Sourland Mountain Preserve

The Sourland Mountain Preserve is located in Hillsborough and Montgomery townships, Somerset County, New Jersey.

The main feature of the preserve is the 5 mile Ridge Trail, suitable for hiking and off-road biking. The trail has been very well blazed by the Somerset County Park Commission. The Park Commission also tries to keep the map box just off the parking lot filled with trail maps. 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. A complete circuit of the Ridge Trail for an experienced hiker will take about two and one-half hours. 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.

Geologists describe the area as consisting of sedimentary and igneous rock some 150 to 180 million years old, and formed when this mass was under the water of a sea.

The park covers 3025 acres. The name "Sourland" may derive from the soil, described as "sorrel-land" or reddish brown land. The quiet of this environment is almost complete, except for the song of a bird, the rush in the bush when a close-by deer is spooked. Seen in the park are red fox, gray fox, deer, even a coyote. Birds include tanagers, wrens, and chickadees.

As of about June 1, 2007, a new extension to the Ridge Trail will take hikers to Roaring Brook and one of the finest boulder fields anywhere in the Northeast. This trail extension is the result of a great deal of work and the help of 3M Company, a good friend of the Somerset County Park Commission.

External links

* [http://www.somersetcountyparks.org Official site for the Somerset County Park Commission]
* [http://www.joekaz.net/photos/sourland/html/ Park photos]