Mud Hen Marsh

As the weather warms up I'm sure there will be more of these types of posts; our outdoor adventures.

The other day I was driving around a little north of here and passed by a gravel pull off with a sign. I've seen many of these but am usually going to fast to check them out (45mph). I made the effort to get back up there and explore this one a little more today: Mud Hen Marsh.

We got to try out Aidan's new back-pack carrier. I'm very excited about the new possibilities with this: REAL hiking, no more paved and gravel paths for the dinosaur stroller.

This pine cone was found standing up on the path:

There were two separate lakes, each with an island. They were pretty alright, but I only saw one duck, otherwise there were just geese.

Except for one heron. This is where I wish I would have brought my DSLR, the heron flew away faster than my camera could zoom in to get anything of him. He's behind a tree, hopefully my Photoshopping will bring him out a little better here:

 

Yeah...not the best shot in the world that's for sure. Oh well..next time I promise I'll bring the Nikon.

By the way let me just add that I hate blogger's posting settings/format. My text and photos are NEVER the way they should be and I have to spend forever figuring out how to "return" to start typing a new sentence after a photo. UGH.

I know there's a name for these...but for now we'll give them the classic kid name: stickers. Burrs. What are they? Anybody? They were all over the place here.

We saw deer tracks! That was exciting...certainly not as exciting as a real dear would have been though. We'd have to have been a lot earlier for that. 

 

 

There was a look-out building but it had lots of bees swarming around it and looked locked (probably for that reason). We didn't get too close.

A dam brought the water levels down into a smaller pool, nearer to the road. By the way, there's a sign that says "Danger. Keep off." Explain that to curious minds, and a 9 year old.

There were some interesting looking birds around. Perhaps one day I'll have enough time and energy to study them and bring along a bird identifier but today I was lucky to remember the binoculars. Again, I wish I would have had my DSLR. Photoshopping again to bring out the details...sort of.

It's a pretty neat place, all in all. I'd like to explore the area more because everywhere around Hoover Reservoir has some kind of pull of and nature preserve area to check out. Perhaps a tour is in order one of these days.

By the way, if you're out in the woods: check for ticks. I'm coming to find that I'm a "tick magnet", unfortunately. Luckily though I haven't been bitten--yet.