Yesterday I parked off Quaker Bridge Road, just before Quaker Bridge and hiked with my daughter and dog to the Lower Forge Wilderness Campsite. I hadn't been there in awhile (I even called it Old Forge mistakenly on the STICK SHELTERS topic). Lower Forge is a very scenic, peacefull area. To my surprise, we weren't attacked by swarms of mosquitos and other pests. I thought that at the top of the small cliff we'd for sure not be bugged by mosquitos at least, but now I realize that the lack of sitting water was the reason we didn't come across any. The Basto River moved noticably there, even after the long dry period we had this summer. Of course, it rained a bit the other night, but not a whole lot and not enough to really saturate the area.
I noticed as we walked along the dirt road from Quaker Bridge towards Lower Forge that we occasionally got accosted by flies. They seemed to come out in areas where the undergrowth in the woods was thick.
I realized that on the other side of the Basto from Lower Forge was an island. I saw water in the distance through the light brush. The three of us were more interested in the river. My daughter and I waded in the still cold water and the dog swam a bit. The slightly meandering water, somewhat sinuous land, and trees leaning down towards and in some places across the river looked like a 17 century Dutch landscape painting. The romantic poet William Worthsworth wrote "the child is father of the man." I walked out on a tree that formed a perfect bridge across the water except that it rose about five feet above it near the other side, where it ended. I sat a mid point, a few feet off the water, gazing at the scenery. I found clothesline wrapped around one branch of the tree. My daughter rigged it into a swing above the water.
I thought that maybe I could bring a tube sometime and float back down to Quaker Bridge. Late yesterday the water was deep enough around Lower Forge and I know that at Quaker Bridge it is deep enough for a tube. I'm unfamiliar how the water is inbetween, but I wouldn't mind walking in the water occasionally. Just downstream from Lower Forge the Basto looks like it takes a sharp curve. From there I believe it closely parallels the sand road which we turned off to hike to Lower Forge, with a few hundred feet of woods inbetween.
I noticed as we walked along the dirt road from Quaker Bridge towards Lower Forge that we occasionally got accosted by flies. They seemed to come out in areas where the undergrowth in the woods was thick.
I realized that on the other side of the Basto from Lower Forge was an island. I saw water in the distance through the light brush. The three of us were more interested in the river. My daughter and I waded in the still cold water and the dog swam a bit. The slightly meandering water, somewhat sinuous land, and trees leaning down towards and in some places across the river looked like a 17 century Dutch landscape painting. The romantic poet William Worthsworth wrote "the child is father of the man." I walked out on a tree that formed a perfect bridge across the water except that it rose about five feet above it near the other side, where it ended. I sat a mid point, a few feet off the water, gazing at the scenery. I found clothesline wrapped around one branch of the tree. My daughter rigged it into a swing above the water.
I thought that maybe I could bring a tube sometime and float back down to Quaker Bridge. Late yesterday the water was deep enough around Lower Forge and I know that at Quaker Bridge it is deep enough for a tube. I'm unfamiliar how the water is inbetween, but I wouldn't mind walking in the water occasionally. Just downstream from Lower Forge the Basto looks like it takes a sharp curve. From there I believe it closely parallels the sand road which we turned off to hike to Lower Forge, with a few hundred feet of woods inbetween.