Pawtuckaway State Park Boulder Fields

This past weekend found my brother, father and me in Deerfield at the expansive Pawtuckaway State Park. My brother has been bugging me for at least a year to get out to see the boulder fields, but the drive and the tales of a dirt road with so many bumps and pot holes at the end of the long ride always put me off. Let's just say, I was feeling adventurous this past weekend.

The boulder "fields" were amazing. Huge remnants of an ancient ring dike formed by volcanic activity... and so hard to capture on film in a way to do their magnitude justice. Luckily, my brother makes a decent scale for perception and you'll spot him in a few of these photos.
To call this place a boulder "field" is a little bit of a misnomer on sight. The first run of house sized boulders is in a deep, lush, apparently old growth forest. The place feels like its crawling in trolls... and maybe Orlando Bloom. But on closer inspection, I found it packed with college aged climbers with big mats and chalky hands as they moved from one boulder to the next to conquer them.My brother's head can be seen peeping out of this rocky cropping of boulders. This is the first real biggy you see after cresting the small glade. What I found lovely about this boulder, aside the fact that it was about 2-3 stories tall (aren't photo's deceptive?) is that a stream ran smack dab into one side of the granite and stopped in a pool there, then it bubbled forth happily on the other side, seemingly coming from solid rock. Such a granite couldn't stop a little stream from sticking to its agenda!
This is my brother poking in from a cave in the second boulder field. It was sunnier here because this field was the result of a landslide from appearance and was skirted by a peaceful, open wetland. It was nice to watch the sunlight rippling on the cave ceiling, reflected by the wetland.
That's my dad. I wonder how many other people have thought to take the same picture? :)
Colonial New Englanders had an infatuation with naming things after the devil. A wonderful cave in the 800 ft granite cliffside here was no exception. This is one of those shots where the sheer magnitude of the cliffs cannot be captured as we make our way to "The Devil's Den". Inside the large enclave, I felt more like this was a place where Native Americans must have sought shelter or performed seasonal rites - it had that feel to it. It also had a green fungus which glowed neon green without any light on it whatsoever.
And just to prove I was really there... I tried to get a shot of me with dad in the background at the middle boulder field.

Birds of Prey Show

Eastern Screech Owl

Smallest owl with ear tufts in North America
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This past weekend was the annual Beaver Brook Fall Festival. It was rather pathetic compared to past years filled with vendors and more people. This year, the only real highlight (aside sipping my first hot apple cider of the year - its tradition for me to only have my first one here each year) was the Birds Of Prey show put on by a nonprofit raptor rescue: Wingmasters They rescue injured, orphaned or sick raptors. They release to the wild when the birds are ready, but some are handicapped for life and must stay.

I took pics of all the birds they showed and educated us on, however the bright sunlight and white tent made for poor quality images. However, here they are with one fact I took away from the show for each (my favorite fact/story is for the Barn Owl at the bottom);

Northern Saw Whet Owl
Adults only weigh up to 3.2 ounces.
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Red Tailed Hawk
When you hear "eagle calls" in movies - its usually the call from this hawk they dub in
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Peregrine Falcon
Can travel between 100 - 200 miles per hour! (160 - 321 kph)
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American Kestrel
Worlds smallest falcon. Yes. It's a falcon.
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Great Horned Owl
Has no natural predators. Deaths usually are caused by man.
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Golden Eagle (Lakota) with Wingmaster Julia (Lakota thinks Julia is her mate)
Has a wingspan of 6 feet

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North American Barn Owl
Often found hunting voles in cemeteries back in colonial times because they would live in bell towers (and barns obviously). They would stop voles dead in their tracks by shrieking and stunning the vole. Couple that with a ghostly white face flying over the headstones, and many ghost stories around cemeteries arouse from the hunting techniques of this lovely owl.
(also.. I've seen Labyrinth... this is possibly a goblin king)
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Lovely Autumn

Monarch on New England Asters

With the exception of the random tropical storm that came up the coast yesterday and today, autumn has decided to make its entrance for the year. Apples, pumpkins, corn - all at least a week or two early. The deciduous trees are changed for the most part, but it will be a short lived fire of color this year. We only had about 6 days of rain in over 2 months.

Beaver Brook Maple Tree Because of the lack of rain, I was rather surprised to even see any decent foliage this year. I'm sure when I leave my home tomorrow, after the tropical downpours and winds, all these orange and red oaks and maples and yellow birches and beeches will be branch bare.Maple Leaves at Beaver Brook

With autumn comes lovely asters, mums, sunflowers and a forest load of busy chipmunks and squirrels.





