MMR "East Peak" 8/6/11

Rock on a Ledge & Pitch Pine

"Moose Mt., Moose Mt., Where for Art Thou Moose Mt.?" (pictures)

Finally getting this report done! Scott and I were undecided on our Saturday hike. The weather was looking unsettled and Sunday looked crappy. We really wanted to climb Garfield and get Scott another peak caught up to me on the 4000 footer list. Also, a couple that are friends of ours was planning there final 48 on Mt. Isolation Saturday. We planned on joining them for a surprise show-up in the morning. Well, the morning came along and the weather report looked worst than the night before. We had done Isolation in the cloud cover before and really didn't want another no-view hike or getting caught in rain showers! So we stayed in our area and headed back to Moose Mountains....again!

Helliborine Orchid

We arrived there mid morning and decided to make another attempt at finding Moose Mountain (the main peak). I found the Helliborine Orchid at the parking lot to get a better picture of it now that I know what it is. At the North trail junction we fixed the trail sign and added a bolt...the other broke as we were screwing it in. A giant millipede had just come out of a hole in the loose sand on the banking. I've only seen one of these guys once before at Pawtuckaway State Park and was excited to see and hold this cool insect!

Phoebes Nable Mt. & Burrows Field

We continued straight where the trail junction goes left to Burrows Farm. We climbed the steep trail up to the height-of-land where the woods begin to open up a bit to some ledge. I went off trail here and explored some of it. Scott followed and we found a great view spot down to Phoebes Nable Mt. and Burrows Field! We could even see the trail sign at the top of the field!

Summit area of East Peak ?

We continued climbing through the ledge with colorful rock and pitch pine trees becoming more numerous. After following some herd paths and climbing through the blueberry bushes we came back out onto the trail/road and soon came out to the semi-open mountain top. I call this Middle peak for lack of knowing a name for it. But Scott found out that Moose Mountains consist of two main peaks set a mile apart. So this could actually be the East/South peak. I don't know exactly. More questions to ask the SPNHF staff on our next visit! We continued to a junction in the road. We went right a little ways to check it out then went back and went in the Westerly direction.

Green Frog

Soon, however the road disappeared and we were not able to make out any trail. We explored various ledges and found no definitive trail or road. The deer and Moose must love it up here. There droppings were everywhere. There were a couple piles of fresh droppings, so there was a Moose nearby no doubt! We grudgingly made our way back to the main road. The humidity was awful and we'd had enough bush-whacking. So we headed back down, making a quick stop at the field.

Mushroom

On the way I caught a cute little green frog, we found a bunch of mushrooms and I caught a dragonfly who hung out on my hand for a ways down the road.We stopped at the North trail junction again. The sign just didn't look right there as the arrows just didn't line up. So we cleared a tree on the other side of the road and attempted to put it on that tree. This proved difficult as it was a very tuff tree and we had to perch ourselves on a rock at an awkward angle. But we got it up, and it looked so much better there! We will keep looking for a through way to Moose Mountain and get a trail up there some day!

Phoebes Nable Mt. 8/4/11

"Off-Roadin' Stroller" (pictures)

On the Summit of Phoebes Nable

Thursday I picked up my sister and her two daughters for a hike up Phoebes Nable at Moose Mountains Reservation in Middleton, NH. Me, Jill, Sarah (5) and Taylor (2months) arrived at the parking lot at noon time. As Jill got the baby ready in the jogging stroller I checked out the grown-in woods road that Scott and I are hoping to build a trail on. Right there was some sort of orchid-like flower growing. According to my research I think it might have been an Helliborine Orchid. It's amazing how many flowers are growing up here!

Sarah holding a Toad

We applied bug spray as the overcast sky's were keeping the mosquito's out and the horsefly's were also on the attack! We made our way up Burrows Farm trail, Sarah asking a hundred questions and announcing every little thing she saw, and every time she would trip on something....kids, LOL! It was neat however to see her curiosity for mushrooms and once she saw me taking pictures of flowers and shrooms she was telling me to take pictures of everything. Guess I'll have to get her a little camera!

Sarah on Phoebes Nable Mt. Trail

At one point she spotted some black-eyed Susan's and yanked one right out of the ground. We explained to her not to pick the flowers. It was very funny to find small shoe prints of another kid in the mud further up the trail, and a black-eyed Susan sitting nearby pulled up. All kids are alike I guess! We got a chuckle out of it. I also got a good laugh when she told me to take a picture of the "yellow flowers". Those being Goldenrod. I told her they were just a weed that make people sneeze. So for the rest of the day she would point them out and say they were "sneeze flowers". Too funny!

Sarah & Jill Climbing the trail

Well, we stopped at the Burrows cemetery for a break then headed up and across the field. From here Jill continued pushing the baby through the alternating terrain. I had to lift the stroller a couple times over rocky, steep sections. Did I mention the baby slept the ENTIRE time! Amazing!! We made the summit just after 1pm and took a nice long lunch break in some shade. Baby Taylor finally awoke and was just staring up to the sky. What was she staring at? There was a huge pine branch over head and she was just captured by it! Oh yes, she's gonna be a nature girl too!I chased a White Admiral Butterfly around for a few minutes much to the amusement of Sarah. Then we walked a little ways into the ledgy area to look for a hawk feather where I had found one before. Instead we found a huge orange mushroom cluster which was just as exciting!

Jill picking some Black Berries

Once we all ate and Taylor finished her bottle we made the trek back down. Along the way I spotted a tiny pink flower that I believe is Showy Tick Trefoil and also found Orange Jewelweed that was passing by. We stopped below the field where we had found a nice patch of wild black berries to snag a few more to eat. They were so good! Further down the trail was this big yellow dragonfly that literally stayed ahead of us and followed us for nearly half a mile. It was pretty neat! We made it back to the parking lot at about 2:15pm. A great hike with my sister and two of her three kiddo's. Maybe we'll have to head to Castle in the Clouds next week. Sarah wants to see some waterfalls! And Jill might have a baby back pack by then to carry Taylor in!

Moose Mountains Trail Sign Work 7/31/11

"Erecting MMR's First Trail Signs!" (pictures)

Refurbished Kiosk Sign

On Thursday 7/29 Scott and I headed back to Concord to finish up the trail signs that were done the previous week. We arrived at the SPNHF head quarters and we got the MMR Kiosk sign completed and worked on the many others. We brought the signs for MMR home and finished those up that night. Friday we drove up to MMR and returned the beautifully refurbished kiosk sign. And boy did it look great!

Snake-skin Plantain

The weekend rolled around and we decided we would head to the White Mountains Sunday to hike a 4000 footer. But by the end of the day we both didn't want to make the drive and we really wanted to get our posts and signs up to MMR and get them up! So excited the next morning we spent a couple hours putting the finishing touches on and getting the tools all together and loaded in the truck. We drove up the road stopping at the re-painted Hall Spring sign to put a larger bolt in it. I took a picture of an interesting plant (Wooly Snake-skin Plantain) that grows there that was flowering. It has neat green leaves with white veins and long slender flowers.

Breaking Ground for the First Post

We continued the drive up to the "Stevens Cemetery Road" and trimmed some branches and put up a "trail" arrow. Then it was up to the Burrows Farm field. We parked and loaded up the sign for Phoebes Nable Mt. trail at a junction below the summit. We made the walk all the way up the hill to find that I had left the long bolts at home and brought the wrong ones up with me! So, bummed out we headed back down. Now it was time for some post hole digging! The new post digger the Forest Society lent us worked great. And thanks to the many years of this field being dug the were little rocks that stood in our way!

First Sign Post

We had the first post and trail signs up really quick! We packed rocks and soil in around the post then decided to build a rock cairn around the post. It was an exciting accomplishment for us and we were thrilled to get the next one in! So we drove down to the river crossing and got the tools out. We noticed a truck parked on the landing up the road and wondered who it was and what they were up to.

