Beginning of 2008 Hiking Season

Photos
Top left: This is as far as we walked south.
Top right: BIG dog. We didn't meet up with it which is just fine by me! ☺
Bottom Left: Click on picture to enlarge. There is one small island to the left of the picture and another larger one beyond that looks like the opposite bank.
Bottom right: Someone is minus a paddle boat! Take a good look at how thick the silt embankment is, and, how it is eroding.

Our walk
It's been a while since I had been able to get out and hike/walk. I had a chance to go walking today and I took it like a giddy school kid finding out school had just been called off and I wouldn’t have to take the test! ☺

My hiking buddy, Jon, and I walked from Main St. in South Windsor down Vibert Road to the little park/boat launch area on the banks of the Connecticut River. We walked south as far as we could. The river is high and has created a temporary inlet and cutback that we chose not to cross. After backtracking we headed north along the river. I had taken this same walk a couple years ago with Bonnie so I pretty much knew where we were headed.

We eventually passed a farm road on the right (that bordered a field) that looked like it went back up to Main St. We continued past the field, over the little hill to the next field. This did not look too promising so we turned back. We could not walk through the field because it was flooded in the middle which had nothing to do with the river. Bonnie and I had experienced the same wetness in this same spot but to a much lesser degree. We chose to take the road just south of this field and headed toward Main St. It eventually joined the south side of the field but here it was relatively dry.

We met a fellow walker and his dog and asked him about the road ahead—especially the section between the two ponds and swamps. He said it wasn’t too bad and we would be able to cross on the cinder blocks on the north side. Cinder blocks? Well. That sounded good. I don’t remember any cinder blocks when Bonnie and I walked there.

We approached one of the over flowed areas and I pointed out to Jon where I tried walking from bog to bog the last time I was here. I was wearing boots that time, too, and was just barely keeping the water level below the top of my boots. Bonnie decided she was going through the water. Took off her shoes and socks and started wading, creating sizable waves which immediately filled my boots. It was too funny. At that point, I said something like Oh, darn, and plunged through the rest of the water. This time I told Jon I planned to get across this overflow in a state of dry. Choosing a different route and actually balancing and jumping from cinder block to block I did manage to stay dry.

We were serenaded the whole time by song birds. The most vocal was a female cardinal at the beginning of our walk. In one of the ponds, the one to the north of the road, we spotted a lone swan way in the distance.

We reached Main St., opposite Newberry Road, and headed south to where we had parked the car between Wood Memorial Library and the old Union School. Our hike was 3 to 3.5 miles long over some uneven and very wet terrain. It felt so good to be outside in the sun and wind; walking and being free for a brief span of time.

I took a lot of pictures, but I can’t put them all up with this post. I’ll string them out over the next few days. I hope you like seeing leafless trees, water and mud! ☺