The Blob! ©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

So we were walking along the shore Kinzua Reservoir, outside of Warren, Pennsylvania, when we saw it.  It was big and icky, just wobbling there, all slimy, slowly drying out on the edge of the water.  Oh my God it’s the Blob!  Gross!

 

But what is it?  Let’s find out.  First off, let’s start by assuming that it’s something natural and not some sort of alien freak, mutant or radioactive monster that wants to eat us all and take over Pittsburgh.  So, with that assumption in mind of few minutes of googling “lake blob”, got me nowhere, unless you wanted to buy a giant bouncy toy for the swimming hole.  Okay, thinking maybe it really is an alien freak, I tried “alien-looking lake blob”, and that brought up a bunch of hits. 

 

Turns out that I was right and it wasn’t an “alien freak”, “mutant brain” or even a “cursed gummy bear”, the large pile of goop I found was a colony of Pectinatella magnifica, a freshwater organism called a bryozoan, originally native to freshwater lakes and ponds throughout much of Eastern North America, from New Brunswick and Ontario, Canada, south to Florida and Mississippi.  The native distribution spans throughout the Great Lakes region east of the Mississippi River.

 

These “alien-looking lake blobs” are really a collection of thousands of tiny, microscopic filter-feeding individual animals, related to corals, called zooids, , a term that refers to a single animal that's part of a larger colonial animal.  The tiny individual organisms are no larger than 4 millimeters wide and float alone for some time before forming colonies consisting of thousands of individual zooids.  Once together in a giant, squishy-looking blob, the colony begins to work together for mutual benefit, with each zooid taking on its own specific role.  Bryozoan Colonies are usually no more than 2-4 inches long or high, but some can be 12 inches or wider.  Colonies grow throughout the summer and reach their largest size in late summer or fall before dying off in the winter.

 

Bryozoans are also called “moss animals” because of their tendency to grow in colonies that resemble moss or, when they form large masses, they can look like yellowish-green, gooey, brain-like blobs.  The yellowish-green color of the colony of bryozoans is caused by the algae living in symbiosis with the bryozoan colony.  Their gelatinous and often complex structure is unlike common lake animals, leading to comparisons with science fiction creatures.  These colonies are filter-feeders, which means they strain tiny organisms from the water to eat.  The individual Pectinatella magnifica zooids have mucous-coated tentacles that trap diatoms, phytoplankton, and other microscopic organisms, where cilia, or tiny hairs lining the tentacles, sweep the food to its mouth.

 

Pectinatella magnifica can reproduce in several ways, they can ‘clone’ themselves by budding, but they can also create eggs and sperm and reproduce sexually.  Like other freshwater bryozoans, they also form hard, round ‘statoblasts’ which function like tiny, seed-like structures having a hard casing that can withstand cold and dry conditions,  This is unique to bryozoans and allows them to endure variable and uncertain conditions of their freshwater environments.  Each statoblast can create a new colony.  Statoblasts are created in the fall, which then scatter widely as the colony decays.  The statoblasts attach to free clumps of algae or debris that sinks to the bottom of the waterbody.  The following spring the statoblasts float back to the surface and germinate.  The summer germination produces quantities of ‘larvae’ that look like miniature blimps and are free-swimming for 2-24 hours.  After that they then settle on a suitable substrate and establish new colonies for summer.

 

Statoblasts are easily transported by water, on animal legs, in the guts of waterfowl, or with introduced fish or aquatic plants, allowing bryozoan colonies to spread.  Also, if a piece of a bryozoan colony breaks off, that piece can continue to grow and will form a new colony.  Bryozoans prefers the still waters of ponds and lakes, where it can join with others of its kind to create a strange, delicate colony.

 

Bryozoans have been on Earth for at least 480 million years.  According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, “These ancient creatures breathe life into freshwater, capturing plankton and cleaning the water as they drift in slow-moving rivers and lakes”.  And the U.S. Geological Survey writes “Pectinatella magnifica can increase water clarity by removing large quantities of suspended material from the water, including diatoms, suspended algae, and inorganic clay/silt.  Over time, the clearer waters may promote algal and macrophytic growth that can restructure the ecosystem”.

 

Other than obvious ‘ick factor’ bryozoans are not dangerous, toxic, venomous, or harmful to people, though they can clog underwater pipes and screens.  In fact these ancient colony creatures are downright useful.   They definitely are not trying to crawl from the lake to eat you whole or drink your blood!  So if you see one stranded on the shore, push it back into the water.

