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Enfield Lookout Trail, Ware, Massachusetts

I'm always curious about the stuff I find lying on forest floors. In this case, I couldn't quite figure out what this was. I found it on the trail along with almost countless fallen acorns. Any guesses as to what it might be?

Enfield Lookout Trail

After hiking the length of Winsor Dam and back, I decided to hike the Enfield Lookout Trail. Enfield was one of the towns flooded to make way for the Quabbin Reservoir. 

Winsor Dam

 

Nothing quite prepares you for the size of Winsor Dam. 2640 ft (805 m) long, 35 feet wide (10.7 m), with a maximum bottom width of 1100 ft (335 m), it's breathtaking. 

 

 

Built to help create one of the largest unfiltered water supplies in the United States, the 412 billion gallon reservoir covers 39 square miles with 181 miles of shoreline.

 

Nothing I did with my iPhone camera could adequately capture it's vast dimensions. But in this last photo, if you expand it, you might just be able to make out the form of someone hiking in the shadow of the trees along the trail in the center right.

  

The Beneski

Fascinating to think about and to actually see artifacts related to the natural history of western Massachusetts and the earth. That's what makes a visit to the Beneski Natural History Museum at Amherst College such a treat. Thousands of these objects are on display here, while thousands more are stored away for use by both students and faculty around the world.