Hey Joe,
Here’s a picture of the Magnolia Swamp Boardwalk in Ravenswood Park that was mentioned on your 2nd podcast this week. This property is now owned and maintained by the Trustees of Reservations. I took this picture last year on April 7th , 2010. I remember it was a really warm day for the season (a record at 88°F).
This board walk is pretty sturdy (the boards are roughly 3” thick), sits about 8” above the surface of the swamp, and gives a great vantage point for spotting frogs eggs and watching swamp critters. It runs somewhere between 500 to 600 feet across the swamp. You have to cross another board walk further up the trail to get back across the swamp.
This is a great walk through the woods any time of the year, but in the early Spring there are no bugs yet, and you have a better chance of seeing other animals through the woods due to the lack of foliage. The trail that leads to the boardwalk is a fun little adventure, with one or two neat surprises on the way. At least it was for my two year old son, who was with me that day. The trail on the other side is pretty cool, too, with a lot of interesting things to see. In some spots the path narrows and winds along the edge of the swamp. It kind of feels like you’re walking in a scene from the Lord of the Rings, and you’re half expecting to see a Hobbit poking along the trail ahead of you.
It’s definitely worth a visit when the weather breaks.
Enjoy,
~Bill O’Connor
North Shore Kid
So true, it is like Hobbit land on the “Magnolia Swamp Trail”. Later in the season (then this pic) the vegetation has every shade of green you could ever imagine and then some! But the most special part of the spring is when the swamp magnolias are blooming. Was on part of this trail this past Sunday (1/30/11) and the mountain laurel is still a very “happy” green, always something going on in the woods 🙂
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it is so great to post all the places people can go and have fun and relaxing day trips
thank you,
diane
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Thanks for sharing this. Will definitely check it out when and if the snow ever stops falling.
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A few more images from down in the swamp can be found here … http://simplycapeann.blogspot.com/2009/11/simply-raven-ing.html
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