Brockway Ponds consists of 5 separate ponds and associated wetlands within the Jackson County Forest.  The ponds can be reached via Funmaker Road, just south of STH 54.  From there, sandy trails, more or less, lead to the ponds.

On my visit, water covered the road adjacent to the northernmost pond, which precluded access to the more distant ponds.  I spent my time exploring the pond that I could reach and plan to return to visit the others at a future date.  In reviewing satellite imagery, one notes that the water levels of the ponds fluctuate significantly.  During my visit, the water had risen such that the wetlands surrounding the pond were now simply the pond. Surrounding this area was an upland forest in sandy soil, with a few prairie species present including bird’s-foot violet, wild columbine, lyrate rock-cress, and hoary puccoon.  It would certainly be very interesting to explore the remaining ponds as well as to return at a time when the water levels were quite a bit lower so as to promote emergence of the natural wetland communities.

Pond

Road

Wild Columbine

Pond

Canada Mayflower

Pond

Bird’s-foot Violet

Flowering Spurge

More of my photos (and full-res) from Brockway Ponds can be viewed here.

400 more blog posts to go!  Well, actually a few more than that remain; counting SNA’s delisted since I started and a few SNA’s to be designated, the current total is 687, though hopefully, that will increase!

If you would like to help support this project, please consider a donation.  There are many SNA’s yet to visit and even more to revisit and I ultimately plan to write a book about my adventures.  Thank you!

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