Lanes Mines Nature Park
Monroe, Fairfield County, Connecticut
Directions:
Approach from the North:
Saw Mill River Parkway north to US 684 north to US 84; get off at Exit 11 to get onto Route 34 south in Berkshire, town of Newtown; turn right onto Toddy Hill Road; in Botsford, drive 0.6 of a mile and turn left onto High Bridge Road; head into the town of Monroe; drive 0.9 of a mile to where the road forks; bear right onto Fan Hill Road; drive 0.6 of a mile to the intersection of Fan Hill Road and Garder Road. Turn right and then immediately left into the parking area for Lanes Mine Park.
Approach from the South:
Merritt Parkway north to exit 49 for Route 25 north; head from the town of Trumbull to the town of Monroe; continue on Route 25 to Upper Stepney; head into the town of Newton to a right turn onto Botsford Hill Road; drive 0.6 of a mile and turn left onto High Bridge Road; head into the town of Monroe; drive 0.9 of a mile to where the road forks; bear right onto Fan Hill Road; drive 0.6 of a mile to the intersection of Fan Hill Road and Garder Road. Turn right and then immediately left into the parking area for Lanes Mine Park.
Geology/Topography:
Sammis Brook, north into Halfway River that is the eastern border of Monroe as it heads east into the Housatonic River.
Trails:
10/03/2005. On a beautiful day, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I parked at the intersection of Garder Road #1 and Far Hill Road. They had a posted notice that hikers can only hike on the Blue Trail. But they did not say how to access the blue trail. So we drove around looking for another entrance, but did not find one. (Maybe there is an entrance on Fan Hill Road?)
So we returned to the parking lot. Then I figured, maybe the yellow trail is just an entrance trail that leads to the blue trail. So we started hiking the yellow trail heading generally south (with bending southeast and southwest at times). The area is so dry because of the drought. It is a little depressing. The trail heads uphill for a while, it then heads on relatively flat ground, and then heads downhill. Close to the bottom of the hill, we came upon the red trail, the right fork heading back uphill and the left fork heading farther downhill. Since we did not find a blue trail, we decided just to turn around. The blue trail entrance has to be elsewhere. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant blooming on date of field trip 10/03/2005
Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Gaylussacia baccata (black huckleberry)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa sp. (rose)
Vaccinium sp. (a low bush blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf Viburnum)
Vines:
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Aster spp. (small white aster) *
Bidens sp. (beggar ticks)
Desmodium rotundifolium (round-leaved tick trefoil)
Galium aparine (cleavers)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonatum pubescens (hairy true Solomon's seal)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Solanum dulcamara (bittersweet nightshade)
Solidago caesia (blue-stem goldenrod) *
Sedges:
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Grasses:
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Ferns:
Lycopodium clavatum (running pine)
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
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