Mar-Joy Pond/Casey Lane
Casey Lane, Ridgefield, Fairfield County, Connecticut
45 acres

Directions:

Park at the old quarry site at the end of Casey Lane.

Saw Mill River Parkway north to its end at mile marker 29; take the exit for Route 35; at the light, turn right; drive around 11 miles to a T-intersection; turn right onto Main Street;  head through the center of town; turn left onto North Salem Road; turn right onto Saw Mill Hill Road; turn right onto Casey Lane; get onto Ramapoo Road; drive 0.1 of a mile and turn left onto Casey Lane; drive 0.3 of a mile, passing by the parking circle; there is a parking area on the left near the end of the road a short distance before the yellow trail markers also on the left. 

Geology:

pegmatite mine remains

Trails:

45 minute walk; easy in the Casey Lane section and difficult in the Mar-Joy Pond section.

The Mar-Joy Pond area has no developed trails

6/25/2005.  The day was a bit hot and hazy, but nice in the wooded areas.  Dog Sonar accompanied me.  This is a wooded area.  The trail heads north; reach a fork;  turning left will quickly bring the walker to a road and houses; heading right the hiker comes to a fireplace on the right;  head across a bridge over a stream; bear right downhill; heading east; come out onto a road between two houses.  I turn around and head back.  I decided to go off trail on the way back.  There was an opening on the right on the way back; I walked up to a small field and saw a huge mining cut with rock on both sides of the narrow valley.  One can easily see the mica shining along the sides of the mining cuts.  Walked inside to see the mining results. Interesting.  Got back on the main trail and headed back to the car. 

I did not try to find the Mar-Joy Pond section.  It was not immediately apparent where it was.  There was a path heading uphill that I could have followed but I was not in the mood to try to find the pond by hit and miss trials.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

Sources:

Catalog of Ridgefield Open Spaces: http://www.rosaopenspace.org/catalog/index.html#Blacksmith%20Ridge

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

*  =  plant blooming on date of field trips, 6/25/2005

Trees:
Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya cordiformis (bitternut hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)  
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Tilia americana (American basswood)

Shrubs and Subshrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)  
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)  
Gaylussacia baccata (black huckleberry)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ilex verticillata (winterberry holly)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)     *
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)     *
Pachysandra terminalis (pachysandra) 
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)

Vines:
Calystegia sepium (hedge bindweed)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis labrusca (fox grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Actaea sp. (baneberry)
Agrimonia sp. (agrimony)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)    * 
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Aster spp. (asters)
Cardamine impatiens (narrow-leaved bittercress)
Cerastium vulgatum (mouse-ear chickweed)
Chelidonium majus (celandine)     *
Galium lanceolatum (lance-leaved wild licorice)
Galium mollugo (wild madder)     *
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)  
Impatiens sp. (touch-me-not)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)  
Medicago lupulina (black medick)     *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)     *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)    
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)      *
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot) 
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup)     *
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Solidago caesia (blue-stemmed goldenrod)
Solidago flexicaulis (zig-zag goldenrod)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)  
Trifolium pratense (red clover)      *
Trifolium repens (white clover)     *
Veratrum viride (swamp hellebore)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)
Viola palmata (palmate-leaved violet)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)
Luzula multiflora (wood rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered type sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex rosea type (sedge)
Carex vulpinoidea (fox sedge)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass))
Poa compressa (Canada bluegrass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

 

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