My condo at Coachlight in Northampton is sited adjacent to the Barrett Street Marsh, a lovely protected wetland with birds and beavers and other diverse wildlife.  Many years ago when I was living there, I discovered that someone (I don’t know who) had built a boardwalk into the Marsh off the Northampton Bikeway section of the Norwottuck Rail Trail, so that people who wanted to observe the plants and animals could get closer to them.

I had to be in Northampton this morning on business, so when that concluded, I decided to try to find the boardwalk again.  I thought you could reach it from the condo grounds, but when I pushed my way beyond the community garden to the back of the property, I realized that people were probably bushwhacking their way through, because a trail was not obvious, or else it was quite overgrown.

So I retraced my steps to the parking lot of the Stop and Shop on King Street and set out along the Bikeway from there.  Not ten minutes into my walk, I saw a path leading off the asphalt down to the wetland, so I immediately turned onto it.  Yes!  I found it.

I’m looking straight ahead along the boardwalk

The wetland greenery is lush and dense

I didn’t think I’d see a deer in the Marsh

But there it was, staring at me inquisitively

The Barrett Street Marsh has a long history.  If you’d like to read more about it, you can try this link from the City website and search for the word “Barrett.”  I also found another document on the web which dates back a number of years, but it was fascinating; the Barrett Street Marsh is described in Chapter One.