Our intentions were great. On this 50th Anniversary of Earth Day we planned to circle the globe or at least a small portion of it in our neck of the woods. But alas . . . COVID 19 brought all such journeys to a halt.
We, however, decided to lead the hike anyway, albeit in a virtual manner. So, pull on your hiking boots or you may prefer your muck boots because part of the trail is damp right now.
Meet me at Heald and Bradley Ponds Reserve parking lot #5 on Route 5 in North Lovell. The parking lot is small, so be sure to leave space for others.
Before we get started, let me show you our intended route. We’ll begin on the Roger’s Family Trail blazed in blue, turn left onto the Heritage Loop Trail with its orange blazes, make a sharp right onto the red-blazed Amos Mountain Trail, pause at the summit, then backtrack to the intersection with the orange trail and follow it around, making sure to always note the color of the blazes so we don’t accidentally end up on the blue Chestnut Trail. When we reach the red Amos Mountain Trail again, we’ll cross over it, continuing to the lookout point where we’ll view the mountains beyond, and then continue to the intersection with the Roger’s Family Trail where we’ll retrace our steps back to the parking lot. Phew. Sounds like a lot, I know, but we’ll have fun.
Let’s begin our journey. I did mention the trail is damp in places. Even if you didn’t choose your Muck boots, you can still get around the puddles and across the bog bridge.
Before crossing the bridge over the brook, we’ll pause to enjoy its gurgling sound and scan the edges for signs of life.
Surely the False Hellebore’s conspicuous leaves will attract our attention and we’ll gaze upon it with awe for we’ll find beauty in the accordion presentation. But . . . we’ll also note that it has poisonous qualities.
Continuing our journey, we’ll note Trailing Arbutus’ leaves, hairy stems and buds and one of us will call out with excitement as being the first to find one in flower. Fingers crossed it’s you. That’s not all that will catch our eyes, for the bright green and greenish white pattern of Downy Rattlesnake Plaintain will also speak to us.
As the trail begins to get steeper, only moderately so mind you, we’ll be able to look through the trees and see the ledges of Amos Mountain. Once the leaves fill in the landscape, we don’t have quite as good a view of this.
And because our footing has now changed from moist ground to rocks and roots, we’ll spend a lot of time looking down. That’s the thing about spring—we miss our snowshoes which allow us to move more freely across the landscape and look up once in a while. That said, we still look down all the time as we follow tracks in the snow. Mammal sign is a bit more subtle once the white stuff melts. But . . . if it’s there, chances are one of us will find it. Such will be the case with this fox scat.
And if our eyes are tuned in, we might just see another Rattlesnake Plaintain, this one being Checkered. At this point I’ll probably pontificate on the fact that the only way I can remember the names of the two plants, Downy and Checkered, is that I think they were misnamed. When I look at the Downy, I think it looks more checkered and visa versa. Mr. Linnaeus had something more specific in mind, but we’ll save that for another day.
The Rogers Family Trail is only four tenths of a mile long, and so it won’t take us too long to reach the first intersection with the Heritage Loop Trail.
Our plan, if you recall, is to turn left onto Heritage and begin our journey around the “globe.”
Suddenly we’ll find ourselves in a different natural community, this one dominated by White and Red Pine trees.
We’ll note the beauty of the Red Pine’s orangey-red-gray bark put presented like jigsaw puzzle pieces.
And below, we’ll search for its needles, presented in bundles of two. Two long and stiff needles, unlike the five short, flexible needles of White Pine. Of course, I’ll start yakking away about how the five spell M-A-I-N-E for it is Maine’s state tree, or the fact that it spells its name: W-H-I-T-E. But Red doesn’t do the same since it only has the two needles. Pitch Pine, which we have on other properties like Long Meadow Brook Reserve, has three and the mnemonic for that is this: three strikes and you’re out. Pitch. Baseball. Get it? And Jack Pine, which doesn’t grow in these woods though you can see a sample of at Loon Echo’s Bald Pate Mountain on the Foster Pond Outlook trail in South Bridgton, has two short needles for Jack and Jill. Just sayin’.
One of the reasons we love this trail is that it leads us to this wonderful rock structure known locally as El Pupito.
The stained-glass window above the pulpit reveals the nature of the world beyond and so we’ll stand in quiet reverence for a few moments.
But move on we must for there is so much more to see like the Striped Maple buds and their pastel coloration. Ahhhhhh, we may miss snow, but we do love spring. Especially this spring, which has become more special with each passing day as we quiet down and notice.
At the next intersection, we’ll take a slight detour off the Heritage Trail and follow the Amos Mountain Trail for a wee bit.
I want to make sure you are still with me so I’ll point out our location on the map as we turn onto the red-blazed trail. (You may note that the colors have faded on the actual “You Are Here” maps located at intersections. We’ll get that fixed. But in the meantime, the colors on our website maps, such as this one, are accurate.)
At the summit, we’ll toast the world and celebrate Earth Day’s 50th anniversary. After all, that’s the reason for this hike. (By the way, have you remembered to pick up some trash and send us a photo of it and the location? You can send your photos and GIS location or a physical description to info@gllt.org and we’ll add it to our Earth Day Story Map. ) Here’s to the EARTH. May we continue to honor it and take care of it and make every day a celebration of our Earth.
