In June of 2014, I drove to New Hampshire to visit old friends and do some camping. On June 27th I climbed Mount Chocorua and made a fantastic discovery: I am incredibly out of shape! My calves hurt for days after. I was slow and passed by virtually everybody, but I wasn’t the slowest on the mountain. I did pass a slug going the same way. There was a lot to see on the way up, such as lichen-encrusted rocks and trees. The purple areas on this rotting log are smooth and hard, while all around it is chipping away. It makes quite a design, doesn’t it? This tree seems to have been temporarily confused about which way was up: The mountain is rather steep most of the way up – much worse than Mount Monadnock – especially at the top where smooth rock curves down to become immense cliffs on two sides. Adding to the psychological intimidation, even after walking forever to reach the tree line, one can look to the left and see the top and just how far it is. The trail never seems to end. Being mostly bare rock on top, the trail is easy to lose and I ended up climbing straight up a wall for the last fifteen feet. The photographs do not at all do the view justice. In my peripheral vision, I could see that the nearest trees I could see were still very distant, giving the feeling that the view wrapped around underneath my feet and I was floating in the sky. It was a bit like standing in an OMNI theater. The White Mountains are beautiful in the summer. Please comment.
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I visited the Emerson Point Preserve in Palmetto, Florida in April 2014, a peninsula on the border of the Manatee River and Tampa Bay. On the map it is on an island, but this is only because of a small canal. The preserve rules prohibit collecting, walking off-trail, and alcohol. Despite this, it was still pretty fun. I saw a lot of warped trees such as these: I also found this tree with the worst sunburn I have ever seen: I saw tiny, hard seeds/berries that greatly resembled ladybugs (red with a black spot). There were many cacti and century plants sticking out into the trail. I saw large, purple flowers with pink stripes and large, pink flowers with pink stripes. They were nearly identical. On these flowers was a black butterfly with blue spots and a bluish sheen (likely a mangrove skipper). It crawled so deep into one of the flowers that I was able to briefly trap it inside by gently pinching the flower base shut. I also saw a zebra long-wing butterfly, a duck, a collar snake, a red-thorned spider (possibly Gasteracantha cancriformis), and these mangrove crabs: Please Comment
I visited Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa, Florida in October 2013. It isn’t that big, but there is a lot packed into it. First, I took the boardwalks through the swamp. I was surprised how few biting insects and how few birds (biting or not) there were. I did see a few wading birds, picking through the submerged vegetation for snacks. There were also quite a few surface skimming insects. The cypress trees I found contorted (or eroded) into some of the craziest shapes ever, but I couldn’t decide which to take pictures of. You’ll have to take my word for it. Anyways, I did not see any lettuce and the “lake” itself is really more of a forest. False advertising? I am a bit disappointed. I saw zero snakes, zero fish, and zero gators. However, I did see about seven turtles. Following the boardwalks to more open water near the river, I passed by the observation tower. It was closed. I saw what I think was an otter repeatedly stick its head out of the water and swim right underneath where I was standing. I was able to follow it by the subtle disturbance in the surface vegetation. I tried to take a picture, but it wouldn’t hold still.
After this, I followed the paved and unpaved trails that circle the dry parts of the park. I passed a grassy field, a playground, a swing set (separate from playground), a sandbox, picnic shelters, restrooms, and very strange-looking structures described on the map as “exercise stations.” The area is dominated by palmettos and beauty berry. I also saw squirrels, various flowers, mushrooms, and a green dragonfly. It’s a nice place. Please comment. The Mount Kearsarge Indian Museum in Warner, New Hampshire is great. I visited in September of 2012. It covers all the major Amerindian groups in North America, such as the Eskimos, the Navajo, and the local Abenaki. I loved the art. I found the simple tools and technologies interesting, such as canoes and the domestication of animals. There is a teepee outside and a garden with information of what plants were used as what medicines, which they learned about through trial and error.
What I really wanted to know was why dream catchers were the shape that they were and why so many of the exhibits spoke of a “circle of life.” The ancients would not have known of the water cycle or the carbon cycle. What exactly did it refer to? The employees thought that dream catchers might be a modern invention based on no particular ancient custom and they claimed that “circle of life” only referred to the fact that all life is connected. Connected in what way? By gravity? Why can’t it be connected in a triangle or a pentagram instead of a circle? They did not know. Nobody ever knows the answers to my questions. Please comment. This is an account of my trip through Vermont in 2011.
