The Sourland Mountain Preserve is located on Sourland Mountain, in the Sourlands region of New Jersey. It is within Hillsborough Township and Montgomery Township of Somerset County. [1] The largest donation of land was made by Norma Gilbert Farr, trustee of the Linus R. Gilbert Foundation. The Farr family has donated over 3,000 acres to the Sourland Mountain Preserve and the Somerset County Parks Commission.
The park covers 3,025 acres (12.24 km2). The name "Sourland" may derive from the soil, described as "sorrel-land" or reddish brown land. Seen in the park are red fox, gray fox, deer, even coyote. Birds include tanagers, wrens, and chickadees.
For anyone who hikes and lives in central Jersey, Sourland provides quick access to a hiking experience that can rival some of the trails in the Ridge and Valley section and the Highlands section of northern New Jersey. Several biology courses at Hillsborough High School take field trips to the preserve to encourage students to visit and appreciate it.
The Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline goes through the middle of the park and is a fully usable trail. On clear days, Manhattan (approximately 40 miles away) is visible from the top of the pipeline.
The main feature of the preserve is the 5-mile (8.0 km) Ridge Trail [white squares], suitable for hiking and off-road biking. There are two shorter routes [white circular and white triangle blazes] and "connector" trails [white "C" blaze]. [2] The trails have been well blazed by the Somerset County Park Commission. The Park Commission supplies with trail maps, in the map box just off the parking lot. A complete circuit of the Ridge Trail for an experienced hiker can take about two and one-half hours.
While located in a suburban section of central New Jersey, Sourland Mountain is a heavily wooded and rocky place. The Ridge Trail can be quite difficult and technical in spots. At the top of the ridge, there are some very large and beautiful exposed boulders. Roaring Brook passes through the southern edge of the preserve. While not officially a part of the preserve, hikers often visit the brook to see one of the finest boulder fields in New Jersey.
Opened in 2007, a new extension to the Ridge Trail takes hikers to Roaring Brook and one of the finer boulder fields of the Northeast. The trail's extension is the result of work by the Somerset County Park Commission, with support from the 3M Company.
In 2009, a newly blazed trail system runs north from Roaring Brook before turning east and back into the preserve. The blazes for this trail system are red squares. The trail connects back to the Ridge Trail [white square]. Another trail, with red circular blazes, goes north and ends at the natural gas line route. These trails are excellent for hiking, and are laid out for off-road biking, with many twists and turns taking advantage of the topography. It is a short hike or ride down the gas line to get back to the original Ridge Trail.
As of October 2022, The Sourland mountain preserve has five major trails: Maple Flats trail (1.4 miles), Devils half-Acre trail (1.75 miles), Roaring Rocks Trail (1 mile), Ridge Trail (1.4 miles), Tributary trail (2.5 miles). Maple flats and Tributary are relatively flat trails with rocky and uneven terrain. The Devils Half acre, Roaring Rocks, and Ridge trail are harder trails with high elevation changes and large, rocky surfaces. The perimeter of all trails at the preserve total 5.4 miles. Make sure to wear proper footwear and plan your hike according to weather and daylight. Make sure to return back to the entrance before dark. Updated Somerset County Parks Commission website and hike trails will be added below in the links section.
Geologically, Sourland Mountain is composed of sedimentary and igneous rocks of Late Triassic and Early Jurassic age, and are part of the Newark basin rift lake system. The main ridge in Sourland Mountain is intrusive diabase (a type of igneous rock) associated with the same igneous event that produced the Palisades Sill (the cliffs along the west side of the Hudson River across from New York City), and The Watchung Mountains in Northern New Jersey. The sedimentary rocks are Late Triassic in age and are part of the lower Passaic Formation of the Newark Basin sedimentary sequence.
