Marsh Boardwalk Trail

Dogs No Dogs

Features Birding · Fall Colors · Geological Significance · River/Creek · Views · Wildlife

Entrance fee: $6 per vehicle. Military members and veterans receive free admission.

The trail originates on bluff near the trailhead of the the Otter Point Trail. The wood-planked path slopes gradually downhill to meet the boardwalk and continues north along the banks of the Upper Glebe Marsh. There is a bench provided on the east side of the boardwalk about the midway point. Around 0.2-mile, you turn east as the boardwalk ends and head up along the unpaved, white-blazed trail terminating near the Wetlands Center.

Jug Bay hosts more than 250 different birds species--including the Sora Rail (Porzana carolina). Eastern Box Turtle, Northern Red-Bellied Cooter (Pseudemys rubriventris).

Cattail, Common Winterberry (Ilex verticillata), Crimson Centered Rose Mallow, Water Hemlock (which is poisonous to humans in small amounts), Green Arrow Arum (Peltandra virginica), Spatterdock or Yellow Pond-lily (Nuphar advena), Tearthumb (Persicaria), Red Chokeberry (Aronia arbutifolia), Spring Beauty, (Claytonia virginica), Wild rice (Zizania aquatica). The wild rice--once dominant but a food source for resident Canada geese--is slowly being returned to prominence by the sanctuary staff.