Kuser Mountain County Park (also known as Baldpate Mountain)
Pleasant Valley Road, Titusville, Hopewell Township, Mercer County, NJ
1,300 acres (largely undeveloped)

Route 29 along the eastern side of the Delaware River; turn right (east) onto Pleasant Valley Road; drive three miles (passing Valley Road, Hunter Road, Barry Road and Pleasant Valley-Harbourton Road) and turn right into a small pull-off by a gate with a sign "Do not block the gate."  The hidden site is just a little east of LongSpring Farm and house #175. 

or

Washington Crossing Road (Route 546) go past Washington Crossing State Park to the intersection with Route 29. Turn right and go two miles to Fiddler's Creek Road. Turn right and go 0.2 miles to a black gate on the left. Take the road through the gate to the top of the mountain. You can also take Church Road from Bear Tavern Road (Route 579). Follow Church Road and make your first right onto Fiddler's Creek Road. Follow Fiddler's Creek Road 1.4 miles and watch for the black gate on your right hand side. Go through the open gate and up the hill. Contact Pat Sziber (609) 737-1189 for more information.

Geology:

This is the southernmost ridge of the Sourlands Mountains.  Kuser Mountain overlooks the Delaware River.

History:

1989  --  The area was threatened with the prospect of being a gated community.  Local activists started work on saving the place for a nature preserve.

1990  --  Washington Crossing Audubon Society (WCAS) helped with a breeding bird census that revealed that Kuser Mountain provided habitat for a significant number of neotropical migratory songbirds.

Friends of Hopewell Valley Open Space and other groups obtained Green Acres funding from the State to purchase about 300 acres on the mountain.

Trap Rock industries sold to Mercer County 1,100 acres of Kuser Mountain for $11.4 million dollars. Hopewell Township and the Friends each put up $1M in Green Acres funding, while the rest came from the State Acquisitions Fund. The former 300 acres will be part of this larger area. The quarry will continue near the Delaware River in one corner of the area, but will cease operations in 25 years. The quarry will then become a lake.  

http://www.washingtoncrossingaudubon.org/pages/consrv/bldptpur.htm

Trails:

There are several recreational trails.  Hopefully, in the future, there could be a Sourlands Greenway connection to the Lambertville Water Company land. (not presently protected).

Source: http://www.sourland.org/virtual/virtual.html

5/05/04.  My dog Sonar and I took the short walk.  There is a short trail heading south to the power cut (where the letter A is found).  Crossed the power cut and shortly came to a fork in the path. I saw a "B" on the trail going straight and the number "1" on the trail on the right path. (Actually the "1" turned out to be the letter "I" as I would find out later in the walk.)  I would keep going in a large circle always leaning to the right.  Started traveling east, then south downhill, then west and southwest where I find the letter "E.."  Head northwest by a stone wall; come to a T-intersection; go right (slightly northwest off of north); come to two big rock piles and then an old chimney and then letter "G"; come to another fork in the road; I go straight; start ascending a relatively steep slope that makes me a little winded;  walking along a stone wall and find point H;  come to letter "I" to complete the circle near the power cut; cross the power cut again; return to the car via the short introductory walk.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = date plant found in bloom, 5/05/04

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder maple)
Acer rubrum (red maple)
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Carya tomentosa (mockernut hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood) *
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Nyssa sylvatica (tupelo)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Pyrus malus (apple tree) *
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras) *
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) *
Cornus alternifolia (alternate-leaved dogwood?)
Elaeagnus umbellata (autumn olive) *
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus) *
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honeysuckle) *
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus alleghaniensis (common blackberry)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum) *
Vinca minor (periwinkle) *

Vines:
Celastrus orbiculatus (Asiatic bittersweet)
Dioscorea villosa (wild yamroot)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Smilax sp. (greenbrier)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Actaea sp. (baneberry)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard) *
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Anemonella thalictroides (rue anemone) *
Arisaema triphyllum (jack-in-the-pulpit)
Barbarea vulgaris (common wintercress) *
Cardamine concatenata (cut-leaved toothwort)
Claytonia virginica (spring beauty) *
Cynoglossum virginianum (wild comfrey)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace)
Erigeron sp. (fleabane)
Fragaria virginiana (wild strawberry)
Galium aparine (cleavers)
Geum canadense (white avens)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's peppergrass) *
Narcissus sp. (daffodil)
Oxalis violacea (violet wood sorrel) *
Plantago lanceolata (English plantain)
Podophyllum peltatum (mayapple)
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Potentilla simplex (common cinquefoil) *
Prenanthes altissima (tall white lettuce)
Ranunculus abortivus (kidney-leaved crowfoot) *
Ranunculus recurvatus (hooked crowfoot)
Sanguinaria canadensis (bloodroot)
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion) *
Verbascum thapsus (common mullein)
Viola pubescens (yellow forest violet) *
Viola sororia (common blue violet) *

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge)
Eleocharis sp. (spike rush)

Grasses:
Anthoxanthum odoratum (sweet vernal grass) *
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Panicum clandestinum (deer-tongue grass)

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