Itinerary

Springwater Fieldtrip P

Dallas Abbott and Bill Menke

December 5, 2018 and December 8, 2018

December 5, 2018

1:50 PM, Leave Tappan New York

2:30 PM, Arrive Ramapo Valley County Reservation, off Route 202, Mahwah New Jersey

2:45 PM, Buswhacked around the bottomland by the Ramapo River, below near Ramapo Falls (a small waterfall on the MacMillan Reservoir outlet stream), looking for springs and finding none.

3:20 PM, Spring 1 (Site 104), Matty Price Hill Spring, Followed a rivulet that crosses the Vista Loop (blazed in yellow) uphill from Ramapo Falls, past a boulder field, to a spring emanating from beneath a boulder on the hillside. A small oval pool is located in the vicinity, but is not connected to the rivulet.

3:40 PM, Spring 2 (Site 105), Marsh Trail Spring A, Bushwhacked west across the Matty Price hillside, joining the Marsh Loop (blazed in red) above MacMillan Reservoir. Found a spring just downhill of the trail that flowed into the marsh. The spring flows from beneath a boulder had has scoured a little pool with coarse sand at its bottom.

4:00 PM, Head back, stopping to view MacMillan Reservoir and its outlet stream, and later Scarlet Oak Pond, on the way.

4:30 PM, Arrive, Tappan New York.

December 8, 2018

1:20 PM, Leave Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades New York

2:00 PM, Arrive Ramapo Valley County Reservation, off Route 202, Mahwah New Jersey. Walk Ridge Loop (blazed in blue) along MacMillan Reservoir outlet stream to the Marsh Loop.

2:20 PM. Revisit Marsh Trail Spring A (Site 105), a spring just downhill of the Marsh Loop trail.

2:30 PM, Spring 2 (Site 106), Marsh Trail Spring B, Bushwhacked an arc between the Marsh Trail and the marsh. This is an area with many small springs. We sampled one of them.

3:00 PM, We rejoined the Marsh Trail and backtracked to a woods road that headed south towards Bear Swamp Road. We walked the woods road about a half mile, to a point where it passed a very large (8 ft high) boulder. We bushwhacked west down into a steep valley and examined a small stream. We followed the stream uphill to where it disappeared beneath boulders, but decided on the basis of its very cold temperature that it did not originate as a spring. We then headed back.

3:40 PM, Spring 3 (Site 107), Marsh Trail Spring C, Spring a little above the Marsh Trail, 100 meters east of the intersection with the woods road, with water flowing across the trail into the Marsh.

4:00 PM, We stopped briefly to examine ice formations on the MacMillan Reservoir outlet stream.

4:30 PM, Arrive Tappan New York.