Time Slips way...

Time slips away... and Sticks! Oh my...

 Wow! the end of March and the beginning of April? Where did the last week or so go?  Most of the snow is gone and the woodlands are very dry. The Great blue herons have been busy building their nest  as the Eastern bluebirds visit nesting boxes. In the meanwhile, the swallows catch bugs from above, the ducks and the geese voice their concern over me and my boys as we walk the edge of the swamp, while hawks and Turkey-vultures soar from up above.

Great Blue Heron on branch

 As the ice melts from the ponds and the boys take a dip, it is a true reminder that spring has sprung.

Now that most of the snow has melted and the sticks are available, Gaige has been finding some interesting sticks to carry. Although Hikah doesn't think so...

 

Gaige plowing through Hikah (ouch!) with stick, poor guy...

 Gaige even managed to get himself stuck with the stick, ground vs tree...

A one point Gaige came across a few different sticks he thought I would throw for him...yikes!

"How about this one mom"!

"This one"?

"Yes! that one Gaige"

Gaige was being silly with these sticks, at one point I had to leash them to walk down the street 100 feet to continue on the trail, Gaige had to bring the funky stick!

As you can see, we struggled with the stick...it got tangled and then some.

Hikah was not to impressed...

However we made it to the trail, released Gaige and off he went... Hikah still not all that impressed.

Gaige finally did give up on that stick and it laid lonely across the trail.

Hikah was surely happy and alert to see that stick left behind.

Hikah happy and Gaige in foreground, stick-less

"Click on picture for larger view"

New hiking area

A new hiking area...

I had a new place in mind that the boys and I were going to venture out into. I figured, if the area failed, then we could always return to one of our other spots near by. As we pulled into the parking area I noticed we had the place to ourselves, that is of course if no one living near by had hiked in. I decided we would walk the perimeter to get the most mileage and to get and idea of what the area was like.

Map of the area

We were all happy to be in a different area. The boys were exploring the area and all the different scents. You could just tell we we're all happy to be somewhere new!

Boys happy to be in a new area to explore

Me Happy and the sun in my eyes!

As we continued down our new path we encountered a very well-marked trial which went around the pond, followed a stream through some really nice forest and then continued to a ridge-line. It then dropped back down to the fields. The forest had a nice feel to it and it offered a lot of different types of vegetation and terrain.

Hikah along the stream

You think? Silly sign.

The boys and I at the pond

Swamp area

Nice running stream

Woodpecker tree and Hikah

Stream/wooded area

Variety of Conifers

We had perfect conditions. It was a little cold and a couple inches of snow covered the ground which I'd hope will keep the ticks away. The sun was out which made for a comfortable hike. This will go down as being one of my favorite areas, in Ma. It offers everything in an area (nice trails, pond, swamp, streams, ridge-line, terrain and vegetation) except an elevation view. Well... you just can't have it all! :)     Great time with my buds!

As always...(click on the pictures for a larger view)

Return of the Great-blue heron

Great-Blues Return...

On this day I am happy to announce that the Great-Blue Herons  have arrived at one of my hiking areas. This particular nest is one of the smallest nests I've ever seen. I thought that it could of been abandoned and I was curious if the birds would return. As we hiked by the swamp earlier there was no sighting to report at the nest. On our return back through and to my surprise on such a cold wintry day...their they were!

Hikah and Gaige, 1st pass through by the pond and swamp

Great-Blue Herons (click on picture for larger view)

I usually don't hike back the same way we came because...we just came from there! Today I decided to go back the same way so that Hikah wouldn't have to break through 6" of crusted snow. Boring I thought to myself; until I was surprised by the Herons! I watched them through my binoculars for sometime.The Herons were working on building their nest.The male would fly off to a nearby tree and grab a stick and return to the nest presenting it to the female.The female would then accept the stick and place it in a spot she felt fit. It was quite interesting to watch.  One of the times after he presented the stick and after she laid it in "the spot", they mated.




I thought this spider was interesting crawling around on the snow on such a cold day, even more so that I spotted it (aka eagle-eye).

(click on pictures for a larger view)

All about Hikah

A lot going on...All about Hikah?

Today we awoke to the first day of Spring! Although we just had another 6" of snow yesterday, we we're all ready to get out and hit the trails! After sweeping off what snow was left on the deck this morning, I was intrigued by what I uncovered. 

