Mass AT Day Hike + wildlife

[DougPaul]

Did the Mass AT Day Hike for the Benedict Pond to Tyringham Cobble section on Sat (7 Oct) http://amcberkshire.org/trails/at/event-archives/2006/10/amcberkevent.2006-07-14.5838634926. Trail was in good shape, good weather, nice colors, etc. A nice mellow walk in the woods.

As we passed the Shaker Campsite, we stopped to check it out (the trip leader oversees AT maintenance in that area) and found the register box to be occupied. See the attachments. (Best viewed with a web browser--one is a moving gif. Sorry it is so small, but that is the best I could do and stay within the file size limits. And there were 3 occupants...)

The second and third attachments are a larger image of one of the frames of the moving gif (3rd occupant just barely visible on the right) and a detail from another frame.

Doug

 

[percious]

Did the Mass AT Day Hike for the Benedict Pond to Tyringham Cobble section on Sat (7 Oct) http://amcberkshire.org/trails/at/event-archives/2006/10/amcberkevent.2006-07-14.5838634926. Trail was in good shape, good weather, nice colors, etc. A nice mellow walk in the woods.

As we passed the Shaker Campsite, we stopped to check it out (the trip leader oversees AT maintenance in that area) and found the register box to be occupied. See the attachments. (Best viewed with a web browser--one is a moving gif. Sorry it is so small, but that is the best I could do and stay within the file size limits. And there were 3 occupants...)

The second and third attachments are a larger image of one of the frames of the moving gif (3rd occupant just barely visible on the right) and a detail from another frame.

Doug

Thats pretty funny Doug. Did you find any white canes or dark glasses in the box as well?

-percious

 

[DougPaul]

Thats pretty funny Doug. Did you find any white canes or dark glasses in the box as well?

Nope, just a thick layer of "small dark objects". And the plastic bag surrounding the register had lots of small holes in it. The register had also seen some "wear and tear"...

Doug

 

[pudgy_groundhog]

Cute pics!

 

[cbcbd]

Very cute. I stayed at the Shaker campsite a long time ago while hiking the MA section - very nice little area with some history behind it.

 

[Tom Rankin]

Cute, but loud when they are running along the floorboards in the ceiling above you! We set a trap with peanut butter and then cheese, but they just nibbled it off. The 3rd night, we forgot about the empty trap, and SNAP!

Their cousins came back the next time we were there!

 

[DougPaul]

Cute, but loud when they are running along the floorboards in the ceiling above you!

Not a problem here--Shaker Campsite consists of 2 tent platforms, a privy, and a register box attached to a tree. Not much to be gained by trap snapping the local residents.

They didn't seem to mind photo snapping...

Doug

 

[DougPaul]

Larger version of the varmints in the register box: http://mysite.verizon.net/dbpwebjunk/ma-at-day/wack-a-mouse8.gif

Doug