Part 5 - The Old Cemetery On Beebe Hill

Our short hike up to the Beebe Hill fire tower concluded, I planned to put the dogs in my car and then walk up the small rise next to the trail head and visit the old cemetery. But no one else was around, so I allowed the dogs to go with me - or to be more accurate, run on ahead of me:

Many, perhaps most, of the old gravestones were so weathered as to be unreadable. There was nothing I could do about that, so I just focused my attention on those whose epitaphs could still be discerned.They seemed to all be from the mid 1800s and earlier when, it seemed, this was farm land. Abiram Harmon died Feb. 19, 1871, aged 90 years:

Robert Crowther, died Jan. 19, 1826, aged 89 years. Ruth, his wife, died Feb. 21, 1815, aged 87 years:

John Harmon, died Jan. 27, 1813:

Gorduon(?) Harmon, died May 1, 1837, aged 37 years:

Truman Mercer, died May 25, 1856, aged 62 (did you notice Clover playing in the background?):

In memory of M. Daniel Barrett, who departed this life January 31, 1809, aged 31 years:

Anson Crawford, son of George and Caroline Howes, died April 7, 1812, aged 8 months and 22 days:

Esther, wife of William H Clark, died August 26, 1831, in the 15th year of her age. If I'm reading this correctly, this girl had to get married awfully early and died soon thereafter, likely in childbirth. Times were hard back then:

Sophia, daughter of Hammond and Lydia Tiffany, died August 23, 1812, aged 11:

In memory of Mary Annis, daughter of Jesse and Nancy Goodrich, who died Nov. 3, 1822, in the 8th year of her life:

In memory of Deborah, wife of Jesse Goodrich (apparently a different wife than the mother of the girl above - perhaps her birth mother also died young), who died Nov. 1, 1833, in the 81 year of her age. In memory of Jesse Goodrich, departed this life April 12th, 1826, in the 73 year of his age:

Part 4 - Finishing The Beebe Hill Hike

I'd hiked with my four youngest dogs up to the Beebe Hill fire tower on an exceptionally mild, sunny Sunday afternoon. We'd taken a different trail back down toward our parked car and were enjoying the woodsy walk. I could see more Taconic Mountains off through the trees and supposed that Harvey Mountain, another of my favorite hiking spots, was one of those:

I continued to see many burls in the trees and noted that they were all in Black Cherry trees. It seemed that whatever parasite was causing those burls was species specific:

Most of the snow had melted and there were many Princess Pines poking up through the dead oak leaves. Many of them looked a bit wilted, but they seemed to be thriving nonetheless:

The trail became quite steep in places and the mud made it slippery and hazardous. When I got home I discovered that I had no photos of the steep sections and realized that was because I'd had to put my camera in my pocket on the steep slopes to hold on to the trees to keep from falling, But on the more level spots, the dogs continued to run and play. We met several hikers on their way up to the fire tower and they all quickly made friends with my sociable dogs:

There were many old stone walls in the woods, evidence that these hills were once farm fields:

The dogs ran on ahead and crossed a little bridge spanning a ravine. I could still see Taconic mountains ahead of us through the trees. Daphne, Clover and Fergus were the first to cross:

And then tubby Seamus followed. Of course, I was still far behind Seamus so I called to the dogs and insisted they wait for me to catch up:

Once we'd crossed the little creek bed, Clover wanted to run down along its length and explore the woods. I thought this was a fine idea and since I knew it'd take us toward our car, I left the trail and began following the ravine down through the woods:

But that still wasn't active enough for Clover who danced merrily across the ravine and up its other side. She perched playfully on the other bank encouraging us to follow her example. We didn't, though, but continued our way down through the forest toward the trail head:

Another large burl on a Black Cherry tree with little Clover trotting happily in the background:

Daphne and Clover were the first to reach the log bridge spanning the brook by the trail head:

Fergus and Seamus arrived next, with me bringing up the rear. That's my little red car in the background There was an old cemetery on the hill behind my car and we went over to investigate, but I'll post about that tomorrow:

Part 3 - Hiking Down Beebe Hill

Once I'd descended the fire tower and collected my dogs, I bid farewell to the family from Pittsfield and began the hike back down to the trail head and my parked car. No one else was around by then, so I let the dogs off their leashes to run and play:

We passed by Opal Pond, still quite frozen over in spite of the mild weather. Little Clover of course ran out into the center of it and I recalled a spring hike several years ago when Opal pond was teeming with thousands of Wood Frogs. Wally was still hiking then and he wanted to investigate all those frogs, so he swam out to get a closer look. Of course they all disappeared when he got too close and I soon had a wet and frustrated Wally on my hands:

The top of Beebe Hill is quite broad and flat, so we had easy walking for awhile:

We arrived at the lean-to and went over to have a look - that is to say I went over to have a look and the dogs went over to have a sniff:

This old log with its emerald upholstery was home to both ferns and ferny looking mosses:

And a giant old boulder, presumably a glacial erratic, had big chunks of white quartzite glistening in the sun:

The boulder was also home to a large variety of mosses and lichens:

I was particularly taken with these round cushion mosses:

Ice crystals remained atop much of the moss, lichens and quartzite:

And then we continued on toward the trail head, the dogs sniffing everywhere as well as running and playing:

This photo caught little Daphne in full run, her normally curled tail plume stretched out from the speed and excitement. Just about then the trail began a sharp, muddy descent but I'll post about that tomorrow:

Part 2 - The Fire Tower On Beebe Hill

The hike up Beebe Hill to the fire tower was quite brief, less than 1.5 miles, and it wasn't long before I spotted the caretaker's cabin up ahead with the fire tower itself rising up behind it:

A man with two little girls and a small dog arrived at the same time we did. He told me that he hadn't brought a leash for his dog and didn't want her interacting with mine, so I said I'd wait by the caretaker's cabin while he and his girls went on ahead to the fire tower. While I was waiting with my dogs on a leash, a friendly family of six adults arrived to explore the tower for themselves:

I tied Seamus and Fergus at the bottom of the fire tower:

And Clover and Daphne to the other side. I didn't want any of them attempting to follow me up those steps:

And then I began ascending the fire tower. As I climbed, the caretaker's cabin began to look smaller and smaller down below. The Taconic Mountains formed an attractive backdrop:

One couple did not want to climb the tower, so they waited on the ground for the rest of their party, by now at the top of the fire tower. My dogs were barking for attention and by time I arrived back down on ground level, this couple had made friends with all four dogs:

And the view from the top was superb, clearer than I'd ever seen it before. I could clearly see the windmills atop Brodie Mountain and Mount Greylock in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. Alas, the photo doesn't show enough detail to be of much help, but even my aging eyes were able to clearly see the windmills' details. I couldn't, however, make out the tower atop Mount Greylock:

The towers of the Empire State Plaza in Albany rose up above the trees like the city of Oz in the distance, about 40 miles away:

I enlarged and cropped the above photo to help illustrate what I so clearly saw on that sunny afternoon. Because most of Albany's downtown sits down in a valley, only the Empire State Plaza (and sometimes the State University towers) are usually visible from mountaintops. Can't you just imagine Dorothy, Toto and friends following the yellow brick road toward that city in the distance?:

And the rolling hills of the Hudson Valley stretched out below us in another direction:

Seamus and Fergus looked quite tiny down on the ground below:

I had a nice conversation about hiking with a man from Pittsfield, Massachusetts as we stood at the top of the fire tower enjoying the view. But it was windy and my dogs were anxious, so I began to descend the stairs to continue the hike back to the trail head:

Part 1 - Beebe Hill On A Mild Sunday

It certainly had been a mild winter, and a recent Sunday dawned clear, bright and warmer than ever. I went to the gym and then decided that I absolutely had to get outdoors and do some hiking. But it was late, so I drove south to Austerlitz, New York for my favorite mini-hike of all, Beebe Hill. I parked the car and let the dogs out. The trail began alongside beautiful Barrett Pond, which still had a coating of ice:

There'd clearly been beavers harvesting small trees around the edges of Barrett Pond:

And the paths which the beavers used to drag their small trees down to the pond were also clearly seen. Daphne and Clover used one as a path to the water's edge:

I got very nervous when Clover ran out onto the ice. Daphne followed, slipping briefly into the open water near the shore:

But when 130 pound Seamus also ran out onto the ice, slipping and sliding, I called them all sternly back to dry land. I didn't know how much weight that ice could hold:

We started up the service road, passing by the turn-off to Turkey Hill and Harvey Mountain. But when I noticed a turn-off for the Upper Loop Horse Path (which would take us to the fire tower), I turned right and began the uphill slog. The dogs were still excited and running like happy fools. I had to holler now and then to keep them from getting too far away from me:

They're good about coming back when called, all excited and expecting praise and petting (which they get):

The trail appeared to have been an old dirt road and had ancient stone walls alongside it. We went up and up and up toward the fire tower. I saw a small pond off to the left which is brimming with Wood Frogs in the spring. I want to be sure to hike here again when the Wood Frogs are mating. It's a sight (and sound!) not to be missed!:

Daphne had gotten herself wet when she slipped into the icy waters of Barrett Pond, but was rapidly drying out in the sun. She and Clover were buddies, running and playing as we traversed the trail uphill toward the fire tower:

Being such a lovely Sunday afternoon, there were other people hiking Beebe Hill. But we never saw anyone on this part of the trail. We had it all to ourselves and it was lovely:

A Red Oak had fallen across the trail and been chainsawed into firewood sized pieces by the rangers. I called the dogs back and had them pose for a group photo. Heaven knows it isn't easy getting them to hold still as a group for more than a few seconds:

And then we continued our upward climb. There wasn't much slippery mud because this trail was so infrequently hiked. It looked liked I'd made a smart choice of trails. We'd already made it almost to the top since this was such a short hike. But I'll post more tomorrow: