I made a big mistake. We decided to go to a part of the Erie Canal Path that we had never walked on before. We headed up to Jordan, about a half hour drive from Syracuse. It was a hot summer day. I brought plenty of water. We used plenty of sunblock and wore cool cotton clothes. What did we forget? Bug repellent. Yes, if you are going to be walking in wooded areas in summer, you will be met by thousands of mosquitoes. But other than that our walk was good.
The canal near Jordan is pretty stagnant compared to the parts we usually walk on near Fayetteville. Parts of it were covered with algae and some of it smelled a little rank. But it was pretty.
For most of the walk we couldn't really see the canal as the thick growth of trees, vines and bushes blocked the way. The path was heavily shaded overhead for most of the walk.
We saw Milkweed pods and some lovely orange berries.
We saw a lot of other interesting plants, including some lovely wildflowers. But I didn't take any photos because the mosquitoes were after us, and we were so hot, tired and bitten I didn't want to stop. We are planning another trip back there in the fall when it's nice and cool, after the first frost kills the mosquitoes.
2 comments:
This is section that I've yet to walk myself and your documentation of it is lovely. Yeah, the bugs can be rough.
I cycled the whole length of the Erie canal in August, and was only bitten a few times. Those long black biting flies that suddenly go 'chomp!' through a Buff headscarf can only manage 13mph at the very most, so it's possible, even on the rough paths and a loaded bike, to outrun them - at the expense of taking in the scenery. The wooded sections of the Erie canal are otherwise really lovely in the summer.
After those few encounters I used "Lifesystems ExpeditionPlus 50+" repellent, and it worked really well. Mind you, at 50% DEET, it ought to!
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