A visual chronicle of suburban NJ
My best guess is that this is a wild radish; however, from the photos I’ve seen, wild radishes have widely-spaced petals that splay all over the place. These petals look too neat.
While it might not be a radish, it’s almost certainly something in the Brassicaceae family. Brassicaceae are also known as Cruciferae, which means “cross-shaped,” which refers to the four-petaled flowers.
What do you think?
If you’re standing in the middle of a bike path to take a photo of a bridge, remember to stay alert for oncoming bicycles.
If you happen to pass through Lenape Park in Union, you might notice a tree wearing a white hat.
If you look a little closer, your amusement might turn to sadness.
Although the hat alone tells you pretty much all you need to know, Segundo Padilla was smoothing the path here when his roller toppled off the edge of a shallow embankment (presumably the one near this memorial).
The ink on the hat is fresh, and it’s my guess that the hat was just recently nailed here in memory of the one-year anniversary of his death.
It’s a tragedy, any way you slice it.
At first I thought this teepee-looking thing in the South Mountain Reservation might be an educational Native American exhibit, something like the the Lenape hut in the Great Swamp. But after seeing a few more of these trees with sticks propped around them, and hearing chatter about local artists who come out here to play in the woods… I think it’s art.
It’s about 5 feet tall, and it’s got an entrance, so you can even go sit inside, if you like!
Last week, after I had decided I was finished mucking about a trail near a pond, I made for the trailhead, which is what one does when one wishes to stop mucking about on a trail. To my surprise, I found the trailhead blocked by a family of Canada geese.
I wasn’t really sure what to do, and neither were they. They were standing in a narrow bottleneck between the parking lot and a larger concrete landing at the beginning the trail, and neither of us could pass the other right there.
I decided to press on, in hopes that they would back up into the parking lot, giving me clearance to exit the trail and return to my car. But they stood their ground, and as I drew near, I heard a funny noise— hissing. Hissing geese!
It suddenly hit me that these were protective parent geese, and I was a threat to their goslings.
Visions of savage goose attacks flew into my head.
I backed away slowly, and quietly stood as far to the side of the trail as I could.
Mama Goose, keeping her head down and pulsing it forward like a sleepy snake, hissed and led her family past me. And without a word, they ungracefully slipped into the pond and swam away in a single file.
But not before I got a family photo.
At the base of Campbell’s Pond, in the South Mountain Reservation, there is the foundation of an old bridge that you’re probably not supposed to walk on. There are no railings, and the wooden beams are rotting, and the “no trespassing” fence has collapsed, and there’s a 15-to-25-foot drop off one side.
But it seems pretty sturdy, and this fisherman is hanging out on it, so why not?
Initially, I thought it might have been part of the New Jersey West Line railroad, which was never finished but had some functional tracks that passed through the Reservation… unfortunately, this bridge is too far north to be a part of that. As such, I have no idea why this bridge was originally constructed, or for whom, or by whom. Any thoughts?
I went on a group hike through the South Mountain Reservation this past weekend!
It started off about as you’d expect— a moderately slow tromp through the woods, with occasional stops to point out cool plants or conservation efforts or what-have-you— but as the day drew on, our guide (Lou) started getting creative with our route, and we ended up (among other places) crossing this barely-a-bridge built of concrete medians and a wobbly wooden board.
This barely-a-bridge was apparently constructed in 1991 as part of an Eagle Scout project.
It was a lot of fun! I wholeheartedly recommend.
These hikes are organized by the South Mountain Conservation [link, including future scheduled hikes] (which is not affiliated with the Essex County Park Commission) (but is still pretty cool).
In honor of Earth Day, Maplewood’s Green Day Fair was today! It was a big celebration of all things environmentally friendly.
In addition to all the vendors and eco-friendly demonstrations, the main stage featured local bands, so fairgoers were serenaded with ongoing music.
This is MoodRing, a self-described jam band.
I’ll be showing a few more photos from the festival for the next few days, so stay tuned!
Have you ever seen a bridle trail/ hiking trail that crosses over a highway? I mean, aside from the non-road-overpasses I’ve shown you recently. (NOBODY is supposed to use THOSE ones.) This is more in the “pedestrian overpass” category, which is totally normal, except that this is a hiking trail, not a downtown area, which is where you’d normally find pedestrian overpasses.
This one can be found in the South Mountain Reservation, allowing the Lenape Trail to safely cross South Orange Avenue.
