I found that railroad bridge over the Basto River yesterday, Guy! On the road where I turned right just before the graded sand road bridge crosses the Basto to Hampton Furnace I encountered three puddles. Two of them I drove through/around but I didn't try to drive past the third one. It filled the whole road and was about ten feet long and just a foot in was a few inches deep. I think the middle was at least six inches deep. A frog even jumped into this mini pond. So I parked the car on the edge of the road, leaving enough room to allow anyone foolish enough, or with the right kind of vehicle, to drive past. After walking roughly a half hour, I could clearly see the railroad tracks. Just before the tracks were three cans of paint, two MAB white latex and the other some kind of white paint. One of the cans was empty and the other two full.
I followed the tracks for five or ten minutes and came to the bridge over the Basto. It is a very scenic spot, with clearings in the woods below the bridge. The view up and down the Basto was limited, as this was a special, isolated section. I climbed down to the river on the other side of the bridge, on the downstream side. I noticed several pill shaped bugs skittering along the surface of the Basto near the bridge, occasionally bumping into one another, like electrons playing bumper cars, one sometimes forcing another to jump. Sometimes one would attach to another for a few seconds. Wow! That was a quicky!
On the upstream side of the bridge there was a path at the edge of the clearing. I followed it as it passed through the cedars a rose a few feet above the water all the way to the Rivers edge. The ground there was bone dry, validating what I had read about only a few feet in elevation makes the difference between a bog and dry land in the Pine Barrens, as rainwater soaks through the soil very quickly and bogs form at the water table. Maybe I should have saved this for the recently neglected Nature and Ecology forum. Perhaps I'll incorporated it there with something else in the future.
Along the whole section of the track where I walked as far as I could see in both directions there was a narrow path that ran dead center between the rails. This section must get alot of pedestrian traffic. I would imagine that on a weekend or during the summer you would encounter other people in this area. I didn't run into a single person there.
I saw some vans parked in the field off to the left of the road just before you reach the bridge the crosses the Basto to Hampton Furnace. When I drove across that bridge to visit the furnace a pickup truck drove by, and on my way back after I followed the road that ran on this side of the river for a little while, a car slowed down and parked by the furnace.
I noticed some trees growing inside the foundation. I wonder how long it will be until the forest takes over. I also notice when I walked from the Hampton Furnace to the Basto some bulb plants. My guess is they were planted sometime when the furnace was in operation.
Again, I picked up some ticks. One of these days I'm gonna have to make that spray that I mentioned. I think the recipe was 2 cups water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup Avon skin so soft and a tablespoon or two of eucalytpus oil. I have the eucalyptus oil and water and I can get white vinegar from the store. But I'm not sure if you can get Avon skin so soft at a store. Maybe I'll have to hunt down an Avon lady.
Thanks for the good directions, Guy. They helped.
Jeff
I followed the tracks for five or ten minutes and came to the bridge over the Basto. It is a very scenic spot, with clearings in the woods below the bridge. The view up and down the Basto was limited, as this was a special, isolated section. I climbed down to the river on the other side of the bridge, on the downstream side. I noticed several pill shaped bugs skittering along the surface of the Basto near the bridge, occasionally bumping into one another, like electrons playing bumper cars, one sometimes forcing another to jump. Sometimes one would attach to another for a few seconds. Wow! That was a quicky!
On the upstream side of the bridge there was a path at the edge of the clearing. I followed it as it passed through the cedars a rose a few feet above the water all the way to the Rivers edge. The ground there was bone dry, validating what I had read about only a few feet in elevation makes the difference between a bog and dry land in the Pine Barrens, as rainwater soaks through the soil very quickly and bogs form at the water table. Maybe I should have saved this for the recently neglected Nature and Ecology forum. Perhaps I'll incorporated it there with something else in the future.
Along the whole section of the track where I walked as far as I could see in both directions there was a narrow path that ran dead center between the rails. This section must get alot of pedestrian traffic. I would imagine that on a weekend or during the summer you would encounter other people in this area. I didn't run into a single person there.
I saw some vans parked in the field off to the left of the road just before you reach the bridge the crosses the Basto to Hampton Furnace. When I drove across that bridge to visit the furnace a pickup truck drove by, and on my way back after I followed the road that ran on this side of the river for a little while, a car slowed down and parked by the furnace.
I noticed some trees growing inside the foundation. I wonder how long it will be until the forest takes over. I also notice when I walked from the Hampton Furnace to the Basto some bulb plants. My guess is they were planted sometime when the furnace was in operation.
Again, I picked up some ticks. One of these days I'm gonna have to make that spray that I mentioned. I think the recipe was 2 cups water, 1 cup white vinegar, 1 cup Avon skin so soft and a tablespoon or two of eucalytpus oil. I have the eucalyptus oil and water and I can get white vinegar from the store. But I'm not sure if you can get Avon skin so soft at a store. Maybe I'll have to hunt down an Avon lady.
Thanks for the good directions, Guy. They helped.
Jeff
