Loop Trail

 

It's been several weeks now since I climbed Humpback Rocks in the Blue Ridge Mountains, a favorite of many in this region. Still, as I will soon show, there was just a bit of fall color beginning to appear.

Matoaka Trail

 

The Matoaka Trail runs through some 300 acres of woods now designated by the College of William & Mary as a nature preserve.

Shell

 

Chesapecten jeffersonius

Taskinas Creek

 

York River as seen from the mouth of Taskinas Creek . . .

where the fiddler crabs have quickly disappeared into the grass . . .

and where students studying the creek's wildlife can also temporarily "disappear" from view.

Mt. Tom North Trailhead Park

Hemlock Trail II

 

The rest of the Hemlock Trail led me back along the shore of the Upper Hemlock Lake . . .

past some lovely mountain laurel . . .

and the remnants of a quintessentially New England-style rock fence.

Hemlock Trail

 

Follow the Highland Lake Trail long enough and you can eventually connect with the Hemlock Trail, which quite understandably leads you through a lovely Hemlock forest.

NEMBA

 

I'll have to admit being a little mystified by these letters I found along the Highland Lake Trail. Turns out, NEMBA stands for the New England Mountain Bike Association, whose members, I presume, help maintain the trail.

Highland Lake Trail III

 

This is not a trail marker we're used to down south. :-)

Highland Lake Trail II

Highland Lake Trail

 

Another day, another trail. This time it's at Highland Lakes, a reservoir located just 4.8 miles from Ashfield, Massachusetts.

Norwottuck Rail Trail Bridge

 

Robert Francis Bridge

 

Mill River

 

Dragonfly

 

Hilda & Morris Golden Trial, Amherst

Hilda & Morris Golden Trail

 

Jute

 

So part of my reason for wanting to hike the Red Dot Loop Trail was to see how some of the mitigation efforts were coming along, in particular the installation of these jute mats intended to control the erosion that had been taking place where the trail meets the so-called Summit Road. Unfortunately, most of the seed that had been sown underneath has failed to produce, probably because this was done late last fall (November:?)--not the ideal time to be sowing seed in Massachusetts. 

Red Dot

 

Once off the plane, I made a bee line toward the Blue Hills Reservation, a 7,000-acre state park in Norfolk County, Massachusetts. I had heard about some work being done on towers there and I wanted to go see it for myself. To get there, I hiked the rather prosaically named Red Dot Loop Trail.

Dandelion

 

ISO 100 | 70mm | 0ev | f4 | 1/500s

Greensprings Interpretive Trail

First Landing State Park

"The park is where English colonists first landed in 1607. Native American canoes, Colonial settlers, 20th-century schooners and modern cargo ships have navigated the park's waterways. Its cypress swamps were a source of fresh water for merchant mariners, pirates and military ships during the War of 1812. Legend has it that Blackbeard hid in the Narrows area of the park, and interior waterways were used by Union and Confederate patrols during the Civil War. Built in part by an all African-American Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933-1940, the park is a National Natural Landmark and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places." -- Department of Conservation and Recreation

 

Bald Cypress Trail