ABOUT THE PARK:
Hill and Dale Preserve - New Jersey Conservation Foundation
DIRECTIONS:
GPS Coordinates 40.68351, -74.78209
 |
| Parking is on the opposite side of Parsonage Lot Road from the Hill and Dale Preserve. It is actually the parking lot for Hell Mountain Preserve, which I can find nothing about online. |
 |
| The kiosk in the parking lot has maps for Hell Mountain Preserve but I could see no trail. Perhaps another one to explore in the winter. |
 |
| If anyone is game in the meantime, here are the maps. |
TRAIL MAP:
Hill and Dale Preserve Trail Map - New Jersey Conservation Foundation
HIKE DISTANCE: 1.7 miles (hiked together with
Cold Brook Preserve - 2.7 miles, 2.3 miles away)
THE HIKE:
 |
| Chipping Sparrow |
 |
| Walk out of the parking lot... |
 |
| ... and cross Parsonage Lot Road slightly diagonally to the right ... |
 |
| ... to the kiosk and trail which is blazed orange but shown as red on the map. |
 |
| After a short distance the blue trail goes left. I was going to return that way but could see a blow down that would present problems for Shawnee so I already knew I was not going to return that way. |
 |
| These trails are very well blazed. |
 |
| Orange/red goes through a wooded section and merges with blue for a few yards. |
 |
| We stayed with orange which proceeds uphill along fields. |
 |
| Today it was all about red-winged blackbirds - a female here ... |
 |
| ... and a male. |
 |
| Going up, the views behind are spectacular - the pictures don't so it justice. |
 |
| After passing along the top, orange/red goes into the woods. |
 |
| Where orange/red turns right and crosses the creek, we kept straight on blue. |
 |
| She is getting hot in the sun ... |
 |
| ... and LOADED with ticks. Yes, every black speck is a tick and that is just a fraction of what was on her. Even though she was just dosed with K-9 Advantix a few days ago and I was sprayed down with Deep Woods OFF, they were on me, too. |
 |
| At that part where orange/red and blue are together, staying left on orange/red when blue leaves right. |
 |
| We retraced on orange/red all the way back. |
 |
| The ticks I pulled off of Shawnee when we got home before I let her inside. |
 |
| The ticks I pulled off of Shawnee before we got in the car. I stick them in a container with rubbing alcohol which makes them deader than dead. Or drunker than dead. Whichever, dunk them in and they never come out. |
Nice pics. Wow that was a lot of ticks you pulled off of Shawnee! Yeah, going through tall grass like that is not good. I hope you got all of them off of her and you. Thanks for sharing. Joanne from NJ
ReplyDeleteI am pretty sure they are all gone now. They said ticks would be bad this year and they were not kidding!
Delete