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Borrego Springs, CA

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Crab Orchard NWR Discovery Tour

Each Sunday afternoon in October, the Crab Orchard NWR opens some of its back roads to the public for a self-guided Discovery Tour.  Since I have found myself here on an October Sunday, you can bet I took that tour today.  As you can probably guess, the middle of the afternoon on a hot day doesn’t bode well for seeing much wildlife, but there is a lot of history to this refuge.  It was established the same year I was born and consists of 44,000 acres.  It’s main purpose is protect the lands that provide the needed habitat for migrating and nesting waterfowl.

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Crab Orchard Lake and many of the refuge ponds were created by the CCC in the 1930’s.  These ruddy ducks are some of the early fall arrivals.  My guess is this great egret may head further south as the season progresses. 

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Several Civil War veterans are buried in the Hampton Cemetery.  The oldest tombstone dates back to 1855.  There is only access to this cemetery  on the Sundays in October.

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Neighboring farms lease pastures for grazing their cattle during the summer.  By the end of the month, all of the cattle will be gone and the pastures will be used as feeding and resting areas all winter for the visiting geese.

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Local farmers plant crops on about 5000 acres of the refuge, and in lieu of rent, they share the harvest with the wildlife.  By my figuring, it looked like about 25% of the crop was left behind. 

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Also located on one of the back roads was this Illinois “Big Tree” Champion.  In 1984, this Swamp White Oak was classified as the largest known swamp white oak in the state.  It was huge.

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Down another of the roads were large mounds of earth covered “igloos”.  They were used during World War II for the storage of bombs, mines, shells and other high explosives.  Like I said, lots of history to the lands of this refuge.  I’m so glad I got to take this back road trip that most folks don’t get to see.

63 On the way to Anahuac, 201115

I found the tour interesting, but I can’t say the same for my passenger in the back seat.  Emma did well, but was ready for something more invigorating, so we took a different hike today.  We did the Woodland Trail that begins right off of the Visitor’s Center parking lot.  Another nice walk through the woods, and because it was late in the afternoon, we had the whole trail to ourselves.

Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later,  Judy

18 comments:

  1. Glad you had such a beautiful day for the tour. Sorry Emma may not have enjoyed it as much!

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  2. You do find some nice places to visit.

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  3. Lucky you to be there when the back roads are open. Great ideas for multi-use for the land...makes sense. Love the photo of the cows.

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  4. a great Sunday..too bad Emma didn't like it too much..but you know of course..that sometimes it is not all about the dog..shhh..don't tell her I said that!!

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  5. It has been such a nice fall that we are not seeing the geese that we usually do heading south. But they tell me there is snow in the Arctic and the rivers are starting to freeze so the Northerners should be arriving shortly.

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  6. You have a great attitude! And a great camera!

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  7. When I was living at the cemetery with my family, we had something looking just like that igloo, called the crypt..It was under a big hill and built just like that exactly..I wonder if they used that for the same things in WWII. When we lived there it was 1964-69...amazing. I gotta see if I still have a photo of it....

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  8. Interesting ride. Maybe we'll get those fried green tomatoes this week:)

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  9. Thanks for the "backlot" tour ... Chincoteague opens its back roads over Thanksgiving weekend; thinking of doing that this year.

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  10. Its looks like a great day in the midwest for sure. Weather is going to turn soon so we all need to get out there and enjoy it.........

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  11. Sorry you aer having to stay put so long but looks like it gave you an opportunity for a beautiful drive.

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  12. Looks like a nice NWR. Based on what you said, I take it that it is a relatively young area:)

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  13. Great tour and fantastic photos as usual.

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  15. Glad you were able to make the best out of a bad situtation. If you didn't have to saty, you may have missed this lovely drive. Keep your head up, good things will come your way.

    Kevin and Ruth
    www.travelwithkevinandruth.com

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  16. Grateful you were able to create the best out of a bad situtation. If you didn't have to saty, you may have skipped this charming generate. Keep your go up, excellent stuff will come your way.


    Thanks,

    Travel Agents Online | Hemis Festival Ladakh

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