Nature Corner
Nature Trail
The Cold River Camp Nature Trail follows the Tea House Path and Conant Path, and has numbered signposts marking points of natural history interest. The trail guide, initially prepared by Bob and Emma Crane in 2015 and updated by Emma in 2025, has a map and detailed descriptions of what you will see along the trail.
· CRC Nature Trail Map and Guide (PNG)
· Nature Trail Plant List (PDF)
New Gardens
A new garden containing all native plants was installed next to the renovated lodge in October 2023. More native plants were also added over the septic system.
· Map (coming soon)
· List of Plants (coming soon)
· Photos (coming soon)
Citizen Science
Citizen science is scientific research conducted with the help of amateurs, a form of crowd sourcing. You can join in a couple of ongoing efforts to document the natural world at Cold River Camp and throughout Evans Notch.
iNaturalist
iNaturalist is a phone app that helps you identify the plants and animals around you while generating data for science and conservation. Hundreds of species have already been documented in and around camp using iNaturalist. What can you add to the list?
Download the app at inaturalist.org
Tips
· Turn off “Automatic upload” (under Settings) when you’re in places with poor cell reception (like camp) and wait to upload your observations until you can do it over wifi
· If you put your phone in airplane mode (to deal with cell reception), make sure to turn off airplane mode temporarily while capturing observations for iNaturalist so that you can get the location automatically.
eBird
For birders, eBird is an app for recording the birds you see on a trip. There is an app, or you can record your sightings on your computer after the fact.
More information at ebird.org
For help with identifying birds by ear, try the Merlin app.
Birds in Camp
Peter Norton has been keeping lists of birds that he has seen and heard in AMC Cold River Camp since the early 1990s. Most of the data comes from eBird lists recorded since 2004, usually several lists each week when he visits camp during late June/early July, plus some brief visits in May, August or October. Using this data he has made a list of birds in camp (including photos), highlighting which birds are known to nest in camp, and which birds are trending to appear more or less frequently.
Peter Norton’s Cold River Camp Bird List
CRC Bird List 2002 (PDF, update in progress)