Fuller Mountain Preserve, 21 April 2007

Laurel reflects on our outing with the Orange County Land Trust...

Kathleen and I went on an Orange County Land Trust hike to Fuller Mountain Preserve in Warwick close to the New Jersey border. It was a scouting mission to see if the preserve would be suitable for future Nature Stroller hikes. We quickly determined that the rugged condition of the trail was not conducive to stroller use, but anyone with backpacks, front packs or older kids will find this place magical. The Land Trust owns 200 acres along a ravine surrounding Fuller Mountain Brook. This area has not been farmed or had many trees harvested so a lot of the native vegetation is still intact. The wildflower bloom there should be incredible come May. We saw that the forest floor was covered with the spotted leaves of trout lily that will hold aloft yellow, nodding, lily shaped flowers next month. Trout lilies take nine years to bloom, so though the ground seemed like it would be carpeted with yellow, only about 25% of the plants will produce blooms. Coltsfoot, a yellow wildflower, is in bloom now by the parking area, and the spicebush shrubs were ready to burst their buds.
The kids on the hike turned over logs and rocks searching for creatures and were rewarded with several red-backed salamanders, a pickerel frog, and best of all a two-lined salamander which is not common. We even saw the eggs of the red back salamander, yellow spheres clustered in the soil under a rock. Mourning cloak butterflies and Compton tortoiseshell butterflies danced through the forest; one tortoiseshell even paused for a while on my hand!
We highly recommend this walk for older kids. My son Sebastian literally immersed himself in the brook. He is seven years old and had no trouble with the hike, I would recommend it for kids five and up. You can find directions to Fuller Mountain Brook on the Orange County Land Trust web site, www.oclt.org. Look for a tiny parking area with “POSTED” signs next to the tiny bridge over Fuller Mountain Brook. Please note that we recommend the trail that begins at the parking area. A much more difficult trail begins across the street, it is treacherous and not easy to follow.

Stay tuned for some great pictures!