Mt. Riga State Park

Source: Kirby, Ed, 1998, Echoes of Iron in Connecticut’s Northwest Corner: With a Field Guide to the Iron Heritage Trail. Sharon: Sharon Historical Society

Directions:

From the junction of Routes 44 and 41 north in Salisbury center, head north for 3.2 miles.  Turn left into the parking area.

Geology:

Mt. Riga had four ponds that fed a single outlet, the Wachocasttinook Brook. The Salmon Fell Kill forms from the Fell Kill (now Wachocasttinook Brook) flowing from South Pond on Mt. Riga.

Trails:

8/06/2005.  This was the second day of our three-day vacation in Salisbury.  We stayed overnight in Great Barrington, Massachusetts at the Travel Lodge, which takes dogs.  My wife looked up restaurants in the yellow pages and found a Mexican restaurant but she did not pay that much attention to the name of the place and so we would up eating very close to the motel at It's Mexican Nite.  It was one of the three worst dining experiences of our lives.  If you are a lover of Mexican food, don't eat here.  (Can you imagine putting a thick  molle sauce on enchiladas?)  

Our first stop of this day Mt. Riga State Park.  You can walk over to the kiosk to look at the map.  You can travel the Undermountain Trail that will take you to the Appalachian Trail, over to Bear Mountain and other points.  It was a much cooler day, but I knew we would not hike far.  My wife does not like to hike in the woods at this late of a date because there are few flowers in bloom.  And she was certainly not going to hike for a long distance heading uphill.  So we walked for maybe an hour  -- just enough to get a small plant list. 

The goal for her was to find some water where we would then find some flowers in bloom.  Next stop would be the Housatonic River around Falls Village.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

* =  plant(s) blooming on date of field trip, 8/06/2005

Trees:
Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula papyrifera (white birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Populus tremuloides (quaking aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs and Subshrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chenopodium maculata (striped wintergreen)
Cornus racemosa (gray dogwood)
Corylus cornuta (beaked hazel)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Gaultheria procumbens (checkerberry)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Philadelphus sp. (mock orange)
Prunus virginiana (chokecherry) ?
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)  
Rubus hispidus (swamp dewberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)  
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)

Vines:
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis riparia (riverbank grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)     
Agrimonia gryposepala (agrimony)     *
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)  
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack in the pulpit)
Aster acuminatus (sharp-leaved aster)     *
Bidens frondosa (beggar tick)
Cichorium intybus (chicory)     *
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)    
Desmodium glutinosum (pointed-leaved tick trefoil)     *
Desmodium nudiflorum (naked-flowered tick trefoil)     *
Epipactis helleborine (helleborine orchid)
Galium mollugo (wild madder)     *
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Geum canadense (white avens)     *
Hackelia virginiana (Virginia stickseed)
Hepatica americana (round-lobed hepatica)
Hieracium paniculatum (panicled hawkweed)     *
Lobelia inflata (Indian tobacco)     *
Lysimachia ciliata (fringed loosestrife)     *
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Medeola virginiana (Indian cucumberroot)
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel)    *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonatum biflorum (smooth true Solomon's seal)
Polygonatum pubescens (hairy true Solomon's seal)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed)     *
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Prenanthes altissima (tall white lettuce)
Prenanthes trifoliolata (tall rattlesnake root)     *soon
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)      *
Pyrola sp. (pyrola)
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup)     *
Solidago caesia (blue-stemmed goldenrod)   
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)   
Trientalis borealis (starflower)
Trifolium pratense (red clover)   
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered type sedge)

Grasses:
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Leersia virginica (white grass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda claytoniana (interrupted fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)

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