Trapps pull-off

Routes 44/55, Ulster County, New York

Directions:

US 87 north to Exit 18 for New Paltz; turn left on Route 299; drive 7.5 miles west on Route 299 to its end; turn right onto Routes 44/55; drive 1.4 miles (going around the hair-pin turn) and turn left into a small parking area. 

Trails:

9/11/04.  There are some great views of the valley between the Shawangunks and the Highlands.  The sign says only 30 minutes parking but we saw hikers leaving with back packs on, so the law does not seem to be enforced here.  Anyway, we poked around the area and also walked along an informal path going along the ridge.  We could see rock climbers climbing the gunks to the west of and above us.  At another pull-off/lookout (west of the Peters Kill area) we found black swallowwort (the damn invasive) in bloom.  Attendees included Sarah-David Rosenbaum, Roslemary and Carl Cooney.  Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.

PLANT LIST:
Dr. Patrick L. Cooney
* = plant found in bloom  on day of field trip, September 11, 2004

Trees:
Acer pensylvanicum (striped maple)
Amelanchier arborea (shadbush)
Betula lenta (black birch)
Betula populifolia (gray birch)
Fraxinus americana (white ash)
Gleditsia triacanthos (honey locust) ?
Morus alba (white mulberry)
Pinus rigida (pitch pine)
Pinus strobus (white pine)
Populus grandidentata (big tooth aspen)
Populus tremuloides (quacking aspen)
Prunus serotina (black cherry)
Prunus sp. (cherry)
Quercus prinus (chestnut oak)
Sassafras albidum (sassafras)

Shrubs and Sub-shrubs:
Comptonia peregrina (sweetfern)
Epigaea repens (trailing arbutus)
Gaultheria procumbens (checkerberry)
Gaylussacia baccata (black huckleberry)
Hamamelis virginiana (witch hazel)
Kalmia latifolia (mountain laurel)
Lonicera morrowii (Morrow's honey suckle)
Quercus ilicifolia (scrub oak)
Rhus typhina (staghorn sumac)
Rubus sp. (dewberry)
Vaccinium angustifolium (low bush blueberry) * a couple of plants in bloom
Vaccinium pallidum (hillside blueberry)

Vines:
Parthenocissus quinquefolia (Virginia creeper)
Toxicodendron radicans (poison ivy)
Vitis sp. (grape)

Herbs:
Achillea millefolium (common yarrow)
Ambrosia artemisiifolia (common ragweed) *
Arctium sp. (burdock)
Artemisia vulgaris (common mugwort)
Asclepias syriaca (common milkweed)
Bidens sp. (beggar tick) * 3 lflts
Centaurea maculosa (spotted knapweed) *
Centaurea nigra (black knapweed) ? *
Chenopodium album (pigweed) *
Cichorium intybus (chicory) *
Daucus carota (Queen Anne's lace) *
Eupatorium rugosum (white snakeroot) *
Euphorbia nutans (upright spurge) *
Helianthus sp. (sunflower almost no leaf stalk; leaves rough on both sides) *
Lythrum salicaria (purple loosestrife) *
Melilotus sp. (sweet clover)
Oenothera biennis (common evening primrose) *
Polygonum lapathifolium (nodding smartweed) *
Silene vulgaris (common bladder campion) *
Solanum nigrum (black nightshade) *
Solidago bicolor (silverrod) *
Solidago sp. (a wand type goldenrod) *
Sonchus sp. (sow thistle) *
Tragopogon pratensis (showy goatsbeard) *

Grasses:
Bromus inermis (smooth brome grass)
Dactylis glomerata (orchard grass)
Digitaria sp. (crab grass)
Panicum dichotomiflorum (fall panic grass)
Schizachyrium scoparium (little blue-stem grass)
Setaria faberi (nodding foxtail grass)
Setaria glauca (yellow foxtail grass)

Ferns:
Athyrium filix-femina (lady fern)
Dennstaedtia punctilobula (hay-scented fern)
Osmunda cinnamomea (cinnamon fern)
Polypodium sp. (rock cap fern)
Polystichum acrostichoides (Christmas fern)
Pteridium aquilinum (bracken fern)
Thelypteris hexagonoptera (broad beech fern)
Thelypteris noveboracensis (New York fern)