Second Sign Post

This area proved to be a little more difficult. It was rocky and needed to be shoveled out. But again, between the two of us we went rather quick and got the post in. Another truck came up the road then and we chatted with the father and son briefly who was out just checking out the trails. Then a couple came down the road who turned out to be land owners of the property just above the field. We were glad to finally meet them and they were very nice and helpful and knowledgeable of the area. After a long chat they took off. We finished off the post with a cairn around it and sat and ate our lunch.

Phoebes Nable Mt. Trail Sign

We then headed back down, made the 15 minute trip home. We decided to grab the long bolts and head back to put the Phoebes Nable Mt. trail sign up. We drove back and parked half-way up the road. We passed by our new signs and admired them with excitement and pride. We crossed the field and began the climb up the hill. We reached a couple hiking halfway up and chatted with them. The lady turned out to be a face book friend and was checking out the property she had been reading so much about. The two maintain a trail on the Ossipee range were eager to offer there help to us should we ever need it. How nice of them to offer! I'm sure we'll be calling on them at some point! We quickly attached the sign to the tree, admired our work and headed back down. Almost back at the truck we smelled an unusual smell. Not a terrible Moose smell but some sort of animal. Perhaps it was a bear! Not sure!

End of the Day

A rewarding day for us, beautiful weather and a job well done :o) We can't wait to get going on the rest of the signs and making more! We really want to find the trail to Moose Mountain and get started on blazing and signing that, then there's the North View trail, South View trail, Bowser Pond trail, Mountain Trail and so much more! We'll be at it for years no doubt! And we are loving every minute of it. Such a beautiful property with so much to offer!

Phoebes Nable Mt. & Burrows Farm 7/24/11

"Crispy With a Chance of Being Stung!" (pictures)

Phoebes Nable Mt.

With another humid day Saturday and the promise of a slightly more comfortable, sunny day for Sunday we opted to work Saturday and hike Sunday. We planned for Garfield but decided to see if we got up early and how we felt. Scott got up at 6am and watched the weather report. The forecast called for morning showers and it didn't look promising outside! I also woke up at 6am, turned the alarm off and rolled back over and was back out in no time! I crawled out of bed at 7:30, woke Scott who was now back in bed also and we dragged ourselves downstairs. We then spent the morning doing yard word and running errands ... so much for hiking, LOL!

Steeplebush

3pm rolled around and simultaneously we both thought about doing a small hike on Moose Mountains Reservation! I've said it once and I'll say it again, as much time as I've spent up there it still hasn't gotten old! There's always something different! So we arrived at the empty parking lot at 3:30pm. We checked the map box to find 3 maps had been taken since Friday! That's about 16 maps total in the 3 weeks I've been printing them off :^) We parked further up the road and began our hike. I wanted to hike to the junction below Phoebes Nable and down to Mountain Road hoping to finally find Moose Mountain!

Dried-up "crispy" blueberry bushes

We passed through the field and checked on the Burrows Cemetery. The Lily's we planted were still blooming despite the obvious burning they had received from the excessive heat we had! The field was lined with flowering Meadowsweet and Steeplebush, there seems to be something different flowering up here every week! We took a left across the field to continue on Burrows Farm Trail and up to the height-of-land at the Phoebes Nable junction. Here the blueberry bushes and trees were notably dried-up, yellow and very crispy!

Dried-up 'summit' brush

We headed on down the other side to the corner. Here I looked my map over and realized just how long Mountain road was as it looped around near the Moose Mountain Summits and back to the field. So I thought we should head back and start out at the field and try and find our way to the mountains from there. As we passed the Phoebes Nable Trail we looked around for a sign of a skid road. By the looks of the satellite maps there is a skid road that possibly connect from the kiosk parking to just above this junction. We walked the woods up to the summit of Phoebes Nable with no luck. Brush was dried-up here too and we headed back down deeper in the woods looking for a road of some kind.

