Week #5 (spring break)

My phenology spot this week was different because I was home in Monkton for spring break. Just being in a more rural setting made me feel like I had a greater connection to the changing seasons. The weather was sunny and beautiful for the first half of the week and my driveway and the dirt road I live on both announced the coming of mud season. Before clouds and rain rolled in around thursday I took advantage of the sun and warmth by making a daily hike up Hogback Mountain which lies just across the road. I followed old logging trails observing how the forest changed and trying to read the landscape. In the hollows between the low ridges that run north to south along the mountain the snow was still deep but I could usually walk on top of it without falling through unless I hit a pocket formed by downed branches or the jumbled rocks of a talus slope. On one walk I saw deer signs and remnants of beds, they looked old but the quickly melting snow must have deceived me because over the next ridge I startled several deer who quickly turned up their tails and fled down the treacherous slope faster then I could hope to follow. I could hear birds and occasionally would startle at the sound of snow sloughing off of rocks above me. The rain towards the end of the week kept me inside and melted the remaining ice on my driveway making packing for my return to school easier since I didn't have to park my car at the top. The last thing I did before leaving home was to take what was probably the last sled run of the season with my mom. There was just enough snow left to get a good ride in before hitting the bare grass and abruptly skidding to a stop.

Week #4

It was a warm day today and most of the snow from last week had melted into a layer of grainy ice with mud and slush beneath. From my spot I could hear the stream in full flow and as I walked into the woods a squirrel yelled angrily at me. I could also hear the occasional creak of a branch and people and dogs passing by on the trails but not much else above the roar of jets above. The stream that runs down the ravine where my spot is located remains frozen over but bootprints revealed a layer of wet gray slush below the snow. The ground was cold and moist except in the hollow beneath the large white pine where I sat on the sandy soil. A few ferns and grass were revealed in pockets where the dirty snow had melted around trees. Even though they were sodden and limp they seemed to promise new growth soon. I heard a lot of people out walking their dogs on the trail across the main stream, also lured out by the warm sun. A month ago it would have been starting to get dark now but now the day seems to be stretching into the late afternoon quite that lasts longer and longer through the spring into the summer. The snow tasted like soil and acidic pine and spring.

Week #3

The "Dead Ash" is Actually an Elm and north may be further to the right

Week #2

For this weeks phrenology visit, I went at night to get a sense of what my place was like at a different time of day. Being in the woods at night is always a really amazing experience and the contrast of stepping off the well light street and onto the dark path was intense. Since it was so dark I didn’t really focus on specific things I could see at my spot but instead just tried to be aware of the different mood of the forest at night. Being deprived of your main sense makes you acutely aware that you are out of your element in the forest, especially knowing that for many of the unseen creatures around you are more comfortable in the dark. It is unnerving but I also find it thrilling, a sort of return to a more primal condition, when there were things out there to be afraid of in the dark. Walking to my spot I found myself stepping carefully and as silently as possible and straining to listen to the sounds around me. In the rustle of the trees in the light wind I imagined unseen movement in the shadows around and startled at the sudden creak of a branch. My spot is in a fairly open area and as I stepped out from the tree line I saw how much my eyes had adjusted, as the snow gleamed white under the stars that seemed so much brighter than they had under the streetlights. I stood for a while at looked for constellations but I don’t really know any and only recognized Orion above the jagged tops of hemlock and pine swaying in the wind.

Week #1

My spot is in centennial woods on the west side of the stream to the north of the bend. I like this spot because it has a view up and down the wide swampy meadow that surrounds the stream course. On the day I went on a day when it was very sunny in the afternoon after a dusting of snow in the morning. I could see the new snow still sticking to the dark green hemlocks on the opposite bank of the stream, but on the stream in the direct sun, the snow was melting and forming a layer of water on top of the ice. As I watched this pool of water spread, melting more snow as it flowed around oxbows into more shaded parts stream. I saw a few fresh rabbit and squirrel/chipmunk(?) tracks but the only boot prints I saw near my spot were older. It was nice to know I was the first person to be out in that particular place enjoying the way the sun sparkled on new snow. I explored a little around my spot and found an interesting ravine that cuts through the main stream valley. There was a tiny frozen stream in the center that cut around rocks and fallen white pines. I am excited to watch as this stream changes and grows with melt water as the spring progresses.