On Tuesday we took advantage of beautiful weather and took a very long walk at a new park that was created in 2010. We walked straight downhill through a forest to Fort Hill Brook, saw a small waterfall and then followed the stream down to another one. And then we climbed up a switchback trail to our starting point, a loop that took us an hour.
The Sheep Farm has a diverse habitat including rocky outcroppings, glacial erratics, bluestem meadows, deep forest interior habitat, forest edge habitat, early successional forests, extensive wetlands, seeps, shrub swamps, a string of Tier 1 vernal pools, Class A stream – Fort Hill Brook, and two waterfalls.
~ Groton Open Space Association website
Twice we moved six feet off the trail to avoid other hikers, and spotted some people on other trails on the other side of the brook.
There was a better spot to take a picture of this waterfall, but, a woman was practicing yoga in a bathing suit behind the tree so this was the best I could do. 🙂
When we got back to the parking lot we had to find a rock to sit on for quite a while. A family had parked right next to our car and they were getting in and out of their car trying to sort something or other out. They were much closer than the required six feet for social distancing! But we enjoyed looking at some plantings while we waited patiently for them to leave.
We now have 11 detected cases of coronavirus in our town. Population: 39,075. (In 2017) I find myself preoccupied with statistics these days.
Azaelea! I forget that although you are only 30 minutes away, being closer to the shore gives you a different climate. Sort of.
Lovely photos.
Thank you, Janet. And you are correct. According to the Köppen climate classification system you live in a humid continental climate and I live in an oceanic climate. So close yet so different!
What great photos, Barbara! The Sheep Farm looks like a lovely place for a walk. I enjoyed the description of all the habitats in it. One of the things I liked most about the Medieval Russia class I took was the information about the various biological and weather zones that the country was made of, and how that affected human history.
It’s too bad that other people posed problems for you, but you coped quite admirably! 🙂
Thank you, Timi! I can’t complain too much ~ there were no cigarette butts or dog droppings to be found. 🙂
I got interested in climate zones when my daughter moved to North Carolina and I found the weather there insufferable. Turns out she lives in a humid subtropical climate. Their loblolly pines caught my eye immediately as we don’t have any here. When I was a teen my family lived in Greece for a couple of years so I am also familiar with a Mediterranean climate. I can see why climate affects human history so much. The class you took sounds so interesting.
Climate zones! That was the word I was looking for. Thanks!
The Medieval Russia class was engrossing. I liked best the earliest period, the Riurikid dynasty, which began in the 9th century. It was then, in the 9th century, that I encountered the amazing Princess Ol’ga, who took fierce bloody revenges on the tribe who killed her husband while he was collecting taxes among them.
Ol’ga reigned as the Regent of Kiev, which was both the city as well as the entire Rus hegemony, for 15 years during her son’s minority.
Not only did she make notable civic improvements to Kiev, she also successfully defended it during a siege and also went to Constantinople at the invitation of Byzantine Emperor Constantine VII.
There she became the first Rus to convert to Christianity. She was made a saint 500 years later. I have a couple of posts about her on my blog.
Typo alert: Princess Ol’ga lived in the 10th century.
And I think living in Greece must have been really interesting for you as a teenager. My six months spent in Turkey were a high point for me. 🙂
Have you seen the latest season of Vikings yet? What did you think of how they portrayed Princess Olga? I remember reading about her on your blog and was impressed with her strategic accomplishments and intelligence. My father had a sister named Olga who died tragically as a toddler. (She pulled a pot of boiling water off the stove and scalded herself.) My grandparents were Ukrainian immigrants and I like to think little Olga was named for the saint.
Living in Greece truly broadened my horizons!
I’m enjoying your walks with you! That’s so great that you are both walking every day. I’ve been walking more also. Our subtropical climate has retreated for a couple of days with the jet stream take a southern detour, bringing us a cold front.
I’m glad to hear you are still walking, too. I’m starting to wonder if we should wear face masks even outside… (Cape Cod National Seashore requires it.) My weather app told me you had a freeze warning down there last night! To think, last week Larisa had the kids outside in the kiddie pool. 🙂
Roller coaster weather– 70 yesterday during the day. Freeze advisory for tonight again. Heat? Air conditioning? Open the door? Fan? It could be any of these on a given day.
It’s been a bit of a roller coaster up here, too. We took down the winter suet feeder and then it got cold again. Poor woodpeckers! Now they’re pecking on the sliding glass door frames…
What a beautiful area for a walk! The frog crossing sign is so much fun.
It is! We looked for frogs but didn’t see any this time. Maybe next time.