Re: BM's Boggy Adventure & BG Pix! Updated 8/20/'19!
Posted: Tue Aug 20, 2019 8:38 am
My August 8'th, 2019 Adventure, Part 1!
Well, after months and months of waiting in anticipation, I finally went on my first adventure of the season on Thursday, August 8'th!!!! It has been an unusual year so far, with July heat in May and June, and June rains in July (which helped keep the forest fire situation watered down), but after a return to heat for early August, I finally waited long enough! It was going to be in the mid 30's (mid 90's) to the latter part of the week, but with the possibility of thunderstorms at the end of the week and the weekend, with rain and cooler temperatures. So, I had to take advantage of the conditions while they were ideal!
It was a chance for me to finally test out my new bicycle seat suspension, called the Thudbuster LT, to see if it will prevent my neck pain from getting worse, something that has been a major hamper for my adventures in recent years (the bumpy coasting downhill on the gravel roads really rattled my neck)!
Since it was such a long time since my last exposure to voracious bottomless quagmire, my plan was to have a personal stimulating sink first, before mushing up the surface of the mud into a gooey, quivering, gelatinous mess, which will *REALLY* come to life for my subsequent struggles after lunch, including for my first video(s) of the season!
That morning, to try and reduce any irritations my activities could result in, I took an anti-inflammatory I had recently renewed my prescription for - Arthrotec, which consists of Diclofenac (the anti-inflammatory) and Misoprostol (which protects my stomach). My dad, complaining about the bumpy road hurting his truck, once again dropped me off up Crescent Road, a short distance from my turnoff to my special area. Before he left, he gave me his new runners because he figured my rubber boots were too cumbersome. I had found rubbers were my general footwear of choice for working outside, because they didn't hurt my ankles the way work boots did, and my hiking shoes were falling apart. I was concerned about getting them wet, since they were new. I just hoped that by now the meadows would be mostly high and dry so that it wouldn't be a problem.
After he left, I first headed further up Crescent Road to check out a couple of ponds to the south of the road to get an idea of general water levels. Before that point, I was happy not to see any signs of cattle, but as soon as I headed up Crescent Road towards those ponds, there were signs that cattle had passed through. When the first pond came into sight, it was full of water, but then, it was usually quite full. When I reached the second pond by the road, it was low, but any mud there was totally overgrown with grass. Nothing worth taking pictures of there, so I headed back to the turnoff to my Crescent Road pond.
On the sideroad, there were more cattle tracks and droppings, making me a bit more concerned. I didn't want any cattle in my area! Just as I got close to the side-trail leading to north of the north side of the pond, I suddenly remembered to turn around to go back to where the road passed the east pond (my pond was the west one) to see if my sinking spot was visible from the road still. Staring as much as I could between the trees from the road, I couldn't see the circle of branches I had put around my sinking spot! The bushes in between the east and west ponds have finally grown enough to hide it from view! I continued back up the sideroad, hoping that cattle had trampled a new path around the fallen tree blocking the side trail to the north of the north side of my pond. When I reached it, sure enough, I was delighted to see a new trail around the north side of the fallen tree! It was such a pain last year hiding my bike in the woods further up the sideroad! I continued on up the road, since I always liked to make certain no one had driven further up the road, to come back when I was sinking. I glanced at some clay in some ruts in the road, and when I got a little past there, I realized that I didn't have to check the road for anyone on it, because the bushes finally hid my sinking spot from view! So, I only went as far as the south side of another boggy pond to the north before turning back.
I walked my bike down the new cattle path, breaking some dead tree branches from some adjacent trees by the new path on the way down so they didn't scratch me or my eyes. Then, back on the regular side trail, I parked my bike in its usual spot north of some trees, noticing how tall the vegetation was in the clearing there, meaning no cattle had grazed there at all! There was no sign of any cattle in the area, which made me happy! I applied sunscreen, switched memory cards in my camera, gathered my things (had to remove my socks because of seeds sticking to them), and was on my way!
I noticed that the meadow was spongy with water quite far from the edge of the pond, which had me concerned, since that was something that I normally encountered in early summer, when my bog would be submerged, and it was August! But, when I reached my bog surrounded by tall alder sticks to keep animals out, I was excited to see that the entire bog was exposed above the water, except for some water around the grassy fringes, especially on the eastern side! I was also happy to see that there weren't too many weeds invading the bog, an easy job to take care of! I snapped a pic of the bog surrounded by the sticks:
After removing the sticks from around the bog and stacking them in the sedge grass meadow near an alder, I walked counterclockwise around the bog snapping more pix, the grassy ground sagging and quaking around me because it was floating on water and mud:
To Be Continued...
