All,
Exploring the Great Swamp is always interesting, and today was no exception. After meeting at Atsion this morning, Bobpbx and I headed down West Mills Road to find the secrets of this fascinating place. We parked just off a small road not far from Paradise Lake Campground where we could hear the music blaring in the distance. With the sounds of civilization the last thing on our mind we headed deep into the swamp.
The area we were in is a series of small depressions where most likely water flowed; however, today we did not find one drop of water in that area on our travels. In these depressions we did find an abundance of Smoke Grass which many of you may have recently become familiar with.
Much of this is Smoke Grass
It is hard to photograph.
Bob, traveling through an upland area.
You may remember from previous PBX explorations there we found quite a bit of iron ore. Today, we had the same results.
Onward we traveled though some really nice meadows or Savannah's, however, you want to describe them.
Leather leaf taking over this small spung.
A friendly grasshopper.
Have you ever looked closely at them? They have what looks like a suit of armor.
Later on our outing we came upon the mother load of iron ore. This to me was the most fascinating part of our day. Imagine sometime in the past, maybe 200 years ago, someone standing at this very spot hacking away at the ground to remove the ore. Deeper they dug until one day for some unknown reason they stopped, leaving depressions and more importantly the most amazing natural sight you can find in the pines. Well, at least to me it is amazing.
The depression.
Bob standing there for clarity.
There is a berm running along those depressions where you will find the thickest ore bed I have ever viewed.
And here is a video of Bob scraping the "sidewalk" that can be found there. No vegetation can grow there because the ore will not let it grow. Very cool, and well done Bob!
Around 1PM we arrived back at Bob's truck and sat on the back of it to eat lunch. Vehicles were approaching and we turned to check them out. ATV"s motored by with 2 males and a female on the back of one. In no time at all they were gone. Around 15 minutes later we heard them coming back, so I set my camera on the bed beside me and held the button down as they passed. This one pretty much hides them so they are anonymous.
Today was also a snake day, and in the end we saw two. The pine snake was a small one in the entrance to it's den. When it spotted me in turned around and I watched it body circle inside and disappear to the depths.
No snake but you can see the den. Sorry for the shadow.
Bob found this one swimming in a puddle near a lake. Can anyone identify what it is?
And finially, can anyone also identify this bug Bob spotted. It was right near the snake.
And a video of it.
Guy
Exploring the Great Swamp is always interesting, and today was no exception. After meeting at Atsion this morning, Bobpbx and I headed down West Mills Road to find the secrets of this fascinating place. We parked just off a small road not far from Paradise Lake Campground where we could hear the music blaring in the distance. With the sounds of civilization the last thing on our mind we headed deep into the swamp.
The area we were in is a series of small depressions where most likely water flowed; however, today we did not find one drop of water in that area on our travels. In these depressions we did find an abundance of Smoke Grass which many of you may have recently become familiar with.
Much of this is Smoke Grass
It is hard to photograph.
Bob, traveling through an upland area.
You may remember from previous PBX explorations there we found quite a bit of iron ore. Today, we had the same results.
Onward we traveled though some really nice meadows or Savannah's, however, you want to describe them.
Leather leaf taking over this small spung.
A friendly grasshopper.
Have you ever looked closely at them? They have what looks like a suit of armor.
Later on our outing we came upon the mother load of iron ore. This to me was the most fascinating part of our day. Imagine sometime in the past, maybe 200 years ago, someone standing at this very spot hacking away at the ground to remove the ore. Deeper they dug until one day for some unknown reason they stopped, leaving depressions and more importantly the most amazing natural sight you can find in the pines. Well, at least to me it is amazing.
The depression.
Bob standing there for clarity.
There is a berm running along those depressions where you will find the thickest ore bed I have ever viewed.
And here is a video of Bob scraping the "sidewalk" that can be found there. No vegetation can grow there because the ore will not let it grow. Very cool, and well done Bob!
Around 1PM we arrived back at Bob's truck and sat on the back of it to eat lunch. Vehicles were approaching and we turned to check them out. ATV"s motored by with 2 males and a female on the back of one. In no time at all they were gone. Around 15 minutes later we heard them coming back, so I set my camera on the bed beside me and held the button down as they passed. This one pretty much hides them so they are anonymous.
Today was also a snake day, and in the end we saw two. The pine snake was a small one in the entrance to it's den. When it spotted me in turned around and I watched it body circle inside and disappear to the depths.
No snake but you can see the den. Sorry for the shadow.
Bob found this one swimming in a puddle near a lake. Can anyone identify what it is?
And finially, can anyone also identify this bug Bob spotted. It was right near the snake.
And a video of it.
Guy
