As of last weekend we hadn’t seen any snow but it was cold enough to make it on the ski slopes. I was curious to see if they had been making any so I decided to hike up high blue trail in Walpole and take a peek over into Vermont.
It was a cool but beautiful sunny day.
Now that the leaves have fallen you can really see the hardscape that makes up the forest floor-what I call the bones of the forest. This is a great place to look at mosses and lichens.
The larger boulders in these woods are festooned with rock tripe lichen (Umbilicaria mammulata.) Some of the biggest examples I’ve seen-as big as a hand-grow here. Though I imagine they must taste like old rubber, these lichens were a source of emergency food for Native Americans and saved the lives of many an early settler. Even George Washington’s troops are said to have eaten rock tripe to survive the brutal winter at Valley Forge in 1777.
Polypody fern, also known as rock cap fern, grows on the tops of many ledges and stones in these woods. This fern likes places with little wind and high humidity, so it will tell you something of your surroundings. The round sori where spores are produced can be found on the undersides of the leaves and are orange brown and look fuzzy when they are mature like those in the above photo. Many fern sori are covered by thin membranes called indusial, but those of the polypody fern are naked.
Something odd that I saw was two reflectors on a tree. They were about three quarters of an inch in diameter and looked to have been hammered into the tree much like a big thumbtack. I can’t even guess who would be coming up here at night, or why. My idea of a good time doesn’t include dancing around on cliff edges in the dark.
The beech trees along the trail still showed a little color.
When they are moist black jelly fungi (Exidia glandulosa) puff up like little black pillows, but when they dry out they shrink down to little more than black specks. Since this example didn’t look like either I think it was frozen solid.
These orange jellies (Dacrymyces palmatus) looked frozen too. I see a lot of these at this time of year and almost all of them grow on eastern hemlock logs.
Seeing this old stonework always gets me thinking about the people who once lived on top of this hill.
What a job clearing this land must have been for a man with nothing but an axe. Just as daunting would have been having to get rid of all the stumps and stones before he could plow. It must have been near back breaking labor from sunup to sundown. I’ve cut trees with an axe and built stone walls, so it’s no wonder to me that they died so young. I think they must have simply worn their bodies out.
The pond had ice on it, so it had been quite cold up here the night before. I wonder if this small pond was originally a hand dug stock pond. It’s very close to the old foundation. Someday I’m going to have to research the history of this place.
The sign lets you know that you have arrived.
As always the view was very blue and as I suspected there was snow on Stratton Mountain over in Vermont. They like to be open on Thanksgiving Day, which is November 27th, so most of the snow is probably man made.
Man-made or not, if it’s cold enough on these mountain peaks to keep snow and ice from melting during the day then it won’t be too long before those of us down in the valleys get a taste of winter too. This view looks to the west so the wind is almost always blowing through here. I was dressed for fall but up here it was winter and the wind was biting, so I didn’t stay out in the open long.
There is a serene and settled majesty to woodland scenery that enters into the soul and delights and elevates it, and fills it with noble inclinations. ~Washington Irving.
Thanks for stopping in.
very nice Allen! That is very odd about the reflectors!
Thanks Michael. The reflectors are used by deer hunters so they can find their way in the dark.
Beautiful! Thanks for taking us on the hike…..I’ve not managed to get one in this week. It is intriguing finding stonewalls in the woods and on the sides of mountains. It always makes me feel terribly slothful when I think of how much work went in to just living; how much we take for granted. Loved your quote.
You’re welcome Jocelyn. I agree-we have it much easier these days and we do often take it for granted. Just the thought of living without air conditioning is enough to give most of us a good scare!
I’m sure the history would be interesting and they really did have a tough life. I wonder if the settlers ever regretted their decision to leave England? The snow on the mountain was lovely, even if it was man made but I hope yours hold off for a little while yet.
I’m sure some of them must have regretted their decision. One of my ancestors actually went back to England to take care of some family business and died there.
I’m hoping we don’t see any snow for a while yet!
Stonework and stonewalls always remind me of history and struggle. I can’t imagine how people made a go of it when a winter was extra harsh or a growing season extra short. They certainly have all my respect!
The first time I noticed orange jellies I thought the dog had vomitted and might be dying…but then I looked it up 😉
Great pos as always!t
Thank you. I agree-it’s no wonder they had to occasionally eat rock tripe lichens. There is a slime mold (Fuligo septica) that is actually called dog vomit. If you find that one it might earn your dog a trip to the vet!
I can’t imagine having views like you do … and like to take my imagination along with you.
Thank you. The views are excellent but you have to do a little work to see them. It’s always worth it though, and I’m glad you like these posts.
Great photos, as your photos always are, and very interesting. Yes, it looks as though winter has arrived there too! Our ski areas here are making snow as fast as they can too.
Thank Montucky. Winter is here! We haven’t seen more than a dusting of snow down in the lowlands but I don’t think it’ll be too long before we do. We might have a white thanksgiving this year.
A splendid mixture of the minute and the spacious today.
Thank you, I’m glad that you liked it.
