Today, I decided to take some pictures of the area around the Main Entrance and the Main Gate. (Yes, two different locations.) The main entrance is located on Fort Meade Road (MD 198) at Bald Eagle Drive.

 

 

 

 

There is signage along Fort Meade Road that guides you to the entrance. After taking Bald Eagle Drive about 500 feet to the south, you come to the Main Gate, an electrically operated sliding gate.

 

 

On the right side (to the west) of Bald Eagle Drive between the Main Entrance and the Main Gate, you will see a hedgerow.

 

 

 

 

On the left side, you will see an athletic field which consists of four baseball diamonds. They are used by Fort Meade for baseball games in the spring and summer. Believe it or not, the Athletic Field is part of the Refuge.

 

 

There are two parking lots for the Athletic Field, one along the east side of Bald Eagle Drive (not pictured here) and one along the south side of Fort Meade Road on the north side of the Athletic Field. This is a good place to look for exotic plants.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a pump house on the corner of Fort Meade Road and Bald Eagle Drive.

 

 

 

Just before you enter the Main Gate on the left hand side there is a bulletin board which is changed by the North Tract Site displaying the events and current status of the North Tract. There are brochures for the taking with information about the refuge under the side.

 

 

As you pass through the Main Gate, you can see Welch’s Branch on both sides of the road.

 

 

 

 

 

Its course parallels, but does not exactly coincides with the northern boundary of the North Tract. The creek is named for a past resident of the area.

 

 

 

On the right side of the road just inside the gate on the north side of the creek, you can see our Bamboo “woods”, a small clump of bamboo, just barely inside the refuge’s boundary.

 

 

 

On the right side of the road inside the gate is a sign welcoming visitors to the National Wildlife Refuge System.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, the North Tract was closed to the general public due to hunting activities (shotgun hunting) – It is not a good idea to be wandering about when the hunters are using shotguns.

 

 

 

Please bear with me while I get used to the blogging software. I am not sure what will be the best way to display the photos as there are several options to experiment with.

Till next time,

Bill