Dancing on the mountain

Last Sunday Dianne Eno and Fusion Danceworks performed their 25th Anniversary Celebration of Dance on the summit of Mount Monadnock.  The preceding week was miserable--rain, fog, damp, clouds, dark. The dance was postponed from Saturday because of the threat of rain.

As we drove to the mountain, we saw that the summit was covered by clouds.  Rain wasn't in the forecast, though, so we weren't too worried about it.  We parked at the headquarters and fought our way through the black flies along the White Dot trail almost to tree line.  With my extra camera gear and both a mid-weight jacket and a rain jacket, I was definitely slow on the uphill sections (which, of course, is virtually the whole trail). The two boys left the two adults in the dust--er, mist. We had some nice views over the countryside, just about until we got to the treeline which is where the cloud cover was hovering.

At the top, the performance had just gotten underway maybe 10 minutes earlier.  We expected to be much later, as we didn't get on the road anywhere close to the time we planned, and the hike went a little slower too, but there had been some technical issues with the sound equipment and the attempts to fix it meant we missed less than we otherwise would have.  In the end, the sound system was inoperable, so virtually only the dancers and the sound man got to hear much.

It was pretty cool on the top, and I was definitely glad I brought the jacket. The hike up was hot and sweaty, but on top there was a cool breeze, temperatures probably in the 50's. It would have been very uncomfortable to stay any length of time without the jacket.

The dancing was marvelous as always!  Magical, in a way, as on this occasion the dances were taking place in fog.  And not just your run-of-the-mill fog!  The fog was blowing in and out so that one moment everything around the dancers was nice and clear, and the next you could barely see them.  Literally, the visibility was less than 200 feet (60 meters) at times. The clearest that it got probably was less than 1/4 mile (400 m).

I managed to get some photos and a few videos. The contrast was at times almost non-existent--a middle-gray scene surrounded by zones 4 and 5 1/2. The brightness level changed only slightly with the fog blowing in and out, from gray to murky.  In the end when developing the photos, I wasn't sure how bright I wanted to make things. Should I leave things how it really felt--dark, dreary--or make the sky lighter and let more color through? For most shots, I opted for the lighter optimization. The videos were short--I had to take still photos, after all--and the wind noise occasionally gets in the way. But not too bad nonetheless.

Going down the mountain, the two boys again were way ahead of us adults. I kept the jacket on the whole way down, but probably should have taken it off. We followed the White Cross trail down the mountain. It was quite wet and muddy in spots (as was the White Dot trail on the way up). We adults definitely felt the exercise and were getting pretty beat well before we reached the bottom. Of course, the college boy who had been on the crew team was ready to go up again as soon as we reached the bottom. (When I was a couple of years younger than he, I had camped for a week at the mountain and typically did two hikes up and down a day. One day, we did it three times.  We snickered a little at the fellow near the start of the trail who told us we'd never be able to get to the top at the pace we had set!)

Tired and sticky, we made it back to the car and were ready to head home--after a stop at Kimball Farm just outside Jaffrey.

Wachusett Meadow Audubon Society Reservation--Brown Hill Loop

The weekend was turning out a bit better than predicted--the rains were going to hold off until Sunday afternoon instead of Saturday afternoon, so we went out on Saturday. One of us did not want to goto Mt. Wachusett, so we decided to head for another nearby location with hills, Wachusett Meadow, a property held by the Massachusetts Audubon Society. 

We have a membership, so we just signed in and checked the map fo rthe route we wanted to take, and off we went.  On the way in, we noted that the Meadow was holding a "Bird and Breakfast" event, so I was concerned that it would be very crowded, but this was already afternoon, so it wasn't too bad.  We had barely gotten started though, when we ran into old friends who had stopped to look for a yellow warbler that they had heard.We spent a few minutes in conversation, then we went our separate ways.

The Brown Hill Loop is reached at the upper reaches of a meadow. We considered starting up the Birch Trail to cut off some of the hike, but after going along it for a short distance we were unsure that it was going where we wanted. A quick look at the map revealed our problem: We had grabbed a Mt. Wachusett map by mistake and couldn't confirm how the Birch Trail went.  So we backtracked a hundred yards or so to take the more certain route.

