Weekend Wanderings ... Reeve's Bog

Our Sunday morning wander this week took us to Reeve's Bogs, part of Brendan Byrne State Forest and a mere seven miles from Piney Place.

We arranged to meet our friend and fellow wanderer Bernie at "The Tree".

From which point we headed off down the trail.

We had hoped to see a variety of waterfowl, maybe even a rarity or two. It wasn't looking good as the first impoundment was devoid of avifauna.

There were more pools further down the trail, but our hopes were dashed when we had Canada Geese (foreground) and Tundra Swans (further back) take off en masse and fly away.

We soon learned why.

No waterfowl for us.

🦆  🚶‍♀️  🦆  🚶‍♂️  🦆

So we continued along the trails enjoying the scenery and each other's company.

🐾  🚶‍♀️  🐾  🚶‍♂️  🐾

We saw evidence of wildlife but no actual beasts.

Virginia Opossum.

Northern Raccoon.

Beaver.

🌧  🚶‍♀️  ⛈  🚶‍♂️  🌧

There were a number of places where the trail had been washed away. 

This spot was washed out last year, and all the rains we've had this year didn't make it any better.

We were able to walk around and across, but if it continues to erode that may not be the case next year. There were other spots up ahead that we would not be able to cross.

Last year we actually drove out to this spot, and then had to turn around. A tricky bit of maneuvering if I recall correctly. And I do.

Looks like the guys on the motorbikes had been here.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

We had walked almost completely around the bogs and could see "The Tree" when we came upon another washout. This one was not passable. So we backtracked to the crossing shown above, with yours truly seen here walking out. Not long after this shot you would have seen yours truly walking back as there was a breach in this dike as well. So we backtracked some more.

Maybe we should have followed the arrow?

We didn't. And choose this path instead (the arrow was pointing the wrong way for us).

The 'arrow path' did look more inviting though.

🌳  🚶‍♀️  🌳  🚶‍♂️  🌳

And we finished safely back at "The Tree" after a nice extended saunter.

This Sunday morning wandering could become habit forming.