McDonalds Branch Bogs

Jon Holcombe

Explorer
Dec 1, 2015
967
1,934
Medford
Now that the warm weather is here, I was looking for bogs or locations without Friendship type super dense brush. I don't know what these bogs were like years ago, but beaver engineering has made this area pretty wet. The signs say "Controlled Area" but I guess beaver can't read, because they pile their sticks between and over concrete structures. I saw two water snakes swimming up flooded dirt roads. I noticed that the roads to the two locations I visited recently in Brendan Byrne seem to be in much better shape than the roads in Wharton. I would like to come back in early morning, or the fall, to get some decent shots.
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Last edited:
Feb 1, 2016
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Camden County, NJ
Now that the warm weather is here, I was looking for bogs or locations without Friendship type super dense brush. I don't know what this area was like, but beaver engineering has made this area pretty wet. The signs say "Controlled Area" but I guess beaver can't read, because they pile their sticks between and over concrete structures. I saw two water snakes swimming up flooded dirt roads. Another thing I noticed is that in the past week, the roads to the two locations I visited in Brendan Byrne seem to be in much better shape than the roads in Wharton. I need to come back in the morning to get some decent shots.
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Wonderful. Makes me feel like I was there!
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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Does he travel to NJ? :D That was an interesting video.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
25,854
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The McDonalds Branch Bogs were owned by W.H. Reeves and was surveyed at 185 acres.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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It appears when the state purchased them in 1966 the bogs and the land around them along the Coopers Branch (605 acres) were owned by Normandy Lake Estates Inc.
 
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Jon Holcombe

Explorer
Dec 1, 2015
967
1,934
Medford
It appears when the state purchased them in 1966 the bogs and the land around them along the Coopers Branch (605 acres) were owned by Normandy Lake Estates Inc.
They have been untended for 50 years? I would have guessed they were operating not too long ago.They do not seem as nearly as overgrown as Friendship, or even Franklin Parker.
 

Teegate

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Sep 17, 2002
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I am not certain of that. The state sometimes leases them out so they may have been in use later. Someone here may know when they were last used.
 
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