The day was mostly cloudy, but not too dark. The leaves were still coming out on the trees, so the canopy was thin and the leaves themselves were a light green. This gave the hike thorugh the woods a lighter feeling than we would have in the middle of summer. The black flies, unfortunately, were getting to be quite annoying.

The trail undulates up and down, left and right as it slowly makes its way around Brown Hill. While we did pass a few small groups of fellow hikers, it was generally pretty quiet. Quiet enough that I kept reminding my fellow hikers to keep the noise down.  That advice paid off--suddenly, a deer burst out from very close in front of us! It ran into the woods to our left not too far away so we could still make it out.  Frances and Gary stopped to get photos while I continued on. The trail swung a bit to the left, bringing me closer to the deer, who was now watching me intently.

Deer along the Brown Hill Loop trail at Wachusett Meadow. (Click to enlarge.)

The deer watched as my route turned back to the right and went away from it. Then Frances and Gary started to follow the trail, and the deer became nervous, bounding off farther into the woods. It was then that I saw the second deer, ahead of the one we initially spotted. By watching carefully, we could see the two of them making their way more slowly through the woods and up the hill.  While we thought we'd get to see them later, it turned out that we didn't.

We passed the eastern junction of the trail up to the Brown Hill Summit and enjoyed the walk around it, until we got to the western junction of the summit trail. Here, we waited as a group we had passed earlier came down from the summit, and headed up, ourselves.

Right around now, Gary found a collection of dog ticks on his socks.  Frances quickly picked them off and threw them away from the trail while Gary barely was able to keep from panicking--or pretending to nearly panick as a pre-teen can do.

After a quick look around from the top of Brown Hill, where the black flies were least bothersome, we turned back the way we can, went by the Glacial Boulder, and finally through the meadow. Gary managed to pick up one more tick along the way. We gave each other a tick check, then headed home. (We managed to find one more tick, on Frances, after we got home. It had found itself a comfortable spot and was starting to attach itself, but hadn't quite gotten there yet.)

Mt. Monadnock--Dancers

This weekend we decided to take the Sidefoot Trail from the Halfway House. It had been a couple of years since I last followed that route and there were a few things that were immediately apparent: The trail itself has been cleared somewhat. A few trees that had been along the trail were obviously cut, as we could see their stumps still in the trail. The blazes were relatively freshly painted, bright, clean white. And the trail seemed to have experienced extensive erosion in several places.  I didn't think we had had rains much heavier than anything we'd seen in other years, but perhaps the rains hit at just the right time to do the most damage. 

Despite the erosion, the trail was quite climbable and remains a good alternative to the White Arrow Trail. We could hear people along the White Arrow, although even with the decidious foliage barely starting to come out we never postively saw anyone. I thought I spotted a quick glimpse of movement at one point, but it was gone too quickly to be sure.

We had a rare encounter with a group of a dozen people traversing the Amphitheater Trail as we reached the top of the Sidefoot Trail.  While they graciously offered to let us pass, we were actually planning a break just before joining the White Arrow Trail, so we declined.

Sunday was a mostly cloudy day by the time we got to the mountain. At the top of the Sidefoot Trail, we could see a shower developing under the clouds well south of us and west of Mt. Wachusett. Frances asked how I knew it was rain rather than just a shadow from the cloud and I explained that looking through rain means that objects behind the rain become much less distinct than would be the case with a shadow. I took a couple of photos while we caught our breath and then we were back on the trail.

We took an obscure, unmapped route from the White Arrow Trail across to the White Dot Trail. Surprisingly this route was also recently maintained, and I was happy to see that a tree I frequently bumped my head on had been cut down. At the White Dot Trail, we turned and finished the climb to the summit.

As we approached the summit, we saw that Dianne Eno's Fusion Danceworks group was rehearsing for their May 21 performance. Monadnock legend Larry Davis was watching the rehearsal as we reached them. Our time to get here: One hour and thirty-five minutes. The lack of conditioning was definitely showing--last time I did this route it took about 1:20. And a few years back it was 0:50. Ok, so maybe it's age as much as conditioning!

We watched the dancers, took a couple of hundred photos (click the photos in this article to enlarge them), had lunch, visited the summit marker to look around.  The weather was holding, fortunately, Everyone was watching the shower to the south. It had grown considerably heavier and maybe a little larger, but really hadn't moved very much so we didn't think it was a threat. We did have some very light sprinkles on the mountain, but they were barely noticeable. There didn't appear to be any other showers close enough to be a concern. Below us, the landscape was dappled with sun and shadow from the breaks in the clouds.

