Pyramid Mountain County Park
Welcome to Pyramid Mountain County Park! Pyramid Mountain is part of the Morris County Park System and contains more than 1,500 acres of preserved open space. The land comprising the Pyramid Mountain Natural Historic Area was set aside as Morris County parkland in 1989 after a long struggle to help preserve these ecologically and geologically diverse acres.
Campgaw Mountain Reservation
Welcome to Campgaw Mountain Reservation!
Campgaw County Reservation Map
Covering about 1,300 acres, Campgaw Mountain is part of the Bergen County Park System. The park is located in both Mahwah and Franklin Lakes New Jersey.
The Rockefeller State Park Preserve
Welcome to the Rockefeller State Park Preserve! Located in Sleepy Hollow, NY, the 1,000 + acre park features a variety of habitats ranging from open meadows, deciduous forest & wetlands. Rockefeller State Park Preserve is listed as an “IBA” (Important Bird Area) by the National Audubon Society. Over 180 species of birds have been documented in the preserve!
Female Yellow Warbler
Common birds (depending on the time of the year) found in the preserve include the belong among others:
Virtual Tour
Welcome! Today, using the map below, we are going to explore the Swan Lake area of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve!
Trail map listed above taken from NY Parks.
Swan Lake
The 22 acre Swan Lake was created by impounding a tributary of the Pocantico River (a tributary of the Hudson River).
Carriage Road Rockefeller State Park Preserve
The carriage roads we will be walking on were developed by John D Rockefeller Sr & John D Rockefeller Jr between the years 1910-1950. Every winter the Friends of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve evaluates which trails need fresh surface material added. Drainage of trails is completed every spring to ensure carriage roads stay dry. Trail maintenance is a 12 month process!
Virtual Tour
After paying the minimal parking fee ($6 at the time of this writing in 2013) let’s walk over to the visitor center.
Japanese Peony
After picking up a trail map let’s check out the interesting flowering plants blooming nearby. These flowers are Japanese Peony and are known as the “King of Flowers” in Japan.
Just past the flowers and the visitor center there is a kiosk chock full of information about the Rockefeller State Park preserve.
Birds and Wildflowers of the Preserve
Here we can find excellent information regarding common flora and fauna of the preserve. All set? Let’s head towards Swan lake!
Fern Garden
But first let’s poke around the Fern Garden found just past the visitor center. The fern garden is populated with Cinnamon, Royal & Sensitive Ferns among other species including some rather large Jack-in-the-Pulpit plants!
Jack-in-the-Pulpit
Leaving the Fern Garden we follow a brief trail through a forest to get to Brother’s Path.
Brother’s Path
We are going to be following the 1.1 mile Brother’s Path which encircles Swan Lake. As we start out heading south on the Brother’s Path, the trailhead of the .7 mile Overlook Trail appears to our right.
Overlook Trail
Let’s take a quick detour from Brother’s Path to walk a section of the Overlook Path for a few minutes. According to the Hudson River Audubon Society website this area is one of the best spots to view Eastern Bluebirds. Eastern Bluebirds, New York’s state bird, are a small thrush whose habitats include open woodlands and meadows such as where we are right now. Eastern Bluebird populations have experienced a decline due to strong competition from aggressive non-native birds like the House Sparrow and European Starlings.
Eastern Blue Bird (NY’s State Bird!)
As we ponder the future fate of these birds a blue blur flies by and lands on a nesting box which has been placed in the meadow by a member of the Rockefeller State Park Preserve staff. Ready to head back to the Brother’s Path? Let’s head back to continue our journey around Swan Lake. Heading south on Brother’s Path we see continuous views of Swan Lake mixed with occasional Flowering Dogwood to our left.
Flowering Dogwood
Flowering Dogwood, native to the eastern United States, is a common understory tree found in forest edges.
Rockefeller State Park Preserve Meadow
Continuing south an opening has appeared to our right providing a view of the sweeping meadows we sampled on the Overlook Trail. As we walk Swan Lake is becoming narrower. Turning east we cross over two Pocantico River tributaries draining Swan Lake.
American Beech Trees
We pass near a few American Beech trees and a Skunk Cabbage dominated wetland.
Skunk Cabbage
Passing the Farm Meadow Trailhead to our south we continue to follow the Brothers Path heading north.
Farm Meadow Trail Trailhead
Swan Lake is now on our left.
Swan Lake to our left
As we walk, we pass Canada Mayflower to our left in bloom.
Canada Mayflower in bloom
Canada Mayflower is part of the Lily family and native to the Eastern United States.
