Stillwater Pond, Clarence Fahnestock Park
Putnam County, NY

Directions:

Take the Taconic State Parkway to mile marker 11:07 (11.7 miles north of the border) in Putnam County and take the exit for Route 301 west. Drive for one mile and park opposite the small booth used to rent row boats on Canopus Lake.

Trail:

From the parking lot across the road from the boat house at Lake Canopus walk back up the road a bit and turn into the woods where there are some hit and miss white markings on the trees. Come of a part of Pelton Pond. (If you don't have a dog with you, you can park at Pelton Pond and pick up the trail there.) Come to the Pelton Pond picnic area and then pick up a white plastic circle trail heading south. There is a hill on left, swamp on the right. Fork in the trail: white trail heads southwest; I go south, then south-east then south. See the Taconic Parkway. The trail bears right (southwest) away from the Taconic Parkway. Come to a T-intersection; on the right there is a bridge and a trail coming in from the west. It continues south (to the left). There is a stream on the right and stone walls on the left. The stream is heading, no doubt, south to Stillwater Pond. Come to another small bridge over a small stream coming down from the left side. Japanese barberry all over the wet area here. Come to Taconic Parkway at green mileage marker 10 94. Heading southwest away from the Taconic; thru stone wall, three times. I see the big lake in the distance. This lake is full of water in this time of drought.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, April 2, 2002

Trees:
Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple) 4/02/02
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (spotted wintergreen)
Comptonia peregrina (sweetfern)
Corylus sp. (hazel)
Gaultheria procumbens (teaberry)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Smilax sp. (greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium tricoccum (wild leek)
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Galium sp. (bedstraw)
Leonurus cardiaca (motherwort)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Potentilla sp. (cinquefoil)
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)

Grasses:
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Equisetum hyemale (common scouring rush)
Lycopodium dentatum (ground cedar)
Lycopodium obscurum (ground pine)
Dryopteris sp. (woodfern)
Polypodium sp. (rock cap fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)

Other:
Sphagnum sp. (sphagnum)