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read “Ten Essentials of Winter Camping ©”, where we will talk about how to camp in the winter wilderness and stay warm and safe.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

Sources

 

Keane, Isabel; “Giant ‘mutant blobs’ found floating through US waterways”, Officials have now worked out what they are”, Independent, August 28, 2025, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mutant-blobs-magnificent-bryozoan-lake-huron-b2816094.html, accessed September 6, 2025

 

Tabor, Roger; “Bryozoan colony closeup”, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, 08/25/2023, https://www.fws.gov/media/bryozoan-colony-closeup, accessed September 6, 2025

 

USGS; “Pectinatella magnifica (Leidy, 1851)”, U.S. Geological Survey, https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/factsheet.aspx?SpeciesID=2335, accessed September 6, 2025

I'll be back ...

I’ll be back... 

I’m off on a summer vacation, and will have new and exciting article ready next Sunday, so stop back then.

Rogers Rock, The Trail©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Robert Rogers made good his escape on March 13, 1758, in the aftermath of the Battle on Snowshoes, climbing up the west slope of Bald Mountain, and making his way to Lake George.  Historian Burt Loescher thought he might have reversed his snowshoes and back-tracked away from the lip of the cliff to send the impression to his pursuers that he had tried to escape down “Roger's Slide”.  However, Robert Rogers, in his journal does not mention how he escaped, saying only that “the Indians closely pursuing us at the same time, took several prisoners”.

 

But can we follow him and walk the path of history?  The answer is yes, and Timothy Dwight, an early traveler to Lake George, historian and artist Gary Zaboly, and the USGS have shown us the path.

 

Today’s Roger’s Rock, which in 1758 was called Bald or Bare Mountain, is the southernmost peak on a chain of three summits, called today Bear, Cook’s and Roger’s Rock, and is separated from its northern brothers by a saddle that runs generally from west to east, connecting the valley of Trout Brook with Lake George.  The western slopes of Bear and Cook’s mountain, opposite and east of the site of the Battle on Snowshoes, would have funneled the retreating rangers and the pursuing French and Native Americans directly to the pass southeast of the battle. 

 

It is likely, as the surviving rangers scattered, that Rogers retreated towards this pass.  The path “Thro’ the Mountain” as Rogers called this pass, is just over a mile long (1.6 km), with Gary Zaboly describing it as “generally gradual ascent of 250 feet [about 75 meters] above the brook’s valley and equally gradual descent to the lake”, ending at Heart’s Bay, on Lake George.  However, the French and Indians, would also have known of this pass through the mountains to the relative safety of the Lake, and would have attempted make an end run around the retreating rangers who were making for the pass,  to ambush there.  The presence of vengeful Native Americans and French forces blocking the path over the pass, could have forced Rogers to turn south to climb up to the peak of Rogers’ Rock.  From the middle of the saddle to the peak of Rogers’ Rock is only another 300 feet (approximately 90 meters), and again according to Zaboly in “most places the climb is gradual”, so an experienced snowshoer like Rogers could have made it the summit. 

 

But how did he get down?  According to Zaboly, there are three possibilities, he could have slid down the 700 feet of eexposed 65^o granite cliff face to the lake below, gone farther south and escaped down the partially treed ridge line extending to the lake, or gone even farther south and escaped down the “narrow and steep valley”, on the southern slope of the mountain.

 

A rod, is an old unit of measure, used during the early 18^th century for surveying, which is 16.5 feet long (5 meters), so thirty to 40 rods, would be between 495 to 660 feet (150 to 250 meters) away from the top of the cliff.  On the map below, if you follow the 1,000 foot contour line, just about 750 feet (228 meters or 45 rods) from the head of the trail shown on the 1894 map to the southwest side of the ridge running into Lake George near Juniper Island, you will find a “narrow and steep” ravine leading away from the summit.  Since Rogers never recorded the truth of how he escaped that night, we will never truly know, but according to Occam’s Razor, the simplest one is often the most likely to be correct and this is the route that Rogers most likely took to escape his pursuers as it is the safest.  It is even possible that he reversed his snowshoes as he made his escape past the cliff edge and down the ravine, to further confuse the vengeful French and Indians hunting him .

