On Saturday I put in 10 miles on the trails of South Mountain Reservation and saw many signs of Spring — early wildflowers like Lavender or the invasive Lesser Celandine, many chirping birds, and trees pushing out new leaves. There are already some signs the second wave of blooms are already on their way — I saw mountain laurel budding and in the muddier areas the leaves of trout lilies poking through. Tis the season of perfect hiking weather, too. Grab a light jacket or heavy shirt and go for miles without getting overheated or cold.

Early Spring 2012 Photos

If you need a bit more of a kick in the rear to get out of your house and spend some time in the woods or the hills, here’s a few images from my hike of the Lenape and Rahway trails this past weekend.

Pink Cherry Blossoms in full bloom on the walk up Warner Rd to the park entrance

Aside from some beech leaves that are still hanging on, this dried tulip tree flower was one of the last signs of the monochromatic brown winter season

The buds of a mountain laurel plant near Hemlock Falls

A Spring Beauty poking out from under a tree root near the river

One of a few turkey vultures casting shadows on the ground and soaring on the warm air

A lovely purple lavender flower on the ground near the Tulip Springs area

Want to Find A Park?

If you want to find a park near you to explore and get some exercise and fresh are here are a few great resources:

• The HikeNJ Park Index
• NY NJ Trail Conference Hike Finder
• GetOutsideNJ Listings

Old Pump Station, Campbells Pond

Campbells Pond

Golden Forest

Green is Fleeting

I hope that you’ve found some time to get out there this shortened Fall and catch some of the foliage. And maybe even find that little Maple grove or something with some amazing seasonal colors along the trails.

For more, you can view an archive and map of photographs I’ve taken in South Mountain Reservation on Flickr.

Hike 1: Summit Field to Washington Rock

The morning started with a early hike out to Washington Rock and the overlook to the south at the Watchungs. The walk wandered a bit covering some unofficial trails and looping back along side Crest Drive. Attendance was light, but it made for a nice warmup for the day.

Hiking south towards Washington Rock

The southern view of Watchung from Washington Rock

Hike 2: Summit Field to Hemlock Falls

This hour and a half or so, slow paced hike to the falls and back was attended by a nice crew of people. With the falls raging from the recent endless rain it was a great day to go down there. The hike mixed it up between the roads/bridal paths and the red/white falls loop trail with the highlight visiting then walking over the top of the falls.

The group hiking towards Hemlock Falls

Enjoying the view at Hemlock Falls

Walk 3: Wildflower Preserve Tour

With 2 knowledgable tour guides we wandered the enclosed wildflower preserve learning about the native plant life and doing a little bird (and woodchuck) watching.

Red Columbine

Indigo bunting visiting the preserve

Watching a woodchuck run off into the woods

Learn More

Learn more about South Mountain Reservation at the Hike NJ park page, or at the Conservancy website. You can also visit the Essex County Environmental Center in Roseland, NJ. The photos above can all be seen in this gallery on Flickr.

How about You?

What did you do this past weekend? Did you hike the 50 miles of NJ2NY50? Did you hike around High Point or visit a lake?

Park Information

For more information on Loantaka Brook Reservation, Direction and Trail Maps see these sites:

• Morris County Parks Commission’s Loantaka Page
• NYNJTC’s Loantaka page
• Listing of Park Entrance Locations

Trip Photos

View additional photos on Flickr.

The snow on this less used trail was icy and crusty the whole way, but I only had to break new trail for a short stint around the loop where the markers get a little sketchy without the worn dirt trails to follow. The snow was littered with fallen shards of ice, and glistened in the light, combined with the newly fallen beech leaves it was a pretty sight along this hilly route.

Unidentified tracks under a wonderful tree where the Rahway River meets Campbells Pond

The view across Campbells Pond looking towards Brookside Drive and the western hillside of the park.

A well traveled road inside of the park.

Looking north across Diamond Mill Pond

The low Winter sun makes some grand shadows through the beech tree woods.

A shadow of yours truly as I take some photos of Campbells Pond and the old pump house

Warning: South Mountain Reservation Closed For Deer Hunt

South Mountain Reservation will be closed on Tuesdays and Thursdays from now until January 27 to allow Essex County to run its deer management (hunting) program. This program will then move to Hilltop Reservation and Eagle Rock Reservation for the month of February. More information on the hunt from NJ.com.

If you enjoyed these photographs you can see more of my work at New Jersey Landscape Photography by Chris Casciano and buy photographs of scenic NJ for as little as $6.

I thought the trail was great and was really quite surprised that the route consisted of so much time spent on trails—straight through from Hilltop Reservation to Mills Reservation—rather then the massive concrete pounding I was expecting. I know some others let out cheers of joy each time we found sidewalks or asphalt paths, but I prefer the dirt under my feet.