Eastern Chipmunk near it’s home
A sudden squeak makes an Eastern Chipmunk known to us.
Northern Black Racer (Thanks Brian!)
I’m not sure if the chipmunk is sounding the alarm over us or this Northern Black Racer lurking nearby. Maybe both?
Gray Catbird
As we leave the chipmunk and snake we hear a sudden “meow” sound and realize that the sound is not coming from a cat but a bird! The bird is a Gray Catbird. Gray Catbirds are migratory and fly to the southeaster US, Mexico and Central America for the winter months.
Striped Wintergreen
Continuing north and passing the trailhead to the Ridge Trail, we spot some Striped Wintergreen, a species which is considered vulnerable in New York.
Mallards near Swan Lake
We cross over a Swan Lake feeder stream and pass a couple of Mallards and a turtle as we head west on the Brothers Path back to the parking lot to complete our hike. I hope you enjoyed this virtual tour of Swan Lake and that it inspired you to visit it for yourself!
Recommended Books:
1) WALKABLE WESTCHESTER – The book covers over 180 parks with almost 600 miles of trails in Westchester County.
Click here for more information!
2) The Nature of New York – This work offers a sweeping environmental history of New York State. Author David Stradling shows how New York’s varied landscape and abundant natural resources have played a fundamental role in shaping the state’s culture and economy.
Click here for more information!
3) Eastern Deciduous Forest Ecology and Wildlife Conservation – This book is a useful tool for anyone who wants know or hopes to help one of North America’s great natural resources!
Click here for more information!
Feel free to comment with any questions, memories or suggestions! Thank you and have fun exploring!
Check out the latest bird sightings here!
Friendship Park
Welcome to Passaic County’s Friendship Park!
Friendship Park
The 244 acre park, located in Bloomingdale, NJ consists of deciduous wooded uplands and wetlands.
Virtual Hike
(Trail Map taken from the Passaic County Parks Page)
The 0.9 Orange Blazed Trail (aka Friendship loop) we are going to follow was blazed courtesy of the New York-New Jersey Trail Conference. Ok, ready to start?
Orange Trail Trailhead
From the parking area head east to the Orange Blazed Trailhead near a wetland.
Turn left heading north on the trail. Immediately you will notice a large outcrop of rocks of precambrian origin. The rocks are known as “basement rocks” and were originally covered by soil and other rocks. Through the years due to natural activities such as past glacier action the rocks became exposed. Most of the rocks are thought to be comprised of ancient granite-gneiss.
Puddingstone
Pudding stone rocks, seen above, are common in the NJ Highlands and consist of well-rounded quartz and red sandstone cobbles in a fine-grained red ironstone matrix.
Dry Stream
After a few minutes, you will pass over a seasonal stream. Wait! Where’s the water? That’s a good question and I am glad you asked it. This stream is part of the wetlands that exist in Friendship park and only flows when the water table located below the surface gets too high such as in heavy downpours in spring.
Continuing on we come to the northern boundary of Friendship park which is seen here as a fence separating the park from an old abandoned golf course. Let’s stop and look around for a second. It seems we are not alone. There’s an American Robin & Eastern Gray Squirrel keeping watch over the forest.
American Robin
Eastern Gray Squirrel
Wait! What’s this? It’s an American Chestnut Sprout!
American Chestnut
The American Chestnut tree was an important member of the eastern forest found in the United States. A wide variety of wildlife fed on its chestnuts. American Chestnuts began to die off in 1904 due to imported Chestnut Blight from Asia. The blight, imported to the US via Asian chestnut trees, is a fungus dispersed by spores in the air, raindrops and animals. American Chestnut now survives only in the understory as shoots sprouting from old roots (which are not affected by the blight). The American Chestnut sprouts reach about twenty feet before the blight strikes. The roots then shoots up new sprouts and the process repeats itself. The American Chestnut Foundation  is currently working to restore the once great American Chestnut back to its native range. Check out the book American Chestnut : The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree for more information. Click here!
Black Oak Coppice
Heading east now there is a slight climb where we see a large coppice Black Oak. The orange blazed trail now continues on top of a large rock ledge.
Rock Ledge
The trail now starts to descend as we turn right and head south. Be careful to follow the orange blazes here as there are other trails that are not blazed which meander through the forest. According to our trail map, it looks like we left the trail! Let’s head back and find the last blaze.
Back on the Trail!
Whew! Back on the trail! Let’s stop and listen to the sounds of the forest: Sounds like we are hearing a White Breasted Nuthatch & a Blue Jay. Let’s continue on our hike!  Now we have arrived at the bottom of the descent.