Photographing the dancers was a challenge.  The clouds were very interesting, occasionally dark and threatening, sometimes breaking with a little blue between. But to get the clouds meant underexposing the dancers. To get the dancers meant overexposing and wiping out the clouds. A graduated filter wasn't the best answer as the dancers frequently were high in the sky on the various elevations of the rock. The other issue was that the clouds were dark and no sun ever hit the dancers while I was taking the photos. The exposures were a bit long, which meant that the dancers' motions sometimes just blurred into oblivion against the brighter sky. And, of course, overcast means low contrast and dull colors. Watch this space to see if I was able to get useful results.

The hike down the mountain was uneventful. Again, maybe a sprinkle or two, but I probably shouldn't even mention them. For me, the most notable part was the burning of the souls of my feet. I had adjusted my new boots so that I wasn't slipping inside as we hiked down, but I may need to make them a bit tighter or add a second pair of socks to reduce the friction.  We'll see what works, as I expect to be back to Monadnock next weekend, as well.

Happy hiking! And visit Hiking Trails on Mt. Monadnock.

Chicago takes note

Just a quick note to point out that the Chicago Tribune recognized New England's children friendly mountains.  Check out the article on Mini-Mountains here.

Monadnock--The Marlboro Trail

On Saturday, we got a late start but managed to get to Mt. Monadnock's Marlboro Trail head in New Hampshire at about 2:00 PM.  The day had been pretty variable--beautfully clear in the morning, then increasing clouds. It was supposed to clear again, but it looked a bit threatening as we started the hike.

This was my first time on the Marlboro Trail in perhaps four years. A couple of years of various physical issues interfered drastically with the weekly hikes I used to make. But Saturday was going to be the first time for the year, and maybe we'd be able to do some fairly frequent hikes later on.

I should have re-read my own description of the trail. The foot of the trail was steeper than I had recalled it. Not terribly steep, mind you, but certainly it went up a lot more than I thought it would. And depsite the hiking I've been doing on Mt. Wachusett, I was still struggling here.  (My friends Richard and Beverly had commiserated with me a couple of hours early about how much slower we had gotten in the past few years.)

The weather cleared as we continued up the trail, which on the lower slopes had a number of soggy and muddy areas. There were a few small sets of stairs here and there that Jim had managed to install. Generally, the trail was in good shape. Cairns were common even at the lower elevations, although the painted square trail blaze wasn't the capital M I expected until we got up to the first rocky clearing. 

We stopped to rest there--the other two seemed to be more tired than me at that point, although I was breathing hard when I caught up to them there.  We looked around a bit and enjoyed the views. Gary wanted to see Mt. Wachusett, but we couldn't quite pick it out from this spot. (On the way down, we saw that it was just at the shoulder of the mountain to the south.)

We continued up, taking a few minutes at the junction with the Marian Trail, just a little more than half way to the top.  We were all starting to get pretty beat by this point, but oped to continue up a little farther.

After leaving the deciduous trees behind, we were in all evergreen forest. A steep part was ahead of us, and lots of evergreens. The other two were looking like they had had enough, even though they said they'd go all the way if I did. Check the time: An hour and a half to this point,with at least half an hour to go--and probably more like 45 minutes. And then back down.  We decided not to push it, so we caught our breath, and a few photos, and turned around.  Half an hour later we were in the car and heading home, with a commitment to climb Mt. Wachusett again midweek, and to come back to Monadnock on the next weekend to head for the top.

The view to the northwest from the Marlboro Trail.

See the information about the trails on Mt. Monadnock.

Wachusett the fast way

Twenty-two minutes to the summit from the parking lot at the visitor center, up the Pine Hill Trail.  This is the fastest route up Mt. Wachusett.  But with no pack, I'm showing my age.  Not too many years ago I could get up in about 15 minutes--with a pack.  Every year, now, I see my times increasing, my breathing going faster. 

