The sign says "HUDSONIA NATURAL AREA: Hudsonia Tomentosa is a low bushy plant with yellow flowers that appear in early June. Hudsonia traces its Vermont history back 7000 years to a time when Lake Champlain was actually a sea. Only four populations of this plant are known in Vermont. It is a state endangered species protected by Vermont State law. Please do not pick or disturb the Hudsonia.
My sources say the age of the bog is more like 9000 years though. I'm not sure if the hudsonia came later, or if the time frame has changed as more study has been done.
I opened the box to see if anything was inside but it was empty.
I did a quick 360 with the camera here (by the "ledger" box) for orientation with Airport Park. Facing roughly north here, and then rotated to my left.
Looking west now...
Looking south...
East...
...and north again. This is a former small runway, now lined with baseball fields.
Moving a few steps south, a number "2" trail marker.
Zooming out from the "2" sign, some yellow birch trees.
An oak tree near the "2" sign.
Again near the "2" sign, this birch tree seems to have some kind of disease here. The picture didn't capture it well.
This mushroom is at the base of the oak tree.
View from "3", same oak tree and smaller yellow birches.
From now on, lots of paper birch, both in the forest and the bog.
This tree has a fungus spreading on its branches.
Signs of woodpeckers
Zoomed in. Its a large hole.
First picture of the bog itself.
I think this is the aforementioned Hudsonia
There were a lot of shrubs in the bog with these red stems.
Very red.
Different plant, with some round shriveled black colored berries.
Tiny woodpecker holes. Of all the woodpecker trees seen today, this was the only one actually in the bog.
These berries are more brownish, slightly red.
A gray birch tree (as opposed to paper (white) birch or yellow birch)
One of the largest trees observed in the bog
Now here's an interesting one. Turns out to be a pitch pine.
A little closer... (pitch pine)
A lot closer... (pitch pine)
Much much closer. (pitch pine)
Another little shrub
same shrub closer, little red leaves.
Another pitch pine, this one fallen.
The map shows this to be a gray birch area, but I thought it looked like paper birch. According to Johnson, gray birch gets whiter as it ages. Trees' growth is greatly stunted in a bog, so I think perhaps these are gray birches that are old and look white.
But mostly birch everywhere! (gray or paper?)
These leaves are really small, but I think it is some kind of spruce.
Weird branch. Sticks straight out, and then suddenly goes straight up. It must have been injured at some point.
Crazy tree. I'm pretty sure this is a black gum because of its plated, deeply furrowed bark and twisty branch pattern. This is located right on the edge of the bog just slightly north of the boardwalk entrance.
Black gum, zoomed in.
A stump uprooted a long time ago I think.
This looks a lot like a tiny tree clubmoss, but lacks the cones on top so I'm not sure.
Tree with a knee
Quite a few small pines like this (edge of bog and forest).
Here it suddenly occured to me that this is quite an abrupt transition between forest and bog. This picture is of the forest...
...and here's looking down into the bog.
More woodpecker signs.
oh, here's one at eye level right on the trail (in forest, 10 feet from bog).
Inside the woodpecker hole.
Some of the tiny fist-sized evergreens were weeping like this.
I thought "what kind of plant coils up like this?"
And then I realized it was old barbed wire that someone left there a very long time ago on the edge of the bog.It is definitely down in the bog, not up on the upland.
I decided to take a stroll along the bike path (former rail bed) where it goes through the bog. This is from the road by the causeway parking lot. If we follow this far enough, we'll end up back at the boardwalk.
Fairly fresh rabbit tracks.
This time of year any colors grabs the eye.
Distracted by an airplane landing.
Orange berries.
Tree with black berries. Its hard to be sure with no foliage, as the books tend to emphasize the foliage as an identifier more than the bark and berries, but I think this might be black cherry.
Lots of trees twisted together.
Very tight braid.
I thought this was black gum at first, but the bark looks more like American Elm. I'm not sure I've ever seen an American Elm alive. I did cut a long-dead one in my back yard recently, from which most of the bark had fallen off. It was the arborist that identified that one. I'm still undecided and will have to go back. I think standing back and getting a look at the overall shape of the tree will answer it, now that I've studied example photographs.
This tree which I though was a black gum is on the west side of the bike path, so separated from the main part of the bog, but is on the edge of the western sliver of the bog. I'm now wondering if it is an American Elm. Most American Elms have died off because of Dutch elm disease. If I get a chance to go back I'll get another look at it, especially the general shape of the tree, which would give a clue
