Occasionally we get bored with walking the same trails all the time and we seek a new adventure a bit outside our normal realm. One weekend we decided to check out Tourne County Park in Morris County New Jersey (https://www.morrisparks.net/index.php/parks/tourne-county-park/ ). Overall, I think it was a lovely park, nice trails and very well marked. We decided to hike to the top of Tourne, (in the process I was lapped by a group of seniors, literally walking up the hill with their canes….I don’t really like hiking uphill) where the overlook was completely blocked by vegetation.

After that minor hiccup, we took the Red trail which walked us around much of the perimeter of the park. It was all very nice and enjoyable (if a bit muggy) but the highlight was Birchwood Lake. We had stopped to admire the water lilies and the dragonflies. A juvenile Great Blue Heron came to do a bit of fishing, so we sat by the side of the pond for almost a half-hour, to see what he would catch. Great Blue Herons don’t need to see their prey. When they place their bills in the water, they just try to touch prey. Once they touch something they have a rapid reflex which snaps their bills closed. Unfortunately for this guy, he didn’t seem to be very successful.