Bouncing Bet (soapwort)

With no luck again we continued through the woods past several ledge outcrops and we came out on Burrows Farm trail below the Phoebes Nable junction. From here we walked back down to the field and up another woods road that connects to the road behind the Burrows Farm site and up past the mountains to Mountain road. After passing the road junction we soon lost the woods road. It was just too overgrown to make out it's route. So we turned back and headed down the other road back out to the Burrows Farm site. Confused yet!? Here there were Bouncing Bet flowers in bloom. Always something new!

Bald-faced Hornet Nest

Just past the large rock I walked in the thicket of plants to take a picture of the apple tree. I looked down next to my left foot to see a hornet nest. Yikes! Glad I didn't step on it!! They turned out to be Bald-faced hornets! The paper nest was the size of one of those mini-basketballs. Careful should you walk off trail in a thicket! That was it. We headed back down and finished our explorations at 4:30pm.

Burrows Cemetery Work, Burrows Farm & North Road 7/14/11

"A busy day at the MMR" (pictures)

Woods Road

I dug up some old fashioned lily's from an overflow garden of ours a few days ago and had them sitting in a 5 gallon pale. After spending two afternoons at the MMR I figured it wouldn't hurt to make another trip and get these lily's planted in front of the Burrows Cemetery. It was lacking color and was in need of some attention now that the overgrowth is all cleared away. So I packed up my truck and headed out. There was a car in the parking lot so I figured I would see another hiker today. I checked the map box to find another map had been taken. I drove up to where the seasonal river crosses the road and parked in my usual spot. The second I stepped out of my truck the horse/deerfly's were on me! Dozens of them ... "quiver". I carried the pale and shovel up the road ... a little heavy but not too bad. I cut across the Stevens Cemetery road stopping to spray myself down with bug spray as the horsefly's were REALLY getting on my nerves!! I climbed the hill and plopped my stuff down in front of the cemetery. I then proceeded to plant a group of lily's at each of the 4 posts.

Burrows Cemetery

It was then I spotted the hiker! She came up the road and asked if I was Jason? Her name rang a bell and turned out she was a facebook friend from the hiking community! We chatted a bit and she asked how to get to Phoebes Nable Mt. I pointed her in the right direction and off she went! The SPNHF sign workshop is this coming week on 7/19&20 and we hope to get some signs in place at the junctions to lessen the confusion! I returned to the cemetery and decided to haul some large stones over to cap off the inner lily's at the entrance. I enjoy landscaping and building rock walls and the stones I brought over fit perfectly together as if they were meant to be! After I got 4 stones down and tucked in I took a break and just relaxed. This is always such a relaxing, quite area. After my break I headed back down to the truck.

Six-spotted Skimmer

I then drove down to the North Road landing and parked. I threw my bag back on and was going to do a walk down to Bowser Pond to inspect my blazing from the previous day. Instead I spotted a beautiful Twelve-spotted Skimmer Dragonfly! I chased this guy around for nearly 10 minutes and he just would not let me get a picture! He finally perched way up on a twig from a tree that was hanging over a banking. I crawled underneath and got a picture of him from below.

Helicopter

At this point I scrapped my hike down to the pond and figured I would save it for when Scott got home from work, perhaps he would like to take a walk. So I picked up the beer cans and other trash lying around and put it in a pile for pick up at another time. I then began to hear voices and a rumbling noise. I thought perhaps it was ATV's but it turned out to be a helicopter passing over head. As I rounded the corner heading back down the voices were a father and his kids coming up the road. Another person who knew who I was! He said he took my last map and I pointed him down Bowser Pond Trail.

Goldenrod Spider

Back at my truck I ran into the lady I met earlier and another woman coming up the road with a young kid. She also knew who I was and was very thankful for the work we have been doing up here. She said she has been hiking the trails for 5 years and was excited to see the work being done and the information and reports online. So many people we've met these past couple weeks, all very happy with the work being done ... makes me all the more excited and determined to keep at it!

