Black Creek Forest Preserve
Esopus, Town of Esopus, Ulster County, NY
130 acres

The Preserve is located about a half-mile south of the Shaupeneak Ridge Cooperative Ridge Area. 

Directions:

Drive over the Tappan Zee bridge heading west on I-87 north to Exit 18 (New Paltz); drive east on NY 299 for 6 miles; at the junction with US 9W head north (left turn) for 5.5 miles; turn right (around green mileage marker 11 65) onto Winding Brook Acres Road and park in the parking area almost immediately on the left (the road going straight from here is private).

OR

Saw Mill River Parkway north to the Taconic State Parkway north; get off the exit for Route 44 west to Poughkeepsie and the Mid-Hudson Bridge; cross the bridge; pick up the exit for Route 9W north.  From the junction of Route 9W and NY 299, drive 5.5 miles; turn right (around green mileage marker 11 63) onto Winding Brook Acres Road and park in the parking area almost immediately on the left (the road going straight from here is private).

History:

1999 -- Scenic Hudson purchased the property to protect it form development.  It uses the property as an outdoor classroom for their Environmental Education Program.

Habitats:

Hemlock ravine.

Trail:

Two miles of trails. Follow the double yellow blazes (Black Creek Trail) starting across the road from the parking area. Then trail heads northeast to a 120 foot suspension bridge over Black Creek.  The trail then dips southeast and then east and finally northeast. 

The trail reaches a junction with the red-blazed Vernal Pool Trail. Turn right (east).  (You will be heading out on a loop trail from here and coming back to this point for your return trip.)  At the next junction turn right (east) on the blue-blazed Hudson River Trail down to the Hudson River.  The trail hooks back up with the Vernal Pool Trail. An old road takes you back to Black Creek Trail which takes you back to the parking lot.  The whole trip is 3 miles long. 

(Source: Copeland & Lewis, 2000: chapter 10)

8/28/04.  Just a short visit to admire the beauty of the suspension bridge over Black Creek and the Creek itself.  Will have to return another day to take the longer walk west to the Hudson River.  Participants included Rosemary Santana Cooney and Sarah-David Rosenbaum. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom  on day of field trip, August 28, 2004

Trees:
Acer saccharum (sugar maple)
Ailanthus altissima (tree-of-heaven)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Carpinus caroliniana (musclewood)
Cornus sp. (dogwood)
Fagus grandifolia (American beech)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Liriodendron tulipifera (tulip tree)
Picea sp. (spruce)
Platanus occidentalis (American sycamore)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Quercus alba (white oak)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Quercus rubra (red oak)
Robinia pseudoacacia (black locust)
Tsuga canadensis (eastern hemlock)
Ulmus americana (American elm)

Shrubs and sub-shrubs:
Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry)
Cornus amomum (swamp dogwood)
Euonymus alatus (winged euonymus)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lindera benzoin (spicebush)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honey suckle)
Mitchella repens (partridgeberry)
Rhus aromatica (aromatic sumac)
Rosa multiflora (multiflora rose)
Rubus phoenicolasius (wineberry)
Viburnum acerifolium (maple-leaf viburnum)

Vines:
Dioscorea villosa (wild yam root)
Hedera helix (English ivy)
Lonicera japonica (Japanese honey suckle)
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Polygonum scandens (climbing hempweed) *
Sicyos angulatus (one-seeded cucumber vine)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis spp. (grape)

Herbs:
Acalypha sp. (three-seeded mercury) *
Achillea millefolium (yarrow)
Actaea alba (white baneberry)
Alliaria petiolata (garlic mustard)
Amphicarpaea bracteata (hog peanut) *
Arisaema triphyllum (Jack in the pulpit)
Aster divaricatus (white wood aster) *
Bidens comosa (strawstem beggar tick) *
Boehmeria cylindrica (false nettle)
Circaea lutetiana (enchanter's nightshade)
Cirsium arvense (Canada thistle)
Cirsium vulgaris (bull thistle)
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Erechtites hieraciifolia (pileweed) *
Erigeron annuus (daisy fleabane) *
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) *
Geum canadense (white avens)
Hackelia virginiana (Virginia stickseed)
Hesperis matronalis (dame's rocket)
Lepidium virginicum (poor man's pepper)
Lobelia cardinalis (cardinal flower) *
Lobelia inflata (Indian tobacco)
Medicago lupulina (black medick) *
Origanum vulgare (wild marjoram) *
Oxalis sp. (yellow wood sorrel) *
Pastinaca sativa (wild parsnip)
Phytolacca americana (pokeweed) *
Plantago major (common plantain)
Polygonum cespitosum (cespitose smartweed) *
Polygonum virginianum (jumpseed)
Prunella vulgaris (self-heal) *
Rumex obtusifolius (broad dock)
Smilacina racemosa (false Solomon's seal)
Solanum nigrum (black nightshade) *
Solidago rugosa (rough-stemmed goldenrod) *
Taraxacum officinale (dandelion)
Trifolium pratense (red clover) *
Veronica officinalis (common speedwell)

Rushes:
Juncus tenuis (path rush)

Sedges:
Carex laxiflora type (loose-flowered sedge type)
Carex sp. (nut or umbrella sedge)
Scirpus atrovirens (dark green bulrush)

Grasses:
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dryopteris marginalis (marginal wood fern)
Onoclea sensibilis (sensitive fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)