A friend who lives in Charlton told me about a hiking trail that loops around Buffumville Lake, so this afternoon, I headed to this nearby recreation area to get some exercise.  It’s not too far from my house: take 49 South to 20 East to 31 South and follow the signs.  It cost me a dollar to park in the lot for the day.

The US Army Corps of Engineers maintains the property:  basically, because they built it.  In the olden days, the Corps never met a river it didn’t want to build a dam on; here’s what they say about Buffumville (note the “flood control” justification):

[The] Dam is located 1.3 miles above the point where the Little River flows into the French River. Completed at a cost of $3 million, the dam is part of a system of six flood control projects designed and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Thames River Basin.

The Lake itself is man-made and at 200 acres, has a peak storage capacity of 5.2 billion gallons. The Park covers almost 500 acres and now includes a beach with an enclosed swimming area, picnic tables and grills, a volleyball court, and a horseshoe pit. Hunting, fishing, and boating are all permitted. I guess they figured, Hey, there’s all this water behind the dam now — what else can we do with it? Sorry to be such a cynic, but to many environmentalists, the Army Corps of Engineers is Public Enemy Number One.

But I digress. I came for the hiking: the seven-mile Lake Shore Trail begins at the beach and loops all the way around the Lake.  At my walking pace of about three miles an hour, I knew I wouldn’t be able to hike the entire trail today. So I walked counterclockwise around half the lake, clambered up to the road which cuts through the middle of it, and was back at my car an hour and some minutes later.

I did stop and take some photos along the way.  Here are two thumbnails of a tiny snake (the same individual), which I can’t identify, and one of a dragonfly, possibly a Ruby Meadowhawk (Sympetrum rubicundulum) .

The trail is well-marked with blue blazes, and wooden bridges have been built where small streams flow into the lake; the left thumbnail depicts one example. A tree has fallen across the trail in the center thumbnail; judging by the numerous tiny shelf fungi, it may have been there for a while. The right thumbnail is my best shot of the Lake, looking as serene and as blue as the summer sky.

Though many families were enjoying the Park this afternoon, during the entire time I spent on the trail, I saw not a single other soul.