Thursday Hikers

Today we braved some mighty cold temperatures for over 2 hours at the Poland Brook Wildlife Management here in Conway. Hundreds of acres purchased by the state of MA as well as large contiguous acreage that has been given to the state for conservation; well managed and with lots of hiking possibilities. As for photos, it’s become so cold that the mittens come off and camera comes out only once or twice just to try to keep my hands from freezing. We didn’t get the snow that most of you just had, but there was still enough snow cover for using snow shoes, spikes for the ice, or just hiking boots. I just had (Ellie’s!) boots and it was very good. We had some nice climbs and some interesting frozen waters to cross. Only 2 dogs today: Sukee and Baxter. Photo 3: Near the end of the hike, Lissa spied what is surely a Chaga way up on a birch tree. If you’re interested, google Chaga (mushroom). It has interesting medicinal uses; grows on birch and beech trees. We returned to Tony’s wonderful 1775 home and had yet another great pot luck lunch: Tony’s onion soup, Gwen’s bean salad, the other Gwen’s grainy bread, Joe’s apples, Elaine’s freshly made gingerbread, my spinach, cheese, apple and mozzarella pannini sandwiches, and Donnas orange bundt cake to celebrate Elaine’s birthday. Another memorable Thursday. Now I’m off to light the wood stove and thaw out my feet. Wish you were here. Love, Penny