Phoebes Nable/Beauty Ledge 5/20/12

"Making our Rounds" (pictures)

After nearly a month of now hiking beyond the Burrows Field and nearly 2 months since we had been on Beauty Ledge, we really wanted to get back up to our new trails and see how they were wearing and what work they might need especially after all the rain we had been getting. It was going to be a very hot/humid day so we got an early start, but by half-way through the hike it was getting sticky out there!

We began our hike from the parking lot on Phoebes Nable Mt. trail. The first section was showing a nice tread-way. The arrow at the woods road pointing left had been twisted to point to the right. Not sure what smart-allec did this but it didn't impress us! Continuing on we noticed as you climb the hill to join the next road it was rather wet. This would certainly be an area needing some work. Other than that some minor clipping and raking is all that is needed. And will probably need to use a sickle to help keep a defined path along the woods roads. We took a small break at the summit. The Rock Harlequin had flowered early and the flowers were all but passed.

Heading back down we crossed the stepping stones we had set up over a wet area and onto the Burrows Field. The apple trees we had pruned were looking great! We replaced the old flag in the Burrows Cemetery then we continued down the road and up North trail. We stopped at a culvert to see if the frog eggs had hatched yet. Nope, still there. You could see the little tadpoles in the egg sacs, soon they will be swimming around and growing into little frogs :) Onward we arrived at Beauty Ledge trail where we cleaned out some ferns and what-not from the trail entrance. Then we began the steep hike! The trail was looking great! No wash out anywhere, and it was easy to walk on and follow.

Up near the boulder field below the ledges Scott went to pick up what he thought was a stick. Turned out to be a ring-neck snake! As if he isn't petrified of snakes as it is, LOL! I was pretty excited. I have never seen anything other than a garter snake and thought this was a black racer. I pulled him out of the leaves and barely got a pic of it before it slithered under the brush out of sight. At the ledgy area after the final steep climb and at the ledge more Rock Harlequin was flowering. These were in a little better shape and I was able to get some pictures in. I also noticed a spider web on some blades of grass where hundreds of tiny spiders had just hatched.

Up on the ledge we sat for a while and took in the view and the quietness of this wonderful spot! We headed back down via Beauty Knob trail where again the trail was looking excellent. We passed a porcupine over by the "sand" area. Also back on North trail we found another, larger porcupine. That was about it. Always a fun hike and there is so many plants and animals to see!