Last week, I was really struggling with trying to come up with ideas as to what I could photograph and blog about next. It’s a tough time of year when there are no leaves on the trees, no green grasses, no flowers….but at the same time we also had next to no snow. This left only the browns and grays of winter, accentuated solely by dead leaves and bare treetops. Now, make no mistake, I LOVE the bare treetops. I think there is something so fascinating about the shapes and lacy patterns of tree branches minus their leaves. It is a simple, random design and I do, quite honestly have thousands of photos of tree branches silhouetted against the sky.
However, the bare treetops and gray, muddy ground didn’t really inspire any gorgeous photography the other day. At least, not at first. I decided to get some exercise and headed to the Bog Meadow Nature Trail. A friend had first told me about this beautiful 2 mile trail last spring and I immediately fell in love with it; it actually follows the path of an abandoned railway. Located off of Route 29 (heading east from downtown), it is just a few hundred yards past Weibel Avenue on the right. There is another trail head at the other end on Meadowbrook Road.
And HERE I found the beauty I was looking for the other day. Despite the lack of snow, and the lack of summertime green, the trail was gorgeous. No matter where I turned, nature provided a beautiful vista.
I did a little research and found this on the Saratoga PLAN website, “During the summer of 2001, seven interpretive signs were installed along Bog Meadow Brook Nature Trail to highlight the importance of the trail’s wetland communities: open marsh, wet meadow and forested wetland. The flora and fauna of these natural communities, along with the historical significance of the area are illustrated by the educational signs.”
A week after my hike, it snowed. This past Saturday night into Sunday morning, we got a lot of ice and a little bit of snow. I ventured out and slid my way back to the trail to take additional photos. It’s really incredible how different the entire trail looked. Everything was covered in snow and ice. I wasn’t particularly fond of driving in it or slipping all over the place, but the trail itself was spectacularly beautiful. I will share the snow photos of the Bog Meadow Nature Trail in my next post. But these last two shots will give you an idea as to how the scene changed in just a few short days!
