Wildlife Wednesday: the Black Bear Revisted

(or rather "The Black Bear Almost Visited")

I wrote a somewhat pedantic post about black bears a while back. If you want to know a few bits of trivia about black bears in Maryland, courtesy of yours truly, that's the post for you. This is more of a story.

I'll begin it right.

Once upon a time, a mom and her two boys went to Deep Creek Lake State Park for a Park Quest. It was a beautiful day and they enjoyed the drive over the mountains from their campsite near Cumberland to the westernmost reaches of their state. They arrived at the Deep Creek Discovery Center and enjoyed  exhibits about local mining history and native wildlife.

A ranger at the center gave them their quest packet and they began following a series of clues to find three letterboxes, the first of which was in the Discovery Center. The other two were out on a trail.

They followed the advice of a fellow quester and drove to the trailhead where they found this map.

 

The mom compared the photocopied map in their quest instructions with this sign and found they didn't quite match. The portion of the trail they needed was smudged out on the sign and alas! The family walked right past a small sign with a symbol of a mine.

They walked and walked and walked. The trail was very steep. After a while, the mom realized they were on top of the mountain and walking along a ridge. It was very beautiful and very quiet.

"Boys, I think we're on the wrong trail," the mom said. It was at that moment she looked down and saw four deep lines in a soft patch of ground followed by a large roundish indentation.

Unfortunately for my photo, Gabe stepped on the print.
You can still clearly see three of the claw marks.

 "Hmm, let's turn around now," she said and the three made record time back down the mountain.

- The End -

We Chose Wisely

For the past three years, we've gone to the Shad Landing area of Pocomoke River State Park for our annual camping trip. We love it and I'm sure we'll return, but this year, we decided to branch out and do a little exploring.

After some debate, we chose Rocky Gap State Park near Cumberland, Maryland. We've visited the park twice and camped overnight once.  So, we knew, that like Shad Landing, it has wonderful staff, an interactive nature center and clean facilities. As a mom with two boys, I also liked that the camp loops have family bathrooms. But the biggest draw was the lake.

No pool fees, no weird hours - just swimming from dawn to dusk.

Our original expedition motto was "Ice Cream Every Day!" It quickly became "Swim in the Crystal Clear Wonderful Mountain Lake Every Day!"

And we did.

 

Pack Mule

The first stage of any expedition is planning. And boy, did we plan. As I mentioned before, we had a whole binder of maps, Park Quest instructions, REI checklists and recipes. We made spreadsheets outlining our tentative itinerary and menu. We started piling our equipment in the garage.

That's when I began to worry just a little. Planning is the easy part. As in past trips, the hard part would be fitting all our gear...

into our tiny car.

Luckily, I have two boys who are wicked good with puzzles. We wedged every last bungee cord, sleeping bag and marshmallow into our car.

I even remembered to take pictures from various angles (perhaps they'll come in handy when I wonder how we'll accomplish this miracle next year).

backseat

frontseat

rear

Hmm. There may even be room for that sleeping pad I want from REI.

First Park Quest of 2012: Cedarville

 A couple of weeks ago, we went on our first Park Quest of 2012. The boys are much more involved in choosing where we quest this year. They know where we are on the map and seem to enjoy researching quests and locations. They pored over my laptop and the three of us debated the pros and cons of each option.

After extensive consideration, we chose Cedarville State Forest for our first quest because 1) it's within an hour of our house 2) the quest was marked "easy" and 3) we enjoyed our letterbox quest last year. This year's quest was another letterbox adventure, but with updated directions. We had the option of a basic quest (finding two boxes) or a bonus quest (finding all four).  It was hot and we were all a little sniffly, so we decided to wimp out and complete the basic quest.

Boys at the trail head.

Cedarville is such a beautiful, peaceful place. The gentle woodland trails remind me of my grandparent's woods.

 The boys seem to enjoy it too. As I've mentioned in several previous posts, our normal hiking order is Matt half jogging, half walking out front followed by me pulling Gabe. On this hike, however, Gabe took the lead!

Taking his first turn as trail leader.

