A Little Wild: Swamps I have Known

Friday, December 27, 2013

Swamps I have Known

I like swamps. I must be easily amused. Or maybe it's oddly amused. Either way, it must come with getting older because I don't remember thinking this way when I was younger. One of the reasons that I like the Hemlock Forest is that the area contains several different wetland types. Still, when you come right down to it those areas are pretty similar. So along with the swamps and bogs of the Hemlock Forest I've been visiting a larger (and wilder) swamp found in the central Adirondacks just east of Long Lake - what I call the Shaw Pond Swamp (not sure if there is a more official name). I've also made a couple of trips to Lincoln Mountain State forest just outside of Saratoga Springs. The Lincoln Mountain forest covers about 1000 acres and it contains a less common swamp ecosystem; a red-maple black-gum swamp. I'll be writing more about these areas in future posts but for now some photos will have to suffice.

Dec. 24th 2013 near the margin of the Shaw Pond Swamp.

The area includes Shaw Pond, which is not far being a swamp itself. The "swamp" includes a progression of bogs and swamp habitats of various types. View the Map in Google Maps.

The USGS Togopgraphic map of the area names Shaw Pond and Shaw Brook. Access is from the trail leaving NY Route 28 just east of Long Lake. This is the Northville-Lake Placid Trail so the trail goes both north and south from the parking lot. The swamp is a quarter mile south of the parking area.

Early winter is a good time to explore Adirondack wetlands.

The open swamp is visible here through the trees. There is a large area of flooded forest. (12/24/2013)

Back at home, looking at photos and working from memory I've been trying to figure out what kind of swamp this is. I think that it is a Larch Swamp but I need to go back and verify that. The value of taking good notes cannot be overemphasized.

Beaver are rarely faulted for a lack of ambition. Beaver have damned Shaw Brook just below the bridge the NTP crossing. As of Dec. 2013 the bridge is passable. That won't be the case if the water backs up much further.