I've been wanting to check out the area around Maple Island ever since I first noticed it on the map several years ago. It seems like whenever we have time for an expedition we end up further east. This past Friday I took the day off and my friend Jack and I headed out to circumnavigate Maple Island and see what was there.
We met at the dragstrip and came down Tremont to Burnt Mill. If I remember right this first pic is on Burnt Mill where it crosses Wildcat Branch (outflow from Beaverdam Lake).
After travelling a bit on Burnt Mill we forked left on Swamp Road to stay closer to the Sleeper and what we were trying to see. Swamp Road is a tough drive right now: narrow, and with a number of deep water-filled holes. I have a pic of one of the worst holes we traversed but I wasn't able to get it uploaded to the album due to some issues with the gallery. Somewhere along in there my buddy put a hole in his radiator, but more on that later.
After successfully negotiating Swamp Road we emerged onto Sandy Causeway. Here's a picture of what remains of the construction plaque on the bridge where Sandy Causeway crosses the Sleeper.
1918, and it doesn't look like it has had much work since. There's not a lot to say about either Swamp Road or this part of Sandy Causeway. Mostly dense woods, a little more garbage than some other places due to the close proximity of civilization, but we detoured down a number of side roads and trails, saw some beautiful sunlit locust and maple groves. Quite a pleasant area once you get away from people's junk.
Speaking of people's junk...
A somewhat unusual tree ornament. And just a little further west we passed the same abandoned red sports coupe that Guy posted a pic of yesterday...
We were unable to locate the driver/owner. This road is labelled Maple Island Road on my friend's GPS, and Hunt Blvd. on mine. Not sure of the history behind the name change, but perhaps it's just a mistake. Not too much further along we detoured south on some unnamed roads, again to get closer to the branch, and ended up traversing Maple Island on a road that runs along the nothern edge of it and emerges under the power lines back near Tremont.
We didn't see much of note. There were some pretty groves, maple perhaps although I didn't get close enough, and a fair bit of concrete debris that may have been dumped, or may have come from structures. Some of it appeared to have been there a long time...
And then as I say we popped out under the power lines near Tremont, having completed our circumnavigation without learning very much other than that Maple "Island" is a hard spot in the midst of a lot of low, wet land, which is probably how it got it's name. And it was, after all, a beautiful day to be in the woods.
Somewhere during the trip, after crossing one of the deep holes, Jack mentioned that he smelled antifreeze, but looking under his hood all we could see was cedar water, so we dismissed it as hot motor + swamp + mud. However, on returning to his house the water running down the drive from under the truck was decidedly more green than brown. Seems something narrow and long, stick, piece of metal, who knows, went right up through one of two holes in his skid plate and angled up into the back of the radiator, which it punctured. The holes are only around an inch, so it was an amazing piece of bad luck. He was able to get a new one in yesterday, so all's well that ends well.
One last note, Jack, who works for the county and is in a position to know, told me that mosquitoes carrying Eastern Equine Encephalitis have been identified down in the area near Waterford that we were in. We DEETed up pretty heavily, but he still got one bite. Just a word of warning.
We met at the dragstrip and came down Tremont to Burnt Mill. If I remember right this first pic is on Burnt Mill where it crosses Wildcat Branch (outflow from Beaverdam Lake).
After travelling a bit on Burnt Mill we forked left on Swamp Road to stay closer to the Sleeper and what we were trying to see. Swamp Road is a tough drive right now: narrow, and with a number of deep water-filled holes. I have a pic of one of the worst holes we traversed but I wasn't able to get it uploaded to the album due to some issues with the gallery. Somewhere along in there my buddy put a hole in his radiator, but more on that later.
After successfully negotiating Swamp Road we emerged onto Sandy Causeway. Here's a picture of what remains of the construction plaque on the bridge where Sandy Causeway crosses the Sleeper.
1918, and it doesn't look like it has had much work since. There's not a lot to say about either Swamp Road or this part of Sandy Causeway. Mostly dense woods, a little more garbage than some other places due to the close proximity of civilization, but we detoured down a number of side roads and trails, saw some beautiful sunlit locust and maple groves. Quite a pleasant area once you get away from people's junk.
Speaking of people's junk...
A somewhat unusual tree ornament. And just a little further west we passed the same abandoned red sports coupe that Guy posted a pic of yesterday...
We were unable to locate the driver/owner. This road is labelled Maple Island Road on my friend's GPS, and Hunt Blvd. on mine. Not sure of the history behind the name change, but perhaps it's just a mistake. Not too much further along we detoured south on some unnamed roads, again to get closer to the branch, and ended up traversing Maple Island on a road that runs along the nothern edge of it and emerges under the power lines back near Tremont.
We didn't see much of note. There were some pretty groves, maple perhaps although I didn't get close enough, and a fair bit of concrete debris that may have been dumped, or may have come from structures. Some of it appeared to have been there a long time...
And then as I say we popped out under the power lines near Tremont, having completed our circumnavigation without learning very much other than that Maple "Island" is a hard spot in the midst of a lot of low, wet land, which is probably how it got it's name. And it was, after all, a beautiful day to be in the woods.
Somewhere during the trip, after crossing one of the deep holes, Jack mentioned that he smelled antifreeze, but looking under his hood all we could see was cedar water, so we dismissed it as hot motor + swamp + mud. However, on returning to his house the water running down the drive from under the truck was decidedly more green than brown. Seems something narrow and long, stick, piece of metal, who knows, went right up through one of two holes in his skid plate and angled up into the back of the radiator, which it punctured. The holes are only around an inch, so it was an amazing piece of bad luck. He was able to get a new one in yesterday, so all's well that ends well.
One last note, Jack, who works for the county and is in a position to know, told me that mosquitoes carrying Eastern Equine Encephalitis have been identified down in the area near Waterford that we were in. We DEETed up pretty heavily, but he still got one bite. Just a word of warning.
it might be better for you guys not to know where my relatives live with the way you guys love me
.