Molly Stark State Park – August 17 I drove to Molly Stark State Park and slept next to an apple tree. It smelled beautiful. I was careful to place my tent just out of range of the falling apples, but I had trouble driving the tent stakes through the pebble-filled soil. That night, I practiced roasting perfect marshmallows. Driving – August 18 I drove north to Lake Willoughby and drove around the area figuring out what trails there were to take. Later, I took route 105 east by numerous farms, trees, and mountains. It was a very scenic drive. There are entire sections of road that are nothing but pine and ferns. Finally, I found the dirt road off of 102 that leads to Maidstone State Park. After passing by nothing but trees for three miles or more, I suddenly found a row of houses around the edge of a lake. At the very end of the road is the park. Highlights: I saw a fox cross 105 in front of me. Mount Hor – August 19 Off of route 5A is a dirt road that goes nearly halfway up Mount Hor. I took the trail the rest of the way up. It was steep. I got very sweaty. Although the top is covered with vegetation, there are three cliff lookouts near the top with some limited visibility. Each is only big enough for two or three people. On my way from the second to the third lookout, I heard thunder. Soon after, I heard an approaching roar which turned out to be sheets of rain hitting the treetops. Seconds later, the storm was right over me. Less than two minutes later, the storm passed on. I continued to hear distant thunder as I reached the third lookout. Then I descended. Highlights: I saw a snake and more tiny toads than I could ever count. Mount Psigah – August 19 Directly across the road from the Mount Hor access road is the trail to climb Mount Psigah. Psigah and Hor flank the southern end of Lake Willoughby, with Psigah on the east. On the west (lake side) of Mount Psigah is mostly bare vertical rock, but from the south is a trail that leads to the top. It is very steep and I was exhausted by the time I reached an exposed area near the top. I also checked out two of the western lookouts. These are openings in the woods right at the edge of the cliff that offer a much better view than at Mount Hor, though they are just as small. They were awesome. Rather than keep looking for the others, I headed back down to eat and rest. At the very beginning of the trail is a pond with dead trunks sticking out of it. The way the sunlight caught them struck me as very nice. Unfortunately, I would not have my first camera until 2013. There is a lot of coniferous life on Mount Psigah, and it smells beautiful. There was also a lot of fungous, of many colorful varieties. In several places I swear I could smell rich, butter-fried, portabella mushrooms, but could not see them. It was very strong. Near the top there were birds whose wings made loud whirring noises when they took off. There was also a giant dragonfly whose wings were louder than I was used to. Highlights: I saw a large nest in a short tree near the top. I saw a dead insect I think must have been either a female dobsonfly or a horntail fly. Maidstone State Park – August 19 I drove back to Maidstone State Park by way of 105. As the sun set behind me, a strange mist began to rise from the forest around me. By the time I got to 102, I didn’t see it anymore. Arriving just after sunset, I sat by the lake and ate ravioli. That’s when I saw a loon surface just thirty feet from me. A few seconds later it was gone. I waited a long time for it to surface, but it never did – at least not where I could see it. That is the only time I have ever seen a loon. The park was surprisingly low on insects and I slept outdoors in one of their lean-tos. After climbing two mountains, sleep came easy. The next morning, I visited the beach there to take a quick swim. As I sat drying my feet on the rocks, I saw a large frog in the water. We stared at each other for minutes. Finally, I poked a stick toward him. He jumped up and bit the end of it! We played this game three more times. I’m not sure what his motives were. Later, I took the trail that ran along the shore from one beach to the second beach. Highlights: I saw many minnows and what must have been an ichneumon fly – something I have read about but never seen. Fairbanks Museum – August 20 I visited the Fairbanks Museum in Saint Johnsbury. Finding the street it was on was no problem, but finding which direction to go once on that street was. The museum itself has no sign, the front of it is obscured by trees, the angle of it one sees from the road is different than the angle in the brochure, and many of the buildings around there have the same style. Finally, I got inside. All the exhibits are in one large room and most of them are taxidermy. They were having a special on birds that week and so I saw hundreds of birds grouped by continent. There was also a moose, bears, monkeys, a tiger, a wolverine, a muskrat, and several other mammals. There was also a special section just for hummingbirds. There must have been a hundred hummingbird species represented. Really cool was the globe tool, a six-foot spherical screen that would show different rotating maps of Earth. Different choices included tectonic plates, ocean floor, and Earth after rising sea levels. There were also maps of The Moon, Mars, and other planets. The layout at the museum was sometimes irksome. One exhibit purportedly explained how and why early ideas of what dinosaurs were like differed from those today, but instead of showing a side by side comparison for each one, the arrangement of the models was scattered and incomplete. Often, it was difficult to tell where one exhibit ended and another began. I also noticed the usual “green” propaganda. A