Nov 17 Chickering Bog

 

The Chickering Bog is located just 10 miles from Vermont's tiny capital, Montpelier. It has been there a long time. As the glaciers receded 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, a huge chunk of ice was left in a depression carved by the glacier, creating a pond. Vegetation grew in the pond, died and decomposed slowly into peat providing a base for other plants to survive. 

Chickering Bog is a misnomer. It's a fen. The difference being the source of the water. Bogs rely solely on rainwater whereas fens, in addition to rainwater, get groundwater which picks up nutrients as it passes over bedrock. This allows fens to be more nutrient rich and more alkaline that acidic bogs. This fen has an inlet, outlet and a small pond visible from the boardwalk.

Pitcher plants grow here and I was surprised to see small Pitcher plans popping through the Sphagnum moss beside the boardwalk. This fen is 10 acres and considered a Class 1 wetland. 

It looks like you could just walk out there. Your first step would involve sinking into the peat. How far? I don't car to find out. This fen has been measured at 24.5 feet deep beside the boardwalk and up to 30 feet in other areas. 

Bob Klein was a former director of The Nature Conservancy, the current land owner. In 1982, TNC approached one of the owners, Art and Jo Chickering. They sold 30 acres. Another local land owner sold 29 acres. In 1990 the Chickerings donated an additional 75 areas. By 2014, TNC had acquired 220 acres and public access was permitted. 

The trail to the fen is about 1 mile through a Spruce/Fir/Tamarack forest. Look for the stone staircase along the snowmobile trail to find the fen. 

Nov 12 Walkway Over the Hudson

 

It's a State (NY) Historic Site and on the National Register of Historic Places. My visit was on a windy and seasonally cool day. I needed to hold my hat on most of the walk. The bridge started out as a 2 track railroad bridge in 1889. It was known as the Poughkeepsie-Highland Bridge. At the time it was the only bridge over the Hudson between NYC and Albany. It provided a vital link as it was interconnected to a nationwide network of railroads during a time when trains moved virtually all freight. During WWII it accommodated a train an hour carrying wartime supplies. After the war, train traffic declined. In 1974 a fire damaged the Poughkeepsie side and by 1980 traffic had ceased. The state had the foresight to turn it into a wonderful walking bridge. 

The Hudson River was created during the last ice age about 16,000 years back when glaciers carved the waterway. It was carved so deep that the riverbed is lower than the Atlantic Ocean for 150 miles from NYC to Albany. So, it is tidal for 150 miles! That is impressive.

The bridge is very high, 212 feet above the river and 1.28 miles long making it the longest pedestrian bridge in the world. Due to the stinging temperature and wind we only walked to the midpoint of the bridge. There we watched a container ship pass underneath. 

Sojourner Truth

If you'd like to read about this amazing woman, please access this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_Truth Her statue and memorial is on the approach to the Highland side (west).

The Empire State Trail passes through here. This caboose has been riddled with graffiti and paint to conceal it.