Dugan
New member
After a flurry of last minute negotiation, I agreed to accompany Cantdog for a portion of the M-M, if she would in turn help bottle an Irish Red Ale homebrew. This was deja vu for me because Cantdog started the M-M last year with Jade, TramperAl, but took a break to work on the ADK 46 instead.
Upon arriving at my house, Cantdog immediately spied the very shy Mok-sha kitty, who bravely stayed out long enough to meet Cantdog. This drove Dugan-3.5 legs nuts with jealousy, so he was next in line, and then finally Smudge got a bit of petting. Pets thus appeased, we began bottling, then packed two sixes for Cantdog as thanks for her labor. We headed out to the Leverett Coop to drop a car.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The Leverett Coop is a great stop, even if it wasn't a lunch stop this time. We eached picked up items for lunch, then carpooled north to route 2, cursing the falling rain. We parked just south of route 2, then headed off down the trail, paralleling the south bank of the Millers River. No rain! We paused many times for Cantdog to inspect a number of old foundations. We gained, then left the railroad tracks. This enabled me to pick up a couple hundred of feet that we missed last year, because we missed where the trail dropped off the tracks.
We opted to take the high water route - back over the RR tracks - because the rocks in the streambed under the RR bridge were treacherously slick. We stuck with true M-M for the next high water route, though we had a bit of difficulty with slimy rocks at another crossing. We crossed a pave road, then continued with our leisurely enjoying the sites pace. We found many more foundations, including the remnants of a circular brick structure. We also saw the remains of a dam with logs at the base on the upstream side that Cantdog called... What were those?
We took a break to eat our yummy Leverett Coop lunches (broccoli-cheddar croissant for me) just short of Jerusalem lookout. We reached the look out, looked out, then kept going. We continued along through Wendell SF, eventually reaching the lake. Here, we saw a contingent of the Happy Valley Hashers that'd turned out for an annual "Buffetville" run. We rushed by, trying to avoid the mosquito infested lake area. As we headed up, we spooked a pair of deer.
Later, a flash of red caught my eye. While trying to spot the animal, and point it out to Cantdog, I was thinking fox, because of the red. It turned out to be a pair of very young deer. We stood very still and watched them. As I took a step, they spooked and ran. Beautiful.
We reached a stretch with obvious heavy ATV damage, which led to large deep muddy patches. This is just north of the powerlines. We got to the powerlines in time for a little bit of a rain shower, which quickly ended. We saw the remnants of some kind of animal - fox perhaps? We got back to the Coop, then returned safely to our cars.
This stretch of the M-M is well blazed and well maintained. Unfortunately, due to the ATV use north of the powerlines, there is heavy damage to the foot path.
Upon arriving at my house, Cantdog immediately spied the very shy Mok-sha kitty, who bravely stayed out long enough to meet Cantdog. This drove Dugan-3.5 legs nuts with jealousy, so he was next in line, and then finally Smudge got a bit of petting. Pets thus appeased, we began bottling, then packed two sixes for Cantdog as thanks for her labor. We headed out to the Leverett Coop to drop a car.
I've said it before, and I'll say it again. The Leverett Coop is a great stop, even if it wasn't a lunch stop this time. We eached picked up items for lunch, then carpooled north to route 2, cursing the falling rain. We parked just south of route 2, then headed off down the trail, paralleling the south bank of the Millers River. No rain! We paused many times for Cantdog to inspect a number of old foundations. We gained, then left the railroad tracks. This enabled me to pick up a couple hundred of feet that we missed last year, because we missed where the trail dropped off the tracks.
We opted to take the high water route - back over the RR tracks - because the rocks in the streambed under the RR bridge were treacherously slick. We stuck with true M-M for the next high water route, though we had a bit of difficulty with slimy rocks at another crossing. We crossed a pave road, then continued with our leisurely enjoying the sites pace. We found many more foundations, including the remnants of a circular brick structure. We also saw the remains of a dam with logs at the base on the upstream side that Cantdog called... What were those?
We took a break to eat our yummy Leverett Coop lunches (broccoli-cheddar croissant for me) just short of Jerusalem lookout. We reached the look out, looked out, then kept going. We continued along through Wendell SF, eventually reaching the lake. Here, we saw a contingent of the Happy Valley Hashers that'd turned out for an annual "Buffetville" run. We rushed by, trying to avoid the mosquito infested lake area. As we headed up, we spooked a pair of deer.
Later, a flash of red caught my eye. While trying to spot the animal, and point it out to Cantdog, I was thinking fox, because of the red. It turned out to be a pair of very young deer. We stood very still and watched them. As I took a step, they spooked and ran. Beautiful.
We reached a stretch with obvious heavy ATV damage, which led to large deep muddy patches. This is just north of the powerlines. We got to the powerlines in time for a little bit of a rain shower, which quickly ended. We saw the remnants of some kind of animal - fox perhaps? We got back to the Coop, then returned safely to our cars.
This stretch of the M-M is well blazed and well maintained. Unfortunately, due to the ATV use north of the powerlines, there is heavy damage to the foot path.
