Dog Walk in the Cranberry Bogs
November 2006
PhDs, wives, and dogs @ start of trail
PhDs, wives, and dogs @ start of trail
Aerial view of the bogs in Duxbury, MA
Since 2003, there has been no major PhD adventure involving wives. The memory of the Zealand Hut experience will always remain on everyone's mind, with the women falling down in swollen brooks, and trudging along wet trails, coping grudgingly with cold river crossings, and antagonistic forest rangers.
The idea of a dog walk began during discussions in the early fall, proposing as a light activity which:
a.) would not be overly strenuous, and could include wives, and
b.) might settle issues of PhD jousting discussion about the manliness of dogs; what are REAL dogs, and whether some dogs even qualify to be called dogs.
The PhDs first collected at Tom's, then set out in a convoy through the wild forests of Duxbury, ending up at a collection of bogs & ponds near Route 3.
Dave was absent from the event, but his place was filled by Tim Beardsley, an infrequent PhD member at large. The sun was going down on the bogs, and the only remaining fall foliage was from the oaks.
Six diverse dogs participated in the walk:
Large dogs:
Black Retriever - 2 rambuncious young dogs owned by the Kings
Golden Retriever - older dog, with low tolerance for playful young dogs, owned by Frazers
Medium dog:
Vizsla, owned by Tim, very enthusiastic young dog.
Small dogs:
ShihTzu - one large male owned by Annie, and one small female, owned by the Krauses
At the outset of the walk, the unleashed black dogs left the company of slower humans, and headed directly into the water. Thereafter, the swimmers remained wet for the rest of the walk but later were dry enough to be let into the house.
The smallest ShihTzu quickly fatigued, and forced the Krauses into last place. She was also intimidated by the large dogs, and exhibited wimpy antisocial behavior. Annie's Shihtzu was more robust, and was able to join the pack of larger dogs.
The trail around the bog perimeter took us by the shallow flood pond, which was full of geese & swans. The pond itself was being drained to flood the bogs as required for harvesting.
Along the way, we encountered bog farmers in the act of rounding up a raft of floating cranberries, scooping them into a truck using a conveyor. The process was similar to containing an oil spill.
The walk continued to other remote bogs. Borb's dorg dropped out & took a shortcut back to the parking lot. The manly dogs continued along the trail, the labs were constantly discouraged from again jumping into the water. Other walkers with dogs were necountered on the trail. The walk concluded at sunset and we returned to Tom's for dinner.
