My new spot is in a park very near my house called Town Forest Park. Surprisingly, for how long I’ve lived here, I’ve never been in these parts of the woods. It was so beautiful and I am practically beating myself up for never exploring back there before. To get to my spot, I took an unmarked trail that led to a small bridge back onto a more traveled, marked trail. The view was amazing, of very tall grasses in a bog on one side of the trail, and deep old woods on the other side.
On the side with the tall grasses, there were tall, skinny Eastern White Pines growing in the water, they could either be young trees, or older trees with their growth stunted by the fact that they are planted in the middle of a bog. There were trees lining the edge of the water, all new growth (under 9 inches in diameter). There was Hemlock, Paper Birch and Red Oak.
On the side of the trail with the woods, most of the trees were HUGE, and not much new tree growth. There also was not much forest ground growth. For clarification, there were not many bushes or ferns or vines. The trees were far apart, most likely because they were so large and do not allow any new trees to fill the empty spaces with their large canopy. The most common tree is the Eastern White Pine, Hemlock, and then I saw some Red Oaks. I did not see any white oak trees, but I saw some white oak leaves on the ground.
There was also a man made bunker that looks like it has been there for a while. There is land built up around it, as if its underground. The land on top of the building has been there long enough for small trees to be growing in it. The building says “public water supply” on it, so I am wondering if the town takes water from the bog for residential use.
