Davidson's Mill Pond Park
We almost never go hiking in the afternoon, but we had a few hours of free time this afternoon so we headed south to Middlesex County to hit a small park that's been on my list for a while. According to the park map there are a total of about 3 miles inside the park. But we were surprised to find more!

Using this map we parked at the boat launch and after visiting the pond from the launch, headed south on the paved park road to the blue-blazed Mill Pond Trail, a beautiful trail that parallels the pond with many signs naming trees along the way. We next headed west on the white-blazed Farm Road trail with the intention of completing the 1.4 mile loop in a counter-clockwise direction before heading back along the western edge of the farm to the car. But when we reached the SE part of the Farm Road Trail loop we encountered the trail head for a Yellow trail that is not on the map. But there was a kiosk at that point, with a beautiful trail heading east into the woods filled with saplings. So we decided to take it and see where it went. It continued to the eastern perimeter of the park, bordering a small rectangular body of water (with a bat house on the bank) before heading north, then east through more woods all the way back to very near the car. In essence, we ended up doing almost a 3-mile loop! Had we added the trails that we missed, we would probably have added another 1.5 or 2 miles, but we were short of time. We can log those trails next time, when we also hike the Farrington Lake Trail.

You can see our track here. Total distance hiked was about 2.7 miles in an hour and 40 minutes.

(Click on the thumbnail to bring up a bigger image in a pop-up window)


Road to...

...boat launch

Taking... [photo by Laura]

This frog photo


Fall colors on bank

Turtles


Fisherman in boat

 

Canada goose


Paved road to...

...Mill Pond Trail
 


Birdhouses on Eco Trail

Ferns

Tree signs

Bench overlooking pond
 



Stone steps


Early fall color
 




View west

Mallards and goose
 


Mallards (one molting)


You think?

 



Heading west on Blue

[Photo by Laura]

 



On Farm Road Trail

Two interested...

...deer
 



More deer bolting


Egret bolting
 


Views of lake...

...at southern part

View from behind beaver dam

Beaver trap?
 


Back on Farm Road Trail

Beaver activity

Kiosk at Yellow trail head

Boardwalk on Yellow
 


Heading east


Boardwalk on Yellow

Body of water on eastern edge
 


Bat house on bank


Yellow continues through woods

[Photo by Laura]
 


Lamb's Ears


Swamp across road from...

...boat launch
 

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