The Watchung Mountains are a group of three long low ridges of volcanic origin, between 400 and 500 feet high, lying parallel to each other in northern New Jersey in the United States. The name is derived from the American Native Lenape name for them, Wach Unks. The Watchung Mountains are known for their numerous scenic vistas overlooking the skylines of New York City and Newark, New Jersey, as well as their isolated ecosystems containing rare plants, endangered wildlife, rich minerals, and globally imperiled trap rock glade communities. The ridges traditionally contained the westward spread of urbanization, forming a significant geologic barrier beyond the piedmont west of the Hudson River; the town of Newark, for example, once included lands from the Hudson to the base of the mountains. Later treaties moved the boundary to the top of the mountain, to include the springs.
Hudson Highlands State Park is a non-contiguous state park in the U.S. state of New York, located on the east side of the Hudson River. The park runs from Peekskill in Westchester County, through Putnam County, to Beacon in Dutchess County, in the eastern section of the Hudson Highlands.
The Long Path is a 357-mile (575 km) long-distance hiking trail beginning in New York City, at the West 175th Street subway station near the George Washington Bridge and ending at Altamont, New York, in the Albany area. While not yet a continuous trail, relying on road walks in some areas, it nevertheless takes in many of the popular hiking attractions west of the Hudson River, such as the New Jersey Palisades, Harriman State Park, the Shawangunk Ridge and the Catskill Mountains. It offers hikers a diversity of environments to pass through, from suburbia and sea-level salt marshes along the Hudson to wilderness and boreal forest on Catskill summits 4,000 feet (1,220 m) in elevation.
Blue Knob State Park is a 6,128-acre (2,480 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Kimmel, Lincoln, and Pavia townships in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The average annual snowfall at the park is about 12 feet (370 cm). The park is named for Blue Knob, the second highest mountain in Pennsylvania at 3,146 feet (959 m). It is the location of Blue Knob All Seasons Resort, the ski slope in Pennsylvania with the highest elevation. Blue Knob State Park is just off Interstate 99 on Pennsylvania Route 869 west of Pavia.
Slide Mountain is the highest peak in the Catskill Mountains of the U.S. state of New York. It is located in the town of Shandaken in Ulster County. While the 4,180-foot (1,270 m) contour line on topographic maps is generally accepted as its height, the exact elevation of the summit has never been officially determined by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, and many informal surveys suggest the mountain may actually top 4,200 feet above sea level.
Mills Reservation is a county park, consisting of a 157.15-acre (0.6360 km2) protected wooded area located in Cedar Grove and Montclair, New Jersey, United States. The reservation is maintained by the Essex County Park Commission. The reservation has several walking and jogging trails, including the Lenape Trail, four major trails, and two smaller trails. One of the four main trails leads to a cliff that overlooks the New York City skyline.
Joseph E. Ibberson Conservation Area is a 783-acre (317 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Middle Paxton and Wayne Townships, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania in the United States.
Vogel State Park is a 233-acre (0.94 km2) or 94 hectares state park located at the base of Blood Mountain in the Chattahoochee National Forest. It became one of the first two parks in Georgia when it founded a state park system in 1931. Much of the park was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the 1930s.
Sourland Mountain is a 17 miles (27 km) long ridge in central New Jersey, extending from the Delaware River at Lambertville to the western end of Hillsborough Township near the community of Neshanic, through Montgomery Township and into Hopewell Township in Mercer County. It comprises the largest contiguous forest in Central Jersey, nearly 90 square miles (233 km2) in area. The highest point is only 568 feet (173 m) above sea level, but the way it rises steeply from the surrounding farmland has earned it the title of 'mountain'. The ridge itself sits within a larger area of rough terrain called The Sourlands.
Salt Springs State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in Franklin Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. The park is home to massive hemlock trees that are over 500 years old and are among the largest trees in all of Pennsylvania. The Fall Brook Natural Area within the park is recognized as a part of the Old-Growth Forest Network. The park also features a gorge with three waterfalls on Fall Brook. Salt Springs State Park is 7 miles (11 km) north of Montrose, just off Pennsylvania Route 29. The park is the only state park in Pennsylvania that is managed by a non-profit organization, the Friends of Salt Springs Park. The state owns 405 acres (164 ha) of land and the Friends own an additional 437 acres (177 ha) bringing the total amount of protected land to 842 acres (341 ha).
