Category Archives: Hike

Lyme Hill Conservation Area

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I paid my first visit to the UVLT Lyme Hill Conservation Area yesterday afternoon. I wasn’t expecting to see much so I just carried a camera with a “walk-around” lens—no tripod. I mostly wanted to take a quick look at this relatively new area that I knew connected to the wonderful trails along Grant Brook near the Connecticut River.

I studied the trail map at the kiosk and decided I only had time to hike to the wetland area. Lyme Hill itself and the trails to Grant Brook would have to wait for another visit. A short distance down the trail I could see a small brook well below me. It obviously drained with wetland and was a tributary of Grant Brook. I made a mental note to come back with a tripod when the slope wasn’t so slippery—there were some nice small falls that needed their picture taken.

Entering the woods I crossed the brook on a well-built bridge and climbed a hill. As I headed down the trail to the wetland, still slippery with the remains of the snow that our extensive January thaw hadn’t fully melted, a group of polypody ferns were glowing backlit on top of a large rock. These are one of the few ferns that grow in thin soil on rocks. In summer their spores are fun to photograph with a macro lens.

I love shooting into the sun, and these ferns were is an ideal situation. The background was far away and dark. Thus contrast was naturally very high, and shooting wide open the background would be blurred. Plus there was a handy young tree just to the left behind the ferns that I could use to keep the sun from hitting my lens and causing flare if I positioned my lens just right. When I see such a situation I grab the opportunity that is presented to me.

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Farther down the trail a pair of large rocks (glacial erratics?) caught my attention. One glistened white while its neighbor was dark with interesting textures. I photographed the front one and then used it to brace my camera for a photo of the darker boulder.

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I finally reached the wetland and surveyed the scene quickly. Nothing was moving. I made a few photos of the reflections in the water that had pooled on the rapidly softening ice.

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I scanned with my camera. A beaver lodge on the far shore. Then a very long beaver dam. Then a “beaver” sitting on the ice looking at me! My first thought was actually “otter”, but with the lodge and dam I figured beaver. I squeezed off quite a few shots in 8 seconds before it slid out of sight though a small hole in the ice right in front of it. I figured it swam for the lodge because I never saw it again. It took a while but after getting some ID help I now realize I was fooled by its surroundings and I actually photographed a river otter.

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The photos below show the otter with the beaver dam in the background and the beaver lodge.

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I plan to go back many more times. Hopefully winter will return and snowshoes or xc-skis will be my mode of travel. I need to make it to the top of Lyme Hill and down to Grant Brook sometime soon. In spring the brook with its series of small falls should definitely be worth exploring.

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Hanover Town Forest with Hanover Conservancy

A pleasant fall afternoon on a Hanover Conservancy trip led on bike and foot by Nancy Collier and Kevin O’Leary capped off 10 days of great mountain bike rides:  Beaver Meadow and Ruella on Wednesday, Millstone Trails in Websterville on Thursday, Beaver Meadow and Downer on Sunday, Frenchs Ledges on Tuesday, Norwich Root District on Thursday, Mount Ascutney on Friday, and finally a great Tunis, Wolfboro, and Goose Pond Roads loop on Saturday. We rode the sometimes very wet Class VI portion of Tunis Road looping back past  the north end of Goose Pond. Kevin then led us on a hike through the Hanover Town Forest over the new mountain bike trail being constructed by Kevin, the Upper Valley Mountain Bike Association, and other volunteers.

Tunis Road was mostly uphill, and the parts that were not wet were covered with leaves. Near the end we explored an old stone culvert seen below. It was still intact in spite of a tree above and what must have been years of logging traffic.

The big decision of the day was whether to ride back Tunis as planned or do a longer but drier loop along Wolfboro and Goose Pond Roads. The group favored the latter.

There is a slide show of photos below the photo of Kevin leading us back. You can also see photos from Millstone and the amazing quarries along the trails by clicking HERE.

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SRK Greenway Trail 10

Gerry Gold led a hike from Proctor Academy to Winslow State Park at the base of Kearsarge Mountain today along SRKG 10. It was a beautiful early fall day. The hike was uphill almost all the way but fairly easy. Jeff and I had trouble keeping our pace down so we finished early having great conversations about hiking in Peru, Nepal, and Maine along the way. Here are a few of the photos I took during our stroll.

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Ragged Mountain with SRKG

Yesterday a group of 10 were led by Nick Baer over Ragged Mountain along the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsarge Greenway Trail 9. Nick educated us about the ecology of the area and got us all back safely. We deviated a short distance from SRKG 9 to visit Balanced Rock seen to the right. A few of us went a bit beyond this rock to get a nice overview of Proctor Academy.

There is a slide show of photos from this hike below. If you wish to see more photos taken along SRKG 9, please click HERE.

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