On Colchester Pond

Another week, another trail walk. This week my fellow co-workers tackled trekking around Colchester Pond. Being the only Floridian of the bunch, I had to laugh at all the humidity talk that ensued in Sharon’s description. But then again, they laugh at me during my visits when its 60 degrees outside and I have my winter coat on. Here’s what Sharon writes…

Pretty Colchester Pond was last week’s destination. Four dedicated (foolhardy?)walkers braved the heat, humidity, and air-quality warnings to take a stroll around the pond. Pulling into the parking lot gave us a great bird’s-eye view of the large pond, and I thought, “Wow, we’re going to walk around that? That looks longer than the advertised 2.5-3.0 miles!”

Colchester Pond with view of golden grass
Colchester Pond with view of golden grass

Several large birds quickly caught our attention and we decided to travel counterclockwise in order to get closer to the shoreline where the birds were hanging out. We saw a heron, a cormorant, and an osprey. The osprey made a spectacular dive into the water in search of fish (or maybe he was just hot). We walked on double-planked boardwalks close to the shoreline and then rambled through fields on mowed paths at the south end of the pond. Then we entered onto a wide woods path that we followed for the remainder of the route. We tackled several hills and saw a few toads.

Reflections: The pond & the bridge
Reflections: The pond & the bridge

A short spur path led to an outlook at the northern end of the pond. There were wooden slats nailed to a slanting tree trunk and a rope for swinging out into the water. Back on the main trail, we hit a couple more outlooks to the water and saw a couple canoeists.

Purple Flowering Raspberry
Purple Flowering Raspberry

We walked past a large field and then were soon heading up a final hill back to the parking lot, feeling either lighter (from the exercise) or heavier (from the sweat and humidity) from our efforts. Based on it taking 2 hours to circumnavigate the pond, as well as info from my mapping software, I’d say we hiked nearly 4 miles.

Red Berries
Red Berries