Mushroom

When Scott got home he said he was up for a walk. I printed off 5 more maps and off we went. Good thing it's close by for us with all the times I've been up there! We parked at the lot, put the maps in the box and battled the horsefly's along the road. Scott wanted to see the work I'd done at the cemetery so we passed the turn for the pond and headed up towards Burrows Farm. Mushrooms are coming out now much to our excitement! I love taking photo's of shrooms! We passed the lady I had talked to earlier with the child, whom was passed out on her back. Good job mom! It is always so nice to see parents bringing there kids hiking! It's how my parents raised us kids and it is a wonderful thing!

Old Automobile Cab Frame

We arrived at the cemetery and then walked up to the farm site. Scott decided he wanted to do some exploring in the woods and we stumbled upon stone foundations! Awesome! I thought the farm was filled in, but turns out the foundations are hidden in the trees! We looked around at all the old rotted beams and broken bottles and metal. Scott also spotted an old Automobile cab frame back behind the foundations, cool! After our little exploration we headed back down, making a stop at the North Road landing to pick up the pile of trash and we scoured the area and picked up more. Back at the parking lot another car was parked with a man in it. He asked a couple questions then asked if we had passed a guy. Apparently we must have missed him when we were up on North Road. Another map was already taken so I am assuming the guy was doing a quick hike or something. That was it for the day. Hope to get back up there soon to do some more blazing! Nice meeting all of you on the trails!

Burrows Farm 7/11/11

"Bad Bugs, Good Bugs" (pictures)

New Map Box

Scott being sick over this past beautiful weekend we had, we didn't get around to hiking at all. Come Monday morning I was itching for a hike. Scott had bought a mailbox Sunday evening for me to paint and to put my Moose Mountains maps in for the kiosk. So I figured I'd get our "snazzy" looking map box up and take a quick walk up to the Burrows Farm area. There was a truck parked in the lot and I wondered if it was an ATV user or a hiker. I placed the box and drove up the road, parking where the river crosses over the road. I generally just walk the road but if I'm doing any trail work or just checking on things I like to drive up to this point and avoid the long, buggy walk!

Goldenrod Spider

I strapped my little cooler on me, it was all I brought as it was very humid out and I would not be venturing beyond the field. The horse fly's and deer fly's were out in full force. I had about 15 of them all around me...no exaggeration! I enjoyed the wildflowers along the road as always, finally catching a golden rod spider on a black-eyed susan. Good bug, at least to me! They are harmless after all. I also risked my life stopping to take pictures of the wood lily's along the way, getting swarmed and bit by the horse fly's.....BAD bugs! I continued on, stopping at a section where two red squirrels were chasing each other all over the place. Across the road, around the tree, up the tree, down the tree, back across the road, around some more trees, through the shrubs......it was funny to watch and listen too!

Wood Lily

At the field I checked on the Burrows Cemetery, then spotted a hiker with his dog. He was headed across the field for the Burrows Farm Site. I hate to bother people when there out enjoying themselves but I really want to introduce myself to as many people as I can who visit this property. More-or-less to let them know improvements are being made to the trails and to answer questions. Or better yet to find out any information they may have on the property, as I haven't been up here enough yet to hike all the different areas.

Grass

He said to me "you must be Jason?" I was a little surprised that someone knew who I was, LOL! Turns out he found my blog! Good to know I'm reaching people out there! He said he has been up here a lot on his snow mobile but never been here in the summer. He visited Phoebes Nable and is hoping to build up stamina for a Chocorua hike. We talked for a good 10 minutes about the property and other mountains. Very nice to meet you, enjoyed talking with you!

White Admiral Brushfoot

I "dilly-dallied" around the field taking pictures and just enjoying this beautiful spot. There's something about it that is just so peaceful and calm. I chased a butterfly around for a bit but it wouldn't let me shoot a picture of him. I stopped up at the farm site to find a turkey feather lying in the grass! A hawk feather on Phoebes Nable last week and now this! Must be a good omen or something! Heading back down and just leaving the field I spotted another butterfly. A White Admiral who seemed happy to let me take pictures of him. He even landed on my hand and was chilling out, I think I made a friend!! Poor little guy was pretty beat up. He eventually took off and I continued on my way. GOOD little bug!