We found our first letterbox with ease and moved to the second area for letterbox number two. Our instructions said we would walk past a beaver's dam.  We knew we were getting close when saw trees like this:

It wasn't long after we saw the lodge.

It was a pleasant, but slightly longer hike to the second letterbox. We were counting our steps and looking for the circle that would mark our way when a deer ran across our path.  We watched her bound into the trees and saw not only the marker we were looking for, but the second letterbox!

Park Quest 1 - complete!

First Day Hikes

Seventeen Maryland state parks are sponsoring First Day Hikes on January 1, 2012, in conjunction with America's State Parks, a national effort to promote state parks as a valuable, healthy resource for outdoor recreation across the U.S.

According to the press release, "First Day Hikes in Maryland include family-friendly, easy to moderate, guided hikes that let adults and youth alike reconnect with nature after the busy holidays."

I love this idea!

The boys will be with their dad on New Year's Day, but perhaps I can drag Aunty M through the woods?

A list of Maryland First Day Hikes may be found here.

You'll likely need warmer clothes than these!

Photo Friday

Jerusalem Mill, Gunpowder Falls State Park

Hurricane Irene took out power at the boys' school for most of the week.  We used one of the unexpected days off to complete our tenth park quest. We qualified for the  Rendevous!

Sandy Point Park Quest

Last Saturday, the weather was very different. No rain, no wind, no hurricane. And what else does our little family do on a lovely weekend day, but park quest?

Usually, the boys and I plan where we're going the night before, but this quest had been in the works for some time. For one, Sandy Point is one of the boys favorites (there's a beach).  Two, the quest was billed as a pirate quest complete with treasure map.  And third, our full team planned to participate: dad, mom, mom and boys.

Sandy Point fills to capacity most weekends, so we got an early start. We printed our treasure map ahead of time and began at the park's marina.  We found our first clue with ease and set off across the park to find clues two through ten.

We learned about bats, the park's origin as a farm, and our junior geologist found a favorite rock.  This one, he couldn't put in his pocket (my washing machine is grateful).



This was one of the easiest quests we've done.  The boys were able to guess most of the clues and our hike was more of a stroll.

Nine quests down, one more to go!

Paddling

One of the highlights of our summer campout was the Park Quest on Jane's Island.  I've wanted to do this paddle quest the past three years, but the weather has always interfered.  So, when Sunday dawned overcast, but thunderstorm free, I was pretty excited.

Jane's Island is located near Crisfield, near the southernmost point of Maryland's Eastern Shore.  The park features 30 miles of water trails and our quest took us on the Short Trail through a section of saltmarsh. 

The boys have grown exponentially this past year and I was unsure of my ability to maneuver a canoe with all that weight in it.  Happily, my cousin, Sherri, came with us.  She's been an honorary member of our team from the beginning and we were happy to have her.  She took Gabe in one canoe and I took Matt in mine.

It was still early and warm, but not hot.  The sky was overcast and there was a nice breeze as we paddled through the saltmarsh.  We saw osprey and seagulls.  We investigated tracks in the mud and learned the difference between rushes and sedges (sedges have edges, reeds are round).  Gabe saw a crab scoot by.  We all saw lots of little snails called periwinkles.

But best of all, I saw this:



A boy who can now use his paddle!

Beach Boys

After a late night at the emergency room Friday night, we didn't have the energy to complete a park quest Saturday morning.  We decided a little relaxing and play on the beach at Assateague was what the doctor ordered.

The boys love the beach. When they were little, they were all about the sand. They built castles, dinosaur caves and interstates.  Gabe spent hours letting fistfuls run through his fingers, turning his head from side to side to see how it caught the light. At the end of the day, they left looking like sugar cookies, coated with sparkling granules.

Over the past couple of years, the water has become the bigger draw.  At first, their water play was restricted to the shallows.  They chased waves up and down the incline or got on all fours and let the knee-high breakers wash over them.  

This year was a little intense for a lifeguarding mom. Both boys waded out to their waists and were attempting to body surf in the mid-sized waves.  Both got knocked down more than once.  Matt had a good head over heels wipeout once.  But the boy who hates getting water in his face when he washes his hair, simply gained his feet and went back for more.

We left a little browner, with clear sinuses and a sense of a day well spent.