Well, let's worry about age a little later.  The Pine Hill Trail is the Interstate Highway of Mt. Wachusett.  Probably more people take this route to the summit than any other. It's shown its age over the years, too, as it was getting wider (aren't we all?) and more worn and eroded.  But for a few years now it's been going through a facelift. Trail crews have been narrowing the trail in most places, and putting in stone stairs, one or two at a time. Now, perhaps half the trail is paved with native stone.  The steps, while essential, are to me a mixed bag.  I really prefer a natural trail with all its warts. But this trail was getting so badly damaged that something had to be done, and the fix has been effective so far. Still a lot to do, though.

From the start of the trail to the summit via the Pine Hill Trail is about 1100 yards (1 km). The trail is steep for Wachusett, but it's all walking, not climbing. The early going right now is still pretty muddy in spots, but once you reach the junction with the Bicentennial Trail you hit the stairs it it's mostly dry and clean almost to the Down Summit Road.  Above that, there are no stairs, so it's moist dirt, but not especially wet, in between the rocks.

A hazy, humid day, so the view wasn't particularly interesting. We turned around and got back to the bottom in 12 minutes.  That was pretty close to the 10 minutes I used to do it in. Felt good!

Go to the Hiking Trails on Mt. Monadnock site today!

Moore State Park

Following an Easter brunch, we took a short drive into Paxton to Moore State Park.  Beautiful in May and early June with hillsides and stream banks covered with rhododendrons and azaleas, right now it is just coming back to life. Our hike yesterday was relatively short (the park doesn't have any especially long or challenging hikes, anyway). We left the parking lot and turned up the Davis Road Trail. With all the recent rains, this trail was quite soggy, even as it ascended the hill. Just below the summit, we turned to the left and followed the Laurel Loop Trail to the top of the hill. I was hoping for some good views, but even though the hilltop was open, there were still enough trees surrounding it that we really couldn't see much into the distance.

We continued along the trail downhill, but didn't complete the loop, instead we took a different trail that paralleled Eames Pond. This trail isn't on the map found on the park's web site, although it was on the map found at the parking area. The trail was quite interesting through here, generally following the contours of the ground, but with enough ups and downs and turns to be "entertaining."  Of course, we passed through areas of laurel and had various glimpses of the pond not too far below us.

During the hike, rain threatened us. We felt sprinkles, but it never turned into enough rain to get us wet.  Today is perhaps the fifth day in a row with threatening or rainy weather.  Maybe even longer. While we've seen some sun, it hasn't been especially forthcoming.  More storms are predicted for tomorrow and later in the week.  But we don't mind too much. This has been better than the tornadoes hitting some areas of the country!

Happy Hiking, and don't forget to visit Hiking Trails on Mt. Monadnock.

Mt. Wachusett on a wet and foggy day

We tried the Harrington Trail today, a very rainy, wet, cool, foggy day.  We parked by ourselves near Machias Pool on the south side of the mountain and hiked up the Administration Road to the Harrington Trail, so we really only did a short section of the complete Harrington Trail.

The Administration Road is under construction--or perhaps it's destruction. The old asphalt surface is being ground up or removed, leaving a more even, gravel surface that's pretty good for hiking.  Lots of hay bales along the sides of the road are protecting the watershed.

And there was plenty of water today!  Driving to the mountain we experienced some pretty heavy periods of steady rain.  But it was worse on the road than on the hike.  We donned our raincoats and army ponchos and headed on up the road.  The stream that flows by the roadside part way up was flowing heavily, and seemed generally clear. We noticed a little bit of snow along the roadside, too.  It was low 40s when we began our hike in midday, but obviously it had been much cooler not too much earlier. 

After we passed the trail head for the Lower Link, we saw a piece of heavy equipment that was obviously being used for the roadwork. It was parked at the junction with the West Road. After that, the road turned from gravel to mud on the right and broken shale on the left.  Not very good going today on either side.

Finally we reached the Harrington Trail. Although the hay bales weren't particularly high, the road crew had left a small opening in them (with a slight rise to keep the water from the road out) so hikers could make their way onto  the trail. We crossed the bridge over the stream and had to walk through a stretch of muddy, watery trail.

As the trail headed uphill, the snow got more frequent and deeper, although it probably never amounted to half an inch (12 mm).  The fog moved in too, and there was little to see.  The rocky trail was not particularly slippery, fortunately, and after about 45 minutes total we reached the summit. 

