail to the Hawk Watch platform, which also overlooks Chimney Rock Quarry. Continue down the trail (which changes to gravel and then dirt beyond the Hawk Watch area) to view the East Branch Reservoir and Buttermilk Falls.


If you prefer to begin a hike at Washington Valley from another picturesque spot in the park, you may wish to start at the parking area on Gilbride Road, also off of Vosseller Avenue, in Martinsville, NJ. Please note this parking area is not shown on the official park map.



If you pass by Miller Lane by accident, you may find yourself at Gilbride Road anyway. Gilbride Road is located just south of Camp Cromwell, which can be seen in the background of the photo above. Camp Cromwell is a private camping facility maintained by the Boy's Club of New York City. If you drive down Gilbride Road from Vosseller Avenue, you will see the parking area on your left.






Before I leave the subject of directions, I would like to show you the approach to Sourland Mountain Preserve from the south (the adjacent road runs north to south).




The main parking area for the preserve is located on East Mountain Road in Hillsborough, NJ. East Mountain Road can be reached from Amwell Road (Route 514) or Trent Place (Belle Mead Blawenberg Road - Route 601), both of which connect to Route 206, a major artery in that part of the state. If your GPS system can't find the rural area, you can always search for the Carrier Clinic, which is also located on East Mountain Road within a few miles of the park.



An Eastern Cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus floridanus) browsed on the lawn near the parking lot at Sourland Mountain as I snapped my pictures.



Before I call it a weekend, I would like to share a few shots from my hike at Washington Valley Park early in the day on May 22nd.




As I began my walk from the Gilbride Road trail head, I was quickly surrounded by the loud chirping cries of chipmunks (Tamias striatus). I believe all the photos I caught are the Eastern Chipmunk, which is the most common chipmunk species in eastern North America. However, I understand that out west they have as many 14 other species.


With the arrival of a fallen tree, the rock crossing is almost too easy.

While at first I thought a UFO was approaching, the MetLife blimp (Blimpus metlifeus) also made an appearance.

I barely beat the heat of the day hiking up and down the slopes of the forest where the land tilts down towards the water.

The most interesting creatures seem to enjoy hanging out at this spot along the water. Lately I have been watching the fish swim languidly through the crystal clear water. Turtles rise from the mud to swim along the surface periodically and I have caught snakes and frogs passing the time here in the past as well.

(Green frog, Rana clamitans)

I believe this is a bullfrog tadpole (Rana catesbeiana). Frogs are amphibians and begin their lives as eggs which hatch into tadpoles (also called polliwogs) which have no lungs - only gills, like fish. Within approximately one year, the tadpoles begin to metamorphose into adult frogs, growing back legs, front limbs, losing their tails and gradually exchanging gills for lungs. After 2-3 years they become miniatures of their parents, and eventually breathe only with lungs the way you and I (and all mammals) do. This is quite a transformation from a tiny egg, the size of pea or smaller, to a fully grown frog like the one below.

Please assist me with the identification of frog in the photo above. I believe it was a largish (4-5 inches from nose to hind point) Green frog (Rana clamitans). I have some photos of juvenile bullfrogs in my field guides and on the internet which appear similar, but I'm leaning toward another amiable green frog - they seem to display the type of camouflage behavior (holding very still for long periods of time) that allows them to be easily photographed.

A Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) swims towards a sunny spot on a rock.

A final chipmunk winked at me on my way out of the park. It has been a great Memorial Day weekend, and I look forward to sharing on the best shots I got with you next week.

Another busy weekend in May 2010

Good Morning! Welcome to what is hopefully another sunny Saturday morning in May 2010.


Last weekend was a break from my usual routine of hiking and nature photography. In fact, the weekend flew by without an official hike for me to photo and blog about. I took off for Colonial Park in Franklin Township, NJ after work on Friday to snap a few pictures of the abundant flowers in bloom.


It was a great weekend! An excessive amount of travel time (which really ate up the weekend - another reason why I always try to hike locally) was the main thing holding me back from hitting a park. On Saturday I traveled to Montclair, which is about 2 hours away, one way (the way I drive). My goal was the Afro-Brazilian Cultural Center (or ABCC) on Bloomfield Avenue. This is a second floor suite which houses a Capoeira (Brazilian martial arts) studio, an office and changing area. On this particular Saturday Audie, a highly talented bellydance instructor, held a wonderful workshop on Baladi dance technique from 12:30-3pm. I had a great time, but after driving and dancing had taken its toll, I was ready to kick back and relax out of the heat until bedtime.

On Sunday, another perfect sunny day, I was priveledged to see Ringling Brother's and Barnum and Bailey's show entitled Funundrum. Playing in Trenton New Jersey for one week only at the Sun National Bank Center, the performers were all very impressive. I had happy memories of smaller (cheaper) shows as a child and I was eager to feel the magic again. Unfortunatley, some PETA member cast a pall over the show - protesters doted every corner around block with some inbetween. They carried large posters showing the usual, grainy, shocking pictures claiming the elephants were enslaved and brutally treated by the circus. While I never buy one-sided arguements, I spent the whole show worrying that the glamorous image the circus performers projected was an illusion sold to children at exhorbitant ticket prices. Do circus performers have health insurance? Even during the recession we're in?

