Hello! What a treat today! We hiked at Catamount Mountain, in Colrain. Joe had arranged a guided history hike led by intrepid Colrain historian, Muriel Russell. And what a bonus: her friend and legendary hiker, Polly Bartlett ( now 87 years young) joined us too. It was a day of perfect early Autumn weather, wonderful varied terrain, fabulous rock outcroppings,upheavals, and glacial erratics. But the thread that carried us through the 4 hour hike were the legends, history, cellar holes (this time with names and tales attached) told by Muriel Russell. A graduate in History studies at UMass many years ago, she has salvaged this wonderful place and its history, even having written a book about it. Photos show us at an extensive “cellar hole”; Muriel pointing out some geological points of interest; fungi that we think is “Chicken of the Woods”-help me here, Phil and Ellen!; marvelous lunch spot with a huge cave that we all explored with head lamps (!); and the Grand Dames of the Western Massachusetts Hills themselves: Muriel Russell and Polly Bartlett. Wish I could have had you there with me, Penny
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