Here are a few quick photos from a recent trip around Ashland State Park’s lake with some friends. It was a great day, with beautiful weather and some relatively fresh snow. Given that I had been here just a few weeks earlier I mostly just enjoyed the walk and the company, but I’ll share a few photos anyways. Enjoy!
These photos are from a quick trip I took down to Ashland State Park. I had never been here before and decided to check it out. I ended up stopping at a small roadside dam along the way down and took a couple photos there.
Once at the park I started exploring the trails, and ended up hiking all of the way around the reservoir. It was a nice walk, even though I didn’t end up capturing too many photos of it. After that I took the long way home with a quick stop at Hopkinton State Park.
Happy new years! I know this is late going up, but I have been busy lately. I’ll do my best to get caught up. For now let’s take a look back at our little new years celebration though.
I would have liked to make the trip up to Franklin New Hampshire for the new years paddle on the Winnipesaukee River, but it wasn’t in the cards. So instead we decided to head to the Charles river with some friends. It is a section we have paddled before, but never in these conditions. There were patches of ice on the side of the river, and the side channels and ponds were completely frozen. It was definitely an interesting view of the area, and a unique way to kick off the year.
What’s the ideal way to celebrate new years in Boston? With a bike ride into the city of course! We actually really lucked out with the weather on this one. Though it wasn’t a terribly sunny day, the temperature was very comfortable. We started in Waltham and made our way all the way into Boston. After a stop for raman in the city it was back on the bike to head back home.
The ride back certainly felt long as we pushed against the wind, but we continued to make steady progress. We saw a heron doing some finish along the edge of the water in Cambridge, so of course I took a break to capture some photos before we wrapped up our ride. All told this turned out to be about a 30 mile ride. Definitely a good conclusion to the year.
We recently got our second real storm of the year. I decided that dawn on Saturday would be the perfect time to get out and take advantage of the fresh snow and a clear day to capture a different view of a spot I have visited in the past, the Old Stone Church.
It was an early morning, but I grabbed some breakfast and drove out. As soon as I got close I immediately started getting excited by glimpses of fog on the water. I arrived just before the sun started to peek above the horizon, and the church was framed in a simple, but beautiful, pink and purple sky. The water on this part of the reservoir was completely frozen over, so as a result there wasn’t much fog on this part of the lake and instead I got a subtle reflection.
It was a good start, but at this point I was much more excited about the fog on the water behind me, so I took off down a trail to get a better vantage point. After a couple minutes of walking, I suddenly had this view in front of me. In one moment, the entire trip was worth it.
The clouds were mesmerizing as they slowly moved across the perfectly calm water. As they moved they turned various shades of pink and orange before going back to their normal milky white.
Once the sun was clear of the fog I headed back towards the church, only to come across another stunning view. The bridge over the reservoir had caught the light just right, and was practically erupting with an orange glowing mist. What’s more, while this view beckoned from the left, the church was practically glowing on my right.
Having taken in the sight of the church from afar, I decided to get a closer look so I could take in more of the details. I drove just up the road to the park where the church is and was immediately blown away at how beautiful the trees and surroundings were. There was still a thin coating of ice on the trees which made them practically glow in the morning light.
This kind of scene is one of my favorites, as I am sure I have mentioned before here. I just love how the snow sparkles in the light, the has that crisp clean feel, and a soft silence surrounds you. What’s more, this time I had the morning sun warming me up and I had it all to myself. I made my way around the church and soaked in the details. The snow on the rocks at the water’s (or should I say ice’s) edge especially caught my eye with the wild snow crystals that covered the soft mounds. These must have formed after the snow had stopped falling, but I have no idea how.
There were other strange ice formations as well, including a number of small icicles hanging on sticks and ice shelves near the now frozen water’s edge. Once again, I’m not sure what would create these, but they sure are fascinating.
I’ll leave you all with one little sign of life I came across in the mostly frozen landscape. As I was wandering about the park this little family was diving for something in the open water. I believe these are loons in their winter plumage. Apparently they migrate down from New Hampshire and Maine to winter in this warm and sunny spot. I can’t say I blame them, the view is top notch!
I may have already been to Callahan to take pictures at least 7 times this year, but when I saw the mist and fog I figured “what better place than an old favorite?” So off I went to some of my favorite spots. Callahan did not disappoint. There isn’t much to say about the trip other than the fact that I had a great time scurrying around in the wet snow and taking pictures of the views, both big and small.
This time I have a collection of a few different things. First up, some photos from another bike ride along a rail trail. We met up with a couple of friends to ride part of the Southern New England Trunkline Trail (or just SNETT). We quickly discovered that this was a very different kind of rail trail than our last trip. The trail was not paved, and in some section was downright rugged. I was happy I brought my mountain bike instead of the single speed road bike I used last time. The up side though was that the trail was relatively quiet, and also quite beautiful.
I also spent a bit of time playing around with a new lens that I picked up for astrophotography. I haven’t had a chance to use it with truly dark skies yet, but this is what I was able to capture at Callahan.
Finally, I have a couple of photos from the first real taste of winter we got with a bit of snow and ice. It didn’t stick around, so there isn’t that much to show yet. Stay tuned on this front.
As with many people in 2020 we were realizing that we had not spent much time with some of our best friends, so we decided to put together a little outing to visit with them. We ended up riding the full length of the Minuteman Trail into Cambridge and back. It has been a long time since I have been on the trail, so it all felt new to me. There was also a really nice array of fall color on display.
This was another quick walk we went on to make the most of the nice fall weather we had. We spent some time walking around the pond and through the woods on some trails we had not explored before. To be honest, the color was a little sparse here but it was still a very nice day.
I realized as the leaves were turning that I had not been to Purgatory Chasm all year. Given how interesting a spot that is, I figured it would be an interesting place to visit for some fall color.
What I found when I arrived was a different matter though. Instead of the color I saw everywhere else, the trees in the chasm were on a whole different schedule. They had really just started turning. Given this I didn’t come away with too many great shots of the chasm. However, the rest of the park did delivery some pretty sights. Though it was quite dry, I enjoyed exploring the little creek that flows behind the chasm. The combination of calm water and still air really showed off the colors here.
On the way back I stumbled across some more great color and views along the shores of the Hopkinton Reservoir. I caught it right at sunset, with some wispy clouds high above giving a perfect pink glow.
After the sun set I continued taking photos of the water. I particularly appreciated the views of the warm fall color on the other side combined with the cool blue water.