Aphrodite Fritillary Brushfoot

At the bridge I jumped down to the water to dip my bandanna into and scared a green frog. I annoyed him for a minute or so taking all sorts of pictures. Gotta love us humans! After I cooled down and picked a tick off me...BAD bug, and got back on the road I soon found myself in a wonderland of aphrodite fritillary brushfoot butterfly's! GOOD bugs! They were all over the flowers and I was all over them snapping away at my camera! It was probably the highlight of the day for me! Once I had my fill of pictures I headed back to my truck and finished another lovely visit of Moose Mountains Reservation :) I talked Scott's ear off when he got home from work, guess I was all hyped up and energized! What can I say, I love the outdoors!

Phoebes Nable Mt. 7/7/11

"Just a Quicky" (pictures)

White Admiral Brushfoot

Just an afternoon hike. When Scott got home from work we headed for Moose Mountains. Funny, as much as I've been here it hasn't gotten old yet. There's always something new each time! We parked at the kiosk next to another truck. I left one of my new SPNHF cards on the window in case we didn't run into the person on the trails. As we headed up the now blazed trail/road that we completed July 4th and 5th we were encircled by dozens of deer fly's. As we passed the junction with North View Road we saw a lone hiker coming down the road. We introduced ourselves and turned out he was with the Moose Mountains Regional Greenways! We chatted a bit and answered questions he had about the property.

Hawk Feather

We continued on, spotting a butterfly which let me take a picture of it. We passed the aromatic field of wild strawberries, crossed it and headed up the trail to the summit of Phoebes Nable. I ate a couple of the sweet blueberries that were ripening all over. We explored around the summit checking out some ledges and partial views. Scott spotted a Hawk feather on the ground. A pretty cool find I think! The wing feather is 1.5 ft. long and is missing the tip.

Aphrodite Fritillary Brushfoot

Found another butterfly hovering around and got some pictures of it. After a break on the summit we headed back down. We passed two four wheelers coming up the trail. They said hello as they passed. They weren't abusing the property or anything like that so we didn't bother saying anything (as ATV use is technically not allowed on the property).

Wood Lily

As we got back onto New Portsmouth Road we spotted a couple Wood Lily's! Awesome!! You don't see these beautiful lily's very often! In fact, of all the hiking I do in the lakes region and White Mountains I've only seen one on Sandwich Notch Road. So it was very exciting to see a handful of them here at Moose Mountains! The wild raspberries are also ripening and I tasted one of these as well, and it was yummy! We finished our hike clocking in at about 1.5 hours. There's always an animal or new flower to see here. Keeps things interesting!

Moose Mountains Reservation Trail Blazing 7/4/11

"Moose Mountains First Trail Blaze!" (pictures)

Jason getting ready at the trailhead

After a long and exhausting but beautiful day on Webster and Jackson Saturday, then work on Sunday we canned the Mt. Major firework hike for Sunday night. It was wet and drizzly anyway. We decided to save our energy for trail blazing on Monday. We took our time in the morning getting things done and what-not then packed up a lunch and some snacks and headed down the road to Middleton. We parked and got all our supplies and equipment together and started out at 12:15pm.

The First MMR Trail Blaze!

The first blaze went up a moment later. It was very exciting for us. We always thought about how cool It would be to buy land with a pond and mountain and build hiking trails on it. When we signed up for the SPNHF Land Steward class we never thought we'd get that opportunity. We don't own the land but it's basically a clean slate as far as trail blazing and building! And so many scenic, historic and interesting features too! It's a perfect fit for us!

Scott Clearing some Trees

We battled the horsefly's and mosquito's up New Portsmouth road (Burrows Farm trail), Scott cutting the brush and small trees and I did the blazing. We made a great team! This and most of the trails on this property are woods roads so blazing could be kept to the minimum. Basically we looked for the most prominent trees and stuck to blazing on the corners of the roads and at junctions. As easy as this sounds or even looks on a tree, it actual was pretty tough work in the heat. I think it was around 90 degrees! But at least it wasn't humid.

