Moose Pond 11/6/11

"A Serine, Mountain Top Pond" (pictures)
Report Coming Soon :)

MMR Burrows Field 10/30/11

"The October Snow Storm!" (pictures)

It was one for the record books! Snow accumulations all over the state of 4, 8, 12, even 24 inches of snow! Sunday after the storm had passed we decided to take a walk at Moose Mountains and check the scene. When we arrived a vehicle/s had driven through the snow bank. We parked in the snow filled lot, about 10 inches of snow had fallen in this area! We then walked up the truck tracks rather thankful not having to trudge through the snow! The bright foliage against the snow was awesome! The weather was nice and the crisp air woke us up quick!

Up the trail Scott spotted a large hornet hive hanging from a tree just off trail past the Hall Spring. Funny how this nest so close to the road was not visible during the summer! We continued across the bridge and up the hill. We got to the road junction where the Burrows property is located on the left. We figured that was who the tire tracks belonged to as they have a hunting camp there. It was past this we wished we had brought our snow shoes. No more tire tracks to follow!

We passed the trail junction sign, the new orange posts we installed a few days earlier showing up awesome against the white snow as hoped. We then made the climb up to the Burrows Field. The wind picked up here a bit as we trudged through the deep snow. Up at the sign post we took pics and took in the contrasting colorful foliage, white snow and blue sky. Beautiful! From here we headed back down taking the Burrows road as a short cut!

Marking the Sign Posts for Winter 10/25/11

"Orange Sticks, in Case of Snow" (pictures)

Wendy (Forester SPNHF) had mentioned to us that our sign posts should be marked with some sort of marker just in case the winter snow accumulated enough to cover the signs. The problem being that they are right along snow mobile trails. So we need to make sure they are visible so as not to get damaged by snow mobiles or groomers and of course we don't want anyone hurt hitting one of these posts! So I spray painted some wood poles with Fluorescent orange and affixed some reflectors to them. We screwed these into the sign posts so that they rise about 4 feet above them. Hopefully this works out fine and should show up really good against white snow! Bring on the winter....well, not yet!

We first drove up to the Piper Mt. trail junction sign and got the first pole in. We picked up beer cans up here...a never ending battle unfortunately. Then we drove up and parked on Burrows Farm trail. Along the way up Burrows Farm trail we ran into a hiker. We small talked and he mentioned that him and a lady were taking pics of a porcupine in an apple tree up at the field. Cool! We got the 2nd pole in and headed for the field. We found the porcupine still in the tree just below the old farm site. This is the 3rd porcupine I have seen on this property, or possibly the 2nd sighting of the same one! We took some pics of this cute guy who apparently just wanted to snack on some apples and probably wasn't expecting all this unwanted attention!

We made our way up to the Burrows Field sign post and got our last post up. I got some foliage pictures that I had been wanting from this area and we headed down. Always something up here to keep you coming back for more! Such a beautiful, wild property that has really captured my soul!

SPNHF Moose Mountain Hike 10/22/11

"A one-of-a-kind Pitch Pine Community" (pictures)

Since Scott and I became volunteer land stewards for Moose Mountains Reservation in Middleton, NH we had only made the steep hike up to the pitch pine forest a couple times. We were spending all of our time on the lower trails and getting them blazed and trimmed first. And so, this Forest Society field trip sparked my interest and I had hoped to learn about it, including why exactly it is considered "one-of-a-kind in NH"! We hadn't been up to this area from the old Ski area yet and that is where the trip began.

There was a large turn-out! I was rather surprised to see two dozen people bundled up in the windy, overcast morning ready to do some exploring. This trip was led by Forest Society's Mike Speltz along with some staff from Moose Mountains Regional Greenway's whom have worked closely with SPNHF on Moose Mountains. Today we would be viewing acreage that flanks the ski area and continues above it along the pitch pine hill tops covering several summit areas.

