Last Sunday I woke with an urge to climb, so I headed 25 miles north to Stoddard where Pitcher Mountain lives. Since we have no snow in Keene I assumed there would be no snow there, but I was wrong. It was another one of those “what was I thinking?” moments.
But all in all the trail wasn’t bad because it was snow instead of ice. I stopped to get a photo of target canker on a red maple (Acer rubrum.) If I understand what I’ve read correctly red maples are the only trees that get this canker. It makes the tree’s bark form bullseye shaped raised plates that look like a target, but it doesn’t really hurt the tree. The circular plates are the tree’s response to a fungus that invades the healthy bark and kills it. During the next season the tree responds with a new layer of bark and cork (callus) to contain the fungus. In the next dormant season the fungus again attacks and kills more bark and on it goes, a seasonal alternation of pathogen invasion and host defense response which creates concentric ridges of callus tissue; a target canker. Finally the fungus gives up or dies off and the tree grows on. Red maples have beautiful deep red flowers and the trees often grow in large colonies, so I was hoping to see huge swaths of red from the summit.
I also stopped to see a striped maple (Acer pennsylvanicum) that grew along the trail. The two large terminal bud scales had started pulling apart to reveal the bud within, just like they were doing 25 miles and over 1,600 feet lower in Keene. The pink and orange fuzzy buds are very beautiful and I’m getting anxious to see them. It won’t be long now.
I had to stop at one of my favorite places, which is the pasture about half way up the trail. I always imagine doors being thrown open and a great whooshing sound when I see this view because it’s so expansive compared to the close woods where I spend most of my time. It’s a peaceful, simple place with just the earth, sky, and you and you can step outside yourself for a while here.
The trail takes a turn after the pasture and gets steeper and rockier as it follows it uphill. On this day I had a choice; mud on one side or snow on the other. I chose the snowy side.
There is a fairly good view of Mount Monadnock from this leg of the trail but low haze often spoils it. It wasn’t too bad on this day.
There is a lot of black knot disease on the black cherry trees (Prunus serotina) here and I stopped to look at an example. Black knot is caused by the fungus Apiosporina morbosa which can also attack plums, peaches, and apricots. Spores from the fungus are spread by rain or wind and typically will infect trees from April through June on new growth. Infected stems swell up and produce hard black knots like those in the above photo. The disease can eventually kill the tree so infected limbs should be pruned off 2-4 inches below the knots and buried or burned before bud break the following spring.
This is what black knot can do to a fully grown black cherry. This is a wound that never heals and on a tree this age and size the disease is impossible to control and the trees should be destroyed so the fungus can’t release anymore spores. If this photo looks a little strange it’s because I had to use the flash because it was so shady here.
You can get a glimpse of the fire tower from a good distance away before the trees leaf out, but the glimpse signals the start of the steepest part of the climb. The trail had a little snow on it but the summit was snow free, bare granite as usual.
The old forest fire warden’s cabin still stands but each year it seems to lean into the mountainside just a little more. Staying up here must have been hard work no matter what time of year it was.
Pitcher Mountain is one of just a handful of places I know of where Mountain ash trees (Sorbus americana) grow naturally. These trees are easy to identify when they don’t have leaves by their big black buds. This example was just starting to turn green. Mountain ash is used ornamentally because of its white flowers in late spring and bright orange berries in the fall, but it is a native tree. Native Americans made a tea from the bark and berries of this tree to treat coughs, and as a pain killer. They also ate the died and ground berries for food, adding them to soups and stews. The berries are said to be very tart and have an unpleasant taste when unripe.
The fire tower was unmanned and so was the summit so I had the whole rock pile to myself, which is a very rare thing. You find people on most mountaintops in this area and popular ones like Mount Monadnock can at times seem as busy as a Manhattan sidewalk. I call the fire tower on Pitcher Mountain a monument to irony because the original wooden tower built in 1915 burned in April of 1940, in the most destructive forest fire to ever strike this part of the state. Twenty seven thousand acres burned, including the tower and all of the trees on the summit.
A couple of weeks ago we had strong winds with 60 mile per hour gusts and a lot of trees fell in certain areas, so it’s probably a good thing that the fire tower is fastened to the granite of the summit with several stout cables. The wind that day must have made it impossible to stand on the summit. I can imagine the cables vibrating like violin strings in weather like that.
The hill that I call the near hill might be the closest but it would still be quite a hike to reach it. I was surprised by the amount of snow still on it.
I love seeing the blue hills off in the distance and though I don’t climb for the view they do make it much more enjoyable. In case you’re wondering about my not climbing to see the view, if I did I’d be disappointed probably 80% of the time because you never know what haze, humidity, or weather in general will do to it. For instance on this day, though it looks like I could see clear to California, I couldn’t see the windmills over on Bean Mountain just a few miles away.
But I could see the shading on the hills and this is something I find very pleasing. I sat and admired them for a while.
I could also see ski areas on several distant mountains, none of which I know the name of. Skiers must be enjoying some fine spring skiing this year.
