I parked at the end of the trail near the entrance to White Memorial Conservation area. I planned to follow the trail SW back to where I had stopped last time on RT 63. It was getting warm and if you look at the map you can see why I was concerned about bugs. I turned out to be right, at least I had my DEET this time.
The conservation area is criss crossed with old carriage roads. I assume this was once someones's estate. It makes for very easy going and the carriage roads seem to be laid out to take advantage of the scenery.
Lots of flowers were out including these mountain laurel. I've been seeing the laurel out for about two weeks now. The bush at our house is also in full bloom.
The trail follows the river for a while and eventually crosses it on this old iron bridge. Good enough for hikers I guess, they won't let cars on it any more.
Nice shelf fungus. The trails just kind of wind through the forest. Very relaxing. Would be great for XC skiing or biking.
Eventually the trail reaches Cranberry pond which is rapidly becoming a bog. Very scenic with lots of flowers and birds flitting about.
These are the first Irises I've seen this season. They looked like they'd been open a while though.
On the way back I walked down this lane of wild flowers. I'm sure they're all roadside weeds, but they were quite pretty.
On the way back I walked by the museum and gift shop. The museum was $6 so I passed. They had a trail map for sale, but it wasn't a very good one.
All in all a bit over 6 miles in a bit under 2 hours. Gotta love carriage paths!