Martinak

I parked our car in Martinak State Park and the boys looked out the windows at the steady drizzle.

"Okay, let's go," I said.  They looked at me like I was crazy. Normally, I told them to stay out of the rain. But they complied and with a few giggles, we set off across the parking lot.

The Martinak quest was another letterbox quest. I carried the clues in a plastic sleeve and we were able to find the first three boxes in twenty minutes. Somewhere between the first and second boxes, the rain slowed to a drip.  It allowed us to take a little time to walk around the remains of a boat found in nearby Watts Creek. Matt liked the idea that it may have been sunk by pirates.

The fourth box required a walk along the creek.  Despite the rainy haze, it was beautiful.

 

We struggled finding the fifth and final box.We actually gave up and got in the car. We were about to leave when we spotted a park ranger walking across a soggy field.  We bolted out of the car and across the parking lot to beg for asssistance.  She pointed us in the right direction and within minutes, Park Quest #6 was complete!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Quest Summary

both boys liked:  walking in the rain

both boys disliked: searching for letterbox #5

Park Quest Slackers

I'm happy to report the Rocky Gap quest went smoother than the hike with the cousins the day before.  After walking six plus miles on Saturday, Sunday's two mile quest was a piece of cake.  Plus, there were bits of history, the aviary and some wonderful views thrown in.

The first leg of our quest took us down the colonial road to Cumberland.  According to our quest instructions, George Washington once surveyed it. The boys had lots of questions about George.  I foresee trips to Westmoreland and Mount Vernon in our future!

Look! Gabe is smiling on a hike!

My favorite part of this quest was the canyon overlook.  The photo below is now the wallpaper on my work computer.

Rocky Gap was only our fourth Park Quest this summer. We need to finish ten by Labor Day in order to qualify for the Rendezvous. I refuse to stress over such things, but I'm not sure we're going to make it. Especially given the weather we're expecting the next four days--temperatures, without factoring in humidity, will be in the 100s!

I'd planned to quest this weekend, but Saturday may be more of a pool day than an adventure day. We'll see what Sunday holds.  Ninety-four degrees might feel chilly after 106!

 

Park Quest 3: If At First You Don't Succeed. . .

We checked the weather obsessively this morning.  The forecast was for thunderstorms, but we were hoping to get both a quest and the pool in.  The coast was clear at 10 a.m. when we left the house armed with a picnic lunch and our daypack.

We headed down 301 for about 50 miles to Brandywine, Maryland.  Today's quest involved letterboxing at Cedarville State Forest.  The park quest website explains letterboxing well:

"Letterboxes are small, weatherproof boxes that usually contain a log book, a rubber stamp and an ink pad. They are hidden in publicly accessible places and the clues made available participants. The finders make an imprint of the letterbox's stamp on their stamp sheet or personal log book, and leave an imprint of their personal stamp on the letterbox's logbook."

So, it's kind of like geocaching, except instead of following gps coordinates, you follow a set of clues.  To complete the Cedarville quest we had only to find two out of four letter boxes.  Piece of cake, right?

We set off for the first box in good spirits. It was hot (about 90 degrees), but we had plenty of water and the forest was lush and beautiful.

We seemed to be following all the clues with ease and it only took 30 minutes to get to where we expected the first box to be.

Did you note that language?  Where we expected?

We couldn't find that darn box.  We saw this little fellow.

And these cool mushrooms.

And even a big pile of horse poo.

But no letterbox.  In searching, I very nearly put my bare ankle up against this fellow!

(My apologies for the blurry photo.  I hate spiders. . . Let me rephrase that, I HATE spiders and my hand was shaking when I took the picture.)

The black widow about did it.  After an hour of searching, we officially determined Letterbox 1 missing in action.  We trudged back to the car: hot, tired and in poor spirits.

At the car, we revived ourselves with some Gator Aide and grapes.  We turned down another path to find Letterbox #2.  We found it in 25 minutes!  Buoyed by our success, we decided to try Letterbox #3.  Another quick success!  We returned to park headquarters and got our passport stamped. 

Park Quest #3 Complete.

