ABOUT THE PARK:
Mercer Meadows - Mercer County Park Commission
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Ccoordinates 40.312697, -74.736789
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| Parking at The Red Barn. |
TRAIL MAP:
Mercer Meadows Trail Map - Mercer County Park Commission
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HIKE DISTANCE: 10 miles
THE HIKE:
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| Starting from the parking lot on a gravel path |
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| The gravel paths have directional signs at every corner. The mowed paths have posts, the footpaths have very little in the way of signage. Trails are not marked. |
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| The gravel path runs into the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, which links the various parks together, at the Pole Farm Interpretive Site. |
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| Wet mourning doves in the fog. |
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| I tried to stay off of gravel paths as much as possible so we kept straight on a mowed path. |
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| This is a different rabbit than the one above. Fawns and rabbit all having breakfast together |
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| Brodie noticed them but nobody moved fast so he didn't get over the top excited like he sometimes does. |
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| Balloon #44 of the year. This is from the defunct Toys R Us birthday club. Maybe someday this balloon collection will be worth something! |
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| Coming up on a road crossing. |
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| At the Hunt House we turned left on the mowed path. |
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| Willow Pond |
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| On the Stony Brook Trail. |
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| Stony Brook |
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| Where the map shows a trail back over to the Lawrence Hopewell Trail, there was nothing but an overgrown field. |
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| I went back and followed the park app but no trail in sight and ended up at the same place as before. |
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| We just had to hack our way through the overgrowth up to the LHT. |
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| Rosedale Lake from the LHT. Looking down to the left I noticed that there was a footpath coming up from the Stony Brook Trail on the other side of the outlet where the map shows the trail ends. So to get here, rock hop across the outlet then turn left. |
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| Passing by the fanciest dog park I have ever seen. The last time we stopped at a dog park Brodie became very overwhelmed so I had not planned on taking him in. Maybe on the way back. We'd have to see. |
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| Equestrian District |
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| Entering Curlis Woods. |
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| Curlis Lake |
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| Coming back around along the other side of the Equestrian Center. |
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| Birds everywhere! |
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| Back at the dog park there were not that many dogs and the place is huge so we went in. |
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| Much better than the last dog park Brodie was at. He was not overwhelmed at all. |
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| He even made a few new friends ... |
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| ... who got him to give chase. |
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| Back along Rosedale Lake. |
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| Shade Shelter |
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| North Observation Tower |
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| Nature Blind |
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| Back at The Red Barn where we parked. |
Great pictures! Is this park near Mercerville? Thanks for sharing. Joanne from Denville, NJ
ReplyDeleteThanks, Joanne. It's a little farther north near Lawrenceville.
DeleteJust want to mention how much I enjoy your and Brodie's posts and of course your annotated photos -- truly one of the best hiking and nature blogs out there! Please keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks so much!
DeleteHi Daniela -- well, I just recently commented on one of your older posts (Metedeconk Preserve), and now I will comment on your "brand spankin' new" one!
ReplyDeleteI've only passed by this one as I was on my way to another NJCF Preserve...Mount Rose Preserve -- just down the road (on Carter Road/CR-569). It seemed to be a somewhat "forgotten" preserve, as one of the trails (Meadow Trail) was through a _very_ overgrown meadow, defined only by blue markers on posts. The other trail, Forest Trail (2-mile loop) was much better. But the segue factor to Mercer Meadows would be that a section of the Lawrence Hopewell Trail is in this preserve...about 0.4 miles of it, but still nice just the same...oh, and it crosses Stony Brook at one point!
Anyway, as always -- excellent pix of your 10-mile hike in Mercer Meadows; I think my favorites were of the Stony Brook Trail (and of course, Stony Brook, the namesake!) You seemed to catch the trail at an interesting time (i.e. as the fog was lifting) -- makes the greenery stand out more and contrast better with the water. Of course, Rosedale Lake was gorgeous, and I really enjoyed the birds & butterfly shots as well!
Will definitely be adding this to my own list of places to go; probably next year, as I still have other places to get to this year. But who knows...I may just have to preempt one of my future adventures to do Mercer Meadows, because I think I'm going to _love_ this one! Can't wait to see what you do next...as always, Happy Hiking!
Thanks, Jim! Yes, I find the NJCF trails can be overgrown. When Shawnee and I hiked their Hill & Dale Preserve a couple of years ago it was overgrown and loaded with ticks. But it does make for better wildlife habitat that way! At Mercer the Stony Brook Trail and Curlis Woods trails were my favorite. Not another soul on them but the gravel Lawrence Hopewell Trail was pretty crowded by the time we finished - that is my least favorite trail and everyone else's favorite.
DeleteI enjoyed looking through your photos of your hike on the LHT trail. The fact that you found that section to be pretty crowded shows how popular it is with our community. It is well loved and is used for all kinds of reasons. (biking, hiking, exercise, dog walks, nature watching, family time, alone time ...) I'm glad to see that there are people traveling to experience and enjoy it as well. Take care!
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