Darlene, our Swamp Buggy Tour Guide was phenomenal. She was delightful, knowledgeable, and both serious and comical. Our 90-minute tour through the swampland went by very fast and we saw an abundance of alligators, wild hogs, an assortment of birds, deer, turkeys, longhorn cattle, cracker cows, deer, turtles, sandhill cranes and much more. We saw cypress and live oak trees, Spanish moss, and even got an education on cracker cowboys!
Click the below video and ride the swamp buggy as Steve and Friends tour with Darlene
"Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends"
Steve’s books are available as hardcopy and e-Books at Kindle and hardcopy at Morgan Hill Bookstore, New London, NH, Colby-Sawyer College, New London, NH, and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Gift Shop, Lebanon, NH.
Outdoor Play has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book will motivate friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life. If you want 5 or more books signed,send Steve an email and we can work out the logistics.
The
Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway is a 75-mile “emerald necklace” of
fourteen hiking trails surrounding Lake Sunapee, crossing Sunapee, Ragged
and Kearsarge mountains, and maintained by Greenway volunteers. Today, friends Steve, Craig, Ellen and myself, are hiking Trail 6: Great Brook Bridge in New London to Route 4A in Wilmot, located with the Red Arrow below.
Two items make SRKG Trail 6 special to me.
Wolf Trees
Let’s start with Wolf trees. Frankly, until today's hike, I had never heard of a Wolf Tree. “Look! Wolf
trees!”My fellow hiker pointed at a tall
tree with substantial girth and spreading dead branches, higher than the trees
surrounding it with live springtime buds at the top. At first glimpse I thought they were dead trees.
If you have ever seen a tree in the forest that seems out of place
because it is much larger than the trees surrounding it, signifying that the tree was once the only tree in
the area, you may have experienced a wolf tree. Many wolf trees are over 150 years old and are different than their smaller neighbors. A wolf tree is not a specific species of tree.It may be oak, pine, birch, whatever ... simply a tall old
tree.
The quote on the sign on the below Wolf
Tree Trail reads:“Along this path are several
large old trees, probably left to shade cattle when the Bunkers cleared this
hillside in the 1800s. They grew rapidly “WOLFING” sunlight and water from any
seedlings nearby.LOOK FOR THEM"
Click the below video and hike with Steve and friends.
Many Trails The second feature I found special in Trail 6 was the many trails. Our SRKG trail today
included following Wolf Tree Trail, Webb Forest Interpretive Trail, and the
White Pine Trail. Most of the trails in this section are well developed paths
and logging roads on former farms with stonewall confined forests that were
once fields for cattle, sheep, hayfields, and gardens.
Our
Goal today was to hike the SRKG Trail 6, marked by the SRKG white and green
trapezoids, starting at the western trailhead at the northern end of Pleasant Lake
in New London, NH, and ending at the eastern trailhead at Route 4A in Wilmot,
NH. We began at Great Brook Bridge, an elevation of 800 feet with the SRKG trail
rising along an old logging and farm road to 1500 feet and then dropping to 1200
feet at Route 4A.
Below is the MapMyRun Google map of our hike.
All the trails of Section 6 are readily marked with SRKG trapezoid signs/blazes. Most junctions included a map with “You are here” in red.
SRKG Completion Medal
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We were assisted on this hike by
the SRK Greenway Trail Guide. I am proud to be a member of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway.
Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG) Trails Hiked by OutdoorSteve and Friends - Click below links
Outdoor Play has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. The book will motivate friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life. If you want 5 or more books signed,send Steve an email and we can work out the logistics.
The Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway is a 75-mile “emerald
necklace” of fourteen hiking trails surrounding Lake Sunapee, crossing Sunapee, Ragged
and Kearsarge mountains, and maintained by Greenway volunteers.I am proud to be a member of the SRK Greenway. Today we are hiking Trail 8: Wilmont Center to New Canada Road (Upper right corner - Red Arrow.)
First, let me give full credit to the SRK Greenway Trail
Guide (srkg.com.)It is an excellent detail
resource for locating and hiking the 14 trails designated as the 75-mile Sunapee,
Ragged, Kearsarge Greenway Trail.To
date,I have hiked five of these trails,
and all clearly marked with a trapezoidal white and green blaze, the
“trademark” of the SRK Greenway Trail. Living and hiking in this area gives me a nice feeling
whenever I spot this friendly trail blaze.
Using the SRK Greenway Trail Guide
We carried the Guide with us on the Trail. Once we had to
refer to it when we came to a fork in the trail, and the Guide quickly solved
this predicament for us. Most of the time,
we used the Guide for information about the Beaver Pond, cellar holes, and
ancient stone walls.Reading the Guide
before we went made conversation when it warned us, “…the trail crosses a
brook… The brook may be difficult to cross
when swollen.” This caution did
not bother us, but indeed brought back many memories of spring hiking in the
White Mountains where the crossing of streams and brooks, sometimes meant
looking further upstream or downstream for a safe crossing, or removing one’s
clothing and wading in ankle to waist high freezing ice thawed water.As you will see in the below video, we readily
crossed this ten-foot-wide stream jumping from exposed rock to rock – all done
safely.