We had seen a set of footprints on the way up the trail, but there was no one at the summit. While I was a bit hesitant to take it, we decided to go down by the Jack Frost Trail so we just walked across the summit and headed down the Mountain House Trail. The start of this trail is a bit confusing. It goes by one of the viewpoints and then past the small pond near the summit. But when it reaches one of the parking lots, the blazes disappear and it becomes very difficult to find. Usually when we head down this way, we don't try to follow the blazes, so I knew how to get back onto the trail, but someone unfamiliar with it could get very confused.

The Mountain House Trail wasn't too badly affected by the rain. It's steep enough near the summit that the rain doesn't puddle up, and it's rocky enough that it isn't particularly muddy.  When we turned onto the Jack Frost Trail, we shortly did run into some puddles, but not much mud.  The trail was pretty good until we passed the High Meadow Trail.  You may know that Jack Frost traverses a steep, hemlock-covered hillside after that. I was explaining how we needed to be careful about the set and very slippery tree routes when, sure enough, I almost slipped on one!

We made it down the hillside with only a couple more slips, and continued back to the Lower Link and finally the Administration Road to the car, a little wetter, but well -exercised!. 

Looking at the map of the mountain  though, it appears that it may actually be shorter to go down the High Meadow Trail, cut across by Echo Pond, and take the Echo Pond Trail to Machias Pool.  I'll have to try that sometime. The Jack Frost Trail actually curves back so much it adds quite a bit of distance to the hike.

That's it for today. As usual, don't forget to check out Hiking Trails on Mt. Monadnock.

Happy Hiking!

Mt. Wachusett--Bolton Pond and Semuhenna Trail

Well, we've been up Mt. Wachusett several times this spring as we try to get back into hiking condition. Most often I go up the Pine Hill Trail--fast and furious to the top, but this weekend we decided to see how the Bolton Pond Trail looked.

The Bolton Pond Trail starts off Bolton Road in Westminster.  Coming from Rt. 140 and heading to the parking for the skiing trails but before you get to the main parking area, you'll find Bolton Road to your right. Perhaps half a mile along that road, watch carefully for the trailhead on the left. The road widens briefly about 30 meters (100 feet) past that trailhead, giving you space to park.

This trail is not heavily used. From this location, you have one of the longest hikes to the summit, and it's also one that gains you the most altitude. 

The trail begins with a short, steep section, that turns sharply to the right and follows the contours of the hillside for perhaps 400 meters (440 yards). You pass an old building site--it looks like a hole in the ground but look carefully and you can see foundation stones and obvious man-made features. The trail quickly comes to the edge of a steep gully on your right with a rushing stream at the bottom. As you follow the gully upstream, you eventually come to Bolton Pond.

An old mill dam creates the pond, but beavers have added to the dam so now the water level is at least 30 cm (1 foot) higher than the top of the dam. You can nonetheless turn to your right and walk across the stone dam to one of the two beaver lodges that are found here. It's a pretty interesting feature!

The Bolton Pond Trail goes to the left, opposite the direction of the dam, continuing uphill through a mix of forest. The trail is mostly uphill from here on to the end. Right now, in the spring or after heavy rain, it is quite wet and muddy. Conscientious hikers will walk up through the running water and mud so we don't make the trail wider and cause more erosion.

After some distance, you'll come across Balance Rock. It is, as you might suspect, one very large rock sitting on top of another very large rock. They are both "glacial erratics" for those of you interested in such things. The trail joins the Balance Rock Trail and goes to the right past the rocks, meeting Balance Rock Road, one of the old roads criss-crossing Wachusett Mountain State Reservation. Across the street you'll find the Semuhenna Trail and the Old Indian Trail. You are also now following the Midstate Trail on it's trek from Connecticut to New Hampshire.

Perhaps 400 meters (440 yards) from the road, the Semuhenna Trail turns to the right. Looking to the left past the Old Indian Trail, we could see snow on the ski slopes still hanging in there in mid-April. The Semuhenna Trail continues uphill, steeply in some areas, until it reaches the Up Summit Road. At  this time, hiking along the road is prohibited, as it is under construction. (I hope to have more information on that later.) To the right, the North Road comes to the Up Summit Road as well.

This week, this is as far as we went. Rain was starting to fall, and some of us were feeling a bit tired. We'll see about doing more of the trail on another day. Maybe next week we'll complete this hike or perhaps take one of the other trails to the top.

Don't forget to visit the Hiking Trails on Mt. Monadnock home page.