The man's side of it!

Yesterday I went to the Brendan T. Byrne State Forrest (formally known as Lebanon State Forrest) And did some more hiking. I packed some water this time so I could stay out longer. I took the Mt. Misery Trail (which is 8.7 miles long) and set my goal to finish the whole trail. As usual I brought my camera. I actually walked about 3 miles up the trail before I got tired and turned around making a total of almost 6 miles. Man am I out of shape! I can barely move after sitting for a few minutes. I used to walk at the flea market for four hours at a clip a few years ago. I'd go up and down the aisles at the Columbus Market (it's a big place) two times a week. Never used to bother me then. Now I feel and walk like a cripple.

I took some nice pictures though. I especially like the ones where the sun was shining down through the trees and caused the leaves to sparkle like diamonds

I found a big patch of a lichen I think it's called False Reindeer lichen.

Here's a shot of the beautiful Pakim Pond

Here's a shot of the marsh, in the back you can see the birdhouse for birds of prey.

Here's a foot bridge over the marsh.

Here's a few more pics of the forest.

As I walked along the trail I needed to keep my eye out for the trail markers. I was following the white trail. I came upon something very unexpected, a creature of the forest sitting in the crook of a tree.

There were a few other little bridges I had to cross such as this.

I came across this guy a little further up the trail, he wasn't very happy to see me though.

I really love being out in the woods. You can say what you want about New Jersey, I've heard all the jokes, But I love this state. You can find just about every type of scenery here and every kind of season and weather. New Jersey is the United States in miniature. Sure we have our problems, every state does, but this is truly a Garden State.
Our state is looking for a new slogan but I like the old slogan our former Governor Brendan T. Byrne gave us. "New Jersey and You, Perfect Together"

You can ping this entry by using http://www.twhgrafx.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1886 .