Scene on the Road

Heading north on Route 206 from Hammonton, in the Wharton Forest, a huge turtle on a stick just a few feet from the road catches my eye, where the Mullica River flows into Atsion Lake. Pulling over for some wildlife photography, I see Bill Schmidt in a kayak collecting a stick of his own from the shoreline of what nearly everyone describes as the "root-beer-colored" water of the cedar lake. His wife Marylee paddled up, also in a kayak. From Buena, he, a glassblower, and she, a retail manager, were in middle of their two week vacation staying in one of the cabins at the state park, and had the lake all to themselves (the turtle dipped under the water when I stepped too close). "It's what, twenty minutes from where you live," friends laugh, he says, when he tells them where he's going. Marylee adds that it's a great place to go, "especially before the crowds come after the Fourth of July." Bill also carves wooden birds, that he mounts on the driftwood sticks he collects.

Swimming is only allowed on weekends through June at the park, and after that, every day as long as there are lifeguards on duty. Bill and Marylee will be back, for a second vacation, when it's quiet again, in the fall.









Summer swimming isn't only a saltwater shore thing. If you have photos from Atison Lake's freshwater beach, send them to me as an email attachment at Roadtrip@phillynews.com. I'll post some on the blog.