A Sunny Weekend - Easter 2010

When I imagine an ideal weekend for hiking I picture bright sunlight, a cool breeze and temperatures just upwards of 75 degrees. While the temperature made it up past 80 degrees in the afternoon, April 2-4th were certainly some near perfect days for walking and enjoying the outdoors.

On Friday the second, I spent 2 hours working my way through Sourland Mountain Preserve in Hillsborough and Montgomery townships, New Jersey. Above is the view from the top of the hill, not far from marker 5 on the park map.

If you have time to negotiate an approximately 500 foot increase in elevation, I highly recommend the climb. In the sunny, unseasonably warm April weather, I made it to this spot in about 30 minutes.

There are always interesting things to explore at Sourland Mountain. While I'm sure fires are not permitted in the park, some folks built one anyway in this open area.

While I generally have a limited time to spend at the park, I managed to work my way from marker 1 to marker 13, 11 and 12 then up past marker 10 to marker 5, then over to marker 4.

I had never hit this particular area of the park before last Friday. The trail to and from marker 4 is extra rocky, and passes by an interesting boulder pile.

At marker 4 (pictured above), you can feel the preserve sloping down and away from you on all sides.

I admired the early spring growth that was fast appearing on every side as I descended the connecting trail (marked with a "c") back to the parking area.

Plants that bloom in the spring take advantage of the lack of leaf cover to get in as much growth as possible before the larger trees steal their sun. I saw wildflowers appear for the first time this season, coaxed out by the mild weather as I moved along the trail.

While I enjoyed my walk at Sourland Mountain, it was a relatively quite day. I passed many other hikers and many companion canines - I was not quick enough with the camera to capture much wildlife and the heavy use of the trail may have kept most critters at bay.

On Saturday the third, I made the drive to Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge on Pleasant Plains Road in Basking Ridge, NJ. Great Swamp is administered by the U.S. Department of Fish and Wildlife, and contains a great abundance of prime swamp habitat that has remained largely undisturbed since 1960 according to the park website. Since I was a young child, I have visited the Lord Stirling Environmental Center just to the south of the Great Swamp refuge. I even volunteered there during high school. My favorite time of year to visit is the fall, as the summer days can get very hot even in the shade of the trees. Last Saturday the sun beat down without the benefit of leaf cover, and the temperature probably reached the upper 80's.

The plants and animals slowly awake after winter hibernation. The water table is very high here, hence the swamp designation. I slogged through the mud, looking for early risers.

I began my identification of frogs, snakes and turtles at the park brochure on Reptiles, Amphibians and Fishes. The main highlight of my first hour on the trail was the Northern Water Snake (Nerodia sipedon sipedon) below. This snake was basking on a log in the middle of large puddle. I was able to approach fairly close without disturbing him in the least - he seems content and secure in his spot in the sun. For another example of this species showing its darker coloration please see the article for the species on Wilkapedia.


On the way back to the parking area, I caught this shot of a Green Frog (Rana clamitans melanota).

If you care to skip the mud, Great Swamp also has an extensive system of boardwalk covered trails, which lead out to strategically placed bird blinds.

It is a beautiful place and wildlife of all kinds is in abundance.

An Eastern Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta picta) swims by.

Two Canada Geese (Branta canadensis) have feathered a nest not far from where the trail forms a bridge across a pond.

It seemed that nearly every spot of water was teaming with life that day.

I believe this is a Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina), about 14 inches long. This guy was pretty hard to see among the fallen leaves and rocks. I had a lively discussion with some other folks on the trail over whether he (or she) was in fact actually a rock. Luckily the camera captured the classic extra pointed snout of the Snapper.

This is a Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata). A cute little guy at just under 6 inches long.

Before we depart the Great Swamp Wildlife Refuge, I want to mention the abundance of songbirds and waterfowl. I undertake each hike to experience nature as it is on that particular day, not to take pictures - I usually site many more species than I manage to photograph. My camera really isn't powerful enough to capture small birds from too far away anyway. But they are out there in abundance.

I spend Sunday, April 4th with family. The weather was still fair and mild and we took in some sun in the backyard before the big meal. With fair weather forecasted for next week, a world of flowers heralds the beginning of spring.

Washington Valley, Bridgewater, NJ

Welcome to Washington Valley Park, Newman’s Lane trailhead in Bridgewater, NJ. On this particular weekend (March 27th), the weather had turned cloudy and the temperature had dropped down to 40-45 degrees. While I was hoping to spend most of the weekend outdoors, Aengus and I had to cut our walk short as it was just too cold to enjoy the woodland. I snapped just a few shots as we ambled down to the water and then quickly returned to the parking area. This is the same trail I visited in a previous post, back in January.

This part of the park is littered with boulders that border the Washington Valley Reservoir.



On my favorite outcrop, the view west and east.






And due north.

I often come to the Newman’s Lane trailhead when it rains – I like the different colors of the water as it reflects the sky.

The highlight of our 30 minute walk were some Merganser waterfowl (Mergus merganser) which we spotted cruising near the far shore. My thanks to Whatbird.com for assisting with this species identification - While I usually make use of my field guides or just memories from field biology labs back in college to identify species, I was definitely stumped until I zoomed in on my original photo and hit the web for these guys (the green head is male, the brown female).


It is no mystery why waterfowl like to hang out here.

With the temperature back in the 70's, I am hoping to get in a hike each day of the holiday weekend. I hope the good weather lasts! See you on the trail!

A Hike at Sourland Mountain

Saturday, March 20th was another gift - clear, calm and seasonably warm around 70 degrees. Around 11am, I strapped on my regular hiking boots for the first time this year, and drove out to the Sourland Mountain Preserve, off of East Mountain Road, in Hillsborough, NJ.


My first memory of this hike is the constant noise - spring peepers (Pseudacris crucifer) sang merrily from the marshy area to the left of the parking area. Canada geese (Branta canadensis) murmured quietly as they swam among the reeds.

Sourland Mountain is described as a preserve or "undisturbed natural area" according to the park website. Several multi-use trails run through a forested area on the side of what is clearly a large hill, if not a genuine mountain. Like most New Jersey parks, you can reach the farthest point in approximately one hour of hiking. I recall previous hikes were relatively free of traffic noise as the nearest highway is some distance away. Other wooded areas and some farmlands also ring the preserve.

Due to the flooding last weekend, I was anxious to see any damage the rushing waters had caused. The pond next to the parking area had clearly pushed up past its banks, resulting in a ring of extra muddy grass. The culvert which drains this pond into a nearby stream has been exposed down to the man made pipe.


However, the rest of the stream seemed to be intact.

On this particular hike I chose to amble past marker 13 on the park map to marker 11 and from there up to marker 5 and back, moving up an area keep open (unwooded) due to the gas pipeline that runs underneath the soil (yes, this is all undisturbed by New Jersey standards). This is fairly steep trail, covered in rocks of all sizes, so be sure wear adequate footwear and move at your own pace.

As you can see on the map, the contour lines are close together here, and one gains all the elevation the park has to offer while moving up the slope. On either side of the open trail, a cross section of the wooded areas of the park are visible, making it a fine walk to experience the main aspects of the area.

When there is enough water from rain or runoff, clear streams and still pools form along the slope.

Around 20 minutes of walking up the slope and I can view the March landscape from a fair amount of height.

On either side of the trail, the sun shines on the boulders and beautiful woodland the extends throughout the preserve.

At the top of the slope, the surrounding farmer's fields, green spaces and housing developments of Montgomery and Hillsborough spread out before you. Gazing down the trail, the view below faces due east.

At the apex of the upward slope, you will see a red painted concrete pipe used to keep one of the larger streams from washing down the trail. The water formed an audible roar as I approached, sparking in the sunlight.

Located near the top of the slope is a side trail which runs south of marker 5. I take a quick walk to explore a stream that was audible from the main trail despite the presence of the red culvert. The young trees and brown grasses which have graced the landscape all winter formed a picturesque scene against the clear water of the stream as I moved down the trail.

Here some new bank has been cut thanks to recent flooding.

On a bridge along this trail, I was inspired to capture the music of the stream pictured below.

To review, this 45 second video was taken to capture the movement of light on the water and the sound of the stream over the rocks. No animals make an appearance and Sasquatch is not in the background - it is simply the best capture of sound my Kodak ZC8612 camera could manage. I hope you enjoy it.

Before the weekend came to close I was able to visit the preserve one more time, at a slightly earlier hour. This time I meandered through primarily wooded trails. My companion and I were privileged to spot this highly social toad, who was kind enough to sit still while we photographed him (or her) from a few different angles.

Noting our friend was approximately 4 inches from nose to end of spine, I took a crack at identification using my National Audubon Society field guide. I feel reasonably confident that this is a Bufo americanus (American Toad). Please correct me via comment if this is not the case! I appreciate your help.

Not far from our toad encounter, I was pleased to catch this photo of an Eastern Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus) as it glided by. Approximately 24 inches in length, it was moving at a fair pace amount the trees and I mainly caught the shot because I still had the camera fired up from photographing the toad.

For those of you disinclined to meet up with reptiles and amphibians, I can assure you that Sourland Mountain is not crawling with these critters. On nine out of ten hikes foot traffic from the heavily used trails drives them away from close proximity to humans or their natural camouflage hides them from view.


As always, be sure to stay away from any reptile (or any type of wildlife) you cannot identify. New Jersey has few poisonous or dangerous species, but it better to be safe and give a wide berth. Also, as a rule I attempt to disturb wildlife the least amount possible while hiking or taking photographs on the trail. As you may notice throughout these blog posts, I am a bit of an environmentalist - one individual hoping that others will join me in respecting our natural areas.


Unfortunately, this weekend has brought back the 30 degree temperatures I was hoping we had seen the last of this year. Like marker 13 at Sourland Mountain below, each milepost is both an ending and a beginning - it all depends on where you are headed.