Linn Run State Park is a Pennsylvania state park on 612 acres (248 ha) in Cook and Ligonier Townships, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park borders Forbes State Forest. Two smaller streams, Grove Run and Rock Run, join in Linn Run State Park to form Linn Run which has a waterfall, Adams Falls, which can be seen at the park. This state park is just off Pennsylvania Route 381 near the small town of Rector.
The Giant Mountain Wilderness Area, an Adirondack Park unit of New York's Forest Preserve, lies in Essex County, New York, in the towns of Elizabethtown and Keene. It is roughly bounded by NY 9N on the north, NY 73 on the west and south and US 9 on the east. It includes two bodies of water covering 5 acres, 12.5 miles (20 km) of trails, and a single lean-to.
The Quinnipiac Trail is a 24-mile (39 km) Blue-Blazed hiking trail in New Haven County, Connecticut. It is the product of the evolution and growth of the first 10.6-mile (17.1 km) trail designated in Connecticut's Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail system, with its light-blue rectangular vertical painted blazes.
West Rock Ridge or West Rock of south-central Connecticut, is a 7-mile (11 km) long trap rock mountain ridge located on the west side of New Haven with a high point of 700 feet (213 m). The ridge forms a continuous line of exposed cliffs visible from metropolitan New Haven and points west. West Rock Ridge is part of the narrow, linear Metacomet Ridge which extends from Long Island Sound near New Haven north through the Connecticut River Valley of Massachusetts to the Vermont border.
Humpback Rock is a massive greenstone outcropping near the peak of Humpback Mountain in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Augusta County and Nelson County, Virginia, United States, with a summit elevation of 3,080 feet (940 m). The rock formation is so named for the visual effect of a "hump" it creates on the western face of the mountain.
Located in the southeastern section of Manchester, Connecticut, the Case Mountain Recreational Area encompasses 640 acres (2.6 km2) of combined open space and watershed land stretching from the Glastonbury border north to Case Pond. Some trails lead south across the Glastonbury border to a larger area of land owned by the Town of Manchester to maintain the Buckingham Reservoir and provide drinking water to Manchester. The land around the reservoir is open to recreation. While there is a hill named Case Mountain in this area, locals refer to this entire trail system and forest in Manchester and Glastonbury simply as “Case Mountain.”
The Blue-Blazed Hiking Trail system, managed by the Connecticut Forest & Park Association (CFPA), and the related trail systems documented in the two volume 19th Edition of the "Connecticut Walk Book" comprise over 800 miles of hiking trails in Connecticut.
The Sourlands is a region in the US state of New Jersey that includes portions of Hunterdon County, Mercer County and Somerset County. It is centered on Sourland Mountain and comprises parts of Lambertville, East Amwell, West Amwell, Hillsborough, Hopewell Boro, Hopewell Township, and Montgomery Township. The region is flanked by the Hopewell Fault to the south and Amwell Valley to the north that runs from Mount Airy to an area just west of Flagtown and a diabase formation running from Lambertville to Mount Airy. The Sourland also include a hilly area towards the southwest called Pleasant Valley, with a number of farms. Although much of the Sourlands is not conducive to farming, Pleasant Valley and the slopes on the surrounding ridges have a number of farms. The slopes of the ridge to the north are also home to Unionville Vineyard.
The Patriots' Path is a multi-use trail system in Morris County, New Jersey, open to cyclists, hikers, and horseback riders, consisting of a 55-mile main trail with 35 miles of spur trails. The main trail is marked with white blazes or a white circular blaze with a brown tree. The spur trails are marked with blue blazes or a white circle with a blue tree, while the side spur trails are marked with a red blaze or a white circle with a red tree.
Franklin Lakes Nature Preserve is a 147 acre public nature reserve located mostly within Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, with a tiny portion extending into North Haledon, New Jersey. Situated between the First and Second ridges of the northern Watchung Mountains, the preserve occupies the site of the former Haledon Reservoir, which previously supplied water to North Haledon, Haledon, and Prospect Park. Passive recreation opportunities include hiking, fishing, and bird watching.
