Trails Day 2009

I had several goals to accomplish today as I set out for the Appalachian Trail in Connecticut. Unfortunately I did not get most of them done.

My first stop was River Road in Kent to investigate possible tree poaching. River Road is a 2.8 mile dirt road that runs along the Housatonic River from Skiff Mt Road to the AT trailhead for the 5 mile Housatonic River Walk section. It also goes by the trailhead for St Johns Ledges which is not only a great steep section but also a popular place for rock climbers.

I found a lot of cut trees along the road but they seemed to be blow downs that had been cut and cleared. That was better than tree poaching which was a problem last winter along this same section of road. Ok, first objective completed.

I did stop to take a picture of this cute little stream.

My second stop was Macedonia Brook, which is right up the road. I was meeting up with a CT AMC Boundary Maintainer to look for some monuments. If you are wondering what a Boundary Maintainer is my friend Penrapture has a fun post about her adventure being a Boundary Maintainer for a day entitled 50 Sweaty Men. Another fun blog is the ATC Boundary blog that follows a crew through the Mahoosucs in Maine while doing boundary work. Boundary work in Maine makes Connecticut seem pretty tame.

The field and stream was so overgrown with invasives that we couldn’t get any where near the monuments. All we found was a lot of steaming piles of cow poop and snakes on the bridge.

This Garter Snake and Northern Water Snake were enjoying the beautiful day, basking on the bridge footing. Each time we had to cross the bridge (which was several) we scared them away but they kept coming back. There were two other smaller Garter Snakes hanging out in the same general area. I love how the Garter Snake is wrapped under and around the wire fencing.

The Northern Water Snake colors were faded to an almost solid brown but if you look closely you can barely see the pattern. Apparently this is common as they age and if we had seen him in the water his pattern would have shown up more clearly.

But I did manage to get a few photos of some wildflowers in the swamp. This is a True Forget-Me-Not. It is a perennial plant that is not native to the United States and is considered a noxious weed or an invasive species.

My goal at Macedonia Brook was to find and mark the boundary line so we can assess the invasives that are growing and make a plan to deal with them. All I really managed to do was to get a couple of pictures of one of them. Second objective, fail.

My third objective was to get photos of the large hemlock we had found on the side of Breadloaf during the 50 Fifty Men adventure. I parked at the trailhead and the combination of the sun shining, a light breeze blowing, a full stomach and only a few hours of sleep the night before led to taking a nap in the back seat of the Jeep.

I woke up around 2:30 and figured I still had time to find this tree. Mistake number one! Mistake number two...I thought I actually knew where it was without refreshing my memory with a map.

I headed off down the road with my camera, tape measure and few other supplies. Right before the bend in the road I cut up into the woods, right along the ravine…just like last time. Third mistake...last time it was the SECOND bend in the road…not the first.

Still the terrain was nice. Lots of ferns and nice trees, a big ole stump of a long dead tree.

And some mushrooms. At first I thought they were Chicken of the Woods mushrooms but upon further internet research I think I may be wrong. As I don't eat mushrooms I can't say that I know much about them.

I didn’t realize until I had scaled the side of the mountain and found the blue trail heading back down to the road that I wasn't anywhere near that damn tree. Third objective...fail.

Oh well, 1 out of 3 is...well, not good. Better luck next time!