Adventure Day and vacation updates

For someone on a camp vacation with time on their hands I seem to be rather busy at other things than reading my book of the week. All to the better maybe though I am enjoying the book. Yesterday was Adventure Day as I like to refer to it. The one day of the vacation where I go someplace in Aroostook County that I may never have visited. The place this time was a portion of the Salmon Brook Lake and Perham Wetlands, in Perham, Maine. It is deemed one of the state's "Focus Areas of Statewide Ecological Significance". "At the heart of this focus area is the state-owned Salmon Brook Lake Unit characterized by extensive wetlands and numerous rare plant populations. The 1,706 acre unit hosts six exemplary natural communities and six rare plant populations including a 1,055 acre Ecological Reserve surrounding Salmon Brook Lake—a shallow, 50 acre lake with a maximum depth of five feet. In addition to the Salmon Brook Lake Unit, the focus area also includes the Woodland Bog Preserve in the southeastern section of the focus area and the Perham Bog Preserve located in the northwestern section of the focus area. Both preserves are owned by the Nature Conservancy."

I had packed a lunch in my daypack along with binoculars, camera, and bug spray then entered  from the northern Perham Bog Preserve and preceded to hike along the Salmon Brook Trail and was greeted by thickly wooded forest with a single width meandering trail, damp from a predawn thunderstorm. The dampness contributed to a organic atmosphere of rich soil and decaying vegetation and the sound of collected rainfall dripping from the surrounding trees. Eerily quiet otherwise. I never did see anything of wildlife other that a couple of birds I disturbed moving too fast to identify. There were a few Moose hoof prints and dropping on the trail itself which lead to hope of spotting one of that majestic member of the deer family. Not to happen on this excursion though I'd thought there was a possibly as the sun was shining and with the temps being high it was scorching hot, that a moose would be seeking shaded relieve in the vicinity.

Beyond the kiosk this is where the trail begins

The trees close in almost immediately
from the trail head.

Several styles of crossovers were used

Reaching for the sky

The Observation Deck

I took the panorama photo from here and ate my lunch. Never saw anyone the whole time, just sat quietly for awhile, the whole place to myself. Other than a loon floating near the opposite side and an occasional bird no other wild live appeared. Must have been away on vacation themselves.