Today I took a quick trip out to Colliers Mills to scout out some locations for an upcoming site get-together that I am planning for (possibly) February. I got a late start to the day, getting there at 2PM.
Long time members may remember an article I wrote way back in May of 2005 about exploring the "Lost Lake" of Colliers Mills. One of the goals of that trip was to see how "remote" I could get, and that section of Colliers Mills WMA is pretty much off the beaten track. During my last visit I found that people do in fact go back there, and that my bushwacking was more or less for naught as there seemed to be a path that went right to the "lost lake."
I drove in the same way that I went last time, but along the way I spotted a clearing which looked suspiciously man-made. I poked around for a bit and couldn't find any evidence of a former structure or non-native plants, although I am hardly an expert. My gut feeling is that at one point in time there was something there.
Whatever it was, it's been abandoned for a long time. By humans. Beavers, on the other hand, had a field day in the not too distant past.
Continuing on, I wanted to visit the ruins of the cabin or gun club that I stumbled upon the last time. I also wanted to re-visit the long abandoned bog that I discovered nearby. I found the ruin easy enough, but was sad to see the cast iron sink that was there in 2005 has been taken.
As I was scouting around, I felt a drop of water on my hand. It had started to rain. I followed the road past the cabin which then turns into a path, and then a really narrow foot path as it enters the swamp looking for the bog. I think I got confused as to where the bog was, because I ended up wandering very deep into some lowlands, following a path that was getting narrower and narrower (although used, since branches had been cut on either side). Finally the rain started coming down somewhat hard, and I quickly hiked the 1/2 mile or so back to my Jeep.
By the time I had gotten back to the car, the rain had gotten worse and it was dark enough for me to want to put my headlights on. I didn't make it back to the lost lake, that will be an adventure for another time.
One thing to note - as I understood it, you could not hunt on Sunday. I heard somewhat frequent gunfire while I was out there. It sounded somewhat distant, but I wonder if there are people who are out there shooting when they shouldn't be.
Long time members may remember an article I wrote way back in May of 2005 about exploring the "Lost Lake" of Colliers Mills. One of the goals of that trip was to see how "remote" I could get, and that section of Colliers Mills WMA is pretty much off the beaten track. During my last visit I found that people do in fact go back there, and that my bushwacking was more or less for naught as there seemed to be a path that went right to the "lost lake."
I drove in the same way that I went last time, but along the way I spotted a clearing which looked suspiciously man-made. I poked around for a bit and couldn't find any evidence of a former structure or non-native plants, although I am hardly an expert. My gut feeling is that at one point in time there was something there.
Whatever it was, it's been abandoned for a long time. By humans. Beavers, on the other hand, had a field day in the not too distant past.
Continuing on, I wanted to visit the ruins of the cabin or gun club that I stumbled upon the last time. I also wanted to re-visit the long abandoned bog that I discovered nearby. I found the ruin easy enough, but was sad to see the cast iron sink that was there in 2005 has been taken.
As I was scouting around, I felt a drop of water on my hand. It had started to rain. I followed the road past the cabin which then turns into a path, and then a really narrow foot path as it enters the swamp looking for the bog. I think I got confused as to where the bog was, because I ended up wandering very deep into some lowlands, following a path that was getting narrower and narrower (although used, since branches had been cut on either side). Finally the rain started coming down somewhat hard, and I quickly hiked the 1/2 mile or so back to my Jeep.
By the time I had gotten back to the car, the rain had gotten worse and it was dark enough for me to want to put my headlights on. I didn't make it back to the lost lake, that will be an adventure for another time.
One thing to note - as I understood it, you could not hunt on Sunday. I heard somewhat frequent gunfire while I was out there. It sounded somewhat distant, but I wonder if there are people who are out there shooting when they shouldn't be.