And what about the animals? Plainly a trained tiger or packaderm is a valuable animal - but is their value high enough to buy them a good home when they are too old to perform? I am somewhat softhearted and I am afraid to be assaulted by lurid images if I research the above on the internet. I will stick with the child-like dream that they all live happily ever after. Science can tell us what and how, but not why and wherefore.

I am leaving the house now to head out on another hiking trip. See you on the trail!

A Walk in Washington Valley, May 2010

May 8th dawned cool and rainy, but clouds dispersed around 12 noon. Right around then, I hit the trail in Washington Valley Park, Gilbride Road trailhead, in Bridgewater, NJ.

I was pleased to explore a new trail on this visit (shown in red dashes on the park map). The overlook, pictured above, is my new favorite place. The vastness of the gorge below the East Branch Reservoir reminds me of the gorges I love in Ithaca, NY (where I lived for four years while earning my Bachelor's degree).

This spot looks very similar to a gorge I walked past often while in Ithaca. It is interesting how the man-made reservoir transitions into the natural rock.

From a spot along the new part trail I explored, you can look down the reservoir towards the rock crossing I have mentioned in a previous post.

On my way along the trail, I spotted these Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus) butterflies "puddling" (sipping minerals from moist ground, along the steam bank).

Above is a shot of half of what I believe is a American robin's (Turdus migratorius) egg while it rests in my hand. I found the half shell found under a tree, in the grass along the trail.

A lucky shot of a Common Whitetail (Libellula lydia) dragonfly. Evidently this dragonfly is also known as a Longtailed Skimmer - thanks Wilkapedia for help with the identification. My field biology course was over ten years back now and I'm not sure how may insects we covered.

The insect above is a millipede (Narceus americanus), an impressive insect about 4 inches long. Millipedes are harmless and feed on dead plant matter on the forest floor. However, I am positive a bug this size would have frightened me badly if I had encountered it indoors as a child. Now I am fond of them because their serrated bodies remind me of snakes, which I find fascinating. For those curious about these insects, there is a great website here and a descriptive Wilkapedia article here.

I look forward to hiking this trail again during the summer. I am pleased that I have not yet visited every good spot in the Somerset county park system. With some sunny weather in the forecast, I hope to hit the trail and enjoy the beautiful green wonderland that forest trails have become.

High Aspirations, High Pollen Count

Happy May Day faithful blog readers! Thanks to a ride from a friend, I was able to visit the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area (DWG) last Saturday, May 1st.


The Delaware Water Gap is located in north-eastern New Jersey and spans the state boundary between New Jersey and Pennsylvania. In contrast to the county parks I have covered on this blog so far, the DWG is a national park administered at the federal level by the National Park System. That is, it is a lot bigger.

When I first woke up last Saturday, I had Sunfish Pond in mind as my goal. Sunfish Pond is a small pond along one of the many trails that run through the DWG. I have never visited before, but it sounds like a pretty spot to visit. Unfortunately, I had a terrible allergy attack as soon as I hopped out of bed.

A sea of green now graces the slopes of the mountainous region around the gap. Whatever pollen it is that irritates my eyes and sinuses flew through the air around my home in Somerset County. I has a classic sinus headache and my eyes and nose watered freely. It was so bad my whole body felt weak and I hadn't recovered by around 11am.

While I try not to allow any outside circumstances to interrupt my weekly hikes, that Saturday I was sorely tempted. Luckily my faithful chauffeur (my boyfriend who loves road trips) agreed to make the 1.5 hour or so drive out the DWR for a hike in the length of my choice. What a guy!

Stuffing my pockets with tissues and sipping some iced herbal tea, we made it to the park and kicked around for a few hours. Trail heads like the one pictured above abound throughout the DWG. On this trip, we stuck to the three overlooks along the southern most tip of the park and the Kittatiny Point Visitor's Center.

While I didn't make it to Sunfish Pond (8 miles round trip and 1000 feet increase in elevation was too much in the 80 degree heat), we had a lot of fun and I gradually recovered throughout the day. I hope to try for the pond on another trip.

On a side note, this was my first trip to the DWG since the Kittatiny Point Visitor's Center was rebuilt. The park website has a nifty picture here. A log cabin style building rests on stilts set back from the river's edge. The previous site is now a paved picnic area. I approved of the new interpretive exhibits - they were quite impressive for the limited space available. I especially recommend stopping in to see the "Please Touch" table where kids (and adults) can handle turtle shells, deer skulls, various other bones, a few fossils and assorted other objects collected in the park.

Today (May 8th) has dawned cool (around 60 degrees) and rainy. My sinuses drained out around last Monday morning and I am feeling much better. Summer-like thunderstorms have been rolling through our area all week and today is no exception. I am primed to head out to the Washington Valley Reservoir to see if I can catch some birds or reptiles out enjoying the rain.