#beaver lodges

[alex51324]

Trip report, part three!

This is, again, Black Moshannon State Park, in Pennsylvania, USA, in summer of 2025.

When we left off, I had just started kayaking on Wednesday, and we went over the three types of water lilies found in the lake.

Here is a closeup of the Fragrant Water Lily! These are the prettiest, the ones you probably think of when you hear "water lily," and also the most difficult to paddle through.

The park keeps a big channel clear of them in the middle of the lake and down the southwestern arm, and there are also beaver trails that you can follow!

Here is a beaver lodge!

I...probably got closer to the beaver lodge than I really should have.

The naturalist had said on the pontoon boat ride that one of them was not currently being used, and I thought it was this one, but I later found out it was one of the other ones. (The park has 7.)

I did remove a rusty old beer can from the vicinity of their home, so hopefully they are not too bothered by the intrusion.

Here is the big mower-thing that the park uses to keep the middle of the lake clear of water lilies! It was a little sad but also interesting.

Here's a nice view of the lake and surrounding forest. I think this was probably the end of the cleared channel, looking down toward the far end of the southwestern arm, but I'm not totally sure.

Here I think we've turned around and are heading back to the launch.

Paddle paddle paddle...

Here comes another beaver lodge!

That was a long kayak trip!

Now we'll go to the snack bar for lunch! It's another cool old CCC building.

The lighting didn't come out real well on this one, but this is a very cool fireplace that they have in the snack bar.

The specialty of the house is called the Beaver Hut; it's french fries with gravy, cheese curds, and kielbasa slices. Very nice when you've just been on a tiring expedition.

Fast forward to Thursday, and we're off on another kayak trip.

Here is the boat launch. Also, by this point, my waterproof phone bag is pretty smeary with sunscreen. (It was somewhat smeary yesterday, too, but I still got sunburn on my legs, so I was taking no chances this time.)

This time we are exploring the south eastern arm of the lake!

Another beaver lodge!

The park's pontoon boat doesn't go down this arm, so it doesn't have wide path mowed into it; you have to hop from one beaver-trail to another.

There are a lot of stumps down this way from the lumber industry days--the tannins from the bog preserve them--and many of them have these little plant communities growing up out of them.

Do those clouds look a little foreboding to you?

Hm...

Yeah, right after I got to the end of the arm and turned around, it started to rain. (I did check the weather before I started; there was a slight chance of shower listed.) Also, I was going straight into the wind. Very hard going, and I was staying as close as I could to the shore, so that if it started thundering, I could find a place to get out as quickly as possible. That meant that I couldn't avoid the thickest patches of lilies. It seemed to take just about forever to get back to the main channel--and then as soon as I did, the rain stopped.

Here we are back at the boat launch, shortly after the rainstorm had ended.

Willow made friends with a dragonfly!

Do you see it?

Another view of the storm-clouds-have-passed.

That brings us almost to the end of the trip, but we had a few bonus adventures on Friday, after we checked out of the cabin!

[uwmspeccoll]

SPOTLIGHT: Beavers Building their Hutts!

The second edition of The World Displayed; or, A Curious Collection of Voyages and Travels, selected from the Writers of all Nations was published in 20 volumes and printed in London by John Newbery in 1760. We only hold volume 5, which includes a section on “The Discoveries of the English in America” (our catalog record, which identifies our copy as a fourth edition with different printers and a later set of dates, appears to be incorrect, as the title page of our copy clearly has the 1760 imprint with J. Newbery as printer). 

NOTE: The cataloging record has since been corrected.

The section on the English discoveries includes this curious copperplate engraving of a construction crew of beavers building their rather angular, fortress-like “Hutts.” Here the beavers are depicted as an orderly and well-organized work gang that stand upright and haul lumber onto their shoulders, carrying them in procession to construct a very geometric pattern that has the impression of being designed by a master engineer. If Americans are reluctant to take construction jobs in these post-Covid times, perhaps we can employ beavers!

John Newbery was a noted, early publisher of books for children, so at first we thought the illustration was designed to appeal to the imaginations of children, or perhaps it was just a joke. We checked the other engravings in the book, however, and neither seems to be the case as the other engravings are quite accurate and rather serious. The written description of beavers also seems fairly accurate (no mention of bipedal beavers slinging lumber onto their shoulders!).

Although the title page notes that the book is “Illustrated and Embellished with Variety of Maps and Prints by the best Hands,” it appears that this illustration is just the work of a poorly-informed engraver who has clearly never seen real beavers at work. It’s still a hoot to see, however!

[patrick47]

Beaver Lodge Available: No Cable Necessary

Beaver Lodge Available: No Cable Necessary

  [You have to look close for the small blue-gray dish. Trust me, it’s there.]

Beavers, as everyone who has studied their natural history can attest, are amazing in a variety of ways.  The first thing that comes to mind is that they are considered “Natures Engineers” because they have the instinct to secure a site, chew down dozens of trees and proceed to construct a clever and efficient dam.…

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