If there is a repeat of the Lenape34 event I’m not sure I’d do it from end to end again, but the walk certainly opened my eyes to a few little parks and spots, such as the West Essex Trail and Cedar Grove that I’m eager to spend some more time exploring.

Total Distance Hiked: 33mi; Total Time Hiking: 12 hours (as tracked by RunKeeper)

Hike Recap

South Mountain Reservation

The Lenape Trail starts at the Locust Grove parking lot at the Millburn end of South Mountain Reservation and heads north through the park up, straight up to the ridge and then across past Hemlock Falls, over South Orange Ave and Cherry Lane and then continues through two other segments of the park. This was by far the most lengthy “hiking” like portion of the trail for the day, and the cool air and just starting to turn trees made a great spot for the group to start (and the most photogenic scenes for the day).

West Orange

After exiting the park the yellow blazes take a path through that forks—with a western spur heading out towards Roseland, Livingston and eventually Morris County, and an “eastern” spur going north a bit more over Rt. 280, and then behind West Orange High School, eventually leading up the hill our lunch spot and then to Eagle Rock Reservation.

Eagle Rock Reservation

At right about the 10 mile mark we entered Eagle Rock Reservation, where the trail then skirts through the park, hitting the highest elevation of the day, a few photo ops, and some great walking through the quiet woods and basalt rocks.

Verona Park

Next on the tour of parks, after winding through some sleepy little side streets in town, was Verona Park where the trail circles around the boat house and the lovely pond and out onto Bloomfield Avenue.

Hilltop Reservation

After Verona park we hit the sidewalks again for just a short while. We then skirted Hilltop Reservation and stated onto our longest stretch of continuous unpaved trail. Can’t say much about the park as it felt like the trail we were on just passed behind some houses and under the “hill” to come out and cross over to the start of the West Essex Trail.

West Essex Rail Trail

The Lenape Trail then connects to the West Essex Trail taking us on a walk through Verona and Cedar Grove, past the old Essex County Asylum property, over Rt 23 and into the reason Cedar Grove was given that name. After the similarity of the parks and trails we hit along the Watchung Range, this little clump of woods and the great route it took through the nooks and crannies of the stands of trees I thought was one of the more refreshing sites the trail gave us all day. Will certainly be back again to explore

Mills Reservation

Here I have to admit, the one park I wanted to explore more of, having only been through there briefly in the past, the group I was with somehow skirted part of the trail and must have taken a shortcut. Still, it was a well paced walk around the reservoir on our way to a well deserved break on the other side at the Mountain Ave train station.

Brookdale Park

From Mountain Ave it was a bit of asphalt pounding right through the 20 mile mark until we started passing through some of the more conventional local parks that comprised the rest of the day. First we hit a small park and pond that acted as a little oasis (construction aside) and onto Brookdale itself where we all paused and regrouped (or shuffled groups) for the final push ahead. And where we got passed on the track around the park by a bunch of high school runners making me feel like we were going all that much slower.

The Sidewalks of Nutley, et. al.

From Brookdale Park it was the longest stretch of street walking of the day, over the Garden State Parkway, through a few back alleys and utility roads and small parks on the way to Newark’s famous Branch Brook Park. Miles 22 to 27 were not anywhere near the most interesting stretch of the day, but allowed for some chit chatting among the group that left Brookdale together.

Branch Brook Park

By the time we hit Belleville Park and the norther end of Branch Brook Park we were losing light fast and the group of hikers I had settled in with were thinking about the possible ways we might finish the day. Because of the light and the end of the day approaching we didn’t get to “see” much of Branch Brook as we pushed forward to the light rail station to make the final decision on how to finish the remaining 4 or 5 miles through to Newark Penn Station. We decided to press on to the finish line, but cut around the rest of the park and along the road through the dark.

Rains and Hail of Newark

We couldn’t have asked for better weather throughout the day, but it wasn’t 15 minutes of walking after leaving the Branch Brook Park light rail station when that caught up to us with a vengeance. First a mile or so of walking in the rain had us all thoroughly soaked. Followed by a drop in temp of probably 10 or 15 degrees and a freak hail storm pounding us as we passed Broad Street Station forced us to take cover in a building lobby just minutes from our final destination. By this time not only was everyone tired the temp drop pretty much did us all in and had us just wanting to be done and home.

In the end the group I was with on and off all day—John, Lynn, Ian, and Maurice—made it to Penn Station Newark together and on the feet we started the journey with. When all was said and done, and even with the two or three deviations from the “official” yellow blazes, we covered 33 miles of trails and streets of suburban New Jersey.

Where to Learn More About the Lenape Trail

The Lenape Trail is part of the Liberty Water Gap Trail connecting Liberty State Park and The Delaware Water Gap. Official information can be found at http://www.libertygap.org and http://www.libertygap.org/lenape-trail.html.

