This past Sunday, the Pine Barren Explorers got together to do a wilderness bushwhack in an area few people ever visit. It is bounded by the upper reaches of the Oswego River and Warren Grove Bombing Range. Its tight back there, real tight and very raw. It is clean pine barren wilderness. We titled the trip “Oswego Back 40”.
The waypoints created for a route were named Park, Waterhole, Pit-Viper, Borderland, Swing, Sugar trail, Sneak, Down, Hairpin, Sluice, Lost creek, Upstream, Wildland, Wilder, Crater, Hideout, Trailhead, Exit, Lost Zone, Point Loma, Twilight Zone, Bra, Seahorse, Breathe, Cove, and back to Park.
The explorers included Guy, Steve (Behrens), Bobbleton, Woodjin (Jeff), Onehand (Stu), and myself.
We began about 2 miles North of the pump station. Our first stop was a couple of pingo-like waterholes, those vernal ponds that are slowly being overtaken by leatherleaf bush. The ones we visited showed very little sign of anyone passing through. In fact, most of the time the area was either absent of deer stands, or the few that we saw looked quite old. A couple were ridiculously high up, perhaps 40 feet up in big pine trees. Strange.
We kept to the upland for awhile and came across some strange bones, way off the beaten path. These bones were from no animal ever to inhabit the pines. They were very stout, thick bones, from an obviously large heavy creature. We shook our heads and left them where we found them, a puzzle to be solved by someone else.
After a couple miles we entered into beautiful savannahs. These savannahs were linear, and ran for several hundred yards each. It was absolutely quiet back on those savannahs and the crisp sunny day made us linger and walk them slowly, enjoying the sights of the cedars on both sides. We came out upon a huge pingo hole that was quite large, 3/10’s of a mile long by 2/10’s of a mile wide. It is now completely covered in leatherleaf, and that has created enough structure for small pines and high-bush blueberry to gain a foothold. Looking across it at a crisp blue sky with cedars ringing the edges was a pretty sight to behold. All you could hear was the wind, gently blowing through the area.
We then headed toward “hideout”, a waypoint that looked especially interesting because of a clearing faintly seen in an area that was very difficult to get to. This was deep in a cedar swamp. When we got there we were surprised to see someone had dragged wooden sections (nailed together) back there with the intention of constructing a very small hut, a blind for hunting perhaps. You know Bobbleton the herper. He could not resist poking around it, and uncovered a decent sized rattlesnake skin.
As we were leaving this hideout, I saw some scat I had never seen before in the pines. It was mostly berries, but it was fresh and quite a large pile. Bobbleton indicated it was almost definitely bear. I looked on google images for sample photos of bear scat and I think he is dead on.
We had to get Guy out to his car a little early, and we could not find a trail that is clearly shown on the topo map. So we had to bushwhack in a swamp over ½ mile through dense briars and heavy brush to get him out on time. We were all soaked in sweat when we popped out on the road. But it was a satisfying romp. Its good to know we can still do things that strenuous at our age (Guy, me, Stu, and Steve that is). On the way out we saw an eagle perched on top of a dead cedar that was standing in the water. It was no more than 50 yards from us. It was magnificent. At first I thought it was a vulture, I did not see a white patch but Steve indicated it was a juvenile.
After we let Guy off we hiked a bit more in the woods along the river, and then back to the cars. All in all another great exploring trek. Peace, quiet, beauty, and great companions to share it with. You can’t beat it.
The waypoints created for a route were named Park, Waterhole, Pit-Viper, Borderland, Swing, Sugar trail, Sneak, Down, Hairpin, Sluice, Lost creek, Upstream, Wildland, Wilder, Crater, Hideout, Trailhead, Exit, Lost Zone, Point Loma, Twilight Zone, Bra, Seahorse, Breathe, Cove, and back to Park.
The explorers included Guy, Steve (Behrens), Bobbleton, Woodjin (Jeff), Onehand (Stu), and myself.
We began about 2 miles North of the pump station. Our first stop was a couple of pingo-like waterholes, those vernal ponds that are slowly being overtaken by leatherleaf bush. The ones we visited showed very little sign of anyone passing through. In fact, most of the time the area was either absent of deer stands, or the few that we saw looked quite old. A couple were ridiculously high up, perhaps 40 feet up in big pine trees. Strange.
We kept to the upland for awhile and came across some strange bones, way off the beaten path. These bones were from no animal ever to inhabit the pines. They were very stout, thick bones, from an obviously large heavy creature. We shook our heads and left them where we found them, a puzzle to be solved by someone else.
After a couple miles we entered into beautiful savannahs. These savannahs were linear, and ran for several hundred yards each. It was absolutely quiet back on those savannahs and the crisp sunny day made us linger and walk them slowly, enjoying the sights of the cedars on both sides. We came out upon a huge pingo hole that was quite large, 3/10’s of a mile long by 2/10’s of a mile wide. It is now completely covered in leatherleaf, and that has created enough structure for small pines and high-bush blueberry to gain a foothold. Looking across it at a crisp blue sky with cedars ringing the edges was a pretty sight to behold. All you could hear was the wind, gently blowing through the area.
We then headed toward “hideout”, a waypoint that looked especially interesting because of a clearing faintly seen in an area that was very difficult to get to. This was deep in a cedar swamp. When we got there we were surprised to see someone had dragged wooden sections (nailed together) back there with the intention of constructing a very small hut, a blind for hunting perhaps. You know Bobbleton the herper. He could not resist poking around it, and uncovered a decent sized rattlesnake skin.
As we were leaving this hideout, I saw some scat I had never seen before in the pines. It was mostly berries, but it was fresh and quite a large pile. Bobbleton indicated it was almost definitely bear. I looked on google images for sample photos of bear scat and I think he is dead on.
We had to get Guy out to his car a little early, and we could not find a trail that is clearly shown on the topo map. So we had to bushwhack in a swamp over ½ mile through dense briars and heavy brush to get him out on time. We were all soaked in sweat when we popped out on the road. But it was a satisfying romp. Its good to know we can still do things that strenuous at our age (Guy, me, Stu, and Steve that is). On the way out we saw an eagle perched on top of a dead cedar that was standing in the water. It was no more than 50 yards from us. It was magnificent. At first I thought it was a vulture, I did not see a white patch but Steve indicated it was a juvenile.
After we let Guy off we hiked a bit more in the woods along the river, and then back to the cars. All in all another great exploring trek. Peace, quiet, beauty, and great companions to share it with. You can’t beat it.
