get out lehigh valley: marlton walk

Yesterday was another Get Out Lehigh Valley adventure. This time at the Marlton Wildlife Center is Williams Township.

There was a lot of people. I'd say 80. They kept arriving even after the group pic was taken. People were parked on the grass. There was no room in the lot. I was with 3 other people in a school bus space.

The hike was strenuous. Just walking around the hood for the past couple weeks was not a benefit. I even had to stop once going up the steepest incline.

I've never been here when it's bare. It's very different. We hiked up about 500 feet (the preserve is almost 800 feet up on 200 acres) to get to this overlook. I try to stay in the front so I am with the environmentalist. I like stories about scat and bird calls.

I'm glad I took my walking stick. Some of the hike was difficult. But you can see I made it to the top. By the end, I was down to a long sleeve tee shirt.

What I learned was that this forest is a three climax forest. The first climax was the grasslands and sassafras trees. They were cut down to keep them low. And that wild sassafras root has a carcinogenic in it. It was been genetically engineered out of commercial sassafras root.  Of course, you'd have to drink 20 gallons of wild sassafrass tea a day for decades to sick from the wild root.  If I'm going to die, I'd prefer mine in Sassparilla.

The second climax was where the tulip and poplar trees were. The third climax was where the oaks and sugar maples were. And of course, there was a lot of mixing going on because once the mature trees die, somethings got to take its place.

We walked and stopped a lot. It was about 1.5 hours.

Miles/Steps:  3+, strenuous.
Bathrooms:   indoor. Didn't go in 
Wildlife:        Fox scat. Lots of birds singing but didn't actually see anything.
Weather:      upper 60s, overcast, damp. Rain on its way.
Extras:         I should have taken 2 bottles of water. I guzzled a second in the parking lot when I got back.

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Update: The retina doctor appointment was anti-climatic. He did all the same things the ophthalmologist did. Thought his equipment might have been newer. Basically, these shooting stars are another happy age-thing. They originate in the jelly behind the eye. They usually last 6-eight weeks. They start strong and then fade. They can be a sign of trouble. But normally not. My takeaway: Instead of getting scared and calling the doctor, I should have just left it run its course. It would have gone away on its own. I should have know better. My track record for problems and doctors is 1/10 gazillion. I know the next time. Not sure how much my Obamacare will cover of this adventure. None of the bills have come yet. I'm guessing half.