Ridge & Valley Conservancy’s 132-acre Gnome Hollow Preserve is in Frelinghuysen Township. It was acquired in 2010 through a transfer/donation from Kids Corporation II and The Trust for Public Land. A grant from the Warren County Open Space Trust Fund was used to fund the project. The trail into the preserve is accessible from the parking area on Stillwater Road.

UNIQUE FEATURES

Gnome Hollow is primarily a deciduous hardwood forest; it also contains a small former Christmas tree farm, which adds to the diversity of the ecosystem.  The preserve has a mix of native hardwoods, including mature oak along with black birch, hickory and emerging sugar maple.  The dense stands of forest provide an important habitat for migrating songbirds along with large mammals, such as black bear and bobcat.  The mix of evergreens and hardwoods makes it also suitable habitat for owls.

Several large vernal pools, which flood in spring then drain in summer, are found throughout the preserve.  These are important habitat for reptiles and amphibians, which can breed in them without having fish eat their eggs.  These vernal pools also are important because they are recharge areas for aquifers.  Ground water seeps into the forest floor in these pool areas, and gradually flow through the bedrock to streams, wetlands and the Paulinskill River.  Protection of the forest helps protect the Paulinskill Watershed.

STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Friday, Nov. 6, I am out and about on a short auto tour ‘looking for stuff.  Driving south on Route 94, I decide to turn right onto Lincoln Laurel Road and then make the first left onto Stillwater Road. As soon as you make your turn, you are going down a long hill. At the bottom of the hill, the road has a sharp curve right. As you enter that curve, you are looking into a narrow opening over a wetlands area. 

As I drive, I catch a white object in the trees and realize it is a hawk.  I stop, back up a little and get out to take some photos and a video of the hawk looking over its domain.  Then, continue up about 300 feet and come to a small parking area with a small stone sign, “Gnome Hollow Preserve.” 

I am somewhat familiar with this area.  There are several different parcels of Open Space property in this region.  The Paulinskill Valley Railroad Trail goes through this region.  Warren County Parks has property at and around White Lake.  I remember visiting Frelinghuysen Kids Camp back in August of 2014 with the Warren County Municipal Charitable Conservancy Trust Fund Committee—Frelinghuysen Township had made a grant application for funding to create the Frelinghuysen Recreation Center. 

After seeing the stone sign for Gnome Hollow Preserve on Friday, I decided to revisit and explore on Saturday!

TRAILS

The main trail through the preserve is the Gnome Hollow Preserve Yellow Trail.  A 2-mile loop trail offering the chance to see wildlife—and good for all skill levels—the trail is primarily used for hiking and walking. It is accessible year-round.  There is an elevation gain of 252 feet, however this is gradual with ups and downs throughout the walk. 

Gnome Hollow Preserve is also connected via trails to other wonderful sites, like Paulinskill Valley Railroad Trail, Frelinghuysen Recreation Center, and another Ridge & Valley Conservancy site, McDonald Marsh Preserve.  Keep in mind, once in those sites, there are additional opportunities to connect to other sites and this concept of connection just keeps developing and repeating itself!

MY JOURNEY AT GNOME HOLLOW PRESERVE

Starting at the parking area off Stillwater Road: I take several moments to look over the wetlands area just down an embankment from the parking area.  This is an ecosystem in itself!  Getting ready to begin, I walk to the gate and TAKE A MAP.  This really helped me plan my trip and get the most out of my visit. I chose the Yellow Trail, which traverses through the preserve. 

**At this point, I am going to give you a verbal picture describing this site/sight and our journey!**

THE SCENE

Golden carpet of fresh fallen leaves on the forest floor, ever bright with sunlight!  Forest canopy is bare, with an exceptional pocket of gold and a sporadic touch of red.  This bare canopy showcases the dark blue sky above and it also allows your vision to travel unimpeded through the woods, seeing the vast gold carpeted forest floor, noticing all the hills, dales, gullies, hollows, rock outcrops that you will be walking up, down, atop or down into and through! It will also give you little snippets through the woods of the distant Kittatinny Ridge and other distant mountains! 

If that is not enough, all the while you are taking in these sites/sights, you have the perfect opportunity to witness any wildlife from afar or up close. For example, I watched deer running down a steep embankment quite a ways in front of me!  Small birds flittering amid the bows and twigs of fallen trees.  Heard various birds, too, periodically breaking the silence of the forest. 

I mentioned silence. It was so quiet that I actually made several videos – NOT FOR THE VIEW BUT TO DOCUMENT THE SILENCE!

THE JOURNEY 

Okay, let us begin our journey!  Begin to walk through the gate and quickly pass by, on the right, what use to be an old Christmas tree farm.  Another ecosystem off to the left is a very steep tree-covered limestone rise.  After the tree farm, you begin a gentle rise into the woods. To your left, the steep limestone outcrop continues and to your right an ever-deepening gulley, or, rather, I am going to use the word ‘hollow.’ 

Reaching the top of the rise, you begin to gently drop back down through the woods and come across a sign pointing to the left—a connector trail to the Paulinskill Valley Trail. Continuing straight on a short distance, the trail splits. This is the beginning of the northern loop. I will go straight and then work my way back to this same point. 

During this northern loop, I could see in the distance (without even leaving the trail) a snippet of the pond at Frelinghuysen Recreation Center. A little later, you come across the Red Trail, which would take you to the recreation center.  Returning to the beginning of the northern loop, we continue back south, passing the sign to Paulinskill Valley Trail and, in a short distance, we notice the trail splits again. This is the beginning of the southern loop.

Going straight takes you back the way we started our trip, passing the Christmas tree farm. Going right will take us atop a high limestone outcrop overlooking Gnome Hollow Preserve and then back to the parking area. 

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL DAY!!!

**NOTE: All the different agencies, conservancies and organizations go out of their way to interconnect their sites with trails, thus allowing visitors many diverse recreational and educational opportunities! They also strive to purchase sites with the concept of creating “greenbelts,” protecting, connecting and maintaining vast areas of natural habitat necessary for wildlife not just to survive, but, given the opportunity, to thrive!**

Learn more about the Gnome Hollow Preserve Yellow Trail on All Trails.

Enjoy Your Open Space

Charlie Fineran

Charlie Fineran is Allamuchy’s Director of Open Space, Allamuchy Township Environmental Commission Chairman and Allamuchy Historical Society President.