Hikah and Gaige Paw Prints

Paw Prints

The boys had left their track behind, made of melted snow from the heat of their pads, kind of simple...but really neat!

After their morning feeding, Hikah decided he wanted to stay out. The sun was shining and it seemed as though it was going to be a beautiful first day of spring.

Hikah Sunning Himself

As we headed out for our hike, I thought this was going to be a short, easy one for Hikah. He seemed tired lately. We have 6 inches of crusted snow and this would be a lot for Hikah to get through. The scene here is totally different from a couple days ago when we had areas of snow and Eastern Blue birds singing.

Gaige  a couple days ago

Eastern Blue Bird

Now we are once again totally covered  in snow and we didn't hear a single bird. We did see a couple Turkey Vultures and a Hawk over-head by the newly ice-covered swamp.

Hikah, ice-covered swamp and a landscape of snow

As we continued, I learned that I was the third wheel in this group today. I was dragging feet, tired and at one point I almost turned us back around. That was until I seen Hikah having a great time! We stopped and played his favorite game (chase snow balls), twice!

Hikah digging up snow crust for me to throw for him

Hikah and I were having so much fun we lost track of Gaige...who knows where Gaige is?  I asked Hikah... if he knows, he will look off into the direction of his location.

Hikah looking for Gaige

 As soon as Gaige checked in, he went back doing what he loves to do...track.

Gaige returned and headed off tracking, Hikah back to playing

Hikah and I continued walking, we came upon a bunch of Wild Turkey tracks. I've seen track before  but this was different. It was a flock parading through the woods, it was rather neat.

Turkey Tracks (click on pic for larger view)

 Hikah and I continued as I continued...

Hikah checking on me, Gaige off doing what Gaige does

Hikah checking in on me, I'm really lagging!

A I continued to lag  behind, I noticed I had snow piling up on my boots/stabilizers. I must of had an additional 5 lbs of weight I was carrying around! I then remembered going through a wet area which enabled the snow sticking process. Glad to have that figured out!

Snow build-up on boots

We all continued safely to our destination closely at hand. A special thank-you to Hikah (aka Mr. Man) for being my closest bud today and everyday. Love you Mr. Man!

(Click on pictures for a larger view)

Quiet adventure

Really quiet... another adventure

Yesterdays hike, a nice brisk early morning before the mud  hike, all is quiet. Gaige is running around looking for animal track. Hikah is here close with me helping himself to snacks along the way.

Fresh Deer Carcass

We enjoyed frozen, wet areas along our way...

Frozen wet area

We came upon obstacles in-which Hikah needed guidance to overcome...

Tree bridge

Although Hikah wanted to walk the tree bridge, his hind legs are weak and not to be trusted. I didn't want to risk him falling, so I guided him over the small channel. As we continued down the trail we heard Pileated Woodpeckers calling out. It was a very quiet day and they we're very loud!

We seen an odd rock from a distance...of course I had to investigated.

Odd rock

Rock and Hikah

The rock was lifted out of the ground when the tree was blown over. Now that's incredible force!

Four miles and 2 hours and 15 minutes later we we're all safely out of the woods.

Did I mention it was quiet out there today? 

Winter into Spring

As Winter melts into Spring...

Today as I was hiking out with my boys, I noticed how the ground was changing, that I was no longer hiking in 6 inches of snow.

Winter melting into spring

 I  also realized that I am heading out earlier in the morning trying to stay away from the ground thawing out and becoming a sloppy mess, mud season!

Hikah and Gaige

Today as we were hiking, my adventurous self got the better of me.  Just a couple hundred yards at the end of our hike with  somewhat clean dogs... a new trail got my curiosity. I just had to go venture down that trail...or did I.

Courtesy of... http://4x4tourism.com

Although it wasn't quite as bad as the picture above...the trail ended up being a sloppy mess in-which I've been trying to stay away from. Once we we're on it for 50' or so, I committed to it. We followed it 100 yards until it thankfully headed uphill. Although the dogs got a little muddy, my curiosity to the trail did enable me to have a nice view of the hills to the north through the tornado stricken forest. Is that Mount Monadnock in the distance?

Hills of MA?

Gaige an Hikah

                                                   

  (click on the picture(s) for a larger view)