Saturday, March 11, 2006
Photos From Two Parks in Calvert County, Maryland
Album URLs:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meabbott/sets/72157605985946943/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meabbott/sets/72157605985840485/
I haven’t been out to take pictures in a couple of weeks so when I saw the temperatures were going to be warm and the skies sunny, I jumped at the chance to get out. I tried out my new hiking boots I got from L.L. Bean last week. I found them to be very nice, but they’re a little smaller than I thought they were so I will trade them for the next size up. I tried the L.L. Bean Lightweight Cresta Hiking Socks with them and they are terrific. I went to two places today, Battle Creek Cypress Swamp and King’s Landing. These are two of the three parks in the Calvert County Parks system. I didn’t make it to Flag Pond but I will go there another time. In the fine tradition of park system websites, these pages do a tragic disservice to these parks. They don’t describe all of the features of the parks (EG: The website doesn’t describe the kind of Cypress Tree they have, nor does the site indicate they have an arboretum!). I have not yet discovered the reason park services seem to treat their parks so harshly on their websites, but there must be a reason. They all do it. There are some individual parks that have their own pages where they tend to have better information, they seem to be maintained by the folks at the park in question.
On to Battle Creek Cypress Swamp. I’d been there once before a few years ago and noted that it was quiet and the air relatively still. The reason for that is that it is in a bit of a valley. It is very pleasant. There is a nice visitor center that describes and has examples of some of the critters you may see, though I saw nothing but birds and some insects except for one frog who made his departure before I could snap a picture. Just as well, he was a muddy fellow. This is a good visitor center and you will want to spend a few moments here before heading onto the trail. Most of the trail is a boardwalk which to me seemed to be very well maintained. It was very firm and felt quite safe. There were a few people walking the boardwalk, but not as many as I had expected given the nice day. But this is kind of an out of the way place. The boardwalk is a loop that leads out into the wetlands and back. The wetlands inside the loop is chaotic with branches and so on where the area outside looked a little bit neater. I am not sure why this is. The bright sun gave me the opportunity to get some good photos from here. Looking through the clear water with the bright sun was especially nice. I took a side trail towards the end which led off the board walk and onto a dirt path. I saw an overturned car and an old house up this way. Back at the center they have some ponds which is a good place to watch for small birds if you hold still and be patient. There is also a Barred Owl which was blind from being hit by a car in a hutch.
I went on to King’s Landing to see what the deal is there. The place felt more like a community recreation center to me, but if you look at an aerial photo you see about half the park is left to nature. Although there are several activities mentioned on the website, they neglect to mention that there is a swimming pool (obviously not open yet) or an equestrian area. This park has areas set up for people to learn to get their bearings using a compass as well as a trail dedicated to teaching people the various things seen in a forest with labels already on them. I thought this is a great idea that other parks ought to adopt. Not necessarily these ideas specifically, but use their resources as an active practical teaching area. There are plenty of parks that have a ranger or a guest give a lecture or a guided tour on a particular manner, but I haven’t yet seen anything like this. There is a fishing pier present and seems to be the most used part of the park, at least at this time of the year. It gives a nice view to one segment of the highly disjointed Patuxent River Park on the other side of the river. A coal fired power plant along with power lines crossing the river can also be seen looking south along the river. This park has a hidden jewel along one of its trail. From the parking lot next to the swimming pool there is a sign which contains a map of the park and the trails. Even with that, the trail entrance looks like just an opening between the trees and you’d be inclined to continue to follow the gravel trail. Nothing wrong with that, it is a nice walk too. But the trail has no trail marker, no blazes, nothing. Once you get into the trail a little bit you get onto a boardwalk like the one at Battle Creek. It is also steady and well maintained. Following the trail you will come to a spur that leads out into the wetlands and has two benches facing the wetlands. When you approach the benches you will see the boardwalk is twisted, don’t be alarmed, it is solid all the way. This is the jewel I refer to. It is an excellent place to see a variety of activity and I got some OK pictures of a Blue Heron here. It is fairly quiet here and I did not see anybody else on the trail at all. I walked a few other parts of the park, but I had been spoiled by the view from the benches. There is another spur, shorter than this one, that you will come upon first with benches facing each other. This is a nice spot, but I believe they should place an observation tower like the ones I saw at the Chesapeake Environmental Center here instead to give a view over the vegetation.
The lowlands next to the water in both of these places had been inundated fairly recently and looked muddy. A good rain will make these places look a bit more photogenic.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meabbott/sets/72157605985946943/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meabbott/sets/72157605985840485/
I haven’t been out to take pictures in a couple of weeks so when I saw the temperatures were going to be warm and the skies sunny, I jumped at the chance to get out. I tried out my new hiking boots I got from L.L. Bean last week. I found them to be very nice, but they’re a little smaller than I thought they were so I will trade them for the next size up. I tried the L.L. Bean Lightweight Cresta Hiking Socks with them and they are terrific. I went to two places today, Battle Creek Cypress Swamp and King’s Landing. These are two of the three parks in the Calvert County Parks system. I didn’t make it to Flag Pond but I will go there another time. In the fine tradition of park system websites, these pages do a tragic disservice to these parks. They don’t describe all of the features of the parks (EG: The website doesn’t describe the kind of Cypress Tree they have, nor does the site indicate they have an arboretum!). I have not yet discovered the reason park services seem to treat their parks so harshly on their websites, but there must be a reason. They all do it. There are some individual parks that have their own pages where they tend to have better information, they seem to be maintained by the folks at the park in question.
On to Battle Creek Cypress Swamp. I’d been there once before a few years ago and noted that it was quiet and the air relatively still. The reason for that is that it is in a bit of a valley. It is very pleasant. There is a nice visitor center that describes and has examples of some of the critters you may see, though I saw nothing but birds and some insects except for one frog who made his departure before I could snap a picture. Just as well, he was a muddy fellow. This is a good visitor center and you will want to spend a few moments here before heading onto the trail. Most of the trail is a boardwalk which to me seemed to be very well maintained. It was very firm and felt quite safe. There were a few people walking the boardwalk, but not as many as I had expected given the nice day. But this is kind of an out of the way place. The boardwalk is a loop that leads out into the wetlands and back. The wetlands inside the loop is chaotic with branches and so on where the area outside looked a little bit neater. I am not sure why this is. The bright sun gave me the opportunity to get some good photos from here. Looking through the clear water with the bright sun was especially nice. I took a side trail towards the end which led off the board walk and onto a dirt path. I saw an overturned car and an old house up this way. Back at the center they have some ponds which is a good place to watch for small birds if you hold still and be patient. There is also a Barred Owl which was blind from being hit by a car in a hutch.
I went on to King’s Landing to see what the deal is there. The place felt more like a community recreation center to me, but if you look at an aerial photo you see about half the park is left to nature. Although there are several activities mentioned on the website, they neglect to mention that there is a swimming pool (obviously not open yet) or an equestrian area. This park has areas set up for people to learn to get their bearings using a compass as well as a trail dedicated to teaching people the various things seen in a forest with labels already on them. I thought this is a great idea that other parks ought to adopt. Not necessarily these ideas specifically, but use their resources as an active practical teaching area. There are plenty of parks that have a ranger or a guest give a lecture or a guided tour on a particular manner, but I haven’t yet seen anything like this. There is a fishing pier present and seems to be the most used part of the park, at least at this time of the year. It gives a nice view to one segment of the highly disjointed Patuxent River Park on the other side of the river. A coal fired power plant along with power lines crossing the river can also be seen looking south along the river. This park has a hidden jewel along one of its trail. From the parking lot next to the swimming pool there is a sign which contains a map of the park and the trails. Even with that, the trail entrance looks like just an opening between the trees and you’d be inclined to continue to follow the gravel trail. Nothing wrong with that, it is a nice walk too. But the trail has no trail marker, no blazes, nothing. Once you get into the trail a little bit you get onto a boardwalk like the one at Battle Creek. It is also steady and well maintained. Following the trail you will come to a spur that leads out into the wetlands and has two benches facing the wetlands. When you approach the benches you will see the boardwalk is twisted, don’t be alarmed, it is solid all the way. This is the jewel I refer to. It is an excellent place to see a variety of activity and I got some OK pictures of a Blue Heron here. It is fairly quiet here and I did not see anybody else on the trail at all. I walked a few other parts of the park, but I had been spoiled by the view from the benches. There is another spur, shorter than this one, that you will come upon first with benches facing each other. This is a nice spot, but I believe they should place an observation tower like the ones I saw at the Chesapeake Environmental Center here instead to give a view over the vegetation.The lowlands next to the water in both of these places had been inundated fairly recently and looked muddy. A good rain will make these places look a bit more photogenic.
