7/30/12 Little Long Pond

Rained all day yesterday but today is beautiful and I decided, after yesterday Kelley deserved  one of her favorites. There was only one spot left in the parking lot - most crowded I have seen and that probably meant lots of dogs. There were - and Kelley enjoyed them, the people, and the water. We just did the loop around the pond but it took us 3 hours- including conversations, dog playing, and swimming.

The pond has a amazing number of water lilies - and lots of frogs

       

7/28/12 Northern Headwaters

Rain predicted again but we decided to hike anyway ( it did not rain) . We started from the new parking lot for the Whitten Hill trail head  and walked to the Northern Headwaters loop. We come across these old rock walls fairly often but they are usually not this well preserved.

We then added the Hemlock Hollow Trail which we had not done before and that took us down to the road and to Headwaters trail head where we found some insects among the tall grasses and weeds

  The streams we crossed were either completely dry or had only small pools where Kelley could get a drink but not cool off so we took the Goose Ridge Trail to an area where I remembered there were a couple of small streams she could actually get into ( assuming they weren't dry too). She seemed very glad that they had water and we spent a little time there letting her enjoying it.

Next to one of the streams was a fairly large bush on which every leaf had been skeletonized by small black worms. There were not many in evidence  but they had done their work

On the log bridge was a small damselfly

We took the Mink Run Spur back to the main trail and continued the loop. The Sheepscot is little more than a stream at this point

A little further on we met four people who warned us about a hornet's nest ahead . One of the women had kicked it and they all had visible bites on their legs. We did not encounter the hornets.

A pleasant hike   2  3/4 hours                                                                                                     

7/27/12 Rampe-Sklar

Rain predicted  ( never happened) so we went to a nearby area. Another confusing trail system as there are many trails not on the map and many intersections lack markers. We did manage to follow the map from the Boy Scout office to the high school area but can't say how we got from there to the Sklar Park area- from which we did fine getting back. A pleasant 2 hour wander anyway.

These are not as sharp as they could be but I had never seen this moth before-less than an inch long. Anyone know it's name?

                                    

7/26/12 Newport- Dover-Foxcroft Rail Trail

Yesterday Kelley had a vet appointment in Newport in the middle of the day ( routine tests and vaccines and everything was fine) so we decide on the nearby rail trail. Only a small part as it is 26 miles long. It is basically a walk through woods on a wide multi-use trail but there are spots where it's close to the Sebasticook Lake. It sprinkled most of the time but I kept my camera in a plastic bag and we got in a 2  1/4 hour walk.

Sebasticook Lake

And Kelley- This was good because she could actually swim rather than just lay down in the water

 This daylily was in the yard of a cottage near the lake

 In spite of the sprinkles it was a pleasant hike. Two tiny dogs came out to meet Kelley and a larger dog which followed us all the way back to our car and I had to chase it back toward it's home- it finally went.                                                                                                                                                 

7/25/12 U. Maine Trails

Didn't feel like a long drive and the garden work is still behind so it was the  nearby trails at U. Maine.  These trails are very confusing- there are many trails not on the map and markers are missing from many so we usually end up not according to plan but just wandering. Today we did better than usual with some false starts near the corn field not shown on the map because I'm not sure which wrong trails we were on. Our biggest mistake was turning off the bike path at the wrong place and having to walk back along the road to our car. But it was a beautiful sunny day with breezes to keep the bugs down and we had a nice 2  3/4 hour walk.

Some things we saw

                                              

                                         

7/23/12 Blue Hill Trails

I won't post a map because we weren't able to follow the one we had ( no fault of the provider) . We started out as instructed and followed the brook but after the waterfall and a bit more along the brook we were wandering ( I do not have a good sense of direction) . The woods and the brook were beautiful and it was an enjoyable outing of 2  1/2 hours. We shall return.

I have a weakness for reflections

              Info from a friend to me

General area

                         

7/22/12 Hidden Ponds and Part of Tunk Trail

A beautiful day- a good day for the ponds- woods and water. The above map is the old one which shows the sections no longer maintained and the new loop trail.

Kelley did not used to like bog bridges but uses them now

We continued on the no longer maintained section to Tilden Pond. The trail is well used and in excellent condition as shown here.

At Tilden we backtracked to  the loop trail  which passes near Little long Pond

click twice for big picture



The trail up Tunk is too difficult for Kelley ( we usually do it from Myrick Pond Road which is easier) but decide to go part way up. We were soon at a rocky part Kelley was having a problem with and while trying to solve it met a nice couple and their dogs. They went ahead and with a boost from me we got over the obstacle. Kelley immediately raced ahead and hiked with the people and their dogs who had passed us. They stopped near the iron rungs and we talked trails and then they went ahead and we went back down.

We did get this nice view from the trail- click twice  for larger view



After lunch at Salmon Pond   we headed back to our car and saw this nice grass on the way

An enjoyable outing on a very nice day. 3  3/4 hours