Cruised Waasa Township, Section 13 today. At 8:00am, it was overcast and cool, the temperature around 60F. An inch or so of rain fell last night, but I did not wear my muck boots.
I was planning to cover 7 survey points in three stands. The first stand was not difficult, although the cloud cover played havoc with the gps satellite reception for most of the morning. The woods were easy to traverse, with waist high ferns, which thoughly soaked my trousers.
The second stand was primarily spruce/tamarack bog, walking was good, although the spagnum was rather thick and spongy. I picked up a companion at the second survey point, who accompainied me to the third survey point, a Whiskey Jack. He was quite talkative and inquisitive. The Indian Pipes were abundant, as were the Service Berries which carpeted the bog with their bright red berries.
The third stand was a bit down County Road 620, across the Embarrass River. The vegetation was a mix of marsh grass, alder swamp and Sprice/Tamarack bog. Very light on the Spruce and Tamarack. The going was very difficult, the marsh grass was shoulder high (5ft +) with tufts at least 16 to 24 inches tall. The alder was thick, with lots of dead fall. The Spruce/Tamarack bog was a relief, open and breezy. The spagnum was thick and spongy. Many of the were in the 10-12 inch diameter or larger.
The flies were not bad, I recall only 5, and I had smacked two of them. The mosquitos were fairly light, so even though I had applied repellant, it really was not needed.
When I finished in the Cedar/Tamarack bog, I decided to head north to the river, instead of fighting the alder swamp again. Not sure that it was the best choice. The river bank was marsh grass, about a half of a mile of it.
Did not have my camera with me, but I will the next time I go cruising.
