Thursday Hikers

What an interesting day we had. 10,000 years ago, sands from melting glaciers were deposited into Lake Hitchcock. Lake Hitchcock existed for over 300 years and graually drained due to erosion and geological changes in the earth. Lake Hitchcock had filled an area 300 miles long stretching from Vermont to Connecticut, including swaths of what is now Deerfield, MA. Montague Plains is a “Pine Barren” set atop an 8000 acre sand plain. Not all of it is wild, there are many areas of development, even an airport, and it was once heavily farmed. It is in process of being thinned and restored by Mass Wildlife to the state it was in before colonization* with a focus of restoring precious wildlife habitat Among others, the Prairie warbler and the whippoorwill have returned. (*This restoration is not without controversy) Scrub Oak and Pitch Pine dominate, low shrubs, blueberry, carpets of winterberry, etc etc. Photo 3 is a grey birch that presents as a shrub because of having been cut and burned.They were plentiful and really beautiful as a shrub! I might try it. We heard flocks of finches mixed in with crossbills. Lunch was at the Wagon Wheel. I had “The Mediterranean” sandwich: lentils, tabouleh, hummus, beets, pickled onion, and feta on a wonderful pita bread.Alas my lunch photos didn’t download. Deb and her dog Annie were back – a great reunion for Sukee and Annie. Deb got her birthday crown – all this with no photos, I’ve written far too much, and there’s much more to write. But, bye for now. Love, Penny