Images from Murdough Hill Meander and Osgood Hill

Along the wetlands in Munsonville

A mature Red Maple on the Murdough Hill trail

Pitcher Mountain and beyond to Lempster.  We could see the windmills.

Bethan Kendrick's field

Someone lost a shoe.

Spruce Woods understory

One way to collect fern specimens.

3D Jigsaw Puzzle Ledge

Chaise Lounge Boulder

Pin cushion Oak

Ancient Yellow Birch

The quartz question answered and more on yesterday's Spruceful hike

So, after some internet searching I found the answer to the question about quartz and granite and the difference in the apparent temperatures of each one.  Different minerals have different thermal properties.  Granite, or the minerals that make up granite, is more insulating, that is, it doesn't conduct heat well, so when one touches its surface, it feels warmer.  Quartz is actually among the minerals that conduct heat at an average or normal level, but better than granite, so it feels cooler to the touch.  It conducts the heat of one's hand into the rock more readily than granite.  Marble is another stone with strong thermal conductivity so it also feels cool to the touch. Bakers know this and use the thermal conductivity of marble to roll out pie crusts more easily.  Marble rolling pins help to keep the dough more flexible and less sticky.   The interesting phenomenon is that probably all of these rocks have the same surface temperature, but their ability to conduct heat makes them feel warmer or colder to us.

I still haven't found the answer to the question about why moss and lichen grows better on granite than on quartz, but I'm sure it has something to do with some other property of minerals.   More investigation to come.  

Back to the hike report:  Spruce woods are very interesting.  In some places, the understory was thick with spruce seedlings and saplings.  In other places there was little or no understory growth and we could walk easily and search for that elusive antler.   Undoubtedly  this has to do with the relative ages of the spruce in different parts of the forest and with the ability for sunlight to get to the understory.  So, perhaps, where the seedlings and saplings are thick (and, I might add, very difficult to maneuver through), the mature spruce trees are letting more light through to the ground and perhaps some older trees have died and created openings that allow more sunlight, while the younger forest is thicker with the growth nearer to the ground, inhibiting the light from reaching the ground.  In any case, the spruce woods were beautiful in their variety, but the travelling was much easier through the medium age spruce stands.  No antlers were found either way.

We did think that it would be interesting to build a raised walkway through the canopy layer, so that we could walk through the woods and observe wildlife in a very different way.  Maybe the Harris Center can get a grant......

Eventually, we left the spruce woods, after we had connected with the trail up to Blacktop (on land owned by the Town of Nelson), the highest point in the town and second only in elevation in Cheshire County to Mount Monadnock.   We acknowledged where we were and decided that we would return to bushwhacking our way back to Old Stoddard Road.

On the way back, we came upon a rock outcropping that resembled a 3-D puzzle.  We imagined that we could, given the time, figure out which rock in the jumble below the ledge had fallen from which spot in the ledge.   We also thought that it wouldn't be too difficult to predict which section of ledge would fall next.  The rock face had many prominent fissures and a steady flow of water which contributed to the erosion of the ledge.  Actually, in hindsight, I wish that we had thought to mark which section we predicted would fall next and observe over time whether our predictions were correct.   Who knows how long it had taken for the ledge to fall apart to the point which we discovered?  But it would be interesting to see what will happen in the next year, 5 years, etc.

We came upon some impressive specimens of deciduous trees.   One oak had many burls and each burl  had sprouts growing out of it.   More questions: why did the burls in this particular oak foster this unusual sprouting.   The tree resembled a tall pincushion from about 20 feet up all the way to its crown.  In addition to the oak, we also found two large ash, some sizeable red maples, and an old yellow birch, whose roots were so thick as to resemble the rock face over which they grow. Along the way, Al pointed out large pines or spruce, and snags (standing dead trees), that could serve as landmarks as we choose the path to Kulish Ledges and back.

Heading down one steep decline, I heard the distinctive sound of a ruffed grouse taking flight.  I looked back and saw the grouse on the ground behind us and alerted Al.  He caught a glimpse of the grouse as it took flight again and disappeared into the woods.  

At the foot of the ancient yellow birch, Al and I rested for a bit.  We could hear kinglets and chickadees overhead.  We began to make a particular sound that we find will attract these birds, if only to investigate what is making the sound.  It is a rough approximation of bird song, but effective in bringing a few birds closer.  At one point, I looked into the small spruce (yes, spruce again) tree nearby; two kinglets were just feet away.  They didn't stay long, but it was a moment of joy for me!