Well, after months and months of waiting in anticipation, I finally went on my first adventure of the season on Thursday, August 8'th!!!! It has been an unusual year so far, with July heat in May and June, and June rains in July (which helped keep the forest fire situation watered down), but after a return to heat for early August, I finally waited long enough! It was going to be in the mid 30's (mid 90's) to the latter part of the week, but with the possibility of thunderstorms at the end of the week and the weekend, with rain and cooler temperatures. So, I had to take advantage of the conditions while they were ideal!
It was a chance for me to finally test out my new bicycle seat suspension, called the Thudbuster LT, to see if it will prevent my neck pain from getting worse, something that has been a major hamper for my adventures in recent years (the bumpy coasting downhill on the gravel roads really rattled my neck)!
Since it was such a long time since my last exposure to voracious bottomless quagmire, my plan was to have a personal stimulating sink first, before mushing up the surface of the mud into a gooey, quivering, gelatinous mess, which will *REALLY* come to life for my subsequent struggles after lunch, including for my first video(s) of the season!
That morning, to try and reduce any irritations my activities could result in, I took an anti-inflammatory I had recently renewed my prescription for - Arthrotec, which consists of Diclofenac (the anti-inflammatory) and Misoprostol (which protects my stomach). My dad, complaining about the bumpy road hurting his truck, once again dropped me off up Crescent Road, a short distance from my turnoff to my special area. Before he left, he gave me his new runners because he figured my rubber boots were too cumbersome. I had found rubbers were my general footwear of choice for working outside, because they didn't hurt my ankles the way work boots did, and my hiking shoes were falling apart. I was concerned about getting them wet, since they were new. I just hoped that by now the meadows would be mostly high and dry so that it wouldn't be a problem.
After he left, I first headed further up Crescent Road to check out a couple of ponds to the south of the road to get an idea of general water levels. Before that point, I was happy not to see any signs of cattle, but as soon as I headed up Crescent Road towards those ponds, there were signs that cattle had passed through. When the first pond came into sight, it was full of water, but then, it was usually quite full. When I reached the second pond by the road, it was low, but any mud there was totally overgrown with grass. Nothing worth taking pictures of there, so I headed back to the turnoff to my Crescent Road pond.
On the sideroad, there were more cattle tracks and droppings, making me a bit more concerned. I didn't want any cattle in my area! Just as I got close to the side-trail leading to north of the north side of the pond, I suddenly remembered to turn around to go back to where the road passed the east pond (my pond was the west one) to see if my sinking spot was visible from the road still. Staring as much as I could between the trees from the road, I couldn't see the circle of branches I had put around my sinking spot! The bushes in between the east and west ponds have finally grown enough to hide it from view! I continued back up the sideroad, hoping that cattle had trampled a new path around the fallen tree blocking the side trail to the north of the north side of my pond. When I reached it, sure enough, I was delighted to see a new trail around the north side of the fallen tree! It was such a pain last year hiding my bike in the woods further up the sideroad! I continued on up the road, since I always liked to make certain no one had driven further up the road, to come back when I was sinking. I glanced at some clay in some ruts in the road, and when I got a little past there, I realized that I didn't have to check the road for anyone on it, because the bushes finally hid my sinking spot from view! So, I only went as far as the south side of another boggy pond to the north before turning back.
I walked my bike down the new cattle path, breaking some dead tree branches from some adjacent trees by the new path on the way down so they didn't scratch me or my eyes. Then, back on the regular side trail, I parked my bike in its usual spot north of some trees, noticing how tall the vegetation was in the clearing there, meaning no cattle had grazed there at all! There was no sign of any cattle in the area, which made me happy! I applied sunscreen, switched memory cards in my camera, gathered my things (had to remove my socks because of seeds sticking to them), and was on my way!
I noticed that the meadow was spongy with water quite far from the edge of the pond, which had me concerned, since that was something that I normally encountered in early summer, when my bog would be submerged, and it was August! But, when I reached my bog surrounded by tall alder sticks to keep animals out, I was excited to see that the entire bog was exposed above the water, except for some water around the grassy fringes, especially on the eastern side! I was also happy to see that there weren't too many weeds invading the bog, an easy job to take care of! I snapped a pic of the bog surrounded by the sticks:
After removing the sticks from around the bog and stacking them in the sedge grass meadow near an alder, I walked counterclockwise around the bog snapping more pix, the grassy ground sagging and quaking around me because it was floating on water and mud:
To Be Continued...