Middle Brook Trail

Argonne Farm Drive, Bridgewater Township, Somerset County, New Jersey

Directions:

From NYC area: New Jersey Turnpike south; exit 14 for U.S. 287 for Route 525 south; turn left onto Route 525; drive about 3.1 miles and turn left onto Washington Valley Road (Route 616) in Martinsville.  Turn left onto Argonne Farm Road. Park at end? of road.  

Trail:

Created by the Boy Scouts.

Destination                                     Miles      
Start on Argonne Farm Drive         0.00
Mount Vernon Road                      0.34
Crim Road                                     1.51
back of soccer field                        1.64
Tullo Road                                     1.86
Co. Line                                         2.13

The Middle Brook Trail has been extended into Washington Valley Park. 

Trails:

04/07/2005.  On my birthday dog Sonar and I parked at the end of Argonne Farm Road.  The trail starts nearby by Middle Brook and continues to follow parallel to it.  There is a big problem with multiflora rose as it keeps trying to take over the path.  The trail has a lot of wooden bridges on it and markers identifying a dozen or so trees.  There is a little pond on the left.  We walk very near the back yards of very large houses with very big lawns.  Come to Solomon's Road and then Sarah Ct.  Cross Mount Vernon Road.  Come upon a long, wide board walk.  Come to a big open field. (This may be the open space that has a sign along Washington Valley Road.)  Come to an area where lots of streams come together. Even with all the bridges, I had to cross one stream and got just a little wet.  (But on the way back, I slip and fall trying to climb the wet, muddy bank on the other side of the stream and get one shoe and the left leg of my pants quite muddy.)  Come to Peeper Pond and hear the spring peepers peeping, the first I have heard this year.  Come to the back yard and kid's playground associated with the Crim Elementary School.  Cross Crim Road and enter Crim Park, Township of Bridgewater, Department of Parks and Recreation.  Come to the park's soccer fields.   I decide to return at this point.   Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney, * = plants found in bloom on date of field trip, 04/07/2005

Trees:
Acer rubrum (red maple) *
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Cornus florida (flowering dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Juglans nigra (black walnut)
Juniperus virginiana (red cedar)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Pinus strobus (white pine) grove
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Populus sp. (poplar)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)  -- lots
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)

Shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)  -- quite a bit
Clethra alnifolia (sweet pepper bush)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Corylus sp. ? (hazel) ?
Forsythia sp. (golden bells)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Ligustrum sp. (privet)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Pachysandra repens (pachysandra)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose) lots and lots of it
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Rubus sp. (blackberry)
Salix sp. discolor ?(pussy willow)?
Vaccinium corymbosum (highbush blueberry)
Viburnum prunifolium (blackhaw viburnum)

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

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Apocynum cannabinum (Indian hemp)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Erythronium americanum (trout lily)
Glechoma hederacea (gill over the ground)
Myosotis sp. ? (forget-me-not) ?
Ranunculus ficaria (lesser celandine) *
Symplocarpus foetidus (skunk cabbage)
Trifolium sp. (clover)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered type sedge)
Scirpus cyperinus (woolly grass bulrush)

Grasses:
Elymus sp. (wild rye grass)
Phragmites australis (giant reed grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue stem grass)

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