We followed a stream down the slope.  Along the way, we turned over logs to look for salamanders.  We only found one cold red-backed salamander today.  The salamanders are starting to dig deeper into the ground and under the leaf litter as the weather gets colder. So we may be rewarded with an occasional sighting of a salamander in these late months of the year, but will  have to wait for next spring for more.

The weather this day was perfect for hiking.  We were able to hike comfortably, neither too warm nor too cold through a variety of terrain and woods.  It was not until we reached the relatively level area leading back to the car that I found myself getting too warm, but it was fine.  We were almost finished with a satisfying exploration which had blessed us with  mysteries and discoveries, questions and wonders.

Deer, Grouse, Spruce and More: Sights, Sounds, and Touch

Today's adventure began before sunrise on Old Stoddard Road, just above the Sawmill trailhead.   We headed into the woods right across the street from Peter Reichel's house and came early upon a stream flowing from a sizeable wetland.  Al observed that the beavers had been quite industrious, using stones to build their dam.  Actually, the dam was probably used to control the water flow for the sawmill downstream, but the beavers have kept it in good working order for their own purposes.  

The trail that Al is planning to lay out from Old Stoddard Road to Kulish Ledges will likely follow the shoreline of the wetlands before heading up the hill toward Osgood Hill and the Ledges.    I imagine that  the wetland is an active place in the spring and summer, but this early morning, all was quiet.  

Early on in our hike, we spotted a deer in the woods ahead of us.  The white tail flashed as it disappeared into the woods.   Al led me to a cellar hole which he had found on a exploration a few days ago.  We heard a snort not far away.  "That's deer number 2," said Al.  We heard another snort and some twigs snapping, but couldn't catch sight of the deer.

Soon, we headed up the hill to an area where the view opened up a bit.  We watched the sun rise over the saddle between Holt Hill and the eastern side of Osgood Hill.   Looking northeast, we could see another mountain north and east of Holt Hill, Willard Mountain, perhaps.   A level area to the west offered a view of Pitcher Mountain and the windmills in Lempster.   Further west, we could see the McGovern's house and Bethan Kendrick's field.  Perspective is everything.  I had imagined Kendrick's field west of McGovern's house because the road leading to her house and land is west of the Peery/McGovern driveway off of Old Stoddard Road, but from our vantage point we could see that the  Kendrick's road curved around behind the McGoverns so that the field is to the Northeast of their home.  Interesting!  

We came upon an perplexing stone wall configuration: a short wall, connecting two parallel walls.  What was the purpose of this configuration?  We don't know, but the parallel walls, varying from 30 to  60 feet from each other, offered a nice pathway up the hill.   In fact, there was a trail of sorts, a narrow footpath created by a surveyor at some time.

 At one point, we observe a large quartzite rock in the stone wall and discovered that the rock had little to no lichen or moss growing on it, while the granite rocks around it had fairly rich crops of both moss and lichen.  Why was this?  I surmised that the quartz didn't attract the moss and lichen because its surface is much cooler than the surrounding granite.  Just a guess, but clearly, the quartz, like marble, is much colder to the touch then the granite.  Why is that?   One must investigate the properties of various rocks and minerals and discover the answer.   We decided that a snack would aid in our skills of deduction and had a slice each of the pumpkin loaf cake that I had brought along for just such a purpose (and because we always get hungry!).

I should mention that at this point we were at the edge of a sizeable spruce wood.  Because it looked so inviting, we decided to explore this area.  Since once last year, we found an antler in a spruce wood, we also concluded that if we split up a bit, we might find another antler today.  No such luck, but we still enjoyed the journey.  Some day, we will find another antler.  The deer and moose have to shed them somewhere.  

(To be continued...)

What you can do with a couple of hours

This past Monday, Al couldn't start our hike before 11 and I had to go to an appointment at 2 so we had just a small window of time for our usual hike.   Well, we can make do with what we have.  

We met in the Village and headed into the woods west of Mackenzie's house.   I spied a tree right next to the Mackenzie's house loaded with small oyster mushrooms, but we passed them by to see what we could find further into the woods.   The land west of the Village slopes sharply; we chose to take the "low road", the land at the bottom of the slope and we found two wetlands that we had previously not explored.  Along the way, we found some possible bobcat scat and crossed a number of small streams.

A strange fungus on this beech tree.

What weather event made this oak grow this way?

