Thursday, July 24, 2008
Sunday, July 20, 2008
The Nature Conservancy's: Limestone Rise.
Having surmised that we were on our own proceeded to Altamont via the Voorheesville/Altamont Road (Rte. 156) from Voorheesville. Taking route 146 west out of Altamont Village, we drove about 4.5 miles into Knox until we crossed route 252 (Knox Cave Road). A couple of hundred feet beyond route 252 on the right we came upon Nash Road. and the preserve sign:
the Nature Conservancy's Guide Book.
I have cropped the trail map and added numbers to a xerox copy with a ballpoint pen to indicate the locations of our photos:
On right hand side of the road was the described painted metal gate to a farm entrance:
to the Old English verb growan, “to grow”,
this should be in the dictionary
as part of that definition. (#4)
(I am currently using this as my Desktop background.)
The trail now takes a slow left turn and approaches the road where you will see this sign:
(11-c)
Moss abounds here and seems to cover everything stone and or fallen and organic.
These are some of the dozen or so types of ferns growing abundantly about the area:
(11-f)
This one I know by name: The Christmas fern. (11-g)
Here is my close-up.
From Lichen to Fungus.
Alan took this picture of a Mushroom I found for him
that had just recently popped up from underneath the leaf bed.
Fossil leaden limestone. (12-b)
We were getting a little sweaty and the mosquitoes had located us as a result so we decided to rest on a log that had fallen across the path as it looped back upon itself and headed back down the rise.
An interesting root formation on one of the cliffs (#16)
A note about the first two blogs on this site:
The title of the 2nd blog which is now untitled, was actually: "...I needed a medicinal Nature encounter..."
~~
That having been said:
If you decide use HTML in Blogger, once you post you cannot with out long, frustrating, hair-pulling, hours upon hours of back-door end-run rewriting and reposting, corrections are almost imposable.
I tried when reposting these blogs to make corrections that I was unable to deal with when they were originally posted. Most real problems have been fixed. However some inconsistencies still exist and I apologize for this most humbly.
Believe me, I could fix them any better I would. For now, I feel that I have invested enough time and effort, so I now hereby surrender those mistakes and inconsistencies to the inertia of the transitory.
~~
ON WITH THE SHOW!
obeedúid~
20/july/08
Casline if you are reading this I hope you took a shower as soon as you got home! I picked two tics off me before I made it to the shower, stripped down, bagged the clothes and scrubbed down.
~
I was feeling kinda down because of recent family "Stuff" so I E-mailed Alan Casline and asked him if he was interested in doing a short hike up in the Helderburg Mountains just south of here where I live.
I needed a Medicinal Nature Encounter.
So we went looking for a place we had passed by recently on the way to Christman's Preserve called Limestone Rise Preserve.
~
We ended up finding "Wolf Creek Falls Preserve" in Knox.
~
A full scan of "Wolf Creek Preserve"
in case you wish to enlarge it in your Browser.
The Trail Map was kind of upside down to the way you enter The Preserve; but my Boy Scout orienteering kicked in and we quickly determined that although the Red Trail was not yet opened, we could still navigate around the closed areas by doing a stretch of road along 816 Bozenkill.
~
Enlarged and Cropped Map of
With our route and a legend for the photos.
Alan laid down on the first foot-bridge over the
The Mountain Goat bIRD gets up!
(#1 on the enlarged Map.)
~
We proceeded in a roundabout manner to the Bird Box. Nothing special, just a Bird box. I was more impressed with the looks of this tree at the opening in the stone wall.
Kinda Spooky Looking!
Reminds me of a Screaming Eagle....
(#2 on the enlarged Map.)
Alan played with the wall and made a Rock Person. I abstained as I realized that the rock formations were the result of years of gradual deterioration that I didn't want to disturb. It was interesting from the standpoint that the wall was originally built with shale and topped with a row of field stone. Almost "Natural Ornate" in its day.
~
Next we made our way to Bench 1. I must say here that I am not impressed with the placement of the benches in this Preserve. They are Urban in style and design, so they the look very much out of place. Also they do not present any real view, or point of interest. Its quiet, in the woods, but in a man made clearing, with little or no purpose than a resting spot for hikers unaccustomed to hiking, who need frequent rest stops. Not worth a picture.
