More Walking

The March meeting of the Burlington County Natural Sciences Club featured Jennifer Bulava, Lead Park Naturalist for the Burlington County Parks System, presenting on the Best of Burlington County Parks. It was an interesting and fun talk, and Jennifer was an enthusiastic speaker.

One of the parks she spoke about was Long Bridge Park, which we had never visited. Until this past Sunday that is, when Patty and I went for a winter stroll.

After a visit to the (heated!) restrooms, we started off down the boardwalk at the start of the trail.

It was chilly! But once we got in amongst the trees and out of the wind it wasn't so bad.

No, not these little trees, but rather the more substantial ones further down the trail.

We first passed through a stand of birch trees. Which brought back memories of my boy scout days, when the paper like bark was prized for kindling.

But only the bark that had fallen off, never taken from a live tree. That would be bad.

The trails, there are several through the park, had us wandering through a variety of upland and lowland habitats.

We enjoyed the stark winter beauty. And could see the potential for spring migration.

The Rancocas Creek forms the northern boundary of the park. And there were surprisingly few waterfowl on the creek. A few Mallards and Canada Geese were all we saw.

And this was certainly not the kind of duck we were looking for.

I count over twenty bits of trash in this picture. The area also seems to be a basketball graveyard, as I counted half a dozen floating amongst the other debris. I wonder where the court is?

We passed a couple of bird blinds, but it is too early in the season as the birds have not yet migrated back to these parts. We'll just have to come back.

But there are plenty of deer, way too many, with footprints throughout the park. Not a good sign for the health of the forest.

Nor the creatures that call it home.

It is another nice nearby park. We will definitely be return visitors.

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1000 Mile Challenge update. As of this writing I have walked 266.75 miles this year. Which puts me 42.75 miles ahead of schedule. Not bad if I do say so myself.