SheldonTimes

Pemberton Park was one of my favorite parks to visit with my two young sons when I lived in Salisbury, and we went there often.

Bald Cypress Trail at Pocomoke River State Park offers three different types of forest, a bald cypress swamp, loblolly pine grove, and a mixed hardwood forest, all in just one easy-to-hike mile. Of course the warm rainy weather had brought out lots of mushrooms we had to stop to see, and it was pouring rain, so it took us two hours to make the loop.

The Forest Trail crosses a swampy area of bald cypress before entering a forest of mostly loblolly pine. The loblollies don't crowd each other, so visibility is excellent. Even from a distance we could easily spot chalk-white mushrooms that

When Alex and his housemate were both going to be away for the weekend and needed someone

Who knew there were caves in Delaware County?

Well, the five-night backpacking trip circumnavigating the trio of Adirondack lakes, Murphy, Middle and Bennett, was not to be. We lost a couple of days trying to wait out the worst of the rain, and we knew our pace would be slower even in a light rain, so we opted to go to Murphy Lake for just a two-night hike.

The rain stayed with us all the way from Binghamton to Northville, NY, on the northern shore of Great Sacandaga Lake. Our original plan had been to camp for two nights at the state campsites on Route 30, just north of Pumpkin Hollow, but vacation should be about fun, not drenched misery, so we decided to try and find a B&B.

Dunning Pond is a beaver pond a few miles up Dunning Brook trail off Route 30 north of Wells, NY. As the weather continued to be rainy, we decided to day hike to Dunning Pond, delaying our backpacking trip another day. The hillside trail follows the brook generally, but at a distance, and from time to time there are some nice views of the brook below.

Our first overnight of the summer vacation was near Binghamton, NY, at Chenango Valley State Park, where Fran had camped once before when the boys were very young. We arrived in good time, had a meal that included squash we had brought from the Rose Tree garden, and had time for a drive around the countryside.

We attended our first mushroom foray this weekend, the Annual Victor Gambino Foray held this year