~
We headed towards the Wetland to see if it provided any views. Allot of trees under a nice canopy but nothing to film. Pleasant dense new growth forestland.
~
Then we found what was perhaps the most interesting thing on the trail. A mysterious foundation that we determined to have been the ruins of a "Saw-Mill" (?) that was some how connected to the D&H Railroad line that runs along the lower part of Preserve. It appears that at some point the Creek must have been diverted to power the mill to assist in harvesting wood.
I was so interested in fact I neglected to take a picture! It is indicated as location #4 on the map.
~
We checked out the D&H line and the made our way back along the Red trail to the Creek.
It was wonderful! Just what I needed to take my mind off of recent events.
~
After a pause to drink and admire the Creek I wondered up to Bench 2 and was of course unimpressed once again. At least this one faced a nice Ol' Tree that was pleasing to look at for a brief bit.
~
At this point we decided to "Bush-Whack" up the Creek bed. It was not for the unexperienced but it was magnificent!
"
(#3 on the enlarged Map.)
It was worth the climb and the Hitch-hiking Ticks. Hopefully it will be added to the Trail System and it would make a good location for a Lean to similar to "Christman's Sanctuary".
The ride hope was quick and we ended up in Altamont about 5:30 p.m.
After a "Scrub-Down" and something to eat, all was right with the world again. I'm so glad I work for the Company I work for now. I needed some "My Time" to put me right so I can continue to be there for "My Family". They are ever on my mind and in my heart; but sometimes I need to climb a Creek Wall and forget about them for awhile so I can be me....
obeedúid~
21/june/08/p.m.
Vacation Correspondence:
You know that little "automatic E-mail response thing" you get, when someone goes away, and you are still working, because you're not on vacation too?
!!!
I hate that, ...don't you?
Well, to all of you who did that to me, guess what....
I'M ON VACATION AND I'M SENDING YOU THIS INSTEAD!
("...he-he-he, yuk-yuk, snicker, snicker...")
In America, in 1957, a year before I was born, Jack Spicer wrote letters to Lorca long after Lorca was moldy.
Alan, or perhaps it was Art, told me that Frost and Christman at least knew of each other, perhaps wrote to each other, and if I remember correctly, visited each other.
Poets gather in groups of like minded individuals to read and grow in their craft. We do that in the EOTNP Group. Some of our most memorable and inspiring times are in the Pub "after-words", and even then, we are corresponding with each other.
Poets need each other.
Poets correspond.
Today I went to the W.W. Christman Sanctuary with my kids for my our Summer Vacation. Now that they are older, and have "semi" lives of their own, we take our vacations where we can get them.
Which I promptly did. If you can't make this link for some reason paste it into your browser and check it out. It's kinda cool! This is a link to Letterboxing North America .org, and their Homepage states:
Basically, you treasure hunt, and collect impressions from rubber stamps, hidden in tupperware and plastic ziplock baggies somewhere along the hiking trail.
With my own special twist...
I wanted to correspond with Christman too....
My mom, famous for taking me and my brother Rich, about the countryside, to interesting places, once took me to do a grave-rubbing of Robert Frosts Grave. Gravestone rubbing was a burgeoning hobbie in those days... one of those "Time-Life" "fun things to do with your kids" type hobbies.
Little did I know, the corollary correspondences, that this would make in my life.
Last night I wrote this poem. Today I mailed it by stamping it and adding it to the Letterbox at Christman's.
Correspon' dances:
Mae Muther taen mae tae
Rabbie Frost's grave yin day
quhan A wus boot a ween
sae scho cud doo a rubbin
o hiz ain auld hiedstane
wi' charcoal ona paiper blacken
ana runnybabbits quher oot tae play
~
A taen mae bairns tae
Christman's Sanctuarie
Frae som clymin aroon
hiz hardscrabble muntin
ana jist hadda sae, Christman,
ye're ae goon naw, bot nae forgottin
ana runnybabbits quher oot tae play.
Even the RunnieBabbits corresponded. They were the first thing we saw when we arrived at the trailhead. They were waiting for us! And somehow last night I knew they would be.
...We just got back. My feet are tired. I'm gonna take a nap like my adult "kids" are doing right now as I write this.
I can do this. I'm on Vacation.
...And we take our Vacations where we find them...
obeedude/16/July/07