Part 2 - Sunfish Pond and Back

A giant birch tree.

Okay, where did I leave you? Oh yes, on the way to Sunfish Pond. It was very hot, very humid, and the bugs were flying into our eyes and ears. It was a bit frustrating. We passed two guys who were talking about the bugs being worse on the Appalachian Trail. They advised us to return from the pond on the same trail we were hiking due to the worsening of the bugs along the AT. We took it under advisement, and continued along the blueberry trail. I picked berries here and there, and we swatted the flying bugs and kept hiking up, up, up. 


We got to a point where we actually started to descend a bit, and then we had arrived in a very birch-filled copse of trees at the top of the Kittatinny Ridge. There was a sign that told us we were at Sunfish Pond, a 44 acre glacial pool that was created by the Wisconsin Glacier back in the last ice age. There were only the sounds of a few birds, frogs in the pond, and a little bit of wind through the tops of the trees. It was hot up there, and once we had viewed the pond, we realized it was no swimming hole. The edge along the pond was muddy and populated by frogs. 

Frog in the mud... center of the picture

Skeeters and other water bugs danced on the surface. It looked extremely shallow from where we stood, so we decided to just sit and have our lunch, and enjoy the view.

Sunfish Pond

It really is a beautiful place to stop. The reflections of the clouds upon the water were magical. The buzz of the insects (cicadas among them) were hypnotic. There was even a grassy spot to sit.

There wasn't a soul in sight, nor even the sound of voices other than our own. It made it easy to hear the sound of branches breaking and grunting sounds coming from our left... We both stopped and listened. K got out his binoculars to see if he could see what was making the noise back up the trail. I was certain that it was a wild boar or possibly a bear.
Then we also heard the sound of voices. Another couple had reached the ridge top, and came into view. I asked them what was back on the trail and they told us that about four deer were back there! K had guessed deer, but I thought deer were pretty quiet, so I had scarier animals in mind. I'm glad he was right!

Our view from the grass

After we'd eaten our sandwiches, fruit and almonds, and filled up our bellies with water, we decided to head back. A storm was supposed to be coming, and we wanted to get back before then. It was a three-hour hike (...a three hour hike...) back to the car. On the way back, I found a bracelet floating in the water and put it on...

My birch bark bracelet!

Isn't it cool? And we also saw a lone deer... she looked to be pretty young. She spotted us, but continued walking and eating at a leisurely pace. Also, I had a brilliant idea to deal with the bugs. We tied our bandanas around our heads, making sure to cover our ears, and we wore our sunglasses the whole time. It kept the bugs out, anyway! 

A young doe eating nearby.

It was a very hot, humid walk back, and both of us were feeling the ache already in our legs. The climb from the car to Sunfish Pond was four miles up from 600 feet elevation at the base to 1300 feet at the ridge. And then you have to go back down. I admit that I wasn't really in shape for this. My legs are better NOW, but over the weekend, they were sore!

There was so much beauty to see, though. I'm so glad we finally did this hike that we'd been talking about for months. It was truly gorgeous. Apparently, New Jersey does have something beautiful to offer! Just kidding! You know I love Monmouth Beach, too, in Long Branch. It's just that the reputation of New Jersey isn't the best since "Jersey Shore" first aired. Now I believe them when they say that it's the "Garden State." It's truly something to see for yourself.


One last thing before I close... check out this amazing exposed root... it's wild. There were still rocks embedded in it, and crazy plants, moss and mushrooms growing on it. I wish there were some way to lug this home and put it in my yard! (Just kidding! I'd never remove it... but it's pretty awesome, isn't it?) I hope you enjoyed your virtual hike with me and K. We are planning another trip up there in the fall, when the leaves are turning colors and the humidity is a little lower. It's going to be fabulous.

Hiking to Sunfish Pond - Part 1

We finally made it to Delaware Water Gap, to hike to Sunfish Pond! It was a balmy day, temperatures were around 75-80 degrees F, and the humidity was around 70%. Warm, but not brutal. We decided to go for it.


