Raccoon Ridge to Upper Yards Creek Reservoir
Warren County, New Jersey

Directions:

From New York City area, take I-80 west.  Get off at Exit 4?, for Route 94 north.  Go through the villages of Hainesburg and Wallnut Valley; in Blairstown turn left onto Mohican Road drive 3.5 miles (bearing right at forks); turn left onto Gaisler Road; drive 0.5 of a mile and turn right onto Camp Road; drive 1.0 miles and park either at the Mohican Outdoor Center gate or the main lodge. 

Birding:

Raccoon Ridge is one of the best places to view the autumn hawk migration.  Other species include kestrels, merlins, peregrines, ospreys, black vultures and eagles.

Trail:

A 5.8 mile round trip along the Appalachian Trail from AMC's Mohican Outdoor Center to Racoon Ridge.  From here there is a 360 degree view of the Delaware River Valley.

Walk 0.2 of a mile down Mohican Road from the Mohican Outdoor Center and pick up the white-blazed Appalachian Trail.  The Coppermines Trail intersects within 0.1 of a mile.  The AT climbs to the top of Kittatinny Ridge (1.4 miles into the hike).  One can view the Lower Yards Creek Reservoir.  Worthington State Forest is reached at 2.7 miles.  Raccoon Ridge is reached at 2.9 miles.  The view from here is south to the Delaware Water Gap, north to Rattlesnake Mountain, northwest to the Delaware River and east to the Great Valley with the Appalachian Highlands in the distance.

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple) red maple swamp here
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya glabra (pignut hickory)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Pinus rigida (pitch pine)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)

Shrubs:
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Vaccinium sp. (low bush blueberry

Source: Glenn Scherer., 1998.  Nature Walks in New Jersey: A Guide to the Best Trails from the Highlands to Cape May. Boston, MA: Appalachian Mountain Club Books.