New Jersey's Pochuck Quagmire

November 13, 2007

As a side trip I re-visited the Pochuck Creek crossing, an area where suburban development has left only the swamp land free for the Trail.

Back in 2001 when I was hiking this area, I looked out from the heights trail north, and spied this tall suspension bridge in the distance. But alas, there was no path to get to it - so the AT then was a road walk detour.

In 2002 the connecting boardwalks were finished by the hard-working trail builders, so now we can stroll over a mile of walkways through the marshes, crossing the bridge in the middle.

You can see this route clearly on Google Earth as well.

View Larger Map

It seems a popular route for local aerobic walkers, bird- and butterfly-watchers.

This is probably the last new addition to my AT miles for 2007 - I'm up to 1557 miles total - can't wait for spring 2008!

Detour to Oklahoma

May 6, 2007

A little side trip to Oklahoma to see the prairie for Bob's birthday.

The Wichita Mountains National Wildlife Refuge preserves some prairie because the small mountains made the soil too rocky to plow, and right around the time of Teddy Roosevelt people noticed the bison going extinct, so they started a herd here. Also longhorn cattle because they are rare now too.