Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Chordas Pond Open Space

The City of Shelton recently took title to 1.6 acres of woodland along the shore of Chordas Pond, located on Nells Rock Road near the entrance to L'Hermitage Condominiums and across the street from the large hiker parking area for Nells Rock Trail. The new open space abuts existing open space behind the pond.

Between boulder fields, steep slopes, and wetlands, parts of the open space are pretty tough to bushwack through right now, but we have the potential for a short path along the pond.

There are lots of little "caves" in the rocks along the slope that suggested the possibility of a carnivore inside.

On top of the rocky ridgeline there are partly obstructed views of the pond...

...as well as the cell tower that's visible from Nells Rock Road (located on an abutting property). A neighbor came out to talk, and a raven called from up on the tower. The neighbor said the "crows" nest up there. I've been hearing ravens all summer at Eklund Garden and the trails at Hope Lake. So this is where they were nesting.

I was lucky to find a few survey markers in the bedrock near the tower to verify the property line location.

While I was up on the ridge a Great Blue Heron flew in:


The Conservation/Trails people have always pronounced Chordas as "Kordus", but I note that old timers in the areas say "CHordus", so maybe we've been mispronouncing it. Anyone know where the name comes from and the proper pronunciation?

3 comments:

Dick Skudlarek said...

Bill, Shari and I walked/climbed the area Saturday. It is quite peaceful. We were wondering if L'Hermitage owns the pond, barring any fishing from the Open Space.
That you were able to get that close to the heron tells me it's the same guy that didn't flinch when I came within 10 yards of him at White Memorial! (Kidding, of course!)

Teresa said...

I'm looking into fishing rights...it's apparently rather complicated and not an easy answer. As far as the heron, I was just standing still on the hill when he flew in. I wasn't really as close as it seems...I've got a 10x zoom on the camera plus I cropped it. I was very surprised the picture turned out at all.

Teresa said...

The answer to the fishing question is: There probably are no fishing rights, although it depends in part on past records that I don't have access at the moment.