Mountain Valley Park
Mountain Avenue, Mendham Township, Morris County, NJ
33.1 acres

Directions:

US 80 west to Exit 42 for US 287 south; get off at Exit 30B; merge right onto Childs road; keep heading straight through the traffic light; shortly on the right Hard Scrabble Road  bears off to the right; at the T-intersection with Cory Lane, turn left; almost immediately make a right onto Talmadge Road.  drive 1.3 miles and at the T-intersection turn right onto Hilltop Road;  drive across Route 24 onto Mountain Avenue; in about a mile turn right into the park.  

Facilities:

Hiking, ice skating at the Pond, ball fields, fishing, volley ball.

Trails:

Building a handicapped accessible trail looping around the park's pond. Improving a 2,500-foot stretch of trail running from Patriot's Path to India Brook.

11/08/04.  Parked. There is a small monument here saying "Mountain Valley Pool; donated by Pietro Clementi 1947."  Decided to hike south on the blue-blazed Patriot's Path (starting across the street).  I cross over a small stream on ten or so small raised concrete round blocks.   I reach India Brook with the same type of round concrete steps.  A white trail heads off to the right. Come to Remsco Construction and walk on their asphalt road.  Come to and cross over a road.   Investigate a pond off to the left.  Find myself up on a causeway between the back yards of houses on both sides.  Come to a fenced in corn field on the left and white pines on the right.  In the distance I see a mountain range on the left.  I finally come to Route 24 near Jane Terrace.  I turn around and walk back to the parking area.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom on date of field trip, 11/08/04

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Acer sp. (Japanese maple)  planted
Betula lenta (black birch) 
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Catalpa sp. (catalpa)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Ilex opaca (American holly)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Magnolia sp. (magnolia) planted probably
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Picea pungens var. glauca (blue spruce)
Pinus sp. (pine tree)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (apple)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) 
Forsythia sp. (golden bells) planted
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel) *
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Pachysandra terminalis (pachysandra)
Pieris japonicus (Japanese andromeda) planted
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (black berry)
Salix sp. (willow)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

Vines:
Akebia quinata (akebia)
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)

Herbs:
Agrimonia sp. (agrimony)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (garlic mustard)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Bidens sp. (beggar ticks)
Centaurea sp. (jacea?) (brown knapweed) ?
Cirsium vulgaris (bull thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Epilobium coloratum (purple leaved willow herb)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Penstemon sp. (beardtongue)
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Polygonum spp. (smartweed) *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)
Pycnanthemum sp. (mountain mint)
Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum (water cress)
Rumex sp. (dock)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)
Verbena urticifolia (white vervain)
Veronica americana (American brooklime speedwell) *

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Scirpus atrovirens (dark-green bulrush)

Grasses:
Echinochloa sp. (barnyard grass)
Elymus sp. (wild rye grass)
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue panic grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
ornamental grasses (planted)