Mondays in the Nelson Wilds: The Land Between

Since our latest exploration on Monday last, I have had very little time to write an account, but I will do my best now to get it together. We chose a very small area to explore on this day: a triangular piece of land bordered by Center Pond Road, Henderson Road, the Nelson Road, with the apex of the triangle the Nelson Common. We parked by the access road to Center Pond and headed into the woods just east of Buzz Laughlin's house. Almost immediately, we found tracks of an otter. We also found mink tracks, turkey, bobcat, coyote, and probably dog. We followed the bobcat tracks up to the fence at the edge of the field bordering the French's field. Along the way, we found some very large sugar maple snags, i.e., standing dead trees. In their prime these trees must have been impressive. One snag was completely hollow, but the only way we could have gotten into it was from the top of the remaining trunk, which was about 15 up.

A little further on, we found another large hollow snag, this time with an opening which I squeezed through to stand inside the once magnificent tree. The inside was a mosiac of black crumbling matter, where the tree's inner layers were in the process of being consumed by fungus and insects. I could break off pieces of this substance and crumble it in my hands. I tore off one piece and discovered a bright red beetle. I carefully took it out to show Al and we were able to get some fine photos of this interesting creature.

With some effort and very little grace, I was able to extricate myself from the maple snag and we were back

on the trail of the bobcat. We found ourselves behind Carol Heath's house next and decided to head down the hill to some wetland areas we had observed from the road. We found an impressive otter slide which we followed down to the stream that flows along the Nelson Road. At the stream the otter tracks were joined by mink tracks, more bobcat tracks, as well as occasional squirrel, porcupine, and raccoon tracks.

We followed the stream and the tracks down the hill behind the Battenelli house and to a beaver lodge and dam. It didn't look particularly active at the time, but we believe that the beavers had been there at least at the beginning of the winter. There was a large stash of branches in the water in front of the lodge and we could find evidence of freshly chewed trees.

Finding a dry patch of land on the downstream side of the dam, we decided to take our customary snack break. It was the usual fare: cookies, clementines, baked potato, and cheese. Always satisfying, so why change what works? After a short rest during which we lamented the lack of sunshine to warm our faces, we decided to get moving again.

Next route to the southwest toward Henderson Road, mostly because we were a little confused about which road was which and we wanted to confirm what we thought was Henderson Road. We were right: we came out just below the driveway to the house which the Joneses, then Allison Aldrich owned for a time.

I had hoped that we wouldn't run into our own snowshoe tracks on the way back toward the car, but on a small parcel of land, it is hard to do. Eventually, we crossed our previous tracks and headed up "Henway Brook" which is the outlet for Center Pond.

This day we also counted tree species and again found about 13 species. We were still missing hop horn beam, spruce, and perhaps more, but Al helped me identify many shrubs and I was grateful for the way he tests me. Even though we hadn't gone far, we had found many tracks and other interesting flora as well as evidence of the passing of myriad forest dwellers. It was a good hike and we were amazed at how abundant and varied the tracks were on this day.