Oct 20 Sugar Maples in Kirchner Woods

 

Thanks to the Stowe Land Trust for making this small 75 acre property open to the public. Once a family sugarbush, operating for over 50 years until the 1990s, the land now has a 4 mile trail system through its mature forest. A sugarbush is a Sugar maple tree forest used in the production of maple syrup. We all think of Vermont as the center of this activity but Quebec now accounts for 70% of the world's production. 

The Sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is predominately used as the source of the sap for the syrup. Other maples are also used to a lesser extent including Red maple, Black maple and Florida maple (also known as Southern Sugar maple). The sugar content of the sap is highest in Sugar maples. Depending on the content, a gallon of syrup requires about 30 gallons of sap, give or take. Mature trees are tapped in the late winter when temperatures are often freezing at night and warming during the day. The sap rises and falls in the tree during this time allowing sap to be extracted. There is a one to two month window for collecting sap. 

The sugar house ruins

Sap used to be collected in buckets and emptied daily into larger vats. Buckets were replaced by plastic bags and now by a system of tubing. A tubing system connects every tree at the tap point, using gravity to flow the sap from the highest elevation trees to the lowest where a collection station is located. 

Then it is time to boil away the water in the sap. The sugar house here, used a long rectangular vat heated by a wood fire below. Often, boiled sap would be transferred to a smaller vessel for the final boil which needed to be more controlled. The final boil was the art of making syrup, trying to get the color and taste correct for the most expensive grade - light amber grade A. I prefer the darker grades which tend to have a stronger flavor bordering on burnt. Maybe that is because that is the way I used to make it as a kid. It would be dark outside while boiling and hard to control the heat of a fire. I had one batch just turn to sugar. It was like hard sugar candy.

Bucket dump

Paper birch trees are also used to make a syrup to much lesser extent. It is used more as a flavoring for beverages and sauces. The sugar in birch sap is fructose and glucose. Maples have the more complex sucrose in the sap.

This maple is not letting go

Oct 19 Little River State Park - Vermont

 

This is my 3rd or 4th visit here. It is a popular place but it being a dreary mid October weekday, very few folks were out on the trails. 

My hike was a loop through an area once settled with many rock foundations and several cemeteries. Here is the commentary from the State Park brochure:

In the early 1800s, pioneers cleared fields, rocks, and stumps in Ricker Basin and Cotton Brook. A settlement of 50 or so families once lived in this area. The hard demands of the land and weather forced younger generations to abandon the farms. Today, old cemeteries, sawmill remains, old town roads, bridges and many cellar holes can still be seen as evidence of a past community.

On November 3 and 4 of 1927, torrential rains caused local rivers to rise and drove residents to their roofs. Between 1935 and 1938 the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), in cooperation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, constructed Waterbury Reservoir. The CCC camp here was a fully operating, thriving community with more than 80 buildings, and housing 2,000 men at its peak. Now, half a century later, only a few solitary chimneys and concrete foundations remain.

Having hiked the Ricker Farm Trail and Stevenson Brook Trail on previous visits, I opted for the Dalley Loop Trail this visit. The commentary on the interpretive sign at the above house foundation stated that the nearby barn ruins had once supported an 83' long barn. It was construction with an 83' long spruce pine serving as the ridgepole. 

Ruins of the 83' long barn

Artesian well near a house foundation

I visited 3 cemeteries on this loop hike. The stones are made from locally quarried marble. Normally, when I visit old cemeteries, the stones are discolored and engravings are eroded. This marble holds up very well and makes the cemetery look clean and nicely maintained. That is quire a contrast to southern New England cemeteries which have sandstone gravestones.  

Oct 18 Bellow Falls Petroglyphs

 

This was an interesting side trip heading up I-91 in southern Vermont. Bellow Falls Vermont lies on the Connecticut River right where Bellow or Great Falls is located. The townspeople built a canal around the falls to navigate on the river. These petroglyphs are located on that section of the river which the canal bypasses. There are dams on the downriver side of the canal and just above the petroglyph site where the falls would have been. See photo below taken from the petroglyph site. 

Reverend Robert McClure of Dartmouth College wrote about the site in 1789 and attributed the carvings to the local Abenaki tribe. Over time, speculation on the origin and meaning of the carvings have been debated with no definitive answers. Dating the carvings is almost impossible. In the 1930s, the local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution hired a local stone cutter to recarve the heads since they had eroded by river water for so many years. In 1961 someone added yellow paint so they could be seen better. You can see some of that paint today. There are yellow painted bars above the two petroglyph sites so they can be located from above. 

From the site looking downriver

The carvings are located down a steep rock forming on the west side of the Connecticut River gorge. They can be accessed by walking from downtown Bellow Falls on Bridge Street to the now closed Vilas Bridge. They can be seen from above near the bridge entrance. To get down to them, follow the side road on the bridge entrance on the right about 50 yards. There is a faint trail here which disappears once you are on solid rock. When I went, there was a local fellow above guiding me to the site. I may have found it on my own if I had taken the time to see them from above and locate a route to them along the rocks. Wear shoes with good grip. The rocks can be slick. 

Note the drippy yellow paint at the top of the photo. 

In 1990 the site was placed on the Register of Historic Places. The documentation for that placement mentioned that the figures are consistent with corn husk masks of the Abenaki Indians. 

A yellow painted bar above marks the site

The site encompasses two panels located about 30 feet from each other. There is a panel of 8 and a panel of 16 figures. Some have these weird extraterrestrial-like antennas convincing some folks that the Indians were visited by aliens. I must say that they don't look like feathers or antlers. They look like early era television antennas. 

The site has been damaged as I wrote earlier. There may have been other cravings here which could have eroded away by water or could be hidden from view by shifting rocks. Dynamiting the logjams below the falls could also have obscured some. When the canal was built nearby, an Abenaki burying ground was disturbed. Could that have some significance to the site??

There are a few other Native American carvings in the area including one underwater in Brattleboro. These are the most extensive of those. 

Two yellow bars can barely be seen in the photo to mark the petroglyph location. 

Oct 16 Mystic Seaport Figureheads

 

It was the very last exhibit we visited during this trip to Mystic Seaport and was my favorite. 

Figureheads became quite popular in Western Europe during the 18th & 19th centuries. Carvings have adorned ships for 2000 years but the practice ramped up particularly with British, Dutch and Spanish navies over the last 300 years. Spanish figureheads were often saints, the Dutch liked red lions and the Brits likes lions and unicorns. Of course there were many more and here is a sampling of the Mystic collection. They have 45 more in storage due to a lack of exhibit space. 

Figureheads were phased out as steam powered ships replaced ships with sails and riggings. Without riggings, there was no need for the bowsprit - the spar or mast that protrudes out from the bow of the ship. That was the natural place for a figurehead to be placed. 

Sep 14 Sax Island

 

This fish spits out kids. A very unorthodox playground sits in the middle of this island surrounded by Haw River. On the north end of the island, someone has placed 4 double hammocks, another unusual feature on Saxapahaw Island. A loop trail follows the perimeter of the island with occasional views of the river. We saw many Spice bushes, sunflowers, Jewelweed, Sea Oats and lots of Hackberry trees. Many of the trees had north facing scars at their base. So, this island must flood occasionally. The island is accessed via a road bridge which crosses the Haw River.  

Hidden in those riverside trees is a hiking trail. It gets a lot of use since the old cotton mill buildings are now condominium lofts.  

A well maintained and sandy trail

Glimpses of the river. This side has very little flow.

In 1701, on his walk through the Carolinas, John Lawson described this area as "the flower of Carolina". 

Two Hackberries are joined together.

Fish weir visible from the island.

Bridge and mill building

I found the history of Saxapahaw fascinating. A quaker, John Newlin, built the first cotton mill in 1844-1848. His slaves dug the mill race and helped with the construction. That didn't make sense at first. Quakers opposed slavery. The story goes back to 1838 when Newlin inherited about 40 slaves from Sarah Freeman. Newlin intended to free them but Freeman's will was contested for ten years, even going to the NC Supreme Court. When the case was settled, Newlin did free them and brought all the slaves to Ohio, a free state. I read an account in which he also provided housing for them in Logan County, Ohio. 

The mill produced woven cloth and later, cotton yarn. It passed through a number of owners. Abandoned at one point and bought by B Everette Jordan in 1927. It thrived until the 1980s and finally closed its doors in 1994 after suffering tornado damage. The mill buildings began their transformation in 2006. The former mill buildings now house businesses, restaurants, a ballroom, a brewery and lofts.  

Not your typical graffiti 

Sep 2 Breaks Interstate Park

 

Breaks Interstate Park is in both Virginia and Kentucky. It is administered by a commission created by a compact between the two states. States can enter into compacts only by congressional approval. The park has a developed resort with lodge, restaurant, cabins, campgrounds, trails, kayak access and even a zipline. During my visit there was a huge family reunion going on which prevented us from visiting the visitor center or any of the other developed areas. We still found plenty to see on the loop road through the park.  

Pine Mountain is a 125 mile long mountain ridge running from Cumberland Gap to Breaks Interstate Park. Daniel Boone gave it the name "Breaks" as he was looking for an easier route through the long mountain. The Pine Mountain State Scenic Trail (not to be confused with Pine Mountain Trail in Georgia) is a partially completed 120 mile trail which runs along the ridge of Pine Mountain. 

Due to the remoteness of this area, it is a dark sky area for us skygazers. There are so many overlooks along the ridge, you must get great sunset views as well. The trails we hiked all had overlooks facing west and one to the north.   

Most of the rock seen in the park is sandstone and some conglomerate stone. Coal is often found below the sandstone. 

Down there, 1000' below is Russell Fork. If you look up from the creek, you'll see the railroad cut in 1915. It still is used today to haul coal.