It has become a ritual. I have no family in the area to get together with (they’re spread out from Florida to Texas to California), so I always go for a substantial hike (a snowshoe if there is enough snow) every year on Christmas or the day after. And this year is no different.It’s a miserable day out there – temps in the mid-30s with a cold rain pouring down, but that won’t stop me. I lace up my hiking boots, throw on a rain slicker and head out, Sprague Brook Park my destination. There is a most wonderful trail in this park; it follows the ridge high above the creek and its myriad tributaries and has great views but what I really like about it is that it weaves in and out of old growth forest.
I set out at a little after 2pm giving me about 2 ½ hours to complete the 6+ mile hike before darkness sets in. Normally that is plenty of time but today it’s a trudge because there is 3 or 4 inches of mushy snow on the ground making every step a challenge - especially slippery going up or downhill – which is much of the hike.
This is truly a bleak day, the kind they invented the word 'bleak' to describe. The winter sun, which is already low in the sky this time of year, is completely blocked out by thick, gray overcast; the light is so muted it feels like twilight in the middle of the afternoon. To add to the atmosphere, curtains of icy rain blow sideways in the gusty winds; it’s a challenge to keep the hood on my head, the winds try again and again to tear it off. There is no keeping dry, the wet quickly makes its way down inside my boots, jacket and hood; before I know it, I’m wet through and through.Nevertheless, I’m lovin’ every step! I say a bad day hiking is still better than a week of good days inside. I’m just getting to know this trail as I only discovered it earlier this year so I stop often to marvel in the impressive views and at the plentiful huge old trees. I find a black cherry that I estimate to be at least five feet across (I must remember to bring a tape measure with me next time.) It’s the widest forest-grown (as opposed to field grown where there is no competition for sunlight) black cherry I think I’ve ever seen. This is one massive, impressive tree.
I also find a couple of sugar maples that I guess to be seven feet wide! Then, wandering off trail, I discover a special grove of at least twenty towering old growth sugar maples in one small area - it must be really dark here in the summer when these monsters are fully leafed out, the canopy has to be nearly impenetrable. There are also plenty of other old trees along the trail besides cherrys and maples, other impressive specimans include hemlocks, beeches and birches.
With the rain pattering on my hood and the howling winds I can’t hear much else, so it really startles me when a blue jay suddenly screams from the murk. The first animal encounter of the day. Next, I watch a gang of chickadees flitting from tree to tree, foraging for food. I recall reading somewhere that birds require upwards of 10,000 calories a day – the equivalent of a human eating 150,000 calories! The search for food must be all-consuming task every day for those brave birds that overwinter here in the north.
Now I spy a little bandit digging in the snow. I stop walking. He stops digging. We stare at each other, neither moving a muscle. Then he (she?) slowly ambles over to a tree and begins climbing up. At about ten feet off the ground, he stops and looks at me with curious eyes – what a cute picture! Only I haven’t brought my camera because it’s so wet and windy (I guess I’ll never learn the lesson to always bring it.)
My final wildlife sighting of the day is of a deer down in the gorge that has caught sight of my movement up here on the ridge. We watch each other for several minutes until I raise my hand to salute this beautiful animal and wish it a Merry Christmas. With that, she takes off at a gallop. I love watching those fluffy white tails bob through the forest with the greatest of ease!
I make it back to my vehicle just before dark, soaked to the bone, but content if not cold and a little tired. This has been a wonderful hike, the very best one yet until… the next one of course!
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