Friday, May 3, 2013

A Small Victory at Herrontown Woods

(originally posted at PrincetonNatureNotes.org, April 26, 2009--Herrontown Woods being Princeton's first dedicated nature preserve, donated by the Veblens in 1957) 

Most people know about the big victory won at the Princeton Battlefield in 1777. Few have heard, however, of the small victory of 2009 that took place at Herrontown Woods, on the other side of town, on a sunny afternoon in late April.

There, the mighty resistance of an eight year old to taking a walk in the woods was overcome by an irresistible alliance of rocks and water.

Strident complaint dissolved into "Daddy, look at this!", as we headed upstream towards a picnic in a boulder field.

Contributing to the rout of homebound entertainment media was a frog presiding over a reflected forest.

Plenty of auxiliary forces were on hand, effective mostly with the accompanying adult. The opening buds of a witch hazel.

Some interesting stuff on the forest floor--here, a reddish-brown spiny fruit of the sweetgum, a flowering wood anemone, and some leaves of trout lily.


And the fiddle heads of Christmas fern perched on boulders.

Even the trails were strategically rock-strewn to add sport and comfort to the way home.

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