We drove home, dropped our gear on the floor and quickly changed into our swim suits.  We had time to jump in the pool and dunk our heads a few times before the rain started.  Followed shortly by thunder.  The boys were bummed by the short pool time, but they rallied with a promise of ice cream after dinner.

Lesson of the day:  success doesn't always come in the manner you expect.

- - - - - - -

Quest Summary

Favorite Thing:

Both boys:  Seeing the Black Widow Spider.

Least Favorite Thing:

Gabe:  Walking very hard.

Matt:  Not finding the first box and the buzzy bugs.

A Park Quest Marathon

Candus Thomson, the possibly crazy but endearing outdoors writer for the Baltimore Sun, is attempting all 24 Park Quests in seven days. This is her second year of Park Quest 24/7.  You can follow her adventures on her blog: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/sports/outdoors/blog/.

Good luck, Candus!

Two Moms, Two Boys and Park Quest #2

We were joined for our second Park Quest by the boys' step-mom, Tammy.  This year, she's an official member of our Park Quest team and I think we're all excited about that.  The boys because they love having all their parents in one place (their dad will be joining us when his work schedule allows).  I like it because she's a good companion, an enthusiastic participant and brings a picnic lunch!

With 24 parks to choose from (or rather 23 since we completed Patapsco), it was hard to pick where to go next.  We eventually decided on Soldier's Delight because of it's proximity (27 miles) and because of the quest's title "A Miner's Life."  I figured mining with it's dirt, rocks and danger would be up there with forts and cannons in keeping the boys interest. I was not wrong.

The tasks on this quest were very hands-on, which always goes over well with my boys.  We learned about a buddle mine, sifted dirt and panned for chromite.

Matt and Tammy made good miners.

Gabe didn't like getting his hands dirty.

We went on a short hike to see a cabin where the miners lived and a longer hike to an overlook where we watched birds of prey soar over forrested hills.

According to our quest guide, at the time of the mines, you could see all the way to the Baltimore harbor from here. There were no trees back then.

Another short hike and we were at the Choate mine.  This for me, was the coolest part of the quest.  I didn't realize we could get so close.

The boys are obsessed with a certain fictional archeologist. They called these "Indiana Jones" tracks (a la Temple of Doom). Maybe because of the Indiana Jones reference, Gabe was not convinced it was safe to be even this close.

We finished our quest at the Visitor Center and spent some time visiting the critters there.  We saw a barn owl, box turtles and a gray rat snake getting its bath.

We got back in the car sweaty and tired.  The ride home was very quiet (except for boys snoring).

We topped off our day in the best way possible, soaking off our miner's grit in the community pool.

- - - - -

Favorite Part of This Quest

both boys: watching the snake get a bath

Least Favorite Part

Gabe: walking - it was hot

Matt: getting in trouble for not listening.  It was good except for that!

Questing

If you're one of three people who regularly read this blog or if you know my boys and I in person, you'll know for the past two years we've participated in Park Quest through Maryland's Department of Natural Resources. It's a great program that encourages families to get outdoors and enjoy Maryland's state parks. We've had a few rocky quests (I'm looking at you, Merkle), but overall it's been a wonderful experience.

Or I should say, I view it as a wonderful experience.  My younger son, Matt, would likely agree.  Gabe on the other hand. . .

Gabe does not like bugs.  He does not like to sweat.  He does not like to walk. His idea of enjoying the great outdoors is reading National Geographic in the air condition.  You can imagine his views on hiking in a state park.

Last Sunday, we ventured on our first Park Quest of 2011.  We drove 17 miles to the Hilton area of Patapsco Valley State Park. Our instructions were to begin at the Nature Center.  We were greeted at the door.

Gabe was done right there.  Bugs in general are bad enough, but spiders are the worst.  Giant attack spiders, as he called this one, are the stuff of nightmares.

We managed to collect our instructions and get out on the trail without losing any extremities to the attack spider.

The trail was a relatively easy one--a pleasant .8 mile walk through a wood of enormous poplar, maple and oak trees. There were eight stops on our map with various activities.  At stop three, Gabe asked when we'd be finished.  I told him we had five more stops.

"We're going to die!" he moaned.

Despite Gabe's lamentations, we made it through with little trouble and spent some quality time on the recycled tire playground.  When we returned to the Nature Center to get our quest book stamped, we learned the poor attack spider had accidentally been squished in the door. 

"Is he in heaven now?" Matt asked while examining the mangled body.  I nodded but secretly hoped heaven was spider free.

Once in the car, I asked the boys what their favorite and least favorite parts of the quest were.  Their answers surprised and amused me.

Favorite

Matt: snacks, playground, walking in the woods

Gabe: looking at the giant spider

Least Favorite

Matt: Gabe's whining

Gabe: giant spider was dead

 

Final Quest of the Season

The morning of our last quest dawned as beautiful as the day before.  The sky was brillant blue and once again we piled into Sargeant Sherri's car armed with our picnic lunch.

I explained the day's destination to the boys.  We were going to Fort Frederick State Park.  After already completing two quests that weekend, they groaned.  Then I explained what a fort was.

Soldiers? Cannons? Indians?  In their mind, the only way it could be better was if the fort walls were made of LEGOs and the soldiers fought with lightsabers.

The quest was another hike-for-clues mission.  We started in the Visitor's Center and watched the introductory movie.  I think we'll do this from now on.  The boys grasped more of the history than I would have thought.

We walked the short trail to the Fort.

Matt and Sherri take the lead.

We visited the Blacksmith's shop and the park's tiny nature center.  There was a small display of locally found fossils in the latter.  They were a big hit with our paleontologist.

We then walked around to the entrance of the 18th century fort.

We marched across the parade ground and meandered through the museum located in one row of barracks.

We strung wampum beads on a string.

And we took in the view from the fort walls.

Gabe looks wistfully in the direction of the naturalist's fossils.

In these early years of day tripping, I've avoided historical parks like this one.  I didn't think the boys would understand. I thought the history would bore them and I'd spend my entire time trying to calm them down and make them listen. 

I underestimated them.

Obviously, my boys are not yet experts on the French and Indian War, but given in age-appropriate quantities, they understood the basic history of Fort Frederick just fine.

Which brings us to a new era in our adventuring--one my mother would be proud of--the next generation of Mystery Day Trips of Probable Historic Value!

* * * *

Since the boys showed so much interest, I think our first MDTPHVs might have to be other forts in our area. I can think of two:

Fort McHenry

Fort Washington

Know of any others?

From Bay to Mountain Lake

After completing the Sandy Point quest the Friday before Labor Day, the boys and I headed west.  My cousin, our self-appointed Park Quest Drill Sergeant, lives part-time on a ridge above Waynesboro, Pennsylvania.  We decided to make her house our headquarters for the weekend.

Saturday morning, we ate a hearty breakfast and climbed into Sergeant Sherri's car armed with an equally hearty picnic cooler.  The 90 minute drive to Rocky Gap State Park was beautiful.  The sky was dotted with puffy cotton ball clouds and the air was crisp and clean.  Each ridge the highway climbed was higher than the last. 

A little blurry--taken from the window of our moving car.

Gabe, our budding paleontologist, particularly loved Sideling Hill, where the highway cuts through mountain exposing 850 vertical feet of layered rock. He was convinced there were fossils in them there hills.

Sideling Hill

As we came around another ridge and the park came into view, the entire car breathed, "wow."  The mountains surrounded a glittering lake speckled with the occasional canoe or small fishing boat.  It was breathtaking.

We checked in with the park office and began our second hike-for-clues quest of the weekend. Sherri and Matt led the way.

I'm not sure there could have been a lovelier day.  The wind was fairly strong, but the sun was warm.  The trail was easy to follow and I could have admired the beauty of lake and mountains all day.

The boys were sometimes more interested in admiring Sherri's camelbak water carrier.

We saw a tree beavers had gnawed.  We stood on a small foot bridge and tried to guess which critter had made which tracks in the mud below us.  And we had a one-winged buzzard welcome us to the aviary.

The boys explored the shoreline.  Gabe as always looked for fossils.  Matt skipped around winging the occasional rock into the lake.

We ate our picnic in rare silence, admiring the view and already looking forward to our next trip to Rocky Gap.