The drive to Delaware Water Gap only took us about an hour, which is great! The other place we hiked, Hawk Mountain, takes a little longer to get to. This was a surprise for us. Also, not a lot of traffic. (It's still strange for this California transplant to drive places and NOT be stuck in traffic for a while.)
Anyway, we had our veggie sammies in a pack, along with some plums, yogurt covered raisins, salted almonds, and a couple of energy bars, since we didn't have a big breakfast beforehand. We were ready!

We decided to take the Appalachian Trail only as far as Dunnfield Hollow Trail, then take that up to Sunfish Pond. Due to the heat, it seemed a good idea because we'd follow Dunnfield Creek almost all the way up. The entire trail was pretty much under the cover of trees, so we didn't get too hot or sunburned, even! Also, there was a strange phenomena going on that we still don't understand... there were these glistening rocks all embedded in the trail... when you touch them, you can feel that they're cold with condensate dew on their surfaces. Why are they cold, though? Other rocks were normal, dry, about the temp of the surrounding air, even in the same area of the trail. Specific rocks were COLD, though; so cold that they were condensing in the heated air. Weird.

Cold rock in the trail... sorry it's blurry

The trail was intensely green, with fields of ferns off to the sides, and towering birch trees, oaks, tulip trees and other deciduous trees... it was stunning! The creek that burbled alongside the trail was over mostly smoothed rock, with moss growing all around.
I loved when the sun would shine through, lighting up the undergrowth and making the treetops glow.

K near the creek bed

There were small waterfalls and chilly pools along the creek, which beckoned us in. We didn't stop to play, though. Maybe next time...

Lovely waterfall!

You could tell that people would stop and swim in some of the pools, because there were piles of rocks here and there (and some random initials carved into a tree.) There wasn't too much litter, although there were bits of broken glass along the trail.


There were blackberry, raspberry and wild blueberry bushes all along the forest, which we indulged in. Delicious, too.

We found bear scat in a few places, which made us nervous, ha ha. Never did see any bears, though. I'm not sure if I'm glad, or a little sad, about that. 


We were attacked by bugs along the trail... for anyone thinking of doing a summer hike, best to have a bandanna to tie around your head to cover your ears. They like to try to enter your ear canals. Freaks me OUT. Also, I had several bugs go into my eyes, so even though it was shaded under the canopy of trees, I had to wear my sunglasses to prevent anymore of the little buggers from going in my eyes. That was pretty annoying! Luckily, it wasn't for the entire trail, just through some stretches of it. Here are some views along the trail... there were a couple places where we had to ford the creek, but since it hasn't rained too much lately, that wasn't difficult, as you can see.

Fording area

Mossy rock being hugged by a tree 

The sun peeking through the canopy

Rocky steps along the trail

We walked four miles up trails like that (above) as well as less ordered rocky areas like this...

It wasn't easy! My legs are so sore today! Here are some of the goodies that we saw along the trail... so many mushrooms and fungi! It was amazing!

There were even more than this, but after a while, you get tired of squatting to take photos, especially when you've been walking straight up for a few hours.

These plants were especially intriguing to me, as I've never seen them before... they were very white, almost translucent, but with golden designs inside of them... I have them in the collage above, but wanted to share these closer shots with you.

Ghostly plants

Tomorrow, I'll share Part 2: Sunfish Pond and Back. I think you've had enough of this hike for today! I hope you enjoyed your trail walk with me!

Nature Walk

Since it has been so summery and nice out, we've been walking more. Yesterday we took a walk along the unfamiliar end of a toe path. In one direction, we'd walked several times. In the direction we walked yesterday, never before. I'm so glad we decided to explore it because there was much to see!

Besides the lovely flowers and dragonflies, there were a multitude of turtles here, also. There was even a loggerhead turtle (we think) which disappeared underwater before I could take his picture. At one point, I saw a slinky movement from the bank across the creek going into the water. As I watched longer, I saw an otter emerge! At least, I think it was an otter... we got the binoculars out to see it clearly, and it was furry, had a long body, a small, ferret-like head, but its tail was sort of bushier than the otters that I've seen before. So I'm not sure what it was, exactly... I just think it was super cool to see a furry river-creature in action!

