Indian Bowl- Woburn

Who knew there would be an interesting hike right in my grandsons backyard.  Well close to his house anyways.

 We took advantage of a day that school was closed, to explore the area around Horn Pond and find the elusive "Indian Bowl".  Which as not made by Indians nor a bowl!


We started by having my grandson hand draw a map, based on a map we found online.  It is great practice and really helps with navigation to do that kind of exercise.


Map in hand off we went with my grandson in the lead!

A cool paper wasp nest

How the bowl was actually formed

At least we will not go hungry.   Maybe

Yes batman that is beantown !

Yes we found the bowl!

Biking Quabbin

 We decided to take bike ride out to Dana town common and explore the Quabbin. What a great day and we had perfect weather for biking. Quabbin has 4 towns that were removed to make way for the flooding of the reservoir. Dana town common is the only place that is actually above water. 

 It is really interesting to explore the old cellar holes and read the various plaques that describe what was once a vibrant town. 

 You can read more about the lost towns here: http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/massachusetts/underwater-ghost-town-ma/

We biked along what is left of the paved roads that once ran between the towns down to the waters edge, there we saw tracks from some of the local residents. Wildlife of course heads down for a drink and the drought has created a large beach and perfect "track trap".

It is actually sobering to look out at the reservoir and see how low the water level is. I would estimate it is down six feet of vertical water. We talked to the ranger at fishing area number three and he said to recover it might take up to ten years of normal rainfall.  Conservation is something we need to thing about seriously. That lawn your watering? Really?

As we retraced our way back to the car, we stopped again to do some further exploration  of Dana town common.  We noticed some really interesting stone work.  

Yes it is that time of year again.

Time to break out the bikes.

Our loyal followers will note that this is a diversion from our usual hiking routine. This year we will include our biking, paddle boarding and body boarding adventures. We certainly have found some amazing spots to visit in Western Mass and beyond. We are excited to share our adventures.

Stay tuned!

Mt Pierce

We are back and yes wandering through the winter landscape once again.

Here is one of our 4000 footers in NH.

Windy

We went up to Jerusalem hill in Wendell and did a trip around the pond as well this weekend. It was about 15F with a 25 mph wind. A perfect day indeed, no bugs !

Beavers

Winter is always a good time to check out the local animals. We took a walk down by the CT River to see how high the water was and saw that there is and active beaver in the area. The fog was rolling in and the temp was around 47. Hardly snowshoeing weather at this point..

Frost on its way ?

We have had frost warning for the past several nights but nothing yet. Time to start thinking about trips.

Snakes on a plain

We stopped at the Dana town common: Dana .
We have been there before and wandered over to the location that was the Graveyard. Next to it was I believe the church. All thats left is the foundation and we were checking it out and spotted 4 black racers. They were about 2-3 ft in length. This was the baby at the top of the foundation. Where the heck is St Patty when you need him. Only kidding snakes rock ! Anything that eats mice gets my vote.

Let us show you

Well its not exactly a salad bar but we were walking along and saw this piece of moss. At least we think its moss . Pretty cool. Probably good with blue cheese on it, but then again would tree bark would be passable with blue cheese..

Houston we have a Problem

Or at least this pilot did. We knew there was a jet crash site in Quabbin after looking at Geocache logs. We couldn't find the site during the fall, but we were obviously successful this time. We talked the ranger who said the crash happened in the 50's. The jet was a trainer and was lost in a storm heading back from N.Y. He radioed he was low on fuel and apparently the protocol is to ditch in Quabbin. Here is a link to a great site about the crash . Jet. Thanks Karl. I guess its the biggest wilderness area in MA. Anyhow they "cleaned up the site ". Its amazing how much is left. Must have been a big old mess. We checked around and figured out this was the approach the plane took. The pilot bailed out as was safe but the plane needs a little work around the edges.