Last Thursday we took a hike in Fox State Forest over in Hillsborough. Our goal was a black gum swamp which is a rare habitat. There was amazing little ode activity there, just a few meadowhawks. I’m not sure if it was the time (of day or year) or what!
When we got back to the parking area we decided that we still had a few miles left in us and we headed off to find the parking area nearest Mud Pond, a very scenic kettle pond despite its name. We had an adventure getting there (the parking area) in a embarrassingly roundabout way… the map was broken… well, out of date. anyway.. really!!!
The trail to Mud Pond passes through a meadow that had large numbers of odes and there were a number of very small toads along the trail in the woods.
Here are the photos:
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On Friday, we decided to exercise the upper body. We tossed the kayaks on the truck and headed for Nubanusit Lake in Hancock. Our goal was not actually Nubanusit (a large windy, motorboat-ridden) body of water, but Spoonwood Pond, a smaller (but still good-sized) body of water which is very short portage upstream.
The boat traffic on Nubanusit was actually not bad and there is a ten mph speed limit. We also saw out first bald eagle as we headed for the dam and portage. Spoonwood Pond is delightful, it is surrounded by conservation land and only one house way up on a hillside in Nelson is visible from the water. We saw a few other kayaks and one canoe (loaded with a father, young boy and camping gear) headed back from one of four Harris Center‘s campsites around the lake.
It was a windy day so odes were mainly found in sheltered areas along the shore, but they were fairly abundant. The photography was not so good… sitting in a wave-bounced, wind-blown kayak does not make photographing small critters a high yield proposition!
We also saw a second adult bald eagle, a juvenile bald eagle and an osprey. Alas, all were too far off to photograph.
The clouds were nice though as thunderstorms moved in during the latter part of the afternoon. The storms were mostly to the east so we were able to end our trip with only a few sprinkles.
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