Muddy trails, four-footed friends

December 29, 2014December 28, 2014 / Ellen Kolb

Boots, you fool. Boots. Two days in a row, I’ve gone out in running shoes when boots would have been a much better idea. It’s uncommonly warm for late December, and a recent gentle 24-hour rain left local paths muddy. I’ve been on flat trails close to home, nothing adventurous, but they’ve left me with very dirty shoes. No harm done.

(And what was I thinking when I bought white athletic shoes? Nothing meant to be worn outdoors should be white, except for reflective tape.)

Nashua River at Mine Falls Dam. Spring runoff can cover those rocks.

I wondered if there’d been enough rain to make Mine Falls into a real falls. The Nashua River can be quite impressive at that spot during a good spring runoff. How about December? Average, I discovered, but still lovely.

I’ve shared the trails recently with a lot of dogs, leashed and unleashed. I don’t have any pets myself, but I have a soft spot for friendly and well-mannered dogs, like the majestic Newfoundland that accompanied its owners through Horse Hill yesterday when I was there. Just on the last couple of walks, I’ve seen a broader selection of canines than usual. To name a few: pit bulls, a Yorkie, standard poodles, a dachshund, a greyhound, and one exotic-looking creature that I had to resort to Wikipedia to identify, a Komondor. No wildlife. Perhaps the dogs saw to that.

The year will end with snow-free trails in my area, thanks to this warm spell. It won’t be the first time I’ll ring in the new year with spring-like conditions. I can always head a couple of hours north if the call of the snowshoes proves irresistible.

Autumn’s edge, Mine Falls Park

December 18, 2014 / Ellen Kolb

I was in Mine Falls Park today, a few days shy of the winter solstice. Leaves are down, everything’s brown. One plowable snowfall at Thanksgiving was heavy enough to bring down some tree limbs that plopped into the canal, and they’re likely to stay there until the Nashua parks department has time to remove them next spring. The faintest skin of ice is forming on the canal now.

The path alongside the canal has been cleared of deadfall (pushed into the canal, I expect). I saw fresh white “X”s chalked here and there, marking trees to be cut down or trimmed at some point. Sometimes, Mother Nature gets there first. I walked past one broken-off oak tree with a big white “X” on what’s left of the jagged trunk.

Oddly quiet along the path today. This is a busy urban park, but today, the area in which I walked was nearly deserted. Once I crossed the Whipple Street bridge, I didn’t see a living thing until I spied the swans in the cove near the Millyard. It was so quiet that I could hear the traffic on the Everett, nearly a mile away. That’s very different from my visits on summer afternoons, when on nearby Ledge Street, life is lived very much out loud. Late December is a quieter time.

Greening up

May 4, 2014May 23, 2014 / Ellen Kolb

No columbines yet on the Nashua River Rail Trail. I knew today was kind of early in the season, but I was eager for the year’s first visit to this old friend of a trail. I spotted a columbine along the way in the Dunstable stretch about three years ago. The following year, a second plant sprang up a few feet away. Since then, I haven’t been able to spot them – pulled up? died? I don’t know, but I look for them anyway.

Tiny violets – harbingers of wildflower season

Blossoms were few this weekend – a dandelion, and a few of the tiny violets that I refuse to call weeds even when they’re all over my lawn. The deciduous trees along the trail are just beginning to leaf out, and little pines are taking root in the shadow of big ones. The skunk cabbages down in the wetlands are the brightest green in sight. Spring cleanup has already been done by some wonderful group, probably volunteers, who have moved the winter’s deadfall off the pavement.

Columbine, seen along NRRT in 2012.

Most flowers are still a few weeks off, and yes, I’m impatient for them. Still, I liked what I saw today – if not for its own sake, then for what it means for the coming season. Clumps of green grasses and ground cover are poking up through the dead leaves along the edge of the trail. The farm in Dunstable has sheets of white row-cover already out on one field, so something’s been planted – will it be pumpkins or butternut squash this year? The soda vending machine that one whimsical family sets up annually in their back yard adjacent to the trail is back, and the price per soda is unchanged at $1.

