MMR Bowser Pond 8/12/11

"Searching the Woods for a Direct Route to Bowser Pond" (Pictures)

Mushrooms

It was such a beautiful day Friday I just couldn't sit inside all day! I was up unusually early and so after hanging around home in my office and sipping on my coffee I decided to head to Moose Mountains again and work on finding a route from near the kiosk to attach to the Bowser Pond Trail. I arrived at around 11:15am. I decided to head down the banking to the river and follow it up to find the best crossing, keeping in mind the higher water and run-off streams in the Spring. All sorts of mushrooms were found along the river and I was obliged to take their picture!

Amphibian Trap

A little ways up the river I came to a beaver dam and a small pool where Moose tracks indicated that one was here getting a drink of water. So I dubbed this Moose Pool. A short ways further upstream I came to an unusual contraption in the water. Upon closer inspection this is what I found. Four separate clumps of leaves wrapped in netting, held down in the water by a rock which was tied off to a pink nylon string to a tree. Interesting to say the least. All I could think of was it was some sort of salamander/newt trap or a water mineral test of some kind. After e-mailing the Forest Society about it they said it looked like a salamander/larvae trap. This made sense! If the person who put these here is reading this, just please contact us as we would appreciate you completing a educational/scientific form and we would love to see your results/findings :)

Mushroom

Shortly further upstream I found my crossing point. There is a small clearing here and a banking that climbs through some trees to an overgrown skid road. I taped the trees with pink tape up to the main trail/road. Along the way I found an orange mushroom that was glowing in the sunlight, it was amazing! This small starting point taped off it was now time to head through the woods onto the road. This is were I get a little skittish. I am fine solo hiking on trails and familiar mountains. But the idea of Moose and Bear that are plentiful on this property and me squeezing my way through dense forest and old skid roads (which are probably used as herd paths by these animals), makes me a little unsettled and jumpy. I know these animals are more scared of humans than we are of them and the chance of a bear attack is like zero, I still am very cautious and try to be as loud as I can!

Dragonfly

So, I took a right on this road and followed it. Dragonfly's seem to love these semi-open old roads and I was chasing them around from tree branch to tree branch! A ways down the road became very overgrown with young pine trees. Then it abruptly ended. Dang! I found some animal bones in a pile here and I got a little squeamish! I believe I was right near the spot where I found a dead moose and I wondered why I was finding more bones. I followed the bones through the woods and came to the spine and jaw sitting next to each other. 30 feet away was the spot where I had found the dead moose and it was not there. So something dragged it through the woods and I guess was picking off what little, if any meat that was still on the bones. This freaked me out! Just then a very loud knocking made me jump and nearly have a heart-attack! I remember hearing this before and I believe it is a tree blowing in the wind. At any rate this particular spot gives me the creeps every time I'm here. It feels haunted and cursed or something. So I bolted outta there and across the river to the kiosk!

Mushroom

Safe and sound back at my truck I took a break and cleared my head. I wasn't giving up just yet. I walked up the road (Burrows Farm Trail) and followed my pink tape back up to the river. I then spotted a mushroom. It was nearly half-a-foot tall and in perfect condition! Nice! I continued on to the skid road. I went left this time and almost immediately came out onto Piper Mt. trail/road where it takes a sharp left and goes uphill. I new this spot was close to Burrows Farm trail but didn't realize it was THAT close! At this point I decided to just head down this trail to Bowser Pond and check things out down there. If I felt like it I could continue my woods exploration from above and maybe it would be easier to find my way down to the river.

Pickerellweed

I arrived at the Bowser Pond trail and headed down the banking where I had blazed a side path. I hung out on the pond shore and took some pictures and looked for birds or maybe a moose across the other side. All was quite...very quite! I made my way along the shoreline, stopping at various open areas where there were small rocks to sit on. The Pickerellweed was in full bloom and was very pretty up close. I am always surprised to not find any frogs or turtles laying in the sun on the logs over here. Perhaps they are in the pond, but I've yet to see any. I did find one little lonely frog on a rock though.

Bowser Pond

I found the duck decoy thingy Scott and I had spotted on our first visit here and I was going to take it with me and get rid of it. But I didn't want to carry it and didn't feel like it was doing any harm, so I placed it back in the water. I also spotted another out in the water along the marsh section. Bee's were busy collecting pollen from them and dragonfly's were whizzing by skimming the water. Such a beautiful relaxing area! I made my way to the Southern end of the pond where there is a small clearing which I believe is part of the pond floor when the water is high. This is a beautiful spot! Across the pond you can look up to MMR's East peaks and there are tons of dragonfly's.

