Orris Falls 3-27-10

Yesterday I was driving home from an appointment for work and saw a sign that said Orris Falls .7 Miles off of Thurell Rd in South Berwick, Maine. I decided that today after work I would take a hike on it. It's Friday and I have a few hours to kill so why not. I could use some getting mind off of work and a few hours of exercise.

I arrived at the parking lot, grabbed a pamphlet and took off down the trail. It was very wet again due to the