All state and county parks are closed due to COVID-19, so finding an interesting place to walk is more challenging now.  But there are still many hidden gems within a 20 minute drive of our home in Clinton. Nishisakawick Creek , a tributary of the Delaware River, is especially pretty in early spring, before the trees leaf out.   Creek Road is lightly traveled and affords uninterrupted views of  the Nishisakawick and the surrounding watershed.  I walked for 1:15 on Saturday afternoon, covering about 4.5 miles round trip, but a longer walk is possible if you follow Creek Road to the intersection of Rt. 519 (Kingwood Road), approximately 7.8 mile round trip.  The best place to start is at the Frenchtown Boro Park, where Creek Road intersects Rt. 12.

New Jersey abounds with places named by the Leni Lenape ,  one of the few reminders of the indigenous people who lived here for centuries before being pushed out during the first waves of colonization.  In 1915, the State of New Jersey commissioned an  archaeological study of Hunterdon and Warren Counties ,  documenting over 900 native american sites in the two counties. While many were situated along the Delaware River, there was a concentration of sites near Flemington, NJ, due to the abundance of argillite, commonly known as mudstone.   The argillite of Hunterdon County  was prized by the Lenape people, as it could easily be shaped by knapping to form arrowheads and spear points.  Years ago, when my kids were little, we had a favorite swimming hole on Capoolong Creek, near our home, where my son Ryan found the argillite spear point pictured below.