Seth Low Pierpoint State Park
Ridgefield, CT
Source: Anderson, Katherine S., #27
Directions:
From Ridgefield take CT 35 north to CT 116; turn left and follow CT 116 for 2 miles; turn right onto Barlow Mountain Road; turn right into the park entrance.
US 84 east
40.0 exit 1 Saw Mill Road
41.0 exit 2 Route 6
43.5 exit 3 Route 7 south
Wooster Mountain?
0.0 Copp's Hill Road
.4 North Road
2.3 turn right on Barlow Mountain Road
2.5 park on right
Habitats:
lake, marsh, woods, field
Trails:
A big lake, Lake Naraneka is on the left as you walk northeast along the lake side. A steep trail takes the hiker north and then northwest to a powercut area for an underground cable. Walk west and then turn left and head south and southwest along Pierrepont Road; then turn left onto Clayton Drive that dead ends into the woods; now head southeast back to the southeast corner of Lake Naraneka; finally, turn right and head west and southwest back to the parking area.
The top priority is to create the Ives Trail (previously recommended in the City’s newly adopted Plan of Conservation and Development) by linking Tarrywile Park with Wooster Mountain State Park and the Pierpoint Park in Ridgefield on the west and Rogers Park Pond and Old Quarry Nature Center on the east.
PLANT LIST:
Trees:
Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak) - lots
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus racemosa (gray-stemmed dogwood) 6/23/94
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel) 6/23/94
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhamnus sp. (buckthorn)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose) waning
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium stamineum (deerberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood)
Vines:
Apios americana (hog peanut)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp) 6/23/94
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack in the pulpit)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Chrysanthemum leucanthemum (ox-eye daisy) 6/23/94
Coronilla varia (crown vetch) 6/23/94 lots
Dianthus armeria (Deptford pink) 6/23/94
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) 6/23/94
Hieracium caespitosum (field hawkweed) 6/23/94
Hieracium venosum (rattlesnake weed) 6/32/94
Hypoxis hirsuta (yellow star grass) 6/23/94
Impatiens capensis (orange jewelweed)
Iris sp. (blue or yellow flag)
Lobelia sp. (blue lobelia)
Lysimachia quadrifolia (whorled loosestrife) 6/23/94
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Melilotus officinalis (yellow sweet clover) 6/23/94
Mentha (wild mint)
Nymphaea odorata (fragrant water lily) 6/23/94
Podophyllum peltatum (mayapple)
Polygonatum biflorum (true Solomon's seal)
Polygonum sp. (knotweed)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla recta (rough-fruited cinquefoil) 6/23/94
Prunella vulgaris (heal all) 6/23/94
Ranunculus acris (tall buttercup) 6/23/94
Rudbeckia hirta v. pulcherrima (black-eyed Susan) 6/23/94
Sagittaria latifolia (broad-leaved arrowhead)
Saponaria officinalis (bouncing Bet)
Scrophularia sp. (figwort)
Scutellaria lateriflora (maddog skullcap)
Sisyrinchium sp. (blue-eyed grass) 6/23/94
Solidago spp. (goldenrods)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Thalictrum sp. (meadow-rue)
Trifolium pratense (red clover) 6/23/94
Trifolium repens (white clover) 6/23/94
Trifolium sp. (hop clover sp.) 6/23/94
Tussilago farfara (coltsfoot)
Typha latifolia (cattail)
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Vicia cracca (cow vetch)
Vicia tetrasperma (slender vetch) 6/23/94
Sedges:
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark green bulrush)
Ferns and Fern Allies:
Equisetum hyemale (scouring rush)
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine clubmoss)
Athyrium filix-femina f. rubella (red stiped lady fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal woodfern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Osmunda regalis (royal fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)
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