Hicks Tract
Largo Lane, Long Hill Township, Morris County, New Jersey
59 acres

undeveloped land

Directions:

US 78 west to exit 36 for King George north; at the intersection of King George Road, turn right onto Valley Road (Route 512); drive 2.0 miles and turn left onto Main Avenue (at the traffic signal); drive 0.5 of a mile and turn left onto Chestnut Street; drive 0.8 of a mile and turn right onto Winding Way; drive 0.1 of a mile and turn left onto Largo Lane; drive the short distance to the end of the road and park.  The trail is straight ahead.

Or:

US 80 west to US 287 south; get off at Exit 26 for Mount Airy Road;  left turn onto Mount Airy Road; drive 1.3 miles and turn right onto Lyons Road; Lyons Road becomes Valley Road (Route 512); follow Valley Road (passing Pleasant Valley Park on the left); turn right onto Valley Road (Route 512); from the intersection with King George Road, drive 2.0 miles and turn left onto Main Avenue (at the traffic signal); drive 0.5 of a mile and turn left onto Chestnut Street; drive 0.8 of a mile and turn right onto Winding Way; drive 0.1 of a mile and turn left onto Largo Lane; drive the short distance to the end of the road and park.  The trail is straight ahead.

Habitats:

marsh, open field and deciduous forest

Trails:

There is a 2.3 mile bike pathway connecting the Millington and Stirling Railroad stations via a paved bikeway through the Hicks Tract.  The bike trail, complete with markers, was constructed in 2000. 

bicycle trail map.

http://www.longhillnj.org/lht/recreati.htm

11/04/04.  The trail is straight ahead from the end of Largo Lane.  There is a piece of the bikeway system in the residential area, but I wanted to avoid the asphalt way in order to partake of the more natural trails.   There is a nice kiosk with a map of the area with the different colored trails.  There is an announcement  of the valuable work of the "Cadette Girl Scout Troop 204, 2002."   You do not have to memorize the trail system (although I did make a drawing of the trails on my plant list page just to be sure), for there are wooden stands with a copy of the trail map displayed.  There are two branches of the yellow trail that serve as entrance ways to the blue and red trails that comprise rectangular walks.  

I decide to follow the red trail for the longest walk since the area is not that large.  Cross over the stream and then head uphill a short distance running into hemlocks.  There was a huge mass of hundreds of grackles (?).  Sonar the Jack Russell Terrier seemed confused by all the noise of the birds and then their strange flights waves.  I found it very impressive and was very pleased at their flight patterns of masses of birds heading this way and then the other way, back and forth.  I wished they would have stayed longer but they decided to take off for other areas.   As I keep following the red trail it comes to the bike trail.  I could have walked back to the kiosk along the bike path, but again I wanted to stay on the more natural trails.  So I turned around and walked along the red trail to a left turn onto the blue trail.  The blue trail heads downhill for a short way and then uphill for a short distance.  I noticed massive numbers of Japanese barberry in the area.  Then it was a right on red and left on yellow back to the kiosk.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney. 

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

Trees:
Acer platanoides (Norway maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya sp. (hickory)
Catalpa sp. (catalpa)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Ostrya virginiana (American hop hornbeam)
Picea abies (Norway spruce)
Pinus sp. (pine)
Pinus strobus (white pine)  groves of it
Pinus sylvestris (Scots pine)
Populus grandidentata (big-tooth aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus sp. (crab apple)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)  lots and lots
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (black berry)
Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaved greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Aster spp. (aster)
Cirsium vulgaris (bull thistle)
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot)
Euthamia graminifolia (grass-leaved goldenrod)
Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Polygonum arifolium (halberd-leaved tear thumb)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal)
Rorippa nasturtium-aquaticum (water cress)
Solidago spp. (goldenrod)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Grasses:
Microstegium vimineum (Japanese stilt grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)
Sorghastrum nutans (Indian nut grass)