Wonder Lake State Park
Ludingtonville Road,  Putnam County, NY
794 acres

Directions:

Saw Mill River Parkway north to its end; US 684 north; US 84 west; get off at the exit for Route 311 east (around mile marker 62); turn right and go past the first left turn (for Luddingtonville Road); very shortly make a left turn into the park and ride lot (at the corner of Luddingtonville Road and Route 311). Walk up Luddingtonville Road. The park is a short walk (.3 miles) from the Park & Ride lot on Route 311. (Enter on the right just after the mailbox for house #59 and before the mailbox for house #72.) The park is entered via an old logging road, up a somewhat steep incline.

Geology:

The stream from Wonder Lake heads into Muddy Brook that heads into the East Branch of the Croton River.

History:

The new state park was once the summer home of television star Elizabeth Montgomery (1933-1995). Although she, the daughter of actor Robert Montgomery, was born and raised in California, she spent summers at the Montgomerys' country estate in New York. 

1950  --  the family moved to New York where her father was just beginning his television series Robert Montgomery Presents.

1953  -- Elizabeth made her Broadway debut in the play "Late Love".

1998  --  OPRHP acquired Wonder Lake using Clean Water/Clean Air Bond Act funds.
Acquisition provides protection to the Great Swamp watershed and unique open space areas.

Trails:

Lying midway between public lands in Kent and the Great Swamp in Patterson, Putnam County, Wonder Lake State Park is a critical link in the Northern Putnam Greenway.

10/06/03. Climbed up the old logging road; came to a power cut (keep to the left) to reenter woods shortly; to get to Wonder Lake, I kept making left turns (four total) until I got near the shore of the lake. Coming back I walked south and southeast and then south again taking the main logging road out. So I wound up making a circular walk.

Habitats:

The lake is surrounded by mountain laurel and eastern hemlock.  

The lake area is also home to otter, barred owls, and coyote.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
dates = when plant found in bloom; 4/27/04 or 10/06/03

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush) 4/27/04
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula papyrifera (white birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Castanea dentata (American chestnut)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash) 4/27/04
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus malus (apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Salix sp. (willow)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) lots and lots of it 4/27/04
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepperbush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Cornus racemosa (gray dogwood)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Forsythia sp. (golden bells) 4/27/04
Gaylussacia baccata (black huckleberry)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) 10/06/03
Ilex verticillata (winterberry)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush) 4/27/04
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhus glabra (smooth sumac)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus flagellaris (northern dewberry)
Rubus hispidus (swamp dewberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix discolor (pussy willow) 4/27/04
Sambucus canadensis (common elderberry)
Spiraea alba var. latifolia (meadowsweet)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)
Viburnum dentatum (arrow-leaved viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Clematis virginiana (virgin's bower)
Dioscorea villosa (wild yamroot)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Ajuga reptans (bugleweed) 4/27/04
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) 4/27/04
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut)
Anemone quinquefolia (wood anemone) 4/27/04
Anemonella thalictroides (rue anemone) 4/27/04
Aralia nudicaulis (wild sarsaparilla)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias incarnata (swamp milkweed)
Aster cordifolius (heart-leaved aster) 10/06/03
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) 10/06/03
Aster novi-belgii (New York aster) 10/06/03
Aster spp. (heath aster types) 10/06/03
Cardamine diphylla (bit-leaved toothwort) 4/27/04
Caulophyllum thalictroides (blue cohosh)
Centaurea sp. (knapweed)
Chelidonium majus (celandine)
Cichorium intybus (chicory) 10/06/03
Cirsium sp. (thistle)
Conyza canadensis (horseweed)
Erechtites hieraciifolia (pileweed)
Euphorbia cyparissias (cypress spurge) 4/27/04
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)
Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)
Galium mollugo (wild madder) 10/06/03
Geranium maculatum (wild geranium)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Goodyera pubescens (downy rattlesnake plantain)
Hemerocallis fulva (tawny day lily)
Iris sp. (iris)
Lobelia inflata (Indian tobacco)
Maianthemum canadense (Canada mayflower)
Mitella diphylla (miterwort) 4/27/04
Monotropa uniflora (Indian pipe)
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) 10/06/03
Panax trifolius (dwarf ginseng) 4/27/04
Pedicularis canadensis (wood betony)
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonatum biflorum (smooth true Solomon’s seal)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) 10/06/03
Polygonum hydropiper (water pepper) 10/06/03
Polygonum lapathifolium (nodding smartweed) 10/06/03
Polygonum sagittatum (arrow-leaved tearthumb) 10/06/03
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) 10/06/03
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot) 4/27/04
Senecio obovatus (round-leaved ragwort) 4/27/04 soon
Solidago rugosa (rough-leaved goldenrod) 10/06/03
Sonchus sp. (spurred sow thistle ) 10/06/03
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion) 4/27/04
Trifolium pratense (red clover)
Trillium erectum (red trillium) 4/27/04
Tussilago farfara (coltsfoot) 4/27/04
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)
Viola sororia (common blue violet) 4/27/04

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered type sedge)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge) 4/27/04
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)
Cyperus sp. (nut or umbrella sedge)
Eleocharis sp. (spike rush)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark-green bulrush)

Grasses:
Echinochloa crus-galli (barnyard grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)
Panic dichotomiflorum (fall panic grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reedgrass)
Poa annua (annual bluegrass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Equisetum arvense (field horsetail)
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Polypodium sp. (rock cap fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)