placard stated that species are disappearing today at a rate even faster than they did during the end of the age of dinosaurs, and that today’s rate of extinction is unprecedented. There is no way they could know this. The data is far too incomplete. The fossil record is so sparse that they can’t even find the “missing links”, how could they know for sure exactly when a species went extinct? Does anyone remember the coelacanth, the fish that everyone thought went extinct millions of years ago only to be found still living? Nobody is in agreement how many species are on the Earth in the first place, let alone how many are dying. We are still counting new ones and estimates of the total vary widely. Also, breeds and subspecies are reclassified as full, independent species all the time. I also happen to know that we simply lack the infrastructure to track population levels of every species there is, especially when some were only just discovered and may not ever be seen again. The world is a big place, and collection is based somewhat on luck. Incidentally, the extinction of the dinosaurs was not the greatest in history (the Permian-Triassic event was much greater), so it is a cherry-picked comparison in any case. Museums must hate me. You don’t have to go far from home for long to find interesting things. I enjoy the small places in between. This is an account of my trip through Vermont in 2009, which was the first time I drove more than two hours away from my home by myself (I lived in New Hampshire at the time). If you have an eye for detail, there is always plenty to see. Harriman Reservoir - June 8
After parking and walking to the opposite side of the Harriman dam, I discovered a snowmobile path that ran for a very long ways. I decided to make a hike out of it. I eventually gave up walking and turned around after what must have been more than three miles. This entire time, I did not see a single human on the path. Nor did I ever see anyone on the opposite shore, nor a single boat in the water. It was very peaceful. The water was unsuitable for wading. It was full of leaves, muck, and branches. Trees grew right up to the water. There was no proper beach anywhere. Besides, the water was colder than I expected for June. Highlights: There were large, yellow butterflies everywhere. In one location, there was a dogpile of them on the ground. I gave chase but they got away. They all seemed to have great difficulty getting off the ground. Eventually, all but one did, and it was still there when I returned that way to my car. Molly Stark State Park – June 8 Turning east on route 9, I headed for Molly Stark State Park. A trail from the park leads to the top of Mount Olga, which is really more of a big hill. It is quite steep, but the length of the trail was slightly disappointing. Also, the top is covered with trees, blocking any view. There is a fire tower at the top, but the plastic windowpanes are cracked and dirty. It was still nice. Highlights: The air all the way up the trail was strong with the scent of Christmas trees. The Maple Museum – June 8 Off of route 9 is a gift shop named The Maple Museum. It closes at 6, but since she was awaiting a package from UPS, the lady there let me in at 6:20. The store has maple syrup of all grades and blends, plus maple candies of all kinds. It also carries baskets, shirts, books, postcards, salsas, sauces, figurines, and all the usual stuff you find in any gift shop. The one thing that really intrigued me was the maple soda. It wasn’t as good as I expected. 91-North – June 8 I decided to begin heading north that evening to the Willoughby area so I would have less distance to go the next morning. All the way north on 91 on both sides were small mountains and large hills covered in trees catching the light from the setting sun. Also, it seemed at times that I was the only one out on the road. Traffic was almost zero. It was very scenic and peaceful. The Wells River Motel – June 8 I stopped at the Wells River Motel for the night. It was nice, but more than I like spending. Also, I couldn’t get hot water in the shower the next morning. That was fun. 89-North – June 9 Since it was raining, I decided to skip Willoughby and head northwest on 89 to the aquarium in Burlington. If you think mountainous landscapes in the sun are cool, you’ve never seen them in the rain. Great, curling tentacles of mist wrapped around the mountains on either side of me barely a thousand feet over my head. These mountains were really more like very large hills, actually, although some were quite steep. ECHO Aquarium – June 9 The ECHO Aquarium in Burlington is directly on the shore of Lake Champlain. Its exhibits primarily concern the history, geology, and ecology of the lake, but there was also an exotic frog exhibit. There are no very large tanks, but I did see numerous fish, turtles, and frogs. I learned that a freshwater variety of dune grass grows nearby and that foreign zebra mussels encrust anything left on the lakebed. Isle La Motte – June 9 Later, I drove north to the Chazy Reef on Isle La Motte. The white-powder dirt roads of the islands turned my tires white by the time I got to the end. Half of the island is fossil reef including stromatolites, bryozoans, stromatoporoids, sponges, coral, and various mollusks. There are trails to take through the woods to see different rock formations with fossils in them. I didn’t see much. Most of it just looked like rock to me, but I did learn how to recognize fossil stromatoporoids, which are long-extinct, cabbage-like relatives of sponges that I had not heard of before. By this time, the rain had stopped, but it was still cold and windy. There was one location where the rock under my feet sounded hollow. Highlights: I saw a black and yellow snake, a long, thin, bright green beetle, and a bright red beetle with bright blue wing covers. Stillwater State Park – June 9 Returning southeast on 89 and route 2, I pulled into the Groton State Forest. A cluster of state parks are there. I pulled into Stillwater State Park hoping to find a campsite to spend the night (much cheaper than a motel). The park borders a lake and has restrooms, pay showers, a sandbox, a badmitten net, half a basketball court, and a swingset. I was one of only two campers in the entire campground of over fifty sites. That night it became extremely cold. I had to put on a sweatshirt, change into long pants, get out my heavy blanket and my beach towel just to be warm enough – and this was in June! Highlights: I saw a rabbit, a lightning bug, and heard what I think were owls all night. Owl’s Head Mountain – June 10 Still in Groton State Forest, I drove to Owl’s Head Mountain to do some mountain climbing. I was a bit disappointed with it. I drove ninety percent of the way to the top (that’s where the parking lot is) and the trees at the top only allow a 100-degree angle view. Still, it was a decent view for what it was. Afterwards, I took a trail down the non-steep side of the mountain and looped back to my car by way of the main road. In the half-hour it took me to walk on route 232, only four cars passed me. Highlights: I saw a very young, diseased, maple tree with hot pink blotches on the leaves. I saw two types of slugs, both up to four inches long. Kettle Pond – June 10 Still in Groton State Forest, I visited Kettle Pond and took the trail that wraps around it. Despite the flat grade, it was hard going due to all the rocks, roots, and mud. It took longer than I expected. There were no suitable beaches. Highlights: I saw two types of newts. 93-South – June 10 Deciding to return home early because of the unusually cold weather, I took 93 south to see the White Mountains. I noticed as soon as I passed the border from Vermont to New Hampshire that the thousand-foot hills that lined the road on both sides suddenly became vast mountains that sloped off away into the distance. The drive was largely uneventful. Please comment. In June 2009 I took a drive through Vermont for several days that included stops at the Maple Museum on Route 9 and the Chazy Fossil Reef on Isle La Motte. At the end of the week, I was off to visit “America’s Stonehenge” in Salem, New Hampshire. It is several acres of crisscrossing stone walls in the woods with a small cluster of stone “huts” in the center, some topped with dirt and moss. There is also a table and associated “speaking tube” through which one can speak through from a hidden place and make it seem as though the table is speaking. At the entrance to the woods is a combination gift shop and very small museum of artifacts found nearby.
The speaking tube is the most interesting. It reminds me of a program on the history channel documenting how the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and others used to use trickery and magic tricks to manipulate the masses into obedience. “Speaking tubes” of some kind were used in almost every major religion at the time. Nobody knows who built the structures in what is now Salem. Evidence suggests that many groups, from native Amerindians to migrant Celtic priests (who visited the new world before Columbus) to runaway slaves on the underground railroad have used the site at different times in the past. There is also evidence that Scottish Knights were at least in this region in the middle ages, even if not linked directly to this site. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal found suggests that at least some sections were being used as early as 4000 years ago. Among the stone walls are large, flat, pointed stones standing upright. From a central location, these stones line up with the sunrise and sunset of each equinox, solstice, and several other dates important to some ancient societies. Other stones line up with important lunar events. I myself have some doubts about the importance of these rocks and wonder if they are being interpreted correctly. For one thing, there are actually two central points these rocks line up with. Some rocks line up with one point and some line up with another about fifteen feet away. For another thing, the rocks do not line up precisely. This is explained away as the drift of the Earth through space in the time since these stones were used and the time period these stones would have lined up is supposedly corroborated by radiocarbon dating, but it is believed the site was used over many thousands of years, so that explanation only brings up the question of why the stones weren’t moved since then. Also, I have doubts about the accuracy of all radiometric dating. For another thing, there are several additional stones that are not said to line up with anything of any importance. Since there are so many of them, I believe it possible that any perceived lineup could very well be a coincidence. These stones might not have been used for a calendar after all. If these stones were used as some sort of grand calendar built by a single group of people, why is it so sloppy? The stones are all different sizes, shapes, and distances from the center(s). Some have V-notches carved into them and some do not. Some are standing and some are not (it is claimed that some fell over). I can’t say that it isn’t a calendar, but nor can I be sure it is. There is a nice trail through the woods also. The rest of the day was uneventful. Please comment. |
AuthorMy name is Dan. I am an author, artist, explorer, and contemplator of subjects large and small. Archives
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