Sunday, April 5, 2020

SMARTS BROOK RAMBLING: 4/4/20


A heartfelt thanks to all the heroic health care workers on the front lines, and also to the folks working at grocery stores, pharmacies, post offices, gas stations and other places that provide essential services. Please hike low and local, avoid busy trails, maintain your social distancing, and stay safe!

I took a leisurely six-mile, low-elevation ramble in the Smarts Brook valley, half on a combination of official and unofficial trails, half off-trail through mostly open and snow-free woods. It's a good time to appreciate the "details" of the forest, wherever you walk. On this journey I marveled at an ever-changing gallery of rock in many forms. The only person I saw was a fellow local bushwhacker launching from the same parking area.

A stone wall from the mid-1800s - where the first settlers in the town of Waterville Valley homesteaded near the Old Waterville Road.



A unique marking for an unofficial mountain bike trail.


A glimpse of Black Mountain from ledges on a flat shoulder.


Early spring is a fine time for hardwood bushwhacking.


Elongated.


Not a matched pair.


A random ledge in the woods.


A suitably wild forest in the Sandwich Range Wilderness.


Open hardwoods on the flank of Acteon Ridge.


Soloing.



Inviting.



 Supreme social distancing.



Mossy layers.


..under them skies of blue....


The ultimate headwater of a Smarts Brook tributary.


Ledge, moss and spruce.


Transitioning from spruce back to hardwood.


Lichen-crusted.


The weathered tree trunk on the right mimics the shape of the rock.


Looking back down a steep pitch.


 A tumble of boulders on this slope.


A prow.


Fern-capped.


Shelves.


Ledges and the Campton Range. Steps placed carefully to avoid trampling lichens.


The two Black Mountains of Sandwich Dome. The white spot on the left is the scar of an old landslide.


Wonderfully gnarled oak.


Looking back up the ramp.


Fortress in the forest.


Campton Range redux.


Sloping.


Hemlocks and spruce, with a dash of birch.


Ephemeral water sluice.



2 comments:

  1. Steve, Thank you so much for remembering the postal workers! This clerk and her daughter are sticking to Merrimack Valley hikes (greater Lawrence area, Andover, etc) for now. Making mental notes of areas that have White Mtn features (a place in Boxford actually had artifacts and Skug River inn Andover had mini cascades).

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    1. Thank you for your comment, Beckie, and thank you for being there for us at the Post Office. I'm still doing mail orders for my store and try to limit my trips to our Post Office to once or at most twice a week to limit exposure. You folks are definitely on the front lines performing an essential service, and we appreciate it! Good hiking and stay safe,
      Steve Smith

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