Sundew

I hung out here for a while before heading out. Just then I spotted this small, weird looking plant on a log at the shoreline. It was so weird looking! There were hair-like tendrils that came out from a succulent leaf that appeared to have drops of water on the tips of them. Very awesome! I did some research when I got home, Scott helping by saying it looked like a fly catcher. He was almost right! It is a Sundew. The droplets of water are actually a gluey substance it secretes to capture insects. One of New England's Carnivorous plants. What a great find! Very excited now, I headed up the road and back onto SPNHF property and Bowser Pond trail. I came to the top of the hill where I was hoping to bring the Bowser Pond trail into the woods.

Boulder

I explored this area and actually found a herd path about 100 feet to yet another overgrown skid road. Perfect! I followed this shortly to the top of a steep drop over the banking. The woods here were open and the ridge was covered with boulders! I followed alongside the banking down to a gully of sorts and up to a good sized boulder on the top of a hill. What a great trail side feature! This route is great! The banking here was much less steep and provided the perfect spot for the trail to ascend/descend easily. So down I went and back into the trees. I reached the young Pine trees, which I now know is part of the old skid road I was on before. I found the road and was unsure if this is exactly where I wanted my trail to go.

Boulder Field

Tired, hot and happy with my findings I called it a day. I just have to connect the dots now and find the best trail in the middle section. Then I can begin trimming and blazing! Should be pretty straight forward. Most of the trail will follow old skid roads! I plan on having this trail finished by the end of August! I can't wait! A direct route from Burrows Farm trail to Bowser Pond Trail will provide an easier hike to this beautiful spot and will provide a nice loop option using Piper Mt. trail :) Once this is complete I will be searching the woods off of North Trail to find the ledge that overlooks Bowser Pond!!

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!

Bowser Pond Trail Work 7/27/11

"A Dead Moose and a Beautiful Pond" (pictures)

Dead Moose

I headed out this beautiful day to Moose Mountains to do some trail work. I set my sights for Bowser Pond. Previously I trimmed back the trees taking over this woods road from Piper Mt. Road and 200 feet in. From here I blazed a small trail down the banking to the pond side which looks across the water towards Piper Mt. Today I wanted to scout out a potential through-way from the kiosk to the lower portion of the road so that I could make a more direct hiking trail to the pond and a possible loop option. So from the parking lot I hiked up Burrows Farm trail a hundred feet and took a right into the woods. I crossed the river over a barb wire fence and followed the waters edge South. At one point I passed by a decayed small moose skeleton. It still smelled horrible and was not a pleasant thing to find!

Bowser Pond

Past this I entered a little deeper into the woods and followed a young, thick pine glade. Soon I came onto the woods road. I followed a yellow dragonfly around until I got a couple pictures of it and I headed uphill and at the fork I decided to take a right which crosses onto non-SPNHF property. The road arrives at the South end of the pond and a beautiful view across the water up to a South facing ledge and the East peaks. I must find that ledge and build a trail to it! A blue heron flew over head and circled the pond. Then he quickly vanished back over the trees. Guess I was in his spot or he didn't want to see me! I took some picks and headed back up to the main road.

Bowser Pond Trail

I hiked down the junction with Piper Mt. Trail and began trimming branches. This section was already done once but Scott said it needed to be trimmed a little more. I worked my way down the road, at one point hearing a large animal walking through the woods. Being alone and so close to the largest body of water in 2,000 acres I was already nervous of Bear and Moose! So, startled I yelled out "hey" and began to make a lot of noise. Silence was all I heard in return! I then pulled my keys out and hooked them to my backpack strap so they would jingle and make some extra noise.

Old Row Boat

Back to work I continued cutting, noticing an old row boat in the woods near the fork in the road. I worked my way all the way back to the top of the hill and explored this spot as a possible trail entrance for a straight shot back down to the parking lot. There was thick young pine here as below so I decided to wait on this until I had Scott with me. So I walked down the road, down the hill and came out at it's end on New Portsmouth Rd. next to an old home. Tired and hot I called it a day and headed home. I hope to finish cutting this trail and blazing it by the end of August!