The purpose; to get public support for the purchase/easement of this property which would add 500 acres to Moose Mountains Reservation's which already sits at 2300! This would also permanently protect this rare pitch pine community. *Picture to left: The proposed property is in RED. It flanks the Moose Mountain Recreation area and includes all of the property from half-way up the old ski lift and up to the Moose Mountains Reservation property. The trails we used are marked in YELLOW

The trip began at 10am. As the land stewards for MMR we wanted to join this trip so we could help out in any way we could and so we could lend any knowledge we had obtained of the property in our short 5 months of exploring it. We set out for the left side of the ski area (Moose Mountain Recreation) and headed up an old skid road which I believe was also a ski trail when it was in operation. Mike took the lead while we kept the rear of the group with an MMRG lady (whose name I can't recall...sorry!) The hike was steep as it climbed nearly 800 feet in about a mile! Along the way Mike introduced us to the group and let them know some of what we do and to chat with us if they wanted to learn more. He also talked about the different hardwood and pine tree's as we got more and more glances of colorful views as we climbed.

When we arrived at the flat area at the top of the ski area we gathered around the old ski lift and looked out at the wonderful view of foliage. Wentworth and Kingswood lakes were in view. We could also see Chocorua, which seemed to be hogging the sunlight all day as it's rocky summit and ledgy ridges glowed against the cloudy sky's. To the left the Sandwich range was in view as well as the Ossipee range. To the right, Carter notch was barely visible.

After a short break we continued the hike over more easier elevation and finally emerged into the "rocky-ridge pitch pine forest". The bright red and orange blueberry bushes were a sharp contrast to the gray ledge and scruffy barked green pines. Mike stopped to tell us about this area. Namely that the pitch pine should not be growing here. It is one-of-a-kind in NH that a pitch pine forest of this size is growing at such relatively low elevation.

At the 3 way intersection at the height-of-land we went right and followed the road to a flat shelf-like ledge. Scott and I had been in this area before! Mike led a bush-whack down further and onto another ledge area. Here we stopped and had our lunch. Mike talked more about the forest we were in and we enjoyed some laughs and small talk. Once lunch was done I asked if Mike new there was a road just through the woods that leads down to the South side into the reservation. There is more pitch pine and a nice view not far that I wanted the group to see. He told us to lead the way!

We made a short whack to the road and out into a ledgy area with partial views. I informed the group that the road we were on connects down to the reservation and let everyone know about my MMR blog in hopes to get more people interested and hiking in the reservation. After some talking and photo shots we headed up the road. Back at the three way intersection the group stopped ahead. I figured Mike new where he was going or at least recognized this junction but he began to head left. He looked down at us and I signaled right. We all got a good laugh out of it!

The trip down was a bit tricky with the steep, loose and wet rock but we descended quickly. Back at the ski lift Mike decided we'd try the other ski trail on the opposite side of the ski area. And so we descended down the steep trail. We had two guys (from what I saw) slip on the way down, but nothing major. We all arrived back down at the parking lot from what was an enjoyable hike and not to bad of a day for weather. Could have been better, but could have been worse too. At least we had some views and it didn't rain! And we got to talk with friends we had already met at MMR and got to talk with others interested in what a volunteer land steward does.

MMR Burrows Farm 8/30/11

"Cleaning Up From Irene" (pictures)

We did a quick walk of Moose Mountains Reservation's Burrows Farm trail Tuesday to see if there was any trail/road damage or trees to remove from Tropical Storm Irene. Power was out all the way through and there was extensive damage to the log home that sits just before the MMR Kiosk. A large tree landed in front of the house taking out the front porch and damaging the front face of the home. Yikes! We cleared some small branches from the start of the road/trail and continued driving up the road. We stopped now and then to clear small branches and such and moved on. We passed the North trail junction and up the hill where we found a large section of tree across the road. Scott began to clip the branches off of it as I tempted to axe the top section off. Once this was done we rolled it into the drainage ditch until it can be cut with a chainsaw and moved easier.

We parked at the river crossing and continued the "limb hunt" on foot. The road looked pretty good on this section. Some minor wash-out here-and-there. Just before the Moose Mountain trail junction a porcupine ran across the road 10 feet in front of us! It took us by surprise! He found the closest tree and climbed it, stopping every 10 feet to look at us as I snapped pictures as quick as I could! We continued on to the field and had to head back down to eat a quick dinner before heading off to work!

Bowser Pond 8/17/11

"More Scouting for a Bowser Pond Route" (pictures)

Trip Report Coming Soon!

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!!