Thursday Hikers

We had perfect June weather for today’s hike. High Ledges is a MA Audubon property, no dogs allowed, so we had to manage without the pranks of our three Best Friends. But we had three good “guest” hikers: Al, Paul, and Madge and the day turned out to be full of fun and with no shortage of nonsense. We went through lots of different environments, starting out on the Wood Thrush Trail along rich swampy land, then up into dryer and higher terrain. The Wolf Den Loop trail took us to a beaver pond where some of us saw frogs, but I think that all of us heard frogs. Later on we heard a Barred Owl hooting in the trees above us. Disappointment came when we saw that the Yellow Lady Slippers were past bloom, as well as that the deer had eaten the blooms off all of them. Pink lady slippers were still spotted along the trail and, of course, are like magic. The distant views from the top ledges always seem so peaceful, as does the sight of the village of Shelburne Falls down in the Valley below. It was a brown bag lunch day. Tony had asked his friends at the Wheel-VIew Farm in Shelburne if we could picnic at their place. There we had long views of their wonderful farm, views beyond it as far as Mt. Monandock , and some mighty fine looking sandwiches around the table. Hiker Tom, who had been hospitalized, surprised us by joining us for lunch. It was wonderful to see him looking so well. Just this year Wheel-View Farm has added hard cider production to their grass fed beef production.Carolyn Wheeler came out with a hand hewing ax found in their walls recently and 3 bottles of cider for us to sample. And sample we did!!! I wish you could have been to join in the festive fun of the sampling. I bought a bottle of the Dry variety. Come to Conway and I’ll pour you a glass. The day ended with meeting Bubba, the resident laid back, very lazy bull. He’s responsible for having fathered 36 calves this year and appears to have quite the Life of Riley! I hope your life is even more wonderful than Bubba’s. Love, Penny