Friendship Park Wetlands
Notice how the flora has changed. Before we came down here there was Chestnut Oak  but now we see the ground is wet and tussock sedge and Musclewood have appeared.
Musclewood
Turning right and heading north we are only a short distance from the trail’s end. But before we continue pause and check out those old growth White Oak Trees!
Massive Old Growth White Oaks
We have now come to the end of the orange trail and our exploration of Friendship Park.
Orange Trail End
Trail Update: There are now three connector trails within the orange loop, blazed red, yellow and blue. (Thanks John!)
Interested in checking out Friendship Park yourself? Check out below!
Directions (as taken from the NY NJ Trail Conference Website)
From I-287 north or south take Exit 53 (Bloomingdale) and turn left onto Hamburg Turnpike. Upon entering Bloomingdale, the name of the road changes to Main Street. In 1.3 miles (from Route 287), you will reach a fork in the road. Bear right (following the sign to West Milford), and in another 0.1 mile, turn right (uphill) onto Glenwild Avenue. Proceed for another 0.3 mile to the intersection of Woodward Avenue (on the left). Opposite this intersection, you will notice a dirt parking area bordered by stones on the right. Turn right and park here.
Northern Red Oak Friendship Park
Feel free to comment below with any bird sightings, interesting plants, memories or suggestions! Thank you and have fun exploring!
Check out some great books below to learn more about NJ’s plants and wetlands!
Welcome to Manhattan’s Hallett Nature Sanctuary! The Hallett Nature Sanctuary is located in the southeastern section of world famous Central Park near Central Park South and 5th Avenue. The sanctuary is an estimated 4 acre rocky upland woodland slope that forms the northern boundary of the artificially created 59th street pond.
59th Street Pond
A fence surrounds the forest to the north and west. The western side features a man-made waterfall which falls over Manhattan schist.
Waterfall at Hallett Nature Sanctuary
The Hallett Nature Sanctuary is the smallest of Central Park’s three woodlands. Formerly known as the Promontory, it was renamed the Hallett Nature Sanctuary in 1986 after George Hervey Hallett, Jr. Hallett was a well known NYC civic leader and nature lover. The land which became the Hallett Nature Sanctuary was declared a bird sanctuary and formally closed to the general public in 1934.
The preserve served as a living experiment to see how 4 acres of woodland would ecologically function in the United State’s most populated city. The results of the experiment were less than encouraging. All four layers of the forest (the canopy, sub-canopy, shrub and herbaceous layers) were found to be under onslaught from invasive plants including:
Wisteria has been shown to strangle and leave deep indentations on plants it grasps as shown in the picture listed below.
Effects of Invasive Wisteria on shrub after removal
Trail
Hallett Nature Sanctuary Trail Map taken from the Central Park Conservancy Website
On occasion, the Central Park Conservancy holds tours of the 59th Street pond and the Hallett Nature Sanctuary. The preserve is also open for your own exploration depending on weather conditions.
A short log lined woodchip trail encircles the sanctuary.  The woodchip trail helps water to absorb more easier into the ground preventing erosion on the steep sections of the sanctuary. In the growing season (spring & summer) as you walk the trail and listen to the tour guide it is hard to believe that you are feet away from Central Park South.
Hallett Nature Sanctuary Forest
The highlight of the tour is discovering the source of the waterfall located on the western border that empties into the pond. Visitors walking by may think the waterfall is generated by a natural spring. The real source is man-made; the waterfall can be turned on and off.
Flora
Flora in the Hallett Nature Sanctuary includes the below among others:
The Central Park Conservancy is adding to the list of native plants by planting in the herbaceous , shrub and canopy layers of the forest.
Fauna
Many species of birds find a home in Hallett Nature Sanctuary including:
Eastern Towhee
Black-Crowned Night Heron
Green-Winged Teal
Notable mammals include:
There have been at least two visits by Coyotes in the past five years. Click here for a video of a coyote crossing ice on the pond in 2010. Other species include:
Raccoon
Box Turtle
Turtle laying eggs near pond by Hallett sanctuary
Turtle laying eggs near pond by Hallett sanctuaryIt is worth taking a Central Park Conservancy led tour of this cool preserve in the middle of NYC. Click here for tour contact information.
Feel free to comment below with any bird sightings, interesting plants, memories or suggestions! Thank you and have fun exploring!
Check out the latest bird sightings here!
Check out the latest flora and fauna sightings here!
Great Books on Central Park:
