1/6/13 City Forest

Gently falling snow so we went to nearby City Forest to enjoy it. The trail down from Kittredge Rd. still did not look like it had been used so we continued on to the regular parking lot and walked to the West Trail.

From the West Trail   ( easy walking because of previous traffic) we took the unnamed trail  ( more of a slog as there had been little use) over to the rail bed ( again, easy walking) . We followed the rail bed south to the bog ( beyond the above map)  where there was a sign "Warning Bog- Proceed at Your Own Risk" - Not knowing if the ice would support me  we turned back north - by now the snow had stopped.

We met two women on snowshoes ( they gave Kelley some appreciated attention) and one of the women  was familiar with our blog and said the trail description had been helpful for her hikes with her dog and also with her children. This was nice to hear.

We followed the rail bed to the entrance to the West Trail and took that back to our car. We met several people on snow shoes or skis but no dogs which was unusual. A nice hike 2  3/4 hours

1/5/13 Snowmobile Trail

Mostly sunny but breezy. Once more on the snowmobile trails . We started north and shortly before we turned passed in back of a house that has several bird feeders out. They sometimes also put out pieces of bread and on those occasions Kelley scampers up the hill to help herself. Today pigeons had beat her to it.

Shortly after we turned and crossed a large field ( the rest of this trail is not on the easement)  and then the road and more fields and woods until we moved beside the road to cross the Kenduskeag on the bridge. The trail then heads north again, at times close to the stream.

We followed the trail to about the point that it turns away from the stream and headed back. One more shot of the stream from the bridge.

On our return we followed the trail to the intersection of the two roads and then walked along the road the short distance to our street. A pretty day and a good hike  3 hours

1/4/13 Newport Dover-Foxcroft-Rail Trail

     
Mostly cloudy but not as cold. Kelley was due for one of her shots and the vet is in Newport ( a little over 30 miles) . Usually when we visit the vet we do a hike on the nearby rail trail. It is about 27 miles from Newport to Dover-Foxcroft and we just do a portion ( we also have hiked it from the other end).  It is easy walking summer and winter and  today it looked like it had been groomed.

Sections of the trail pass close to Sebasticook Lake

Kelley was quite happy with this trail and usually trotting along ahead of me with only brief forays off the trail as the snow is still quite deep.  These are some other things we saw.

Even though it was warmer than yesterday it took me longer to warm up ( damper?) but it was a pleasant outing and we moved along at a brisker than normal pace because of the excellent footing.  2  1/4 hours                      

1/3/13 Snowmobile Trail

Another cold ( 4 degrees) but beautifully sunny day. This time we headed north from our house on the same trail we were on yesterday. Kelley was happy to be out ( I had stalled until after 10, waiting for it to warm up) and romped on ahead of me. Much of this trail runs along a utility easement

but other sections do not and some parts are even wooded. There are also a few side trails that are   not used by the snowmobiles but by snowshoers and skiers. We didn't use any today as they were unbroken.

Some of the things we saw from and on the trail

This turned out pretty well- there was mostly little wind and once we got moving the cold was not a problem. 3 hours

1/2/13 Snowmobile Trail- Prentiss Woods

Very cold ( 8 degrees when we left the house) but brilliant sunshine and the snow is still beautiful. We were just going to walk around the neighborhood but then discovered the snowmobile trail had been in use. There is a utility easement behind my house with woods the other side of that. This has been used by snowmobilers  except for last winter when there was so little snow they didn't bother. It is nice for us because heading north this piece of trail connects with miles of trails in several directions and all we have to do is walk out the back door to access it.  There is a variety of scenery - not always the most  exciting- but enough to keep it interesting and there are some side trails deeper into the woods. The sleds pack the snow which makes for easy walking for both Kelley and me and she can be off leash- we rarely meet any of the machines. Today we took the trail going south which ends at a pleasant small park - Prentiss Woods- with trails and dense woods. Kelley was quite happy with this trail and tomorrow we will try going north to see what is open in that direction. We managed to get in about two hours of walking.

1/1/13 Little Long and Jordan Ponds

Sunny and cold but a pretty nice day for January. Park personnel had told us there was a lot of snow so we decided to just go over and look for places where others had broken trail. Tomorrow is supposed to be extremely cold so we wanted to get one in today.

We started from the Little Long Pond parking lot and headed down the Friends Path toward the pond. Not too bad here as others had preceded us

Part way down there is a fork in the path with the right ( the one we usually take) leading to the end of the pond and the left taking you further up the carriage road. No one had yet been on the right so we took the left which had little traffic and did not follow the trail as we remembered it. It seemed to be more of a bushwhack but we followed rather than break our own trail

Once we reached the carriage road the going was much easier as there had been several hikers ahead of us. I had a bit of a slog ( I have snow shoes but don't like to wear them) but the crust supported Kelley and that was good.

But eventually we came to a point where no one had yet walked.

We turned back and returned to the parking lot and drove the short distance to the other side of the pond looking for better traveled trails.  We found pretty good walking along the pond and the loop back to the start. Kelley twice had a problem when she saw a dog and then a person across the field and attempted to run across it. It was too deep for her and she had to struggle back to the broken trail. She did get to meet some dogs on the trail.

Another short drive brought us in the back way to Jordan Pond- they keep this road and one of the parking lots open in winter. I had hoped that access to the loop road there would lead to easy walking- snowmobiles are allowed on it in winter and pack the snow. There had been very little activity so we walked down to the boat launch and looked at the pond.

We walked along the bottom of the pond to the carriage road- little activity north, some south. We walked to the Jordan Stream

And I thought we might try the Asticou trail which is normally easy and flat but Kelley refused to cross on the small bridge

Back along the shore of the pond to the  intersection with the nature trail at the bottom of the pond and another view.

The trail across to the east side  trails was a sheet of shiny ice and we turned back and took the nature trail- untrod and a bit of a slog but not too deep for Kelley because of the dense woods- back to the parking lot.

An unusual hiking day with a total of 2 hours total for three spots. But is was sunny and pretty.

12/31/12 Essex Woods and Neighborhood

Sunny but cold and windy. I called the park to check on snow conditions and they had more of it  than we do ( normally the snow changes to rain along the coast and they get less) so decided not to drive over there. Drove to the end of Kittredge Rd. where we usually go down the hill and into city Forest - no one had used that trail and the road to the parking lot had not been plowed so we gave up on that ( I hate to use snow shoes and don't want to stress Kelley's legs) . On to Essex Woods at the end of Watchmaker St. From the park there is a trail down to the old rail bed. A snow mobile had made a nice track for us in one direction.

A short distance brings you to a fence and no trespassing signs. Usually in winter the snowmobiles swing out over the frozen marsh , past this section, and back onto the rail bed. Today there were signs there too so we turned back

The other direction from where we had come down had had a little walker traffic but no snow mobiles and was more of a slog. It only goes a short distance to a marsh and then the freeway.

We walked there was  and then headed back- Kelley still enjoyed the snow

We went home and had lunch and then a walk around the neighborhood. This time Sarge was outside and Kelley and he got to play. I actually got pictures of them together.

All in all a pretty good day for the girl in spite of the setbacks.