 

To follow in his footsteps, there is an easier (and safer way) that will take you past the steep and narrow valley that Rogers used, past the partially treed ridge line, to the cliffside, and a fantastic view of Lake George.

 

Start by travelling to Rogers Rock Campground, which is located at 9894 Lake Shore Dr, Hague, NY, USA.  This is a lovely (and inexpensive campground), with hot showers and flush toilets -- glamping!

 

There are a couple of ways of reaching the head of the trail, you can star at the lakeside or pick up the trail at the rear of campsite 210.

 

The trail is very steep in areas, as you climb the mountain slope, and you will frequently need to scramble up, using your hands and feet, as some of the pitches are close to an angle of 45^o.  It is not a climb that should be made if you are not in good shape or a beginner hiker, and it will take you about an hour to climb up and plan on the same amount of time coming down (it should take you less coming down, but this will allow for emergencies), so start at least three hours before sundown.  REMEMBER to tell someone responsible at your base camp or leave a note on the dash of your car, listing when you are leaving, where you are going, who is with you, and when you will return.  You should also bring emergency supplies in case of situations.  The trail is not marked very well, you must keep a sharp lookout for red or yellow ribbons or spots of paint on the rocks at your feet, particularly in the steep areas.  Going into this hike my wife and I did not have adequate maps, I didn’t find good maps until after we had returned from the Adirondacks (they are at the end of the article), and it is very possible we turned to scramble up the side of the mountain early, when we should have continued to travel along the contours of the slope before climbing up the side of the mountain.

 

It was worth the climb though, the view from overlook was spectacular, and we really enjoyed the hike.

 

So, if you ever find yourself in the Lake George/Ticonderoga area, make time to climb to the top of Rogers Rock and enjoy the view while walking in the footsteps of history. 

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Sources

 

Bearor, Bob; The Battle on Snowshoes, [Heritage Books, Inc., Westminster, MD, 2007]

 

Battle of Rogers Rock Postcard, (Glen Falls Ins. Co), 1910-1920, https://itoldya420.getarchive.net/amp/media/battle-of-rogers-rock-glen-falls-ins-co-cbf468, accessed August 16, 2025

 

Dwight, Timothy; Travels in New-England and New-York: in four volumes, Volume 3, [William Baynes and Sons, London, 1823], page 340,

https://books.google.com/books?id=cUNCAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA340&dq=dwight+%22escaped+down+a+narrow+and+steep+valley%22&hl=en&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwivmaeAiqGPAxV6rokEHR_dHiIQ6AF6BAgHEAM#v=onepage&q=dwight%20%22escaped%20down%20a%20narrow%20and%20steep%20valley%22&f=false, accessed August 23, 2025

The Rogers’ Rock Hotel And Slide, Lake George, N.Y. Post Card, 1905, https://www.tuckdbpostcards.org/items/72819-the-rogers-rock-hotel-and-slide-lake-george-n-y, accessed August 16, 2025

 

Todish, Timothy J.; The Annotated and Illustrated Journals of Major Robert Rogers, [Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY, 2002]

USGS, Ticonderoga 1894,  Scale 1:62500, https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/viewer/#4/38.99/-100.33, accessed August 16, 2025

 

Zaboly, Gary; “The Legend of Rogers’ Slide”, Muzzleloader, Vol. XXVII, No, 4, September/October 2001, page 74-79

Rogers Rock, The Legend©

 

Author’s note -- I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

Have you heard of The Legend of Rogers’ Rock, or Rogers’ Slide, as is sometimes known? 

 

During the “Second Battle on Snowshoes”¹ on March 13, 1758, Robert Rogers and his Rangers ambushed, and were ambushed by, a larger French and Indian force, along todays Trout Brook (then called by the French “Bernetz Riviere”, about 3-½  to 4 miles (between 5.5 and 6.5 km) west of Fort Ticonderoga, or as French called it, “Fort Carillon”. 

 

 

Rogers and his force of 180 men had left Fort Edward and traveled north up the frozen surface of Lake George, known to the French as Lac St. Sacrement, until they had reached the southern slope of what the English called Bald Mountain and the French knew as Mont Pelee, which after the events of March 13^th, 1758, the English would rename as Rogers’ Rock.  Turning west and leaving the lake at this point, they marched along the Native American path called by the French the “Route des Agniers”, or the Mohawk Trail, into the woods along southern and then western slopes of Bald Mountain, making for the valley of Trout Brook and the notch separating Bald Mountain from Cook’s Mountain, a saddle where the daily patrol from Fort Carillon reconnoitered.  Once on the western slopes of Bald Mountain, Rogers sent out a scouting party of three rangers along the slopes of Cook’s Mountain above frozen surface of Trout Brook, the remainder of the Rangers resting before continuing the march.