Another great blog, Allan. With regard to the reflectors, I have found a few of these same reflectors on some trees out in the woods behind our property here in Walpole. They were a mystery to me when I found them about a year ago. Now I feel I have to try to solve the puzzle of their function. I’ll try to find them again tomorrow. Hopefully they are still there and will provide me some clues.
Thank you M. Two different commenters told me that the reflectors are used by hunters so they can find their stands in the dark. It makes sense that they would be used for that. If you hear shooting out in the woods I guess you’ll know for sure.
I thought these reflectors might be used by hunters, and I was correct. They are used to mark their trails, so they can find them in the dark.
Yes, a couple of other people told me that same. I’ve never seen them before this year though.
Living as I do in a temperate zone I am constantly amazed at the speed at which your temperatures rise in spring and fall in the autumn. We are still experiencing temps of about 53/54 degrees F in the daytime and not much less at night (though this is not usual for half way through November!) The views from the top of your mountain are wonderful! I was interested to read about Walpole as there is a village of that name just a few miles away from me. The only other Walpole in Britain is in Norfolk, the county just to the north of Suffolk where I live. I wonder if there is a connection? Such a hard life as you say, for those early settlers. They must have been very tough people. Lovely orange and green colours despite the cold.
Thank you Clare. It’s not uncommon for us to see temperature changes of 40 degrees or more in the span of one day. At this time of year that can be dangerous if you’re in the woods and not dressed for it, but after living here so long I’m used to it.
According to what I’ve read the town was named after “Sir Robert Walpole, 1st Earl of Orford, and first Prime Minister of Great Britain.” I don’t know if he had any connection to your Walpole but I wouldn’t be surprised. In those days almost all of our towns were named after places or people in England.
The settlers in Walpole certainly were tough. The town history is full of things they went through that would make your hair stand on end, not the least of which was fighting off bears and wolves.
Robert Walpole’s family owned land in Norfolk near the other Walpole I find. However, Orford is just a few miles away from me in Suffolk (I visited Orford castle in the summer). So my Walpole is probably not connected to your one! Walpole means ‘pool of the Britons’.
I am glad I don’t have to fight off wolves and bears! I find chasing off squirrels hard enough!
Thank you Clare, that’s fascinating information. It seems strange that the two places could be so close together and not connected! I wonder if there was an original “pool.”
I expect there was one at our Suffolk Walpole as the River Blyth runs through the village and at one point crosses the road, or the road crosses it as a ford!
Interesting!
The detail you capture makes your photos so interesting and inviting.
Thank you Charlie, I’m glad you think so.
I would guess that lichen is a little like fungi, you need to be careful about which one’s you eat.
Lichens are part fungi and part algae so I would tend to agree with you. I’ve never heard of a poisonous lichen but rock tripe is the only one that I’ve heard of people eating, so there could very well be poisonous examples out there. They are very beautiful to me, but I don’t think I’d ever eat one.
what an insightful point you made, here, Allen. “What a job clearing this land must have been for a man with nothing but an axe. Just as daunting would have been having to get rid of all the stumps and stones before he could plow. It must have been near back breaking labor from sunup to sundown. I’ve cut trees with an axe and built stone walls, so it’s no wonder to me that they died so young. I think they must have simply worn their bodies out.”
I’m always amazed at the magnificent work that was done by hand in earlier centuries and even today is being done is some places. and I wonder how that shapes a person and a society, as compared to the era of machines and quick construction of everything.
Thank you Cynthia. It is amazing how much they were able to accomplish without mechanization. I think it made them very independent and satisfied that they could survive no matter what came their way.
For me personally there is nothing quite like the sense of satisfaction and pride you feel when you stand back and look at a stone wall that you built with nothing but your hands and imagination. That pride and satisfaction makes you want to do the next job even better, and you will tear apart 10 feet of wall and rebuild it if you have to, to make sure that it’s the best work you can do.
I can’t tell you how much I relate to your comment about building a stone wall with your hands and imagination.
I swear, few things I’ve built came close to building a dry stack stone wall at our previous place. It made me think of the stonemasons of old, and how they must have so carefully selected each stone for what they were building, and placed it just so, and replaced it if it didn’t quite fit.
Because just like no two snowflakes are the same, no two rocks that I ever found were the same. And the texture, shapes and shades of them – endlessly fascinating!
It’s just like doing a puzzle and somewhere in that big pile of stone is the perfect one. You just have to find it! I used to love building stone walls but it’s awful hard on the back so I had to give it up.
True and true.
I only built one wall, and I was very prudent about how I lifted the rocks. It actually gave me strong muscles, and helped with my bone density. But to this day, I still stop and look closely at rocks, because until I collected the rocks (from all over the place) to build the wall, I never knew there was such variety among them.
Yes, wall building will certainly give you stronger muscles! Many people don’t realize how much variety there is among stones. Even the colors vary considerably depending on the type of stone, and that’s why I’ve always thought that the most beautiful walls were those built from stones that had been collected from several different areas, just as you describe. I really miss building with them.