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.

Bowser Pond 7/18/11

"A weekday walk-around" (pictures)

Just a quick walk today. I printed 2 maps to put in the mailbox. All five were gone after only 4 days! So I guess I'll have to print more off! We hiked up to the Burrows Cemetery to check on the lily's. A couple had flowered and it looked nice! Then we headed back down and up North Trail, took a right onto Piper Mt. Trail. We checked out Bowser Pond then continued down Piper Mt. trail as we hadn't been down past this point.

On the left was a grown-in skid road. Scott wanted to check it out so we climbed the hill for a pretty good view across to the pond. We then snaked our way through the various grown-in roads to arrive back onto Piper Mt. Trail at the top of the hill. We made the walk back to the truck and called it a day.

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!

Piper Mountain Trail & Bowser Pond Trail Blazing 7/13/11

"Two Hours of Time, One Mile of Yellow" (pictures)

Landing at North/Piper Mt. Roads

After two days of humid weather it was a rather nice day Wednesday ... hot, but a nice breeze blowing. So I decided to head back to Moose Mountains Reservation to work on some more trail blazing. I decided on blazing the Piper Mt. Trail to Bowser Pond. I drove up past the kiosk, checked the new map box to find 2 more maps had been taken! Guess I better print some more up! I continued driving taking a right at the North Road junction and parking at the landing where Piper Trail enters on the right. After some thought on the trail names on the property I am thinking this trail should be called Piper Link Trail as it doesn't actually climb the mountain, rather it links over to Piper Mt. Road.

First Piper Mt. Trail Blaze

Anyhow I clipped some trees leaning over in front of the snow mobile trail information signage and began my first blaze at about 12:45pm. The sun was hot but the breeze kept things mostly comfortable. I was thinking about the SPNHF crew on Mt. Monadnock doing trail work the past few days in the horrible heat! I would have liked to join them but the drive is way to long, especially having to head right to work when I got back. Besides, I have plenty to still do here!

Calico Pennant

After finishing the first two blazes at the entrance point I noticed a dragonfly landing here-and-there on the tops of dried up flower stems. It was so beautiful! I kept trying to get close so I could get a macro shot of it but it just wouldn't sit still. I chased this guy (and it is red, so literally a guy!) around for 5 minutes thinking I was supposed to be blazing trails, not chasing bugs around with my camera! The dragonfly then hovered and circled around my head several times as if to say, "get lost! This is my territory!" My patience finally paid off though and I got a beautiful shot of this Calico Pennant :)

Moose Marker & Blaze

Then it was down the road spotting ahead for a good tree, cutting the brush back, and slapping on a blaze. This continued until I reached the banking high above Bowser Pond. From here there is a grown-in woods road on the right. I cut the overgrowth back just enough for a visible trail and continued my blazes about 100 feet. Here there is somewhat of a clearing down the banking to the pond that Scott and I had found before. I built a small cairn here with nearby rocks and decided to put my "Blue Moose Marker" here.

Bowser Pond

Then I trimmed the trees and blazed down to the waters edge. I was a little disappointed to not see any herons or ducks. Probably not a good time of day for them and perhaps the noise scared them away! The pond is pretty just-the-same with a few dots of yellow water lily buds on top of the water. I also spotted a couple turtles sun bathing on some logs further up along the shore.  I stood here for a few minutes relaxing and scanning the pond. I watched as half-a-dozen swallows catching bugs swooped over the water. Then I climbed the banking, clearing the rotted logs and what-not from the foot path.

Indian Pipe

Indian Pipe is coming up and blooming right now, so I had to take a picture of one. It was so cute there next to the trail. And they are my mothers favorite. My mission half complete it was now time to blaze back to my starting position! It was getting hotter out and I was already getting a little exhausted, sticky and hot. And it was nearly all uphill going back. I spotted a very bright yellow Clouded Sulpher Butterfly and really wanted a picture of it! It was very quick and would not sit still for more than a second. It kept making it's way back down the trail. I was getting tired and was not about to go back the other way, so I gave up on this one. Better luck next time! I ended my day at 2:45. I have been surprised at just how long such a simple looking task can take ... A total of 1 mile of trail blazing in 2 hours! It is very rewarding and exciting though to be putting the first blazes on this property!

Updated MAP 7/13/11

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!