 

Unknown to Rogers, six French allied Abenakis, returning from a scout to Fort Edward, had discovered the tracks of their ice creepers on the frozen windswept surface of Lake George and had rushed back to Fort Carillon to report to the French.  The commander of the fort immediately sent out a force of just over 300 French Marines, Canadian Milice and allied Indians to confront him.  They quickly advanced south along Trout Brook, the same brook along which Rogers’ main party was advancing north.

 

The three scouts, led by Ensign MacDonald, moved along the slopes of Cook’s Mountain, spotted the advance party of almost 100 allied Indians below them in a clearing, moving south down Trout Brook.  But in their hurry to race back and warn Rogers, they did not see the main party of 200 mixed French, Canadians and Native Americans entering the clearing a few minutes behind the advance party -- it was now about 3:30 pm.

 

By the time the three scouts had returned to the main party, the Rangers had marched about a mile and a half (approximately 2.5 km) further north along Trout Brook, putting them just north of today’s Ticonderoga Country Club.  It was now about 3:45 pm, almost an hour and half before sunset.

 

Rogers quickly ordered his men to leave their packs, face left and advance to the eastern rim of the brook, where they lay in 100 yard long ambush behind trees, logs and rocks.

 

Rogers Journal

-We kept close to the mountain, that the advanced guard might better observe the rivulet, on the ice of which I imagined the enemy would travel if out, as the snow was four feet deep, and very bad travelling on snow shoes

- In this manner we marched a mile and a half, when our advanced guard informed me of the enemy being in their view; and soon after, that they had ascertained their number to be 96 chiefly Indians. We immediately laid down our packs, and prepared for battle, supposing these to be the whole number or main body of the enemy, who were marching on our left up the rivulet, upon the ice, and would come within 15 Rods [about 250 feet, or 75 meters – Author’s Note] of My party by the Course they then Steered

I orderd Ensign [Gregory] McDonald to the command of the advance guard, which, as we faced to the left, made a flanking party to our right. We marched to within a few yards of the bank, which was higher than the ground we occupied; and observing the ground gradually to descend from the bank of the rivulet to the foot of the mountain, we extended our party along the bank for enough to command the whole of the enemies at once

We waited until their front was nearly opposite to our left wing, when I fired a gun, as a signal for a general discharge upon them; whereupon we gave them the first fire, which killed about forty Indians, the rest retreated. My party pursued them & Scalped about forty Indians in about one quarter of an hour

 

The advance force Native Americans was met by the Rangers, who fired first and ambushed them.  Many of the Native Americans fell in the first volley, and the rest fled, quickly chased by many Rogers’ men, while others stayed to finish off the wounded.  The French allied Indians retreated north along Trout Brook, taking further losses, until they met the main body of the French, mostly Marines and Canadian Milice, who alerted by the screams and musket shots, had spread out in a crescent, before advancing down the brook.  

 

The ambushers were now the ambushed and the English were forced to fall back, firing as they went, back to the main party of Rogers’ forces, with a loss of about fifty men.  

 

Rogers Journal

-The remainder I rallied, and drew up in pretty good order, where they fought with such intrepidity and bravery as obliged the enemy to retreat a second time; but we not being in a condition to pursue them, they rallied again, and recovered their ground, and warmly pushed us in front and both wings, while the mountain defended our rear."

 

The Rangers were greatly outnumbered, but fought fiercely to maintaining the high ground advantage, by lengthening their line to keep from being flanked and by slowly retiring under the pressure of the French up the slope Bear Mountain, firing from behind trees, rocks and log and using petite guerre, woods-fighting methods.

 

Rogers Journal

-Lieutenant Phillips informed me that about 200 Indians were going up ye hill on our right to take possession of ye rising ground upon our backs. . . I ordered him with 18 Men to take possession of ye rising Ground before the Enemy, & try to beat them back. Accordingly he went, but I being Suspicious that ye Enemy would go round on our left & take possession of the other part of the hill, I sent Lieutenant [Edward] Crofton with 15 Men to take possession of the ground there and soon after desired Captain Pringle to go with a few men & assist Crofton, which he did with Lt. Roche & 8 Men. But the Enemy pushed So close in the front that the party's were not more than 20 yards apart & oftentimes intermixed with each other.