We took a short off-the-trail Beaver Pond spur at the
Pond/Trail sign. I highly recommend this small beautiful Beaver Pond with a
beaver dam at one end, and a beaver lodge at the other. There was also a dedicated
granite bench overlooking the pond. We continued on Beaver Pond Trail over boardwalks
and logs. We reach the sign indicating the junction of the
Beaver Pond Trail and the Patterson Farm Trail. Keep left on the Patterson
Farm Trail go down a long hill, and then up to where we stop and look at cellar
holes of a barn and house, and stone gateposts leading to a neighboring farm.
The Patterson Farm Trail joins the gravel Eagle Pond Road,
and we are about 2 miles into our hike.The remaining hike is on Eagle Pond Road where we view Eagle Pond. We
also have a nice view of Ragged Mountain, just before we take a left on the
Northern Rail Trail. We to cross US Route 4 we can see the home of former
United States Poet Laureate, Donald Hall. We also see Mt Kearsarge in the
distance. We quickly reach New Canada Road, and hike today ends at the SRK
Greenway Trail 9 sign for New Canada Road to Proctor Academy.
We used two vehicles for this point-to-point hike. I picked
up my hiking partner, appropriately named Steve, where he parked at the eastern
trailhead on New Canada Road, .9 miles from its corner on US Route 4, two miles
north of the US Route 4 junction with NH Route 11. We then rode together to the western trailhead
located by taking NH Route 11 west, then a right on NH Route 4A for 3 miles
northwest, and turned right onto North
Wilmot Road and parked my car at the Wilmot Town Hall.
Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway (SRKG) Trails Hiked by OutdoorSteve and Friends - Click below links
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends" ++++++++++++++++ Steve's 6th book is now available. Outdoor Play "Fun 4 Seniors" Volume III has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. Motivate friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Until today, I had not paddled on the Braden River, a
21-mile waterway that drains an 83-square-mile area watershed in west-central Florida and
is the largest tributary of the ManateeRiver. I found the Paddle Manatee: A Guide to Area Canoe and Kayak Trails (see REFERENCES below), an excellent resource to locate maps and places to go in my area. Much of the text in this post is from this Guide.
Kayaking from Jiggs Landing was a new kind of experience for
OutdoorSteve, Cathy, and Martha because of Jiggs Landing’s unique accessible canoe/kayak launch. I learned of this canoe/kayak launch when Cathy and I scouted the location and saw first hand how kayakers and canoers launched from a platform docked on the shore of the Braden River. The
launch gives paddlers access to the entire Braden River and its freshwater
system. It is accessible for handicappers.
Frankly, I was thrilled as I experienced first hand positioning my kayak on the ramp, and with the ramp’s distinctive design using side rails,
bottom rollers, and sloped platform, I slide safely into the water. Further, my take-out was from the same ramp. Wow!
The Braden River Trail is approximately 6 miles in total
length. See the dotted BLUE lines of the map to reference this waterway trail. Public
launch sites include Jiggs Landing, from which we put-in for our 3 ½ hour
paddle.
Our entry at Jiggs landing and take-out was part of this trail. Our paddle was limited to a five-mile loop upstream meandering through many side coves and marshes, as seen in RED in the below map.
Manatees are present in the river almost year-round and may
be found anywhere in the tidal river. We did not experience manatees
on this trip, nor did we see alligators. However, beautiful birds and their
songs, and their rookeries, were all along our paddle. In addition, varieties
of beautiful flowers, mangroves, live oaks, and other various trees unique to this
area were omnipresent.
The section from Jiggs Landing south upriver provides a
peaceful, winding canoe experience. You can paddle from Jiggs Landing to the
Linger Lodge (restaurant) and enjoy this eclectic local experience. We had
dined at Linger Lodge before, and I encourage visiting it. However, our paddle
upstream today did not reach Linger Lodge.
We certainly did not see all that the Jiggs Landing put-in
has to offer. We definitely will return to
Jiggs Landing and:
Paddle downstream to Evers Dam
Paddle further upstream to Linger
lodge for lunch/dinner
Look at our map and make sure we finish paddling all six-miles of Braden River Trail.
DIRECTIONS
Jiggs Landing is a 4 ½ acre site with excellent parking for cars and trailers and a kayaking/canoe washing area. Also a small restaurant with outside musicians playing. Jiggs Landing is located at 6106 63rd Street East, Bradenton, Florida. From Sarasota take I-75 north to Exit 217 (SR 70). Go west on SR 70 to Braden River Road (63rd Street East). Turn left (south) onto 63rd Street East. Jiggs Landing is .4 miles, just before the road turns east onto Linger Lodge Road East.
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends" ++++++++++++++++ Steve's 6th book is now available. Outdoor Play "Fun 4 Seniors" Volume III has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. Motivate friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are also available as hardcopy and e-Books at Kindle and Morgan Hill Bookstore, New London, NH.
Dundee, Mike, and I put-in at Picnic Island, Ellenton,
Florida, and headed upstream. We snaked along the shoreline and explored its mangrove
trail waterways. The paddle started as a relaxed afternoon kayaking on the
Manatee River and would finish as a test of our stamina.
The below video misses much of this 2-mile round trip section of the river, as it became difficult
for me to take pictures and paddle. First we searched a mangrove tunnel with an entrance
and no exit. Second, We cross in a wide section of the river in a high wind. Third, we finished our return
paddle to Picnic Island, facing strong winds and white cap waves.
As you will hear in the video, Dundee and I
took a shoreline route in the mangroves. Videoing this mangrove tunnel was not
possible due to the confines of the mangroves as well as discovering the
mangrove water trail was a dead-end. We needed to back up our kayaks to exit
the tunnel.
Given no traffic on the river, we decided to cross the river to get another
view of the river’s habitat. We did this in against a strong incoming tide and wind It turned
out what I thought was “the other shore” was a narrow mangrove forest called
Marsh Island. I learned we were looking at a long narrow island as we went through a water trail through in the island and saw “the other side of the river.” You will see Marsh Island in the below map showing our paddling route in Red.
Our paddle to return to Picnic Island turned into a
15-minute power sprint into strong winds, against an upriver tide, and white caps.
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends" ++++++++++++++++ Steve's 6th book is now available. Outdoor Play: Fun 4 Seniors has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. Motivate friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are available as hardcopy and e-Books at Amazon's Kindle and Morgan Hill Bookstore, New London.
Cathy, Michael, Martha and Steve paddle nearly four hours in Robinson Preserve, Manatee County, Bradenton, Florida.
Robinson Preserve is a 620 preserve with 40 acres of
peaceful mangrove-lined waterways and mangrove water tunnel passages for
canoeing and kayaking.Manatee County
acquired the Preserve in 2005.It offers
well-maintained put-ins and take-outs with restrooms, picnic shelters, kayak
and canoe wash stations with hoses, and a 40-foot observation tower with 360-degree
views of the Preserve. Martha and
Michael had paddled this area before and were our navigators and tour guides. Enjoy the below 5-minute video of our kayaking in Robinson Preserve.
The Robinson Preserve fits perfectly with my Manatee Paddle
theme as it borders the mouth of the Manatee River directly across from Emerson
Point, which we had paddled a few weeks earlier.Also, this Preserve opens to Tampa Bay and
Anna Maria Island.
You will see mangroves trees throughout our paddle. Mangroves thrive
in conditions most timber could never tolerate — salty, coastal waters, and the
eternal ebb and flow of the tide. This environment defines the Robinson
Preserve. To see a Bedford Community Television (BCTV) twenty minute production of this same paddle, go to Manatee Paddle - Robinson Preserve
" Everyone must do something. I believe I will go outdoors with family and friends" ++++++++++++++++ Steve's 6th book is now available. Outdoor Play: Fun 4 Seniors has trip preparations, routes, and narratives of bucket list places to go. Motivate friends and family to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Steve’s books are available as hardcopy and e-Books at Amazon's Kindle and Morgan Hill Bookstore, New London.
Purchase at www.amazon.com and www.outdoorsteve.com
About OutdoorSteve
OutdoorSteve is more than just a blog; it is a way of life. OutdoorSteve is Steve Priest sharing his outdoor adventures and life experiences. OutdoorSteve includes blog posts, books, short stories, videos, lectures, and speaking events. To learn more or to book Steve for your next event email Steve atsteve@outdoorsteve.com or visit him on the web at OutdoorSteve.com
Outdoor Enthusiast provides outdoor places to go and things to do. Steve's mission is to motivate and encourage families and individuals to make the outdoors a key component of their daily life.
Readers are encouraged to post and share their Comments.
When trying to explain my enthusiasm for outdoor actions, I paraphrase Thoreau's, "Discover I had not lived" with the expression, "Never say, 'I wish I had'."
The book provides places to go and things to do, but moreover the author’s stories and “I wish I had…” show individuals can, like the author, overcome self-made barriers and obstacles of health, physical, mental, and injury problems.
My outdoor pursuit began after a torn Achilles tendon, a resultant limp, and weight gain. I turned to physical activity in search of a stress reliever as well as a "lifestyle for the long haul."
My writings on 'Outdoor Play' enthusiastically portray the entertainment of the outdoors. Travel with me and meet the challenges of outdoor recreation that are the cornerstone of my lectures and stories.
I reside in Sunapee, New Hampshire with Catherine, my wife. We have two sons and two grandchildren.
If you're interested in having me speak, you can email me at steve@outdoorsteve.com or visit www.outdoorsteve.com.
