On Tuesday I went for a shorter hike than my expedition of Monday to Princess Place. This time I headed south and decided to explore the middle section of the Bulow Woods Trail, heading north from Broadman Road to Cisco Ditch.
Despite it being a weekday, there were people in the woods. I encountered one fellow walking his dog, then a young lady who had been running perhaps. I traveled on the leaf-littered sandy trail to the Ditch and then headed towards the Bulow Creek salt marsh. The ditch is an interesting remnant of early Florida, perhaps dug to drain water, denote a boundary or whatever. Its waters are dark with tannin. Parallel to the shallow ditch is a pathway that travels out to a sand and mud (depending on the tide) beach bordering the grass-filled marsh.
The subtropical winter sun is so intense it completely fades out the background in some of these shots. The actual woods are much darker in coloration. If the main trail was open, from the bridge over the ditch, it is about 2.5 miles (I think) to the northern trailhead, but it is still closed due to damage from Hurricane Ian.
There are great piles of sand on either side of the ditch, testament to the amount of work required to build it originally. The ditch is not a natural feature being far too straight in its course. It does have a natural sand bottom.
The trail along the Ditch is perhaps a quarter mile. It didn’t take long to reach the beach. The tide was lower, exposing a stretch of mud lining the sinuous path of Bulow Creek.
The blue sky was reflected in the dark waters of Bulow Creek, which starts a few miles north of this point. Those tall grasses are salt tolerant as the entire creek drainage is tidal and brackish. It floods periodically during heavy rainstorms and hurricanes, affecting the nearby Walter Boardman and High Bridge roads.
I didn’t linger long at the beach (forgot my chair!) but headed back. When I reached the powerline break, I noticed an egret perched on top of a shrub. The photo isn’t particularly clear as the bird was beyond the reach of my camera’s zoom lens.
I also took a side trail to Boardman Pond, hoping to see some birds. I did, but they were moving so fast I didn’t try to get a photo. A gentleman encountered along the trail told me the previous day his group were able to see several birds including Wood Storks, herons, egrets, white pelicans and Roseate Spoonbills. I’ve seen all of these too on other occasions but not that particular day.
My next outing was to North Peninsula State Park, located just off of SR A1A and High Bridge Road. The under developed park has a nice walking path through a combination of coastal hammock and coastal strand scrub. It meanders in and out of the tiny wind-wracked oak hammock and then pops out into a evergreen tunnel through the coastal strand.
I’m fascinated by the contorted growth pattern of the live oaks in this park. These tough trees do sometimes fall victim to storm surges. The stark gray skeletons of oaks were to be seen in places throughout the coastal strand, silent reminders of the treacherous storms that lash this coast at times during the rainy season.
After completing this walk, I drove on to Flagler Beach and bought some very messy tacos for a satisfying lunch. Then, I drove to the Betty Setflik Nature Preserve, which sits between the town and Matanzas River. The park has a long boardwalk over the Black Mangrove salt marsh and coquina trails on some of the small islands. A variety of visitors can be seen here, tourists, locals, fishermen, bicyclists, runners, walkers, birdwatchers, people walking their dogs.
While on the boardwalk, I sighted an osprey, several black buzzards, a couple of Great Blue Herons, the Little Blue Heron, a couple of egrets. The place is bird heaven.
Well, there you go. Hope you enjoyed these three little walks I did this past week. It would appear this coming Sunday through Tuesday are going to be damp so I can’t promise whether I will get out. Sunday’s forecast calls for thunderstorms. I much rather enjoy the thunder and lightning inside than outside exposed to the elements. Been there, done that in the Washington Cascade Range.
Enjoy your day…
Eliza Ayres
Location: Flagler and Volusia Counties, Florida
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Sunny's Journal 
Eliza
Am partial to the red cedar …. its a healer …knew it as soon as i saw it. even have a sense of how i would lean up against it and let the cedar breath for me until just before my feet were starting to free float off the ground …..
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but i had already gotten lost in the little blue heron on the weathered railing. Oh my gosh there is so much there in that pic [for me that is]
in the wood grain and side board near the birds feet are wooden cooking spoons piled from large to small , a birds head with eye and neck, the underbelly of a gray whale with flukes and all, etc.
when relaxing the eye focus on the heron and allowing the background of the bushes with leaves to move to the foreground around the bird … there are perfectly arranged branches that outline parts of the heron’s legs, the angle/tilt of it’s body and even a small branch that mirrors the beak.
almost feels like Source said to the heron …. this is going to a perfect shot for you to be in … now stand here, tip your head a bit , more weight on the right leg … there ya go … hold that until this human clicks her camera. Thank you so much for playing along.
Thank you for providing the images for us to play in ………..
much love,
an admirer
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These small herons are lovely little birds, very elegant in their movements, like little models, wholly natural. It wasn’t brothered at all by our presence (there were three other people nearby). ~Eliza
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is the sun just right on your grass picture or what … :>)
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The sun was shining on that little dangling bit of grass, plus I upped the saturation a bit to bring out the color of the tassels while editing. I used to work at Kodak Photo Finishing long ago doing color corrections. ~ Eliza
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Kodak complex in Rochester, NY?
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Negative. Palo Alto, CA. ~ Eliza
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