Mount Hope County Park (north) 

Snake Hill Road, Rockaway Township, Morris County, New Jersey

Directions:

Tappan Zee Bridge heading west; US 87 north; get off the exit for US 287 to New Jersey (at mileage marker 30 miles or so); get off at Exit 52 A-B; head towards Butler on Route 23 north;  take the jughandle for the U-turn onto Route 23 south; get off at the first right, onto Green Pond Road (Route 513); drive 8.4 miles and make a right turn onto Snake Hill Road.  Within .4 of a mile  on the right is a small park associated with Lake Ames.  The red trail is just beyond the part of the park with the huge children's playground on the right.

Trails:

4/12/2005.  The area here was very confusing.  There is a small park at Lake Ames.  There is a pull-off on the right with some picnic tables.  And a little ways farther up Snake Hill Road there is a large parking area where there are bathroom facilities and a very large children's playground.  I expected to find the Mount Hope County Park on the other side (left) of the road.  But there were two kinds of signs, one only saying No Hunting but with the other saying No Trespassing.  I think I could have gone into the area (there was an old gate on the left hand side of the road and an old path there) without punishment, but the whole thing made me feel a bit uneasy and so I just decided to come back another time after I did some more research on the place. 

I did, however, find a red-blazed trail just past by children's playground on the right side of the road.  I parked on the road besides the trail start and Dog Sonar and I started to walk the trail.  The trail heads through the woods and then close to the western shore of Lake Ames.  I was able to get across a small stream, but could not cross the larger stream.  The stream, emptying into the lake, was just too swollen to cross.  So the dog and I turned around and walked back to the trail.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney

* = plant found in bloom on date of field trip, 4/12/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple) *
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula alleghaniensis (yellow birch)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Quercus velutina (black oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm) *

Shrubs and Sub-Shrubs:
Alnus serrulata (smooth alder)
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Chimaphila maculata (striped wintergreen)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush) *
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Vaccinium sp. (hillside or low bush blueberry)

Vines:
Smilax sp. (greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Erythronium americanum (trout lily)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Taraxacum officinale (common dandelion)
Typha latifolia (broad-leaved cattail)
Veratrum viride (swamp hellebore)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex pensylvanica (Pennsylvania sedge)
Carex stricta (tussock sedge)

Grasses:
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)

Ferns and Fern Allies:
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)