I got video of it, along with some other sweet creatures. I'll put something together soon to share. I also just loved seeing the reflections of the sky and trees in the water... it's quite magical. The dragonflies were buzzing around all over the place! There were at least three different colored dragonflies, and at one point, they were all grouped together for a family photo. Ha ha, it's in the collage above. 


It's been a really fun summer so far! Has it been good for you, too? I really hope so. 


Post Edit: I found a photo on the Internet of what it was.... an otter!



Click here to getImages &
Otter Pictures - Pictures

Hike Turned into a Walk

First off, let me say that we didn't go where we'd intended to go. We woke up too late, took too long for breakfast, and lost half the day before we were ready to leave town. THAT being said, we still went on a hike, just not to Sunfish Pond, where we had planned to go. We will do that hike next week.


Today, we took the path that runs along the river, then the creek, here in Bethlehem. I'm glad we did, too! We saw lots of neat wild animals. Some we got photos of, others we didn't, but it was a lot of fun. And we got to put our feet into some nice, cool water for a bit, too... and skipped some rocks, and had a generally good time!


I picked some wild berries, and ate them. They were more tart than the berries we get at the store, but I love them just the same.

A few that I picked were actually riper than the ones in the photo, and were even a bit sweet.... yum! They're beautiful, aren't they? 

There were lots of dragonflies, damsel flies, and butterflies all flying around the little marsh on the other side of the trail... I just love watching the glittery wings in motion. And that's also where we saw all the turtles! We saw two baby turtles, which were about the size of a silver dollar. We saw a couple larger turtles sunning themselves on a log, too. The smaller of the two was probably about six months old. The larger was about a year and a half, or so. I used to have a red-eared slider, so I'm basing my judgement off of her size at those ages. They're lovely creatures. Click on the photos for a larger picture to see the turtles better. The babies were tiny! The first image is blown up a bit because it was on the far side of the marsh. The others were closer.

We saw a deer in the woods across from the marsh, but she took off before I could snap a photo of her. A baby bunny was munching on clover ahead of us on the side of the trail, but the photos didn't show much. I got a better photo, marginally, when the bunny hopped away.

It was a beautiful day for a woodsy walk... the sun was out and blazing, but there was a breeze that helped to cool us off most of the time. When that breeze stopped, whoo-boy, it was HOT. This is where we stopped for a time to cool off our feet and skip rocks. I only had one or two really good times where I skipped the rocks out real far, and did over five hops. Keith had more that were good, but he kept finding the really GOOD rocks. ;-)

If we had a canoe, we'd have been gliding across that river in it! It was still nice to walk along side of it, since we wouldn't have seen all the animals, otherwise. We are really lucky to live so close to a wonderful area like this. We didn't even drive there. We walked there. We used an app to determine that we walked around 4-1/2 miles in total. The hike to Sunfish Pond is approximately 6 miles in total, so we know we can do it. (Well, I hope I can, anyway...)

Fresh water clam shells

Mossy rock

I hope you had a nice day today, and took advantage of what nature is around you... and if not, then maybe my post will nudge you out the door to experience your own version of communing with Mother Nature soon. Enjoy summer while you can! Each day is a blessing. 


xox 

Hiking Trip

Today we have a hiking trip planned. We're going to try to find a place called Sunfish Pond, which is at the end of a decently difficult hike. It's been a while since I've actually gone hiking, so it's going to be a challenge. Also, I woke up to a tight back this morning.... however, I want to go really bad today, so we're going anyway. Don't worry, I've done some stretches and taken a hot shower to loosen things up!


I hope you have something nice planned for yourself today! Getting out in nature whenever you can is good for your spirit, your soul. Green is a healing color. And the wonder we find in nature soothes the mind in a way that nothing else can.


I hope you're finding a bit of nature for yourself today, too. Even if it's just sitting under a tree for a few moments, listening to the sound of the leaves whispering to the wind. 


Blessings to you. Tomorrow, I should have some lovely photos to share with you... xox