Mountainview Park
Middlesex, Middlesex County, NJ

Located behind the Middlesex High School.  Bound Brook Road forms the southern border and Kennedy Road forms the eastern boundary.

Directions:

US 78 west to Exit 10 for US 287 north; take Exit 9; turn right onto River Road; drive about 1.6 miles and turn right onto Lincoln Boulevard; very quickly turn left onto Raritan Avenue; drive 0.4 of a mile and turn right onto Union Avenue that becomes Bound Brook Road at Bound Brook; drive 1.6 miles and turn left into Parking Lot Number 1 on the left side of the street.  The park is located behind the Middlesex High School.

Geology:

Bound Brook forms the western boundary of the park, while Green Brook forms the northern boundary.  

Facilities:

dog run, picnic tables, gazebo, playground, basket ball and tennis courts.

Trails:

4/04/2005.  Monday.  On a soggy ground day, following a weekend of pouring rains, Ceferino Santana, dog Sonar and I parked in Lot #1  near the high school.  There was a huge lawn with scattered trees before us with the woods on the left.  On the right was a hug dog run. We walked by the woods edge looking for a trail.  We noticed that the area was pretty swampy looking.  We soon saw the Southern Entrance to the Mountain View Greenway Nature Trail with its white blazes.  We could not, however, access the trail because it was blocked by a large area of water due to the past two days of rain.  So we decided to look for the Northern Entrance.  We found an opening in the woods to the north (but no sign).  We turned left and walked the open path that brought us down to Bound Brook.  The trail abruptly ended at the brook.  On the other side of the brook are houses.  So we turned around and retraced our steps.  It was not a long walk.  Dr. Patrick. L. Cooney.  

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant blooming on 4/04/2005

Trees:
Acer negundo (box elder)
Acer rubrum (red maple) *
Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carya ovata (shagbark hickory)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Picea pungens (spruce tree)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus palustris (pin oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)

Shrubs:
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus occidentalis (black raspberry)
Rubus sp. (black berry)

Vines:
Clematis virginiana (virgin's bower)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honeysuckle)
Smilax rotundifolia (round-leaf greenbrier))
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Allium vineale (field garlic)
Geum scandens (white avens)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed)
Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed)
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)