forestgnome
New member
Champney Falls, The Sisters, Steam Mill Brook drainage Dec 2
Thought I'd enjoy for one last time the season between the fall and the snow, when travel through the hardwoods is very pleasant. The weather was mild and very calm all day.
Champney Falls has plenty of ice. While I was there, a big chunk of ice crashed down with a loud noise.
Traction is now highly recommended for Champney Falls Trail, especially above the falls.
The view from Middle Sister showing the gathering storm clouds...
The ice isn't as bad on the summits as it is on the CFT. I hiked over to Mt. Blue and enjoyed some lunch and chocolate, then found a good place to venture off trail and down the northern slope toward Steam Mill Brook. After a short swim through spruce I found a nice stand of birch and hobblebush, my favorite
Lots of woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches were busy working the hardwoods...
This abandoned nest is made of mosses, spruce twigs and birch bark, about three feet above ground in hobblebush. Chickadee nest?
There's plenty of recent moose sign and coyote sign throughout the area. These coyote tracks seemed to be following fresh snowshoe hare tracks...
Here's a bed, where a moose recently took a nap. The droppings were cold, but not frozen. No ticks ...
This striped maple has very fresh teeth marks from where moose stripped and ate the bark. Droppings will now be of the winter type, now that only winter diet is available, other than a few ferns...
There wasn't much snow in the drainage, with lots of bare ground. No snow for the last two miles. I found an antler that was dropped last winter. The critters didn't eat very much of it.
I made it out before dark as the approaching storm clouds began to really thicken. Well, that will probably be the final hike on bare ground until spring.
happy trails
Thought I'd enjoy for one last time the season between the fall and the snow, when travel through the hardwoods is very pleasant. The weather was mild and very calm all day.
Champney Falls has plenty of ice. While I was there, a big chunk of ice crashed down with a loud noise.
Traction is now highly recommended for Champney Falls Trail, especially above the falls.
The view from Middle Sister showing the gathering storm clouds...
The ice isn't as bad on the summits as it is on the CFT. I hiked over to Mt. Blue and enjoyed some lunch and chocolate, then found a good place to venture off trail and down the northern slope toward Steam Mill Brook. After a short swim through spruce I found a nice stand of birch and hobblebush, my favorite
Lots of woodpeckers, chickadees and nuthatches were busy working the hardwoods...
This abandoned nest is made of mosses, spruce twigs and birch bark, about three feet above ground in hobblebush. Chickadee nest?
There's plenty of recent moose sign and coyote sign throughout the area. These coyote tracks seemed to be following fresh snowshoe hare tracks...
Here's a bed, where a moose recently took a nap. The droppings were cold, but not frozen. No ticks
...
This striped maple has very fresh teeth marks from where moose stripped and ate the bark. Droppings will now be of the winter type, now that only winter diet is available, other than a few ferns...
There wasn't much snow in the drainage, with lots of bare ground. No snow for the last two miles. I found an antler that was dropped last winter. The critters didn't eat very much of it.
I made it out before dark as the approaching storm clouds began to really thicken. Well, that will probably be the final hike on bare ground until spring.
happy trails
Last edited:
