We have had perfect weather the last two days with sunshine and temperatures in the low-70s F. A very welcome change from the cold rain we have been having.
Yesterday, to take advantage of this glorious day, Ward and I visited some old and new-to-us trails. We were looking for mostly paved trails, hoping to find less mud there. We succeeded.
The first walk was a new trail that took us beside woods and long-abandoned houses. While it wasn't pristine nature, it was still interesting to imagine the lives that were lived there before nature began reclaiming it.
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| This roof was all the way on the ground. We tried to determine the sequence of events that led to this. |
Next, we went to a trail we hadn't been on for a while. It is in a stream valley, and much of it is on a boardwalk, so it was a good candidate for a muddy day.
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| On the hill next to the trail, we found an old family cemetery. |
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| The house with the cemetery was no longer there, but daffodils and crocuses were marking where it had been. |
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| One of the first things I noticed on the trail was that skunk cabbage was starting to come up. |
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| One of the first things Ward noticed was how this bridge was built. And that's the way it usually goes. I notice plants, and he notices structures. When we are together, we both are shown things we wouldn't normally pay attention to. It works out nicely. |
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| We didn't see much green, but we did see interesting fungi. |
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| But the real stars of the day were the wood frogs, who were croaking loudly in every bit of standing water we came across. I spent too long trying to embed the video with the sound without success, so you'll have to Google it* if you want to hear what they sounded like. But they were singing their hearts out, looking for a mate. *https://www.youtube.com/shorts/CbQrorDMPTc?feature=share |
Until next time...
Thanks so much for sharing these shots from your walk...I'm thinking of those darling frogs singing away, which I haven't heard in years!
ReplyDeleteI'm used to hearing spring peepers, but not wood frogs. They sure were a noisy bunch.
DeleteI also love to hear frogs. How fun! We had nice weather yesterday, but it's a drizzly day here, and winter is returning this weekend. I'll live vicariously through your spring weather. 😀
ReplyDeleteI just saw that next week, we'll be back in the 20s and low 30s. Spring definitely does not come in a linear way. But that's the way of weather. It has it's ups and downs.
DeleteWhat a nice hike! That roof on the ground is absolutely fascinating. Like you, I would have been filled with questions! Old cemeteries, too, we often visit them even if we have no connection to them.
ReplyDeleteLove the frog pic!
Old cemeteries are another place that you can imagine what someone's life might have been like by reading dates and the inscriptions on the markers.
DeleteThe frogs were hard to see so it took some zooming to get a picture.
I like the boardwalk trails. I've not encountered many, to walk, but what the heck, I would like to.
ReplyDeleteThey are usually in wet/swampy areas and that's probably not where cats are hanging out, so I'm not surprised you don't see them much. Maybe you could google and find one in your area.
DeleteI wonder why the houses were abandoned? Lovely photos from your walk. I, too, would have looked at the plants more than the structures. I enjoyed the video of the frogs making their mating call.
ReplyDeleteOur best guess was that someone died and whoever inherited the property lives out of the area. An out of sight out of mind thing. However, they would still have to be paying taxes, so we're not sure.
DeleteThe frogs were amazing, but I will say that after a while, the noise was deafening.