Trees

Yesterday I had quite a long walk in the woods. I started at Narramissic Farm, walked about 100 yards in a westerly direction on a cleared farm road, and entered an ATV trail. (Oh, ATV == All Terrain Vehicle.) Then I headed in a northerly direction on the trail and came along side what I call Little Fitch Hill which was covered with more small trees and tangled vines than it had been the last time I was there. This is reasonable. It’s been over a year and we’ve had a lot of rain. But the place looked mysterious and a bit forbidding. I remembered when I climbed up there over three years ago and got those photos of porcupines. Two in one tree:

But I digress. After looking up into the mess of trees and vines for a few moments I walked on along the trail and remembered that it sloped down. Soon I was going downhill past places I had remembered. It was quite beautiful actually, so I snapped a picture of the ATV trail curving downward with the hazy outlines of Pleasant Mountain in the distance:

I kept on walking down, down, and down, past the remains of the ancient road connecting Fessenden Hill Road with Ingalls Road, and on, wondering if I should turn back. But I was curious. So I kept going, finally over a little bridge and up slightly, and then on down to suddenly view the Narrow Gauge Road together with the terminus of Hilton Road. This I was familiar with, having been there a few times before by way of Hilton Road. It was fun being there again and I snapped a picture of the little beaver pond running parallel to Narrow Gauge Road:

But now the task was to return, to walk and scramble up that steep ATV trail to my truck parked at Narramissic. So, I girded my loins, so to speak, and headed on up. I carefully paced myself, stopping frequently to rest in shaded portions of the trail, the sweat running off my face and neck. Before I knew it, there I was, passing familiar places, and finally arriving at a less steep part of the trail, on past Little Fitch Hill and on to the level portion of the trail. I was glad to get back to my truck and drive on home, but I enjoyed the experience, the memories, and the quiet beauty of the day.

Incidentally, this ATV trail proceeds on up beyond Narramissic to the Bear Trap. Perhaps I should get myself an ATV.

We had a 75 foot pine fairly close to the house, and in view of Global Warming with its extreme weather possibilities we thought we’d lop it down, so to speak. The Q-Team did it for us. Here’s the tree just before its demise:

…..

And here’s the monster on its way down. You should have heard the BOOM when it landed!

…..

Well, it had a good life. Porbably made it to about 100 or so years at least.