Lately I've noticed that this blog has become more about adventures and exploration than it has been about life in general, so I may turn it into just that: An exploration blog or something of that nature. I just have to come up with a clever name that isn't cliche. That's why I sort of decided to drop the original name of "The Life and Times of Christopher Somthing-Rather". Nothing against that name, because it was just meant to be kind of cheesy and silly, and cliche kind of fits that model. But I've decided that that just won't cut it for "Christopher's Exploratory Blog Thingy" or whatever I end up calling it. I'll have to give it some thought. Feel free to give me some suggestions! :)
Today I decided to go explore the brisk New Jersey wilderness, the jungles of the garden state, the forests of the North East; it was very exciting.
I went to a little place called Hoffman Park. It's nestled right in the middle of everything; behind a highway, next to a train line and between several county roads. You would never know it was there; I've lived here all my life and just now discovered it, not 5 miles from my house.
As I walked down the very wide path I passed some fields with bird houses and forest far off behind the fields, lining them. You could hear birds chirping everywhere, and I didn't feel like I was in my town at all anymore. The sounds of the road slowly diminished and I felt like I was the only person around, surrounded by nature. It was fantastic!
There were lots of cool trees around too, but I soon came to even cooler sites! There were streams and ponds everywhere and I was more excited at every new thing I saw! Everything would have been perfect, actually, if it wasn't for the bugs who insisted on landing on my head and chewing on it, over and over again. I'm pretty sure all of them told their neighbors that I was there too; their neighbors, their friends and family. It was a reunion actually, a bug reunion of epic proportions. They were not content to just land on my head, nor to nibble on my cheeks and earlobes. No, they decided that they would swarm, they would devour, they would explore my inner ear, nose and mouth and so on and so forth, till I was rather annoyed. However, I did see some very glorious streams and ponds.
After a while I came to a structure in the woods.
I couldn't really figure out what it was; it seemed that the back of it was facing the path. As it was, I had to stray from the path a ways into the woods to get to it. It looked like the remains of a horse stable when I finally got to it. According to recorded history of Hoffman Park this land used to be owned by the Hoffman family who used to lease the land out to farmers, so I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with horses. I'm no equestrian though, so I have no idea.
Soon after that I came to a pond, a bigger one than the others thus far.
It was cool because there was a path that ran all around the perimeter of it, so I followed it all the way around, admiring the cattails and the trees surrounding the pond. It was a quaint little thing; I thought it would have appeared in some book where a character lived in the trees behind it. Hmm, maybe I have read about something like this in a book once before.
Anyway, from the beginning this pond looked interesting to me because there was some yellow thing in the background behind the pond. If you faced the pond from the path I came into the picture from the right side of the screen, and this yellow thing, was at the left side of the screen, all the way behind the pond. So from my perspective I thought maybe it was a sign or something, and naturally I was curious to read it. Liking surprises though, I decided to drag out the discovery.
That's partly why I took the perimeter, besides the fact that it looked totally awesome. But I kept seeing the yellow thing in the background of all of the scenery and I was wondering what the heck this yellow thing could be. It changed size as I got closer to it too. Originally I thought it was a sign, but as I got closer I realized it was too small for a sign. It was more like a box on stilts. What was this odd little fascination, just standing there, in the midst of this scene.
Finally I got close enough to it to be able to see what it was. I practically burst out laughing. Maybe I need to read some more Detective comics, but this mystery was solved!
Still, I have no idea why it was there or what it was for. One of the most random things I've ever seen, but also so cool!
As I kept exploring I came to the railway that lines the Northern edge of the park.
What was cool was that I was coming to the track from a different elevation. There was a tunnel to let the water through.
I decided I'd walk over the track to explore the other side because I didn't want to get my shoes wet; not today anyway. It wasn't too hard to get up from this side, but I was having trouble finding a good way down the other side.
If the bugs were my first friends today, the guy I met next was my second friend. I was walking through tall grass on the other side of the tracks, trying to find a good way down, when suddenly an enormous snake flung itself out of the thicket at me. He was on me in a moment and there was an epic struggle. We were rolling about up and down the hill; I was trying really hard to keep us from rolling over the edge. Before I knew it we were on the tracks and I heard the distant sound of a train whistle. The struggle continued, I was panting and trying to keep him from coiling too tightly around my neck. Curiously, he didn't seem to be going for that. Mostly he stayed coiled around my arms, intent on keeping me from stopping him. Meanwhile his tail was searching my pockets for something. I couldn't really stop him, he had full control, but suddenly he gave a delighted his, and dropped from my shoulders and arms. As he slithered into the thicket something metal glinted, catching the light. "Hey!" I shouted, upset. Trailing behind him, held tightly in the coils of his tail, was my flashlight.
That thing seriously scared me, but I'm glad I survived anyway. I'm just glad he wasn't after my head. Less than 10 minutes after that the train went by on the track.
After that I decided to head back. I was near the entrance when I met a third friend. This fellow was much nicer than my previous companions. He was mostly just trying to keep to himself. But he didn't mind my company when he saw I wasn't trying to hurt him, or eat him.
It's hard to see him in this picture, but I think if you look really hard, you'll see my buddy Wiggly, the rabbit. He hopped right out in front of me while I was being silly and looking at my phone, instead of the beautiful world around me. He was indignant when I wasn't ready to take a picture of him on the path, but I was able to coax him into staying on the side of the path long enough for a shot.
Soon after that I was out of the park. I was about to explore Charlestown Preserve but it got really dark all of a sudden when it was preparing to storm and I nearly got lost in the woods of Charlestown. For a second there I was really panicking. But I made it. I'll have to do more exploring next time. Maybe with someone else to accompany me?
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I went back up the path because I wanted to do some more exploring. I was disappointed when the path ended where I had taken the fork and followed the perimeter path. It looked like they had just stopped keeping the path maintained though, so I followed what looked like the old path further into the wild. After a little while I realized that I wasn't following man made paths anymore; I was on a deer trail. 
That wild grass that was in the glades, that was above my head, it's the perfect hiding place for deer. It's their natural environment. This picture I took is of the area where there was no path and I saw a male deer jump out of the wild grass right before I took this picture. The first male deer I've seen in about a year (and that's out of at least 100 deer I've seen in the past year). I was really excited; I felt like Bambi (on the meadow--why is it so still?!). That place was awesome. You should come with me next time!
I saw these on the way back
This was the "path" I was on towards the end. It was definitely part of a deer path. I found trampled grass in several places, the place where some animals the size of deer were sleeping last night and this morning.
As I walked down the very wide path I passed some fields with bird houses and forest far off behind the fields, lining them. You could hear birds chirping everywhere, and I didn't feel like I was in my town at all anymore. The sounds of the road slowly diminished and I felt like I was the only person around, surrounded by nature. It was fantastic!
It was cool because there was a path that ran all around the perimeter of it, so I followed it all the way around, admiring the cattails and the trees surrounding the pond. It was a quaint little thing; I thought it would have appeared in some book where a character lived in the trees behind it. Hmm, maybe I have read about something like this in a book once before.
That's partly why I took the perimeter, besides the fact that it looked totally awesome. But I kept seeing the yellow thing in the background of all of the scenery and I was wondering what the heck this yellow thing could be. It changed size as I got closer to it too. Originally I thought it was a sign, but as I got closer I realized it was too small for a sign. It was more like a box on stilts. What was this odd little fascination, just standing there, in the midst of this scene.
Finally I got close enough to it to be able to see what it was. I practically burst out laughing. Maybe I need to read some more Detective comics, but this mystery was solved!
Still, I have no idea why it was there or what it was for. One of the most random things I've ever seen, but also so cool!
What was cool was that I was coming to the track from a different elevation. There was a tunnel to let the water through.
I decided I'd walk over the track to explore the other side because I didn't want to get my shoes wet; not today anyway. It wasn't too hard to get up from this side, but I was having trouble finding a good way down the other side.
If the bugs were my first friends today, the guy I met next was my second friend. I was walking through tall grass on the other side of the tracks, trying to find a good way down, when suddenly an enormous snake flung itself out of the thicket at me. He was on me in a moment and there was an epic struggle. We were rolling about up and down the hill; I was trying really hard to keep us from rolling over the edge. Before I knew it we were on the tracks and I heard the distant sound of a train whistle. The struggle continued, I was panting and trying to keep him from coiling too tightly around my neck. Curiously, he didn't seem to be going for that. Mostly he stayed coiled around my arms, intent on keeping me from stopping him. Meanwhile his tail was searching my pockets for something. I couldn't really stop him, he had full control, but suddenly he gave a delighted his, and dropped from my shoulders and arms. As he slithered into the thicket something metal glinted, catching the light. "Hey!" I shouted, upset. Trailing behind him, held tightly in the coils of his tail, was my flashlight.
It's hard to see him in this picture, but I think if you look really hard, you'll see my buddy Wiggly, the rabbit. He hopped right out in front of me while I was being silly and looking at my phone, instead of the beautiful world around me. He was indignant when I wasn't ready to take a picture of him on the path, but I was able to coax him into staying on the side of the path long enough for a shot. 
Tinkerbell
