Horseshoe Hill Park (no real name for the area as far as I know)

Horseshoe Hill Road, Pound Ridge, Westchester County, New York

Directions:

From Saw Mill River Parkway:  Take the Parkway north to the exit for Reader's Digest Road; follow the road around the south side of the Reader's Digest buildings and at the traffic light turn left onto Route 117 north; drive 2.1 miles and at the Mt Kisco Hospital make a right turn onto Route 172; drive about 8.2 miles on Route 172 (going under US 684) to make a right turn onto West Lane (at green mileage marker 10 82); drive to the T-intersection with Route 137 (Westchester Avenue) and turn right; follow straight/bearing a little right off onto High Ridge Road (don't follow Route 137 to the left and down hill); turn right onto Horseshoe Hill Road; the road goes in a circle, but keep going straight and then around to the right following the increasing house numbers from #1 to just past house #70.  Park on the road between house # 70 and the mail box for house #77; (this is 0.7 of a mile from the junction with High Ridge Road).

Habitats:

woods, swampy areas

Trails:

8/15/04.  The Hagstrom Westchester County map shows a park here, but there are no signs here indicating it is actually a park. And there are no real trails.  So I had to bushwhack it.  This, however, was not that difficult because the shrub and herb layer was very sparse. I made my way heading West, Northwest and North.  The area is quite large, but how much of it is privately owned is unknown to me.  The area is very wet with swampy areas and vernal ponds.  There is a lot of skunk cabbage.  I had to jump from tussock sedge to tussock sedge in some areas to cross the wet lands. 

I must have walked quite a bit north.  In coming back I did not pay that much attention to my compass and probably walked farther north and finally realized I was lost.  So I walked into someone's back yard and asked the owner how to get back to Horseshoe Hill Road.  I found out that I was just off of Route 172.  I had a long walk back to my car via the roads.  

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = blooming on date of field trip, 8/15/2004

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)   quite a bit of it
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush) *
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus hispidus (swamp dewberry) ?
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium sp. ( a low bush blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax rotundifolia  (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)
 

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster)
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle)
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) *
Geranium sp. (geranium)
Impatiens sp. (jewelweed)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Polygonum arifolium (halberd-leaved tearthumb) *
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Polygonum spp. (smartweed)
Prenanthes altissima (tall lettuce)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Ranunculus sp. (buttercup)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Thalictrum pubescens (tall meadowrue)
Viola spp. (violet)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered type sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge) lots
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

Grasses:
Cinna arundinacea (wood reed grass)
Glyceria sp. (mannagrass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)

Ferns:
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern) lots
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

Others:
Sphagnum sp. (sphagnum moss):