SectionHiker.com Backpacking Gear Reviews and FAQs I think beavers are really cool animals and I’m always fascinated by their lodges when I come across them on backpacking and hiking trips in New England.
It’s not uncommon to come across lodges that are enormous mounds of wood in the middle of a beaver pond, perfect protection from predators and the cold in winter.
Other times, the lodges are built on the side of a pond, like this one I came across in the Adirondacks a few years ago. Regardless of where they are located, they are impenetrable piles of mud and sticks, with an artistic flair, I think.
I was fascinated by the beaver dams I saw while hiking along the Appalachian Trail. Some looked like what I felt a dam should look like with stick and twigs sticking out, but others were just mounds almost buried under the growth of grasses. Turns out they are mature dams. The lodges are pretty cool just like the dams. One industrious beaver flooded out a section of the trail with its dam. Had to walk around on the dam and get yelled at by the beaver.
The dams are pretty cool too. Do you remember the giant one on the Maine AT about 2/3 up through the 100 mile wilderness. It damned the whole side of a lake. Totally amazing.
~ Nice skylight reflection on the water.
~ The beaver is the mammalian chameleon. Amazing how their appearance changes, when you see them chew down your trees and flood your fields.