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.
This heron was doing some (very cold) fishing in Cambridge
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.
Here are a few photos from another hike up in the white mountains, this time a loop on Mt. Moosilauke. Though I have hiked this one in the past, it has been a while. On top of that, I choose a new route this time. I got started at a reasonable time and steadily worked my way up the east ridge following some bare boot tracks almost the whole way. Once I arrived at top of the ridge I hit the Appalachian Trail which, thankfully, had a much more even set of snowshoe tracks.
The junction with the AT
From there it was a straight forward climb to the summit. Once I broke above the treeline I was greeted with a frozen tundra landscape of scrubby grass, a dusting of snow, and a very very icy trail. The wind was gusting pretty hard, and encouraged me to quickly make my way over the summit and down the south slope of the mountain towards the car.
At least the trail is flat here…
The cairns are impossible to miss this early in the season
The rest of the descent was pretty uneventful. All in all it was a fairly typical winter climb, if a little quiet. Definitely not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon!
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.
The Old Stone Church just before sunrise
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 sun starts to peek through the fog on the water
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.
This sun skims over the water, under the bridge, and onto the west side of the reservoir
The church finally catches the morning light
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.
The rocks by the reservoir were covered in forests of little ice crystals
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.
Any idea what would have made this?
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.
The surface of the pond had lots of texture frozen onto it
I was a bit surprised to find a spot this green on such a day
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.
We stopped for a break at the shore of this pondThis old lock was part of the Blackstone Canal which ran from Providence to Worcester built in the 1820sThe hinges from the lock gates were mounted here
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.
A blade of grass captured in iceCan you tell which way the wind was blowing in the storm?
After the success of our Halloween adventures I decided to check out another destination that came recommended by the locals, Harpswell’s Cliff Trail. It was definitely not as nice out, but I decided to go for it anyways. The trail started off by winding along the side of a little tidal creek through a classic Maine pine forest.
A little bridge for a little brook
The pine needles always make these trails so peaceful
After crossing to the other side of the park, the trails starts to follow Long Reach, a tidal inlet. At times the trail drops right down to the water, showing off the tranquility of this remote stretch of water.
The view from my snack break
As it climbs up the ridge you start to get views from the Cliffs that give this trail it’s name. The combination of the trees and shrubs which grow out over the edge with the dizzying drop off make it hard to really capture the feeling of being here in a photo. The views were very impressive for such a short hike, and I never would have guessed there were such large cliffs so close to the coast here.
Though the interrupt the view, these trees are certainly impressively perched
From the cliffs it was a short hike back down to the parking lot. I am certainly happy that I checked this one out, and I’ll have to return another time when there is better weather. I’ll leave you with a final shot of the sunset we got the next evening. It definitely would have been nice to see something like this from the cliffs!
For Halloween this year we decided to mix it up a bit and spend the day up in Maine. It was a very quiet weekend at the point. We spent a lot of time relaxing at the house and enjoying the change of scenery. The night before Halloween we also were treated to a very nice, though cold, sunset.
The next morning we put together a little tour of some conservation land that we had not explored before. The first stop was at the Wharton Point Landing. It was very quiet there in the morning, and I spent a few minutes taking pictures of the canoes peacefully floating on the bay.
After that it was on to the Marquoit Bay Conservation Land. This was a small park with just a single trail, but the view of the bay from the end of the trail was quite nice. We even ran into some relatives out for a walk at the same park while we were there. A surprise for both of us!
Fall leaves beside the trail catching the morning sun
Next we moved on to the larger Wolfe’s Neck State Park. This one was definitely the happening place for the day, and the parking lot was nearly full by the time we arrived. We grabbed a spot and then started our little hike. The park turned out to be beautifully maintained, with some very impressive trails along the bluff looking over the ocean. The east side of the park was clearly the most popular part, but we also appreciated the west side as part of our loop around the perimeter of the park.
An example of extreme trail maintenance
The friendly neighborhood red squirrel watching us go by
We accidentally found this official park geocache. Maybe they should hide it better…
After a stop in downtown Freeport for a late lunch, it was on to our final park, Hedgehog Mountain. Now to be honest we chose to stop here purely based on the name. We had to find out if there was any resemblance to our pet hedgehog, Pepper.
Pepper, a hedgehog
As it turns out, Hedgehog Mountain doesn’t look much like a hedgehog or a mountain. It turned out to be a nice, but short, walk up to the top of a ridge where we got a view out to the west. Our timing was excellent, as we watched the sun go down from the viewpoint before returning to our car.
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.
The colors in chasm had just gotten started
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.
The fall color sampler
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.