The Lenape34 event was organized by the Freewalkers who also organized the 50 mile Big Walk event last spring. Their site is at http://freewalkers.org/ and they’re on twitter at @freewalkers.

Leading up to the hike Jen Connic, editor at Millburn Patch, wrote Lenape 34 Hike to Raise Trail Awareness covering the event and some of the backstory and history of the Lenape Trail and the Freewalkers event. Event participant, Nutley Resident, and one of the hikers I crossed the “finish line” into Penn Station with, Jon Demmer has a great story up with his experiences from the walk on the Freewalkers site in WHAT A CRAZY NIGHT!!!.

Photos

The above photos, as well as a few others can be seen in this gallery on Flickr
Prints of my photo of the the yellow Lenape Trail trail marker are available for sale.

Lesser celadine

This waxy yellow flower can be seen in many spots in the valley near the water, runoff or muddy areas. The above photo was taken right off the parking area. Wikipedia entry for Lesser celadine.

Yellow Trout-Lily

Trout lilies are my favorite spring wildflower to photograph. On this walk I didn’t see any of the yellow flowers blooming yet, but the familiar leaves were popping up out of the moss all around the park. Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center page on Trout Liliy.

Cypress Spurge

Not quite at peak yet, the cypress spurge in the exposed rocky basalt areas near the top of Washington Rock has begun making an appearance. Wikipedia entry for Cypress Spurge.

Periwinkle

The crocus have died back, but there’s still some purple to be found in the viney Periwinkle flower. Periwinkle info at USDA Plants.

Identification

I’m the last person that would consider myself an export on identification of wildflowers [or trees, or birds or anything else]. I was able to i.d. these spring flowers by three resources — The great reference book Wildflowers ( Northeastern/North-central North America) by Peterson Field Guides, asking for help of experts on the internets in forums like Flickr’s ID Please group which has 5800 people all helping each other identify things, and repeated sightings. If you’re not sure what you’re looking at wile on a trail, take a photo and then look it up when you get back. File that away for later reference.

NOTE: The above map and route was made with RunKeeper Pro, a GPS based activity monitor for the iPhone.

One of the nice things about the trails in South Mountain is that its easy to orient yourself based on the slope of the ridge and the nearby roads making it difficult to be lost for long and easy to wander from trail to trail. This is just what I did once I crossed South Orange Avenue into the northern half of the park. Jumping from the green trail markers to orange back to green as the terrain or pretty wintery scenes caught my fancy. Finally coming back to the yellow [Lenape] and white trail markers for the walk back to the Locust Grove lot in Millburn along the water.

For the first day of the new year the traffic on the trails was light and peaceful. The usual mix of families and dog walkers stuck to the areas around Hemlock Falls, the Dog park, and the larger parking areas, but the trails felt like they were all mine. A wonderful way to kick off a fresh year.

How did you spend this first weekend of the 2010?

With the fall foliage at near peak in Essex County and rainstorms moving through Friday and Saturday I spent Sunday afternoon with a couple of photographer friends and wandering around the waterfalls in South Mountain Reservation. Autumn colors seemed to be near peak, so if you’ve got the urge to go out and see the bright reds, yellows and oranges the northeast has to offer the next week or so is the time to do it! It was just a short walk so there isn’t much to recap, but wandering around the falls did yield some nice images. Enjoy!

Photos Above: 1. Hemlock Falls 2. The crowd at the base of Hemlock Falls enjoying the sunny afternoon 3. An isolated line of water at Black Rock Falls 4. Pine Trees and peak foliage from above the basalt formations 5.  Bronze leaves against the basalt walls. Photo Credits [all]: Chris Casciano

Hike Details

This is a short walk, hardly considered a hike, but one that is quite popular with parents with children who just want to expose their kids to nature and the waterfalls as well as anyone who just has a short time to spend outside. Starting at the parking lot on the eastbound side of South Orange Avenue [or the Tulip Springs Parking Lot on Cherry Lane then a walk over the pedestrian bridge] make the first left along the road at the sign and intersection with the Rahway trail [white markers]. The road follows a small stream fed by the falls on your right, keep walking and you’ll soon see first Black Rock Falls on your left and then Hemlock Falls and the basalt cliffs at the end of the road. Total distance: about 1 mile depending on where you explore. Terrain: flat road leading to scrambling on basalt cliffs above falls.

Scenic Overlooks in South Mountain Reservation

As I was  prepping this little trip report I saw that a guide to the overlooks in the park was published by local news site Patch. Walk in the Park: Scenic Reservation Overlooks is a good overview of the best views  from along this part of Watchung ridge of the city skyline, the Hudson River and other local sights.