Hot Day at Washington Valley Reservoir

Saturday, June 5th was a fine hot June day. By 11am the temperature had climbed up to 90 degrees and beyond. Hazy clouds drifted across the sky, leaving things feeling muggy in the grey light or letting the sun beat down.

Below is a view of the Newman Lane parking area approaching from north to south. The parking area is in the middle of a wooded stretch (the rest of the park) and clearly marked by the usual Somerset County park sign.

A major theme of this hike was the low water line. While we have had many cloudy days this season, not too much rain has fallen lately. Many streams had dried up, and the remaining ones were very low. I found many small snails in each shallow area. I couldn't tell if they were especially prolific this year, or if the low waterline was squishing them together into small areas.

I believe this snail is a part of the family Lymnaeidae. However I was unable to narrow it down further. I will have to purchase a mollusk field guide. Unfortunately, not enough snail enthusiasts have taken to the web to make this information readily available. These two were hanging out on a leaf, which I picked up to photograph clearly. As soon as they were clear of the water they began moving fairly quickly towards the edges of the leaf. They can really move when they have to! I replaced the leaf quickly and they settled down again.
I thought this deeper pool would have at least a few frogs hanging out, but I didn't see any (or perhaps they were all camouflaged).
I am sure this is an Eastern Ribbon Snake (Thamnophis sauritus sauritus). I want to mention again that the parks of Somerset county are not noticeably crawling with snakes and other reptiles. Over the course of many, many hikes where I am specifically looking, listening and sometimes smelling for stuff I have caught a few lucky shots of interesting creatures. If you are hiking along thinking about clouds or your grocery list, it is very possible to encounter very few.
This season's undergrowth has now come in completely, laying a heavy covering over the woods along the reservoirs edge.
I believe this is a Great Blue Huron (Ardea herodias), fishing on the other side of the reservoir from me.

A few from my favorite spot at the reservoir.

This is Poison Ivy - a whole bush full! Be sure to stay away from bright green leaves that look like this.

I believe this is an American Toad (Bufo americanus). He was about 3 inches long, and while initially startled by my footsteps, he sat quietly by the edge of the trail long enough for me to take several pictures.

This is another freshwater snail - a larger species than the those in the photo at the beginning of this post. I was also unable to confirm an exact species - please help me out! Below is a photo of one of these snails crawling along the bottom of the reservoir (about 1 foot from shore).

Its been another weekend of sun and clouds today, June 13th. I hope to get in a few additional hikes this week.

4 Hikes on Memorial Day Weekend

Wow! It was a great weekend for hiking this Memorial Day weekend! I have an image packaged post to share. While I had a great time hiking around the usual 3 county parks, the following photos hit the high points of each journey.

Colonial Park was filled with babies on May 28th. Canada geese (Branta canadensis) strut their stuff with their goslings.

A male and female Barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) fed 3 or 4 nestlings in their nest made of mud above. Baby birds are all mouth at that age!

A female Mallard duck (Anas platyrhynchos) with her ducklings.

A (full grown) American bullfrog (Rana catesbeiana). By sneaking up behind him, I was able to confirm the dark stripes on his hind legs. However, he soon sensed my footsteps...

...and hopped off the board to vanish beneath the duckweed.

A young Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta) surfaces in the Delaware-Raritan Canal adjacent to the park. This little guy was around 4 inches long.

On Saturday morning, I went for a long hike in Sourland Mountain Preserve. It was a warm, muggy morning where you felt you were swimming rather than walking through the air.

Several creepy crawly creatures were out enjoying the weather. I think of slugs as our little slimy brothers of the wild kingdom. This is a Orange-banded Arion (Arion fasciatus) slug.

The view from the top of the hill has changed now that summer foliage has grown in.

While the sun came out intermittently as I trudged up the hill, the sky eventually hazed over and I plunged into darkness when the trail travelled under the trees.

The white squares marking the path seemed to glow like beacons as I moved through the wet leaves and damp boardwalks.

A caught a glimpse of two of these guys, Apheloria virginiensis. Evidently their only common name is simply "millipede."

A Great gray slug (Limax maximus) moves along a fallen log.

At the junction of several trails, a stone cairn awaits you. I will let you discover its location yourself within the park. It is at least 1/2 hour from the main trail head (unless you hike very fast), so look for it a ways into your hike.

I believe this a Garden Snail (Cepaea nemoralis). I had never seen one before, only found empty shells, and I was very excited by this encounter.

The clearing at marker 9 at Sourland Mountain Preserve. It was a great hike but a little more taxing than I had anticipated - I was pretty tired, damp and dirty in general by they time I made it back to my vehicle.

On Sunday, my fabulous boyfriend and I spent an hour or so at Washington Valley Park, Gilride Road trail head.

I was pleased by the abundant sunshine and the cool breeze that moved across the water as we hit some of the overlooks along the gorge.

Another bullfrog lounges in the sun.

I photographed this insect so that I could enjoy identifying it. However, it has me totally stumped - I think it is part of the order Odonata, which includes dragonflies and damselflies. But that was as far as I got. Please help me out! What is this mysterious green bug?

On Monday, I visited Colonial Park, biking down the Delaware-Raritan Canal gravel path to the park. I hung out on the same bridge over the canal and took another photo of the baby Painted Turtle above.

It was a good ride on another hot, sunny day. My family and I finished the weekend with some grilled food inside, as a thunderstorm rolled through around dinnertime. Overall, I was pleased with the many sightings of interesting creatures over the long weekend.

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.