No plane from Skydive Pepperell. I’m not sure if that was due to the weather or the calendar. From late spring through fall, I’m accustomed to the every-20-minutes rhythm of the Twin Otter as it takes off from its airstrip near the trail, makes lazy circles up to what I’m told is 13,000 feet to let out the skydivers, then descends and returns.

From a good NRRT neighbor: the soda stand

Weekend traffic was far below summer levels. Very few Type A’s, as I call the cyclists that seem to be on a mission, zooming past everyone else, calling out a courteous but abrupt “On your left!” as they fly by. This was a family day, featuring kids on training wheels or on very shiny bikes that were probably under the Christmas tree. One high-spirited six-year-old had a BMX-style helmet that probably cost more than his bike.

No helmet or bike for me this weekend, just sneakers and a hankering for wildflowers. They’re not out yet, but I’ll see them soon.

Mine Falls treat: beaver sighting

April 23, 2014May 23, 2014 / Ellen Kolb

Beaver seeking privacy from a nosy photographer.

Mine Falls Park in Nashua is a watery place, with the Nashua River and an old mill canal and millpond. It teems with life. I can count on seeing a variety of birds in all seasons. In the summer, eastern painted turtles sun themselves on broken tree branches partially submerged in the canal. Muskrats are common. A far rarer sight: beavers. They’re around, all right – just look at the evidence they leave behind in gnawed trees. Actually seeing one of the critters, though, is unusual. Early one evening this week, I hit the jackpot.

No, this isn’t the Loch Ness monster’s little cousin. It really is a beaver, as best as can be captured with my not-quite-top-shelf cell phone camera. I was lucky: as I scooted along a trail by the mill pond, I heard a sudden splash very close by. I had startled something. I looked over to the pond, saw ripples, and watched. Sure enough, up popped the beaver a few feet away. It swam away at a leisurely pace as I fumbled for my phone and snapped the picture.

I was at the park for the first brisk walk I’ve had in weeks. I walked what I call the full loop, a little less than five miles long, touching the park’s eastern and western ends. I saw the pair of swans that have nested in the cove for several years now, and it looks like they’ve found a new spot for their nest, a little more protected from gawkers like me. A few trees have been downed by spring winds, and for once none fell across a main trail. The peepers – frogs that sound like sleigh bells for just a few weeks each spring – were just tuning up as I passed a pond. Everything added up to a wonderful hour and a quarter. But the star of today’s show: an oversized rodent that refused to pose for me. A treat indeed.

Un-whining

February 25, 2014May 23, 2014 / Ellen Kolb / 1 Comment

The New Year’s Day hike on Monadnock was the last time I got away for a hike, as opposed to walking in nearby parks.

Whine.

January and February have been filled with long hours of work and stress and lousy weather.

Whine.

My clothes are too snug, I’m out of breath after three flights of stairs, and I hate icy roads.

Whine, whine, whine.

When the weather was “nice” the other day (and please, no scolding me for being unprepared for all conditions), I forced myself to shake off my winter torpor for little while.

The cove at Mine Falls Park, awaiting the springtime return of the swans. Nashua Millyard in background.

Hard to believe what a difference that made. After a couple of miles in a favorite park, my jeans were still too snug and I still had a pile of work waiting for me. But gradually, as I walked along the canal path in crunchy snow, the whines went away. Not permanently, for sure – for all its beauty, winter is not my favorite season – but fresh air and near-silence worked wonders.

I’ll still need a push to get out the door this season, but I’ll have this post to remind me it’s worth the effort.

Mine Falls is ready for Spring

April 3, 2013May 23, 2014 / Ellen Kolb

Quick note: I walked the entire cove loop at Mine Falls Park in Nashua today, starting at Whipple Street, and the route was nearly mud-free. Some tree litter from the past few months has been cleared.The swans are back, although in a different part of the cove. The lower trail along the east side of the cove appears to be clear, but I stayed on the parking lot behind the renovated mills. I’m still not comfortable on that newer, more isolated segment.

For the kayakers out there, the canal on the east side of the highway still has ice across the width of the canal in one 150-yard stretch. It’s otherwise navigable.

Gate City Striders weekly workouts begin at the park in two weeks, Wednesdays at 6 p.m. See their web site for details under “outdoor track.” Looking forward to that, as always!