Common goldspeck lichens (Candelariella vitellina) grow profusely all over the bedrock up here. This crustose lichen is very granular and is often busy producing spores, but I didn’t see any of its fruiting bodies (apothecia) on this day. These lichens were once used to dye wool in Sweden but I can’t imagine how they got them off the rocks. Crustose lichens usually can’t be removed from the substrate they grow on without damaging it in some way.
I’m not sure what it was but the sun brought out golden highlights in this tiny insect’s wings. It was hanging on desperately trying not to be blown away in the strong wind, so I was able to get a shot of it. I’d guess that it was hardly more than a quarter inch long.
Tile lichens are areolate lichens, which are made up of many little lumps or islands. In the example above the black parts are its apothecia and the white parts are the body (Thallus.) The apothecia are even with or slightly below the surface of the thallus. Tile lichens grow on exposed rock in full sun and will even grow in winter if the temperature is slightly above freezing. I think this one might be Lecidea tessellata but with 136 species of tile lichens I could easily be wrong.
The natural depressions in the bedrock that I call birdbaths always have water in them, even when we had a drought two years ago, and that seems strange to me. What I think doesn’t matter though, because the birds do use them; last year I watched a dark eyed junco bathe in this small pool. I was a little disappointed at not seeing the large swaths of flowering red maples that I hoped to see from up here but even so I saw plenty of other beautiful things, and it was a great day for a climb.
Mountains are not Stadiums where I satisfy my ambition to achieve; they are the cathedrals where I practice my religion. ~Anatoli Boukreev
Thanks for stopping in.
Found blog while reading about moss. Apparently there is a decorating trend that involves moss, imitating a Japanese ornamental planting/indoor gardening. Have always loved moss, lichen, algae and other things that grow on rocks & in woods. Due to the fragility of some of the ecosystems that support them, I surely hope people don’t feel that denuding an area is an acceptable practice.
The lovely photos and prose here cheered me!
Thank you from Merrimack County NH.
Thank you for that Sophie. I never see anyone collecting mosses here but I know it is done. I hope I never see it happen here. I know where there are some beautiful and rare mosses and I’d hate to see them disturbed.
The picture of the shading on the mountains looks almost like a painting that someone painted. Very enjoyable post.
Thanks very much Susan, I’m glad you liked it!
Looks like a nice day out. Ice free!. Winter almost departed for another year.
Yes, I think it’s safe to agree now. We’re supposed to see 80s this week, which is a bit much but it beats 20 below zero!
Well, I could have done without seeing any more snow, but the views from your climb were more than worth it! I’m also sure that the snow was preferable to the mud.
Unfortunately, many of the cherry trees here are affected by the black knot disease, I see it often, unless there’s something similar that looks like it.
I don’t think that I’d want to be anywhere near the summit if the winds were 60 MPH, especially if it was cold at the same time. I’ve been on the beach of Lake Michigan in lower winds, and the buffeting of the wind can be disorienting.
Thanks Jerry! I know what you mean-I didn’t want to see any snow either, but yes it was much better than the mud. Less slippery, actually.
I can’t think of anything else that looks like black knot. There are various galls but I can’t think of any that are black.
I was blown backward by a gust that day and it was nowhere near 60 MPH, so I wouldn’t want to be up there in that kind of wind either!
Yes, beautiful blue hills!
What an enjoyable climb! The symptoms of black knot disease look horrible on that mature tree; what a pity the tree can’t be saved at this late stage. The views from the top of the mountain look wonderful! When we go hill-climbing we always appreciate a clear view but often realise that the clearer the view the more likely we are to have rain in the next few hours! There are very few times we can hill-walk without either being soaked by rain, having to walk through wet mist and low cloud or having the views obscured by haze, mist or cloud!
Thank you Clare. Yes, black knot does some strange things to black cherry trees and the spores are very prolific, from what I’ve read.
I don’t get rained on very often when I climb but there is often some type of haze in the atmosphere that makes photography almost impossible. And then of course don’t know it until you get home with a camera full of rejects!
So infuriating!
Yes!
Great piece enjoy the 80’s this week 🙂
Thanks! 80s are a bit too much too soon but I don’t suppose there’s anything we can do about it.
nope just a few days then spring temps.
I’ll take them!
I’m pretty sure the ski area in your photo is Stratton Mountain. It’s due west from Pitcher Mountain, and its trail map is very similar to your photo.
Thanks John. I’m sure you’re probably right. Someday I’ve got to look at a topo map and figure out the names of all the hills that can be seen from up there.
That was a nice trip! I haven’t ventured up toward the high country yet because I can still see plenty of snow up there and already know what to expect. Sure have the urge though.
Thanks Montucky! I don’t blame you. Your mountains are much higher than ours so the snow must be very deep. I’ve climbed before when the snow was up to my shoulders but I was young and foolish then. I’d never do it now!
I always like it when you go for a climb and photograph so many splendid views.
Thank you Susan. The views weren’t too bad that day.