 

Outnumbered and outflanked on the right, with the French and Indians cutting between his center and surrounding his right flank and with night quickly falling, Rogers ordered his remaining men to scatter.  The Rangers fled the battlefield in groups of just two or three and retreated to their prearranged rendezvous at Friends Point, about 5 miles to the south, where their hand sleighs and additional provisions had been cached.  

 

Rogers Journal

-Upon finding that Phillips & his party was obliged to Surrender, I thought it most prudent for me to retreat & bring off as many of my people as I possibly could. Which I immediately did.

 

Rogers acting in accordance with his own Rules of Ranging, had his men disperse and retreat with each group of two to three men taking a different path the pre-planned rendezvous point.

 

Robert Rogers’ Rule No. X of his "Rules for Ranging Service":

-If the enemy is so superior that you are in danger of being surrounded by them, let the whole body disperse, and every one take a different route to the place of rendezvous appointed for that evening which must every morning be altered and fixed for the evening ensuring, in order to bring the whole party, or as many of them as possible together, after any separation that may happen in the day; but if you should happen to be actually surrounded, form yourselves into a square, or, if in the woods, a circle is best, and, if possible, make a stand till the darkness of night favors your escape.

 

 

The Indians and French, eager for the glory of capturing Robert Rogers, chased him to the edge of a steep cliff face, extending 700 feet (215 meters) from the top of Bald Mountain to the waters of Lake George.  During the chase Rogers threw off his regimental coat, which was later discovered on the battlefield by the French.  In a pocket was found his captain's commission, dated 24 March 1756 and signed by Sir William Shirley.  The French and Indians following him discovered two sets snowshoe prints leading up to the ledge and assumed that Rogers and another ranger had tried to escape by sliding down the smooth, frozen, near vertical, east side of the mountain to the surface of Lake George over 700 feet below.  They assumed that he had fallen and died, and so they gave up the pursuit, and the legend of Rogers’s Slide was born!

 

But Robert Rogers had survived and with his remaining men, reached the rendezvous point by 8:00 pm, before limping back Fort Edward a few days later.  But how did he escape? 

 

Don’t forget to come back next week and read about how Robert Rogers escaped from the summit of the mountain and how to follow his retreat to the top of today’s Rogers Rock, yesterday’s Bald Mountain.

 

I hope that you enjoy learning from this resource!  To help me to continue to provide valuable free content, please consider showing your appreciation by leaving a donation HERE.  Thank you and Happy Trails!

 

I hope that you continue to enjoy The Woodsman’s Journal Online and look for me on YouTube at BandanaMan Productions for other related videos, HERE.  Don’t forget to follow me on both The Woodsman’s Journal Online, HERE, and subscribe to BandanaMan Productions on YouTube.  If you have questions, as always, feel free to leave a comment on either site.  I announce new articles on Facebook at Eric Reynolds, on Instagram at bandanamanaproductions, and on VK at Eric Reynolds, so watch for me.

 

That is all for now, and as always, until next time, Happy Trails!

 

 

Sources

 

Bearor, Bob; The Battle on Snowshoes, [Heritage Books, Inc., Westminster, MD, 2007]

 

Battle of Rogers Rock Postcard, (Glen Falls Ins. Co), 1910-1920, https://itoldya420.getarchive.net/amp/media/battle-of-rogers-rock-glen-falls-ins-co-cbf468, accessed August 16, 2025

 

The Rogers’ Rock Hotel And Slide, Lake George, N.Y. Post Card, 1905, https://www.tuckdbpostcards.org/items/72819-the-rogers-rock-hotel-and-slide-lake-george-n-y, accessed August 16, 2025

 

Todish, Timothy J.; The Annotated and Illustrated Journals of Major Robert Rogers, [Purple Mountain Press, Fleischmanns, NY, 2002]

 

USGS; “Ticonderoga 1894”, https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=2202dc567c61fa316075743dd9492286, accessed August 16, 2025

 

Zaboly, Gary; “The Legend of Rogers’ Slide”, Muzzleloader, Vol. XXVII, No, 4, September/October 2001, page 74-79