Monument Mountain - Part 1

I'd been home from the farm only one week and our amazingly mild winter weather had continued. When I heard predictions for Sunday of temperatures in the 40s, I knew it was time to take a hike. So I drove to Great Barrington, Massachusetts to hike up Monument Mountain in the Berkshires. The trail began in an unusual forest filled with giant boulders:

The trails were slick with ice and I thought there might be a high concentration of other hikers so I kept the dogs on leashes as we carefully negotiated the icy trails at the beginning of the hike:

But when we'd gained a little elevation, the trails were less icy and I'd seen no other hikers, I relaxed and let the dogs off their leashes. They were all by then very excited and ran like little crazy-dogs. Especially Clover:

Daphne and Clover ran up and down the trail, wrestling as they ran. It was quite a sight. This photo caught them in mid-run/wrestle:

Tubby Seamus was lively for a brief time but quickly settled down. Fergus, Daphne and Clover continued to run crazily and I began getting cranky, thinking they were getting out of control. Or maybe I was just an old crab:

But the forest was lovely and calming. This emerald moss covered log was softly collecting what I've often heard called corn snow. It was beautiful:

When we got to a flat spot with no ice, I took the dogs for an excursion into the forest to explore and, hopefully, to dampen the youngsters' energy. Daphne gave me her look of "C'mon, Dad. Can't you move any faster?":

The trail steepened but the Papillons continued to race, wrestle and play. Fergus was there also but hasn't yet appeared in any photos because he was merrily running in big circles:

Clover has more energy than any ten dogs I've ever known and runs just for joy:

And Daphne almost keeps up with her:

Rocky cliffs covered with snow and ice began to rise up alongside the trail and I could imagine the type of peak to which we were headed. This promised to be a magnificent overlook if it wasn't too icy to access:

There's Fergus! This photo shows him at full speed with his ears flopping. I thought I'd be putting the dogs back on their leashes soon, but for the time being I worked on keeping them reasonably close to me. That had the advantages of increasing my control and giving them more exercise because I kept calling them back to me. But we were just getting started. I'll post more tomorrow:

Hiking Vroman's Nose, Part 5

The dogs and I were on our way down the side of Vroman's Nose. I'd seen some incredible scenic views from the rocky crags atop the mountain but now it was time to go home:

I love this picture because it shows the dogs running for joy with Fergus' ears flopping:

There were moss covered logs on the forest floor which silently collected tiny bits of snow which fell from above. These were not snow "flakes" but small grains similar to what I've heard called corn snow:

The woods were silent when the dogs held still for a moment:

But then the rustling of oak leaves and the huffing of "dog laughter" once again filled the air:

The Vroman's Nose trail is a loop and we soon arrived back at the junction:

I put the dogs back on their leashes when we hit the farm fields and it was a good thing I did as a family was just beginning their ascent with two large dogs. Their dogs were on leashes. The big brown Pit-Bull type dog appeared friendly but the Dalmatian did not. I took a wide arc around them:

And back to my parked car. That's Line Creek, a tributary of the notorious Schoharie Creek, next to the road. There was still much evidence of terrible flooding left over from last August's Tropical Storm Irene:

I took a couple of photos of the local scenery as I drove away. This was a typical Schoharie Valley scene, though it was not Vroman's Nose:

I noticed a covered bridge just off the road and turned in to the parking area to take a closer look:

This, I learned, was the 115 foot long Fox Creek Bridge. It was not open for traffic so I parked and walked around and through it:

Right next to the covered bridge was the historic homestead of the Revolutionary War Colonel, Peter Vroman. I've searched the web to find out if Vroman's Nose was so named because he really had a nose shaped like that or just because it was near his home. But I could find no answer: