I pulled off a tick last night. Got it just by walking in low grass next to the woods in Barnegat. Again, the is a deer tick, not seen in the pines proper. I scrubbed my bite with chrlorhexidine. These do not itch as much as lone star ticks. I'll let you know if that changes.
This is a well known location. Manahawkin west of the parkway. AMF mentioned ochre sludge, which made me think; maybe the sludge is the material used to cap it; clay mixed with other foreign material (foreign to the pines). Still, even that is not natural and not good in a pristine place. I may...
Speaking of that, I'm watching Narcos Mexico on Netflix. Great acting and set ups, but their pot field was so lame. It was all plastic plants that looked nothing like a plant, let alone cannabis. Kind of spoiled it for me, but still like the rest of the story.
I took keyboarding at Ocean County college when I was in my 50's. I try to tell people what a game changer it is. It has made a big difference in my life.
In searching for possible contamination, I found this, which surprised me. Never knew about it. Lipari Landfill, Gloucester County.
https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/03/nyregion/epa-starts-to-clean-up-worst-toxic-dump-in-us.html
Yeah, I'm wondering now. Maybe Coyle Field used to use trichloroethane to wash the grease off their aircraft parts. It's not unreasonable to think the ground water is contaminated from that.
I knew you'd get it. When I came upon it yesterday, I saw this first, which jogged my memory. That info on a radio tower definitely has to be run down. This below was likely an anchor for a guide wire.
And in the west plains, in the burned area found a place where someone built themselves a perch for leisurely taking in the view. He drilled a hole in a pine branch and secured a bicycle seat through it for seating.