"SPNHF Blue" Moose Sign

When we finally got to the Burrows Cemetery we were hot and tired and my hands were covered with paint. We sat here and ate our tasty lunch. It was so quite and peaceful. No signs of truck or ATV use. It was such a nice moment together, just the two of us! I removed the moose sign I had on the tree and replaced it with a new "blue" moose that shows up better. Then we continued on.

Nailing up the Blue Moose

Here the actual trail crosses the top of the field. This is an unused spot as most hikers continue straight and take a left farther up. This is actually private property. I'm glad I saw that on the map before we blazed because that is the way I had been going! So we wanted to be sure to blaze this area well! A big pine tree lay in the perfect spot for both directions and so I blazed this tree well! Then we headed across the field and cut and double blazed at the rock pile in the middle. Then at the edge of the woods we cut and double blazed here as well.

Scott Clearing some Brush

This was our stopping point. We'd had enough for one day and were getting tired. Not to mention we had to blaze back in the other direction! So we headed back. Good thing too because as we passed the cemetery we began hearing loud rumbles of thunder and saw black clouds to the North! We decided to chance it and continued to blaze but at a quicker pace! We passed a parked truck on the upper landing at the North Road junction and arrived at our truck with no rainfall, phew! As we packed up the truck we had seen passed by and an older couple waved as they passed. We finished at 3:00pm and were surprised at just how long we were blazing! "3 hours, really?" "That takes longer than you think!" But now that it's done it just has to be easily up-kept! We will keep-at-it with the blazing of trails and mid-July we will be getting some signs made and put up and MMR will be hiker friendly for all to enjoy :)

Phoebe's Nable Mt. 6/28/11

"Always Something New at Moose Mountains!" (pictures)

Moose Sign

After Scott and I spent time at the Burrows Cemetery Monday I hoped to get back on Tuesday to do a small hike and take more pictures of the flowers along the way. It was another beautiful day so I headed out, bringing my Clippers with me. I also brought some metal moose decorations to mark certain points of interest to see how they would look.

Goldenrod Spider

I arrived at the parking lot at 12:45 and began on my way. Horse Fly's were awful today and were driving me crazy as I stopped to take pictures of flowers along the road. I really wasn't paying attention to the daisy's, I mean, you see them all the time pretty much anywhere. But I was on the look out for the Goldenrod Spiders which I call crab spiders. I got lucky and spotted a very large male Goldenrod. You really have to go slow with these guys, they scare very easy. This is easily the largest of these spiders I've ever seen!

The Burrows Field & Phoebes Nable Mt.

Continuing on, I stopped at the cemetery that we cleaned up the day before. I took pictures of all the head stones, something I hadn't done yet. Then I nailed a moose to the tree and continued on up to the top of the field. There was a very pleasant smell filling the air, almost of homemade pie or something. I was trying to figure out what it was, then realized all the wild strawberries were out. A field of strawberries, and boy did it smell wonderful!!

Phoebes Nable Spur Trail

I moved on back into the trees and was startled by a pair of Ruffed Grouse that took off into the woods with their chicks, all the while making their noisy complaint of being disturbed! As I turned onto Phoebes Nable Spur trail I clipped a few branches here and there that were poking out into the trail. It was very warm out and this climb with all the stuff I was carrying was really giving me a work out as it always does!

Tall Corydalis

I arrived at the summit, threw my pack down and had a snack. I nailed a moose to the pine tree and determined I would have to paint these moose's so they show up better. I'll probably go for a bright "SPNHF" green or blue. As I looked around at the overgrown view and around on the summit I suddenly realized all the flowers that graced the summit area. They turned out to be Tall Corydalis or Rock Harlequin. My first time seeing these so I was very excited!

SPNHF

Rested and re-hydrated I made my way back down to the field. Picked 2 ticks off me and headed back down to New Portsmouth Road. I then heard a truck coming up the road. Turned out to be the Forest Society truck with Forester Wendy and her two interns. Great timing. This was the first time I really got to talk about the property with Wendy, who knows the property really well. After about a 15 minute talk they continued on to check things out and I headed back to my truck to head home. The end time was 2:45pm.