Mid-April Hike

It’s been a long Winter. If you’re from Maine, you know exactly what I’m talking about. From what I hear around town and from a few friends, Maine hasn’t seen a Winter like this in a few decades.

Honestly, the cold doesn’t bother me. I’ll write more about this when I get our “About” page set up, but for now, please rest assured that if I had arrived in Maine for the first time in my life and very little snow fell during the season, I’d be annoyed. And in some shape, way or form, I’d feel as though I didn’t get my money’s worth. But again, I’ll talk more about this when I finish up writing the static pages on this site. That should take a day or two.

Laura and I have been jonesing to get into the rear of our property for months now. We’ve been blocked out due to the three-plus feet of snow that started falling in December and didn’t let up until…well, let’s see…today’s Saturday. Last week. I’m not even kidding. Even though it’s been Spring for almost a month, we’re still getting an inch here and three inches there. I don’t want to say it’s dismaying or anything, but I’ll admit the feeling I get when I look out the window in the morning to be greeted by a fresh white ground covering doesn’t feel good. Especially when it was fifty-something degrees the day before. And we were outside chipping away at the ice on the driveway with a pickaxe. It’s kind of like something was stolen from us. “Ugh, we have to start all over again? We just got rid of that last layer of snow.” Ahh, it’s not that bad. I’m just doing a bit of fun complaining. I wouldn’t give this up for the world. Trust me when I say that too. I’ve been to and have lived in far too many places during my life to give up what this wonderful state has to offer. I’m sure I’ll get into a few of those stories here.

Anyway, we did manage to get through the woods yesterday. The snow wasn’t all that bad. Nothing in some spots to over a foot in others. Just this morning, I was trying to get from one place and get to another when I fell through a snowbank that went past my knee. I was sort of shocked – I didn’t think we had any more of those deep ones. Just goes to show…

Enjoy the pictures below. Laura took all of them, except for one of the icicle ones. I may have taken that one, but there’s very little proof of that. And let us know what you think of them in the comment section below. We always love a good comment.

Here’s a hint: To see a larger version of the picture, simply click on it.

The first picture below is a simple one. Me looking back to find Laura already snapping away. She likes to catch me off guard. Good thing this blog is fun loving or I might not invite all these candid pictures.

We’ve seen a lot of evidence of deer traveling through our property in the past. I’m sure it’s because of all the water sources nearby. We have a creek and a brook running along the rear and the side of the property, respectively. If you can tell me the difference between the two, I’ll give you a dollar.

The brook is cleaning up quite nicely. During our last visit in late Autumn, it was flowing over its banks and causing quite the stir. The water was muddy and the beaver dams were at their breaking points. The level yesterday was actually the lowest I’ve ever seen it.

Like I said, the water level was low. Low enough for me to walk in its center. There was, however, indication that the brook had recently overflowed its banks. About thirty feet on our side of it had matted grass and clusters of sticks from the flow of water.

This is a simple documentation of how clear the water yesterday. It’s nice to see things coming together again after our long Winter.

One of the reasons why the level may have been so low is that one of the beaver dams was completely gone. The other, upper one, was intact, but just half its size.

There’s not much more rewarding during a hike than finding that perfect hiking stick. Or staff, in this case. I found this one all the way back near the brook. Can you believe it was just laying there waiting for me to pick it up?

The stream that runs along the side of our property may seem calm in this photo, but let me assure you, it wasn’t just a few weeks ago, when it finally awoke from its long Winter slumber. It rose at least three feet above its normal running level.

Laura has a thing for clear Maine water. I guess I do as well, or else I probably wouldn’t agree to posting all of these water pictures. When they are as pretty as these, I don’t have much of an argument.

On the stream side of the property, we have quite a few Ash trees, which is strange because I never took the Ash as being a water tree. Live and learn, I suppose. In this case, the tree had the perfect curve for taking a break.

Some pictures are more artistic than others. This one is. More artistic, that is. Kind of cool, right? It’s really just some bark falling off a pine, but…I don’t know.

Here we have another framed photo of our stream.

A bit further up stream, we found a few dead Black Cherry trees. I’m going to take them down and use them for firewood. Laura managed to grab a picture of one before I did that.

The next two pictures are of insanely interesting icicles we found along our path. How this happened, I don’t know. What I am assuming is that the rise and fall of temperature and water level played a big part.

This is a present I’m going to give my buddy Steve, whether he wants it or not. It’s for his cabin. You’ll read much more about his cabin on this website because I’m going to create a very special section for all of the posts having to do with it.

Our last picture of water. For this post. Here we have another of Laura’s favorites – a leaf and water.

And finally our hike is over. I’m just waiting for my better half to make it out of the woods and stream. Little did I know, she was still taking pictures of me.