I took a hike through Bear Swamp Preserve in Westerlo today and saw all sorts of interesting sights.
The two mile yellow trail loops you around the swamp itself, and the trails are a bit swampy themselves in certain areas. Some areas are a bit overgrown, but the trail is clearly marked right up towards the end. When the trail led back towards the road, I lost sight of the markers (if there were any!) and walked a short distance back towards the parking lot which wasn’t a problem. The grounds seemed very fertile with many different beautiful colored mushrooms popping up, my favorite of which were deep purple ones. It was also interesting to see many bright orange mushrooms in a ring.
Life was very abundant, beautiful frogs, dragonflies, and lots of birds that my friends’ dog flushed out for us to see.
Indications of deer and beaver were all over, although we didn’t see any on our walk.
Right down the road there was a big beautiful reservoir we poked about in called Basic Creek. This seemed like an idyllic place to fish if we brought rods.
There were some lovely flowers on the bank, it was a great little diversion on the way home.
Spotted touch-me-not
Morning Glory
http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/83799.html