The Busy Lens : state park

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Monday, September 24, 2012

NH police investigate untimely death of hiker

TEMPLE, N.H. (AP) — Police in Temple, N.H., are investigating the death of a 70-year-old hiker who was found unconscious and unresponsive on a trail at Miller State Park.

Police said another hiker descending the Marion Davis Trail found the Robert Foster of Milford unresponsive about 12:30 p.m. Sunday, about a quarter-mile from the trail head on Pack Monadnock Mountain.

Rescue crews performed CPR, but were not successful. Police are calling it an untimely death.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Sculptured Rocks Geologic Site, Groton NH

If you are passing through the area, this is a nice sight to stop and see. The well-carved gorge is quite impressive. This geological wonder is another New Hampshire attraction that is believed to have been formed by a retreated glacier from the great Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago. Swimming is a locally popular activity at this spot in the summer, but it is only safe in low-water conditions. You might spot people jumping off the gorge walls for a bit of adventure. Others may be enjoying some of the water-filled potholes alongside the river. Swimming can be dangerous here; if the water level looks too high, avoid the temptation, especially within the gorge.

Sculptured Rocks Natural Area, which spans 272 acres, is a unique example of nature's powerful yet delicate artistry. The Cockermouth River carved a narrow canyon in bedrock on its way to Newfound Lake, beginning as the last ice age drew to a close. Nature used grains of sand suspended in the current to carve the walls of the canyon into curious shapes and create potholes in the bedrock.

Pets are permitted in the park. See the NH State Parks Pets Policy for more information.

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Friday, March 23, 2012

68-year-old woman set to hike Appalachian Trail

CHATTANOOGA (WRCB) -- What do you do when you're retired, living the dream, and about to turn 69? If you're Elaine Gregory-Duty, you set out to hike the entire Appalachian Trail!

Age, gender, none of it matters to Elaine. She made this a goal more than three decades ago, and nothing is going to stop her.

"There is life to be lived and I'm not one to sit down," Elaine Gregory-Duty says. "My grandmother died in her 80s and she walked two miles a day every day."

At 68, Elaine will up her grandmothers ante, as she plans to hike 7-16 miles a day for five months on the Appalachian Trail. That's 2,182 miles from Springer Mountain, Georgia to Northern Maine, crossing 14 states.

One could only ask, why?

"Because it's there and I love the outdoors," Elaine says. "First time I stepped foot on it in 1977 in October, they said it went from Georgia to Maine, that was my goal."

Since 1977, Elaine has been training and has hiked the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to the Pennsylvania border in intervals.

She's hiked parts of Maine and New Hampshire. On March 27, she'll set out to tame the entire beast in one shot.

Family members are giving their full support.

"I'm not worried about her, I'm proud and anxious," says Linda A. Gregory-Duty, Elaine's life-partner. "I want the five months to already be here, so she's back home. But, this is her dream and I'm glad her dream is coming to fruition."

One could also only ask, will there be a time when you say what on earth did I get myself into?

After laughing a bit Elaine says, "There are days that come up, and I've had a few days like that myself. You just have to look and say, 'you had a goal in mind, finish it'. It's on the bucket list let's go."

Elaine will turn 69 three days after she starts. She hopes this motivates anyone her age to get out and pursue something because as she says, "it's never too late."

Her family will meet up with her at checkpoints, and they'll send us pictures along the way.

Story shared from: http://www.wrcbtv.com

Monday, March 19, 2012

Hike: Pawtuckaway State Park 3-17-2012

Pawtuckaway State Park‎

128 Mountain Rd

Nottingham, NH 03290-4940

(603) 895-3031

nhstateparks.org‎

View Pawtuckaway 3/18/2012 9:26 AM in a larger map

Spent a great day at the park hiking! We saw two moose this morning at about 8:45am, as they just walked out of the woods in front of us and trotted down the trail ahead of us. They disappeared within minutes into a bog just over the rise of the next hill. Enjoying a great walk this day with my daughter and my wife. This was our route above but there are many trails from which to choose: Trail Map Link: (PDF)

Geese enjoying a 78 degree pre-spring day

Today's trip to the park was a 6.2 mile round trip but with all there was to see and do it was quite relaxing even though there were a few altitude challenges. Although the park does not allow pets in the main entrance of the park there were dogs abound on our trip today. At this entrance there are no postings prohibiting them.

We were one of the first to arrive in the lot off Deerfield Rd., on an unmarked dirt road known as Round Pond Rd (GPS 43.123433,-71.162673) . There are a few residential homes at the beginning of this road but the parking lot at the head of the trail is located about a quarter mile in (GPS 43.120395,-71.165285) just prior to the gate.

Dave on boulder over beaver dam

The main parks access was not yet open, mid May opening according to postings, there was a massive showing on this weekend prior to Spring due to it being a fine 78 degree's at the height of the day. At the main entrance visitor center there were well over 60 cars in the lot full of visitors out walking and enjoying the great day.

Terrain Map, New England's own Volcano

Pawtuckaway State Park is the second largest state park in Southeast New Hampshire with about 5,500 acres of permanently protected habitat. The “undeveloped” western section of the park is accessed by Reservation Road in Deerfield. This majority of the park consists of the remnants of an ancient volcano, forming North, Middle and South Mountains as well as Rocky Ridge. Numerous trails traverse these peaks affording grand views. It is a seemingly prehistoric area with a huge boulder field cascading down towards Round Pond. The Eastern boundary touches Pawtuckaway Lake where a campground offers a variety of outdoor pleasures.

The Pawtuckaway Mountains are a small, rocky, circular range that form the outline of an ancient volcanic ring dike dating from 130—110 million years ago (Cretaceous).The ring dike, first completely mapped in 1944, is a smaller and more accessible example of the same kind of geological process that formed the Ossipee Mountains to the north. The inner ring is roughly one mile in diameter, while the outer is measured at almost two miles.

The vary nature of this unique park, with near 1,000 foot peaks to the north tumbling down ragged boulder strewn ridges to the lake at 250 feet in elevation, lends itself to a wide diversity of wildlife found in the park. In fact a recent study of Vermont and New Hampshire showed that this section of the two states had the greatest diversity of vertebrate wildlife. That’s critters with backbones. The animals almost anyone can recognize! Because of the elevation change, and forested landscape, beavers abound in the park with a pond tucked into nearly every nook. And where there’s a beaver pond, wildlife overflows into the surrounding woodlands.

Balancing Boulder

The immense size of the park and sun dappled South facing rock outcroppings have been favored by even the elusive bobcats. Deer, moose, bear, fisher and coyotes dodge one another amongst the ragged peaks as well. A drive into the campground will run you along Burnham Marsh where a great blue heron is likely to be seen gliding into a perch at the waters edge in search of a tasty fish or frog. A careful search of the roadside will show ample evidence of the turtles that laid eggs in the soft shoulder of the road. Only to have a raccoon or skunk feast on them leaving the white paper shells sprinkled at roadside.

While you may not be lucky enough to actually catch a glimpse of all the wild and secretive creatures, a little detective work will give you plenty of evidence that they abound in the park. The fact is, for the most part, they are real good at playing hide-and-seek.

When we returned to our car later in the afternoon our lot was full of hikers, in a lot that holds approximately 20 cars. When we got out to the end of the dirt road a quarter mile out at the main road there were about 20 more cars lined up along the side of the road. The park is large enough that we only ran into probably a dozen friendly folk enjoying a hike. It may have seemed crowded by the number of cars, but it was very quiet and peaceful the entire day! We give it a 5 out of 5 stars. ENJOY!

Click on any photo below and view these pictures in slideshow and larger size.