Chaumont Barrens ... October
1, 2014
There is an area just a few miles from where we live
called the Chaumont Barrens. We have seen the signs in the
village of Chaumont for it for years and kept saying we were going
to go there some day. A year or so ago, we actually drove out
the road but could not locate it.
This past summer Marcia found out from a seasonal
neighbor, Kate Radway, that she goes there walking often with her
French Poodle, Frankie. On October 1, we drove over there with
her to check it out. Our next door neighbors, Pat and Gail
O'Connor also went.
Chaumont Barrens is a nature conservancy featuring
"Alvar Grassland". According to Wikipedia, "an alvar is a biological environment based on a limestone plain with
thin or no soil and, as a result, sparse grassland vegetation. Often
flooded in the spring, and affected by drought in midsummer, alvars
support a distinctive group of prairie-like plants." To
be honest, it didn't look all that different from a number of areas
up in St. Lawrence County where we used to live, but I guess it's
what is beneath the surface that make the difference.
We took a number of pictures while we were
there. Although the numbered markers labeled different
geologic items, we told Pat that they were mile markers! The
entire loop was probably two to three miles, but it was the furthest
he had walked in years.
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