While we’re at the summit, we’ll also look at the Red Maple buds flowering in front of the bench. Ahh, another moment of wonder right before our eyes.
And then we’ll retrace our steps and make our way back to the orange trail.
Here ‘tis on the map. Well, it doesn’t exactly look like we are walking in the same footprints we left on the way up to the summit, but you get the idea; we’ll still be on the same path.
It is there that if we are lucky, we’ll be wowed by the sweet trills of the Pine Warblers.
Next we’ll arrive at a Y in the road. At this point, we’ll notice all the trail signs and snowmobile signs.
Our plan will be to bear to the right. As we descend, we’ll meet some wet spots again, but I’ll highly recommend staying in the washed-out areas as the water cleared away the leaves and has given us a good look at what’s underfoot.
While watching our steps, listening to the chipmunks chatter, and looking for woodpeckers tapping trees in these woods, we’ll also need to keep our eyes peeled for the next intersection for precisely below a stone water bar, the trail makes a 90˚ turn to the right. If we continued straight, we’d suddenly find ourselves on the blue-blazed Chestnut Trail. While it’s lovely, it would bring us out to the wrong parking lot and our plan for today is to circle the globe along the Heritage Loop.
This is where “Heritage” begins to really come into play. But . . . we don’t know the full meaning. We believe this structure to be located on the former McAllister land. What exactly is it? So many have surmised. I won’t tell you what they’ve said until after you have a chance to explore it and share your thoughts. For now, there is no right answer. And we kinda like it that way, thus we’ve dubbed it “The Mystery Structure.”
Again, as we circle below the summit of Amos Mountain, we’ll not the ledges above and though we may expect to or hope to see a bobcat up there, any noise we hear will be from a blowing leaf or two or two hundred or a chipmunk.
Suddenly, without really noticing it, we’ll find the path takes us across a stone wall onto what would have been the property of Amos Andrews.
We’ll pause briefly by the foundation to the man’s house and look at the terraced land below.
But what I’m really eager to show you are the stone walls. I want you to join me in wondering this, “What was Amos thinking?” Oh, we know that there are hundreds upon thousands of miles of stone walls in the woods and we encounter them every where, but these are different. You have to see them to believe them.
And then I want to show you this and get your take on it.
Do you see the A that I see? Does this have anything to do with a Bridgton News article about Amos Andrews dated November 7, 1873 and transcribed for us by Janet Mahannah: They {Local guest house hosts] gave us some very interesting information respecting ‘Uncle Amos.’ He is now eighty-two years of age. Had purchased the mountain thirty years ago for sixty bushels of rye, he had cleared the whole southern slope, had walled in several fields, in one or two of which he had set out a large number of apple trees, which are now bearing fruit—last year sixty-five barrels of apples. But the great feature of the place is, that he has actually set out shade trees from the base to very nearly the top of the mountain, a distance of half a mile. He had also laid out a carriage road, which is in tolerably good condition.
And the next day as the writer and family climbed Amos Mountain with their host, this happened: An elderly man [Amos Andrews], tall, erect, with staff in hand, came briskly towards us. We made ourselves known, with the object of our visit. He at once entered into conversation. Said he was convinced years ago, that sooner or later the iron horse would open this region to the travelling public, and this mountain would become a place of resort. He had carried these trees up the mountain, a dozen or so at a time, and set them out. One large field entirely surrounded with trees, and designed as a site for a dwelling, was one of his plans. With his own hands, chiefly, he had accomplished all that had been done here. He had fallen short of what he wished to carry out, but had provided for his pet scheme in such a manner as to make it probable that it yet might be accomplished by those who should come after him.
Back by the homestead, we’ll spot what appears to have been a sugar shack.
Artifacts remain such as this #2 Dietz Blizzard Kerosene lantern. These were first manufactured in 1898. I’ll ask that you take only photos and leave finds such as these alone in the woods for they are part of the story of this land and we’d hate to lose them.
Finally, we’ll travel down the two rod road presumably laid out by Uncle Amos and give thanks that he has given us so much to ponder.
When we reach the next “You Are Here” sign, we’ll look across the Amos Mountain Trail and spot the orange blaze with an arrow.
That will show us the way: Cross the red-blazed trail and continue on the orange.
Again, we’ll be checking the sky, ground, and trees, looking for things to marvel at, such as this rather dried up False Horse’s Hoof Tinderconk.
And then we’ll reach the creme de la creme of this journey—the lookout that embraces the Bald Face Mountains to the left, Mount Washington’s pyramid peak, and Kezar Lake.
From the lookout point, so portrayed by the binoculars, we’ll continue toward our final intersection—making sure to turn left. This will put us back on the blue-blazed Rogers Family Trail that we’ll follow back to the parking lot.
But before we finish, we’ll pause by the brook one more time. If luck is with us, we’ll spy Water Striders who haven’t been given the warning to keep six feet between them. Thankfully.
With that, after about a three-hour journey, we’ll conclude our circumnavigation around the globe (Lovell style) in honor of Earth Day. And once again we’ll give thanks for all that the Earth has shared with us. And hope it has given us. May we so honor it by offering it the same courtesies.