Off the Beaten Path

We bushwacked through the barberry and raspberry canes and around bottle and can dumps to Seely Brook which is an outlet stream of Walton Pond. Seely runs quiet and full this time of year, the rain and snowmelt filling it close to its banks. Acadia and Olivia grabbed some sticks and immediately set to "fishing." Later Olivia toddled in and required a change of clothes, effectively ending our off-trail adventure.



Before our premature return to the car, Anderson and Sebastian discovered a tree with a large canker or injury. They could not wrap their arms around the huge boll at the base of the trunk.

The boys explored the shoreline, throwing in a few obligatory rocks and dropping in sticks and chasing them as they drifted downstream.

On our return we found the jawbone and spinal column of a rabbit or woodchuck.

The kids are begging to return to Seely Brook in the summer when they can get in the water. But the best we can do is another winter or early spring trip, because the banks of this lovely stream grow profusely with poison ivy! But that's okay, because there are other places to streamwalk without the risk of rash.