Manchester Urban Explorations: Nutts Pond Trail and an encounter with boys in blue

[Buffalo]

"When the third police officer arrived and Janelle instinctively began to inch closer to me, I couldn’t help but wonder how I had gotten us into this mess, and how I was going to get us out."

Sometimes a simple hike becomes much, much more. A very special post on EKP for this morning's Monday Round-Up.

Please join us at: www.ekpadventures.com

 

[grouseking]

Wow, thats sad that you had to deal with something like that. Glad everything turned out fine...and a great teachable moment for all.

Its also sad that some cities have let their natural wonders go to waste. Even when I lived in DC, the hiking trails in and around the urban sprawl, while condensed within a narrow corridor of woods, were clear of litter, and quite charming. Though, Nutt Pond doesn't appear too bad as a body of water in the picture.

 

[Buffalo]

Hi Grouse, it's all good. The police were very kind and polite. It was good ultimately for Janelle to have a positive experience with them.
But you're right, there was a time when that pond was surrounded by farmland and used as a little wilderness refuge near the city. Since I posted this morning, I've gotten a couple emails from people who have worked on Urban Ponds Clean Ups at Nutts Pond. Just last spring, the clean up crew removed 40 garbage bags of trash and NINE shopping carts from the pond. Six months later, the pond needs to be cleaned again.
The pond in the pictures does not look bad, but when we walked up to the shore, it was clear that it's full of trash again, mostly tires, clothes, bottles and cans from what we could see.
I think we'll join a crew next spring if Janelle is interested.

 

[Michelle]

Ohhhhh, that's horrible. Glad it turned out ok, sounded like it was going downhill really fast for a minute there.

A friend of mine who likes nature conservancy type of places brought me to Manchester Cedar Swamp a couple weekends ago. Prob. best in the spring when rhodedendrons are in bloom, but if you haven't been there yet, it's worth the walk........and no grafitti!

http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/northamerica/unitedstates/newhampshire/placesweprotect/manchester-cedar-swamp-preserve.xml

 

[Buffalo]

Hi Michelle, that's funny you should mention Cedar Swamp! We actually thought about doing that instead of Nutts Pond since it's right around the corner of where we live! But we decided, as you said, to wait until spring to see the rhodies!
Thanks for the link. That's def on our list now!