Love the picture of the Polypody fern. It’s nice to be able to vicariously enjoy your mountains, something not found around here.
Thanks! I got a taste of living with no mountains when I lived in Florida and it was something that I could never get used to. They become part of you, I think.
Lovely scenes, Allen. All the shots are very well taken.
We’ve been in the range of 30s(day) and 20s temp at night, Allen .. and no snow yet. It’s hard to breathe when it gets too cold if one is outside.
Our cat had an evening’s romp outside one time and he had severe sinusitis for more than one week, didn’t eat or drink for 3 days hiding in the closet. Got him natural homeopathic sinus relief meds and now he’s much better. Can’t imagine the animal kingdom suffering outside in the cold .. poor things.
Wishing you and yours, a beautiful weekend, Allen. Namaste
Thank you Agnes. It sounds like you’re having the same weather that we are. We’ve had a little snow now but just a dusting.
That’s interesting about your cat. I’ve heard that they can get all kinds of respiratory ailments, and I’m glad that you found something to cure him. I’ll have to pass that on to my daughter, who also has cats.
The wild animals and birds can have it rough in winter, especially if we get a lot of snow. I’m hoping they have it easier than they did last year when we had there weeks of below zero temperatures at night.
I hope you have a great weekend as well!
If I’m not being too nosy, any luck with your job search?
I would miss these views of New Hampshire if you were to relocate for employment.
If you’re in the mood for snow, I’d be happy to send some or all of what’s falling in Michigan your way, if it could be arranged. 😉
It becomes easier to understand why the people of New England were so fiercely independent, after their struggles just to survive, and building something from next to nothing. It was a hard life, but in some ways, a better life. What a sense of accomplishment the early settlers must have felt when they had their homesteads built, and their fields were producing food!
Nothing yet Jerry. Engineering is slow in this area right now and everyone seems to be waiting until spring to do any hiring, mostly for accounting purposes. I’m getting some freelance work I can do from home though and that pays the bills. I wouldn’t relocate, I don’t think, unless maybe it was to Hawaii!
I like to see the first snow and a little at Christmas, but I can’t say that I’m ever really in the mood for it. If it wasn’t for having to shovel the roof I wouldn’t care how much we got but each year that roof gets harder to shovel.
I’m sure that early settlers couldn’t have had a much better feeling than looking out over a homestead that they had carved out of the woods. It would have been an amazing accomplishment when just staying alive would have taken up most of your time.
Reblogged this on Dawn of Divine Rays and commented:
Maybe some kind soul put a reflector there .. for just in case some strangers got lost and they get some kind of help there … just some thots .. Namaste
thank you Agnes. From what others have said the reflectors are used by hunters but you’re right, if I was lost in those woods I’d be very happy to see them.
great as usual, reflective dots are probably from deer hunters who use them to find their stand/spot in the dark before dawn..
Thank you Tom. As I said to Laura I don’t hunt so I’ve never heard of them. It makes perfect sense though, because there are game trails all over the place up there and I’ve seen signs of deer browsing the shrubs along the edges of the hay meadows. There are also a few old apple trees up there which still bear a pretty good crop.
It looks like you never stay still for long, Allen. I enjoy being an observer on your hikes, getting to see some of what you see without straining the lungs and the legs. I continue to be fascinated by the signs of former inhabitants that you run across regularly in place where nature has reclaimed the area.
I don’t know Mike, I do my share of lazing around but I do try to get into the woods every day. You don’t have to go too far in these woods to find old cellar holes and stone walls that show that someone once lived there. When I was younger I used to actively search for them because in the 1800s they just dumped all of their refuse out in back of the house, and those old dumps can yield some interesting finds-antique bottles especially. You don’t want to find the old well though. At least, not the hard way!
[…] In this post there are some neat finds and great things to look out for in the […]
Great hike! I always feel the same way when coming across the remains of old settlements.
Thank you Dawn. I always seem to put myself in the settlers place and ask myself if I could do what they did. As I said to Susan, the honest answer has to be no. They were just a different breed, and of course their lives hinged on what they accomplished.
A lot of hunters use those reflectors to follow a path in the pre-dawn hours. It could also have been a hiker who wanted a safe path to follow for a sunrise climb.
Thanks Laura. Since I don’t hunt I’ve never heard of anything like that, but it makes perfect sense. Knowing that now makes me surprised that I haven’t seen more of them.
Looks like a great hiking adventure. I should have enjoyed accompanying you, but this is the next best thing. 🙂
Thank you Ben. I would have enjoyed the company. The great things about this hike are the gentle rise in elevation and the relative shortness of the trail. It’s always worth the effort.
What an interesting walk, the information about rock tripe and your observations about the early settlers made me grateful for my cosy flat and the good food I can buy.
Thank you Susan. Comparatively speaking we have it easy these days. I tend to compare myself to the settlers and always wonder if I could have made it through what they did. The honest answer is always no, probably not.
Beautiful…and so so peaceful…. 🙂
Thank you Sue. It really is a very peaceful place and it’s easy to see why someone would want to live up there. You certainly can’t beat the view!