January 11, 2012

At Farmington, Ct.

Canada geese on the Farmington River today. click to enlarge

Following a footpath that I often walk along the Farmington River I reached a point where the Pequabuck River meets the Farmington, as the Farmington veers north. There were easily 400 Canada geese in the river, dozens more arriving as I stood and watched. The river here is a mix of the river’s charms, quickwater in the middle, slower moving water closer to shore, a big long gravel bar that on this day, with moderate flows, was largely exposed. There were geese walking the gravel bar, geese floating along on the quickwater, geese dallying in the eddies and stillwater. Another hundred or so arrived as I watched.

Just north and east of here, a pink-footed goose – way far from its usual range – was spotted the other day within another large flock of geese, in the Somers and East Windsor area. I scanned the entire goose population on the river to see if there were any unusual geese, but this Farmington flock appeared to be 100 percent Canada geese. It is always a leap to ascribe human emotions to the rest of the animal kingdom, but this huge flock seemed to be enjoying the day, playing in the sunshine. They were honking, rising up out of the water and spreading their wings and breasts, sometimes just seeming to let the current take them where it would, then moving back upstream.

Last winter was snow and cold from the day after Christmas on into spring. So far, this winter is extraordinarily mild. I walked in mid-40s temperatures, comfortable in a fleece jacket. In another year, this would be a “January thaw.” But there is nothing to thaw. The landscape, of course, is dominated by earthtones, but on this day in this spot there was bright blue sky and enough pines to enrich the color. Maybe we appreciate color in the outdoors a little more this time of year. The tiny patch of bright red on the back of the head of a male downy woodpecker at river’s edge was, to my eyes, the best red I had seen all day, a good deal more rich and real than the crimson of the commercial signage on Route 4.

June 17, 2011

Mountain laurel shrubs are in full bloom in Connecticut, and worthy of a close look. Click to enlarge.

Mountain laurel is an evergreen shrub that during June in Connecticut produces large clusters of delicate white or pink, cuplike flowers set against sturdy, deep-green leaves. It is, to my mind, among the most spectacular in the pantheon of plants.

It is widely cultivated, of course, but wild specimens grace sections of Route 9 south of Middletown, the Merritt Parkway, Interstate 95 in parts of southeastern Connecticut, and butt up against many of the state’s secondary roads.

Laurel is so special, though, that it deserves more than a glance out the car window. A mid-June walk with the laurel ought to be as much a part of the rhythms of a Connecticut year as the mid-October bow to the fall foliage.

In my column Saturday, June 18, in The Hartford Courant, I suggest some special places in Connecticut to loll with the laurel, including the mountain laurel sanctuary in Nipmuck State Forest in Union, a remarkably peaceful place to let the laurel swoon your senses of sight and smell.

The laurel blooms are at their peak this weekend in much of the state. Bring the camera.

May 26, 2011

At Keystone, S. D.

A view of the rugged Badlands topography in western South Dakota. Click to enlarge.

Driving west on Interstate 90 from eastern South Dakota the terrain is mostly agricultural, mostly flat. It has been a cool spring, and the trees – sparse – are just leafing out.  Cool notwithstanding, rain has been abundant recently, the rivers are high and the grass is green. It is a pleasing agricultural landscape, if marred by literally hundreds of signs – you might see a half dozen in a single mile of highway – for Wall Drug, a tourist haven in Wall, a dusty small town notable perhaps only because it happens to be the closest town to Badlands National Park. In fact, Wall is named for the wall of rock that is central to the Badlands. The signs for Wall Drug, which is a connected series of wood frame buildings selling souvenirs, western clothing and furniture, and food,  continue on the westbound side of the highway for easily 150 miles, maybe more. It did not take long for me to find them annoying. Fortunately, Badlands-bound visitors can exit the highway and drive a few miles south to take a 30-mile long scenic drive through Badlands National Park, free of commercial sign pollution. The Badlands are a sudden and dramatic change in the scenery, truly a first taste of the mountain west for travelers arriving from the east. Spires of rock rise from the landscape, deep ravines below, rounded peaks in other areas, some with unusual knobs and protrusions on top. Woven in are gullies and expansive stretches of prairie, all of it enriched with more life than a visitor might expect. A bighorn sheep stood in the road at one point as we drove the loop. As I hiked one of the many trails during the visit, a western meadowlark sang from the very top of one of the stiletto rock formations. As if to emphasize that this is the real west, black-billed magpies, among the better known birds of the west, hopped and fluttered near picnic areas along the scenic drive.  Wall Drug, indeed.

Another view of the formations within Badlands National Park, South Dakota. Click to enlarge

The Badlands topography is all about erosion of soft rock, and as I hiked over some wet terrain among the peaks it truly seemed as if the standing pools of water were thick with eroded sediment. The books say the Badlands rock erodes at the rate of an inch or more a year – incredibly quick by geological standards. The evidence was at my feet.

Black Hills National Forest is less than an hour away, and Mount Rushmore, within the Black Hills, is less than 90 minutes away. It was quite cool in the Black Hills this morning with strong breezes, gusts at times. But the sky was a deep blue, and the National Park Service gate at Mount Rushmore National Monument was unlocked at 6:30 – before the park actually opens.

Mount Rushmore, Keystone, S. D., shortly after sunrise. Click to enlarge.

I was able to slip in, have the place to myself, and get some nice photos. The park service did a terrific job creating an elegant, tasteful and ever-so-useful platform for the public to view the decades-long work of Gutzon Borglum, who, with help, transformed a craggy mass of granite into the remarkably recognizable portraits of four presidents, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. In the pantheon of American presidents, these four are surely among the greatest; a case can be made that they are the four greatest so far.

I ran into a park service ranger immediately, and told him I came through the untended gate. He said that was no problem. I was fortunate also in that there is railing at the end of the main entryway, just above the viewing amphitheater. The railing became my tripod – I placed the camera atop the railing and held it steady as I shot, which surely helped in getting crisp images of the mountaintop sculpture.

At 9:30 I arrived at the Big Pond Trailhead on the 111-mile-long Centennial Trail, a long, through-trail cut to commemorate South Dakota’s centennial in 1989. No sooner had I entered the woods from the parking lot than I spooked four young mule deer, yet another western species. This section of the trail is within the Black Hills National Forest, a forest dominated by the ponderosa pine, one of the signature pines of the west. Ponderosa pine has distinctive orange-ish bark, and clusters of long deep green needles. It is a handsome tree found in much of the mountain west, and always nice company on a hike.