View from the tree house

Looking down on the first floor deck from the second story of the tree house.

Rick's fabulous creation

 The view of  French's farm from the end of Log Cabin Road.

We followed the contort of the hill, weaving in and around streams and wetlands, parallel to Log Cabin Road.  At one point, Al found a bird feeder in  a patch of woods near Beth Williams and Mike French's house, obviously the work of a bear at some time in the past.  We decided that we would stop by and return the missing bird feeder.  Mike and Beth were home and welcomed us.  Turned out that they hadn't seen the feeder for more than a year and were glad to have it back.   We had a nice visit with them, with a little bit of politics and a lot of offers for coffee.   We resisted their offers in favor of returning to the woods.

Heading up the hill, we came upon a network of trails, apparently for firewood collection.  We found some possible vernal pools, which of course we would like to explore in the spring, if we remember where they are and if we don't have more interesting places to check out.  

Al went one way and I went another and found ourselves coming toward each other from opposite directions.  Quite a maze of trails...I was pretty sure that this was Rick Church's work and when we reached a large tree house, we could see Church's house nearby.  Rick must have had a good time building the tree house, with cables, ladders and a pulley system to bring supplies up to the first and second floor.  The trunk of the tree goes right up the middle of the tree house and the walls are supported and supplemented with the larger branches.  It offered great views and I could imagine camping out on the second story and awaking to observe wildlife on the ground below.  

Our time was almost up.  We hurried back to the Village, after taking a few pictures and enjoying a little snack in the tree house.   All in all, no earth shattering discoveries (though there was an earthquake the next evening, centered near Portland, Maine and felt throughout the Monadnock region), but a nice way to spend a  couple of hours.  

Visiting a very interesting piece of property in Keene

The Monday before my trip to Dallas with Duane to visit my daughter, Andrea and her family, Al Stoops and I visited the Meyers property on Daniels Hill Road in Keene.  The Monadnock Conservancy holds a conservation easement on the property and I have taken on the responsibility to monitor the property once a year.

Al and I arrived early on an overcast morning and I met the landowners, Anne and Delbert Meyers to let them know we would be walking the easement.  It was a fairly easy walk around the boundaries.  The only excitement was the pigs that came to greet us on the southern boundary.   They seemed a little agitated to see us but the stone wall that separated us from them kept them at bay.   Within an hour, we had walked the boundaries and I returned to the Meyers to let them know we had finished.

As I greeted them, I noticed an unusual feature in their home: a "cauldron" or tub built into the structure of the chimney and brick oven fireplace, with a firebox underneath.  I asked Ann and Del to tell me about it.  Turns out that the tub was used to melt wax with bayberries to make bayberry candles.  In addition, the house had another fireplace with a brick oven (or what we used to call a Dutch oven) and a room that went under the structure of the chimney.  I asked Al to come in and see the fireplaces, ovens, and the tub and we began a fascinating visit with Ann and Del about the history of their house.

Turns out that the house was originally located on West Street in Keene and was known as the Cooke House.  A large elm tree, known as the Cooke Elm, sat in front of the house on West Street.  It was so large and stately that the road was diverted around the tree rather than removing the elm.

The Meyers have a huge scrapbook with photos and newspaper clippings detailing the move.  In the 1970s, when the Meyers moved from Ohio and bought the house, the Colony family told them that the house would have to be moved or torn down.  The land was slated for development (a bank now sits on the property where the Cooke House once stood.).

So the Meyers decided to move the house, which had stood since the late 1700s.  The move was a slow and complicated task, as one would expect.  Utility wires had to be moved, traffic diverted, and the house stood at the end of Main Street while the Meyers figured out how to arrange to get the house up Daniels Hill Road to the land where it now sits.

The moving company assured the Meyers that they would be able to get the house up Daniels Hill Road to the planned site, but they found that they couldn't maneuver one corner and had to bring the house back down the hill and regroup.  It was decided that the Meyers would have to build a temporary road through the woods.  It was a precarious trip up the hill, even with the new road.  At one point the house began to teeter and had to be cabled to trees and further re-enforced as it made its slow trip up the hill.

Needless to say, after months of work, the house made it to its final destination and now looks as if it had always been there.   It is beautiful and fascinating both inside and out, and we were honored to meet its intrepid owners, Ann and Del Meyers and hear their amazing story.  

Sometimes, it's more than okay to do less outside exploration and spend more time visiting and learning about the people whose paths we are blessed to cross along the way.