White Mums at Maple Hill Gardens







Most of the time, chipmunks are hard to capture with my little digital camera. Between their size and speed, my basic 5 year old camera can't deal with it. However, lucky in one way and tragic in another, I came across a sick chipmunk. This poor chipmunk actually came out of its hole in the ground and ran into my foot as if almost about to attack. I examined her and found there was nothing I could do for her - she was in the last stages of distemper. I took a picture of her, and put her back in her hole, careful not to come in direct contact with anything but the end of her tail. I'm sure she's gone by now, and wanted to include her here.

Cow Birds... lots of em

Ruggles Mine in Autumn

Grafton New Hampshire

Ruggles Mine, in Grafton NH is located on the top and side of Isinglass Mountain. Over 150 minerals are found here including beryl, mica, amethyst, rose and smokey quartz, garnet, etc. It also has uranium minerals like as gummite. I was lucky enough to mine near one of the owners and his workers right after they found a fresh deposit of this rare mineral. Now I'm the proud owner of some glowing green specimens that sadly didn't photograph well. Needless to say, I'm expecting my super powers or extra fingers to grow in any day now from the radioactive material. :D

This is the entrance tunnel that leads to the actual mine itself. The walls are granite, feldspar, lots of glittery mica and probably a lot of other things I didn't notice. Ruggles Mine is not an "underground" mine in the traditional sense. It's actually a pit mine - open air without the claustrophobia to egg on anxiety. Aside the steep hill, it's an easy trip.




This is the first view of the mine you get from the tunnel. The camera doesn't give you the "wow" factor it deserves. This is the only place I can think of, aside the sea, that was mammoth in size when I was a child, and still is today years later. Just for perspective, I took this shot with my father next to the pillar and got a bonus when I realized I caught this huffing and puffing lady climbing up the hill.






The mine has many caves. This is the only one that contains water - maybe only a few inches deep at most. I got some cool orbs on this photo too, if you expand the image, you'll seem them.





This shot is the mine from the middle up. That's a long hill to climb!









And lastly here's a lovely Garter Snake that lives in a wall of quartz crystal and aquamarines.

Gulls in Flight!

These are images I took with my trusty ole digital camera out at Lake Winnipesaukee's Ellacoya State Park. We went out there to swim, but all we did was bob waves thanks to constant 25 mile per hour gusts. This normally placid waterfront was plagued with whitecaps and 5 foot waves that were a blast to dive into. Even more intriguing to me were the gulls. They hovered near head level, seemingly hovering as they flew into the wind. Enjoy!

Summer Flora

Between a lovely trip to Pickity Place's Gardens and Maple Farm Gardens at Beaver Brook, I've no shortage of vegetation images this year. The above was a flower tucked away in the back of Pickity Place's garden. Pickity Place is a historic old farmhouse which served as the reference for illustrations in a very old printing of Little Red Riding Hood.

The blue flowers are also from Pickity Place. They reminded me of the 'Blue Girls' in my current writing project so I took the snapshot to remind me to work harder on my writings. lol















The mushroom was on a trail near Maple Hill Farm's gardens. If you click and expand it, it makes a whimsical wallpaper. So do fields of daisies...









And lastly I have 2 unknown flowers. The yellow one is from Pickity Place. It was unusual as it bloomed downward and compact. The other is from Beaver Brook and my sister and were intrigued by it, so I took a shot for her.

June Compilation 2010

American Toad on Kidder Mountain
Wood Turtle Mama in Merrimack

Red Eft (eastern spotted newt in land phase)

Over the past 2 weeks, I've been taking a lot of random nature photos. I don't really have much of a story for any of them this time around, but these will give you a taste of my recent adventures (which have been sadly far and few but should pick up again soon).

Mountain Laurel Blooms at Monson

Waterlilies to the Sky

Dragonfly Buddy at Beaver Brook

April Flowers

I need to identify this wild tree. It's usually the first to unfurl large green leaves. In late April and early May, it opens fairy rings of white flowers with crosses of tiny flower clusters in the middle. Every year, I tell myself I'll take time to ID it... still haven't yet.
Of course, I have to take a billion shots of my personal favorite. This is the painted trillium - a classic wildflower of the Heald Tract in Wilton. It takes 7 years for them to bloom... and the blooms only last 1 week a year.
This is the most unusual trillium I've ever seen. Never before have I seen one with 4 petals and 4 leaves. It's a genetic rarity. Almost all trilliums grow with only 3.



I discovered a nearby forest this year in which grows red trilliums - aka "Wakerobins". They're called wakerobins because they are fabled to bloom at the time when robins return from their wintering grounds in the south. I say "fabled" because the robins arrive about a month before these beautiful wildflowers bloom.

The same week, I traveled to the Maple Hill Shade Garden at Beaver Brook in Hollis, NH. It was perfect timing to photograph a Tulip Tree at the climax of its bloom. Of course, I couldn't resist taking an "inside" shot of one of the blooms.