A better look at Montauk Spring

I have been writing and presenting programs here at Montauk since my first weekend. Several of them were the result of watching Steve give a program and then writing my own version of the same topic. However, the goal is to keep a good variety, so I kept trying to think of something different. I decided I wanted to plan a nature walk at Montauk Spring – it’s an easy walk, a clear trail, and a good possibility of seeing wildlife in the spring. I decided to go and walk the trail and plan my program. This was on July 10.

The first thing I saw at the parking area was a big bunch of pokeberry bushes. Any program I did here would have to start with a PSA about how extremely poisonous they are.

I spent quite a while looking at the wayside exhibits at the trail entrance.

“You are here” got very specific!

This is a handy visual showing how springs form. I would describe the overall geology before we went anywhere.

Ecological relationships.

I went the same direction we had taken on our other trip there. These river oats line the trail – obviously they like flood plains.

This one wasn’t in my flower book.

I went past the spring to get a good look at Pigeon Creek. This is where we do a program called “Stream Stomp”, where kids have the chance to get down in the water and catch crawdads and other critters. The river, downstream, is off-limits to swimming and wading unless you are fishing, so Pigeon Creek is the only spot in the park where you can just mess around. 

Unfortunately, this is not an easy to spot to get down – and when we did the program, I couldn’t get back up! While I was trying to find a less steep section of the bank, I ran into some of what’s called “razor grass”. The stem is soft and fuzzy, but the edges of the leaves gave me a series of cuts that left welts. Like paper cuts only tinier. I thought I was walking through nettles at first. It was bad.

 I would definitely show this stuff as a warning to people.

Although the flowers in among it were very pretty.

I backtracked to the spring for some photos, and was surprised to find a trout swimming in it!

It really is amazing how clear this water is. It makes it impossible to figure out how deep it really is.

Way at the back there is the channel that is carrying most of the water down to the river. There are several smaller channels as well but this is the main one.

More little fish! Incidentally, it is illegal to fish in the spring itself, or to pick watercress. It’s protected.

Getting a view from another angle.

                                    

There’s that trout again! The sand there is “bubbling” – moving around as water flows up through from beneath.

Looking back from my first photo spot. The muskrat den is somewhere around there.

I walked over toward the river. On the way I passed another small spring, literally seeping out of the ground next to the trail. A good visual to have, since the big pool doesn’t appear to be moving at all unless you can spot the bubbling sands.

The path to the river was not mowed, but surrounded on all sides by very tall grass. I pushed my way through and planned to check for ticks later. Which I would have done anyway. It was worth it!

The confluence – Montauk Spring flowing into Pigeon Creek to form the Current River.

Looking back toward the spring – I didn’t have water shoes on so couldn’t get an actual view of it.

See how clean the gravel in the spring channel looks? The water coming out is so cold that hardly anything can grow in it.

Plenty of watercress here if you like that sort of thing.

Looking downriver. Hello family!

Looking back up toward the confluence.

Fleabane.

I went back to the spring, toward Pigeon Creek, and then kept going – I was pretty sure the trail would loop back around, and sure enough it did.

It was a very nice walk, mowed all the way, and shady – definitely an advantage for a July program!

I decided that I would start with the geology overview at the trailhead, then lead the walk in the opposite direction I had been going each time so far. That way everyone would see Pigeon Creek, and then we would sneak up on the spring in case there were any critters there, and then we would go and see the water pouring out into the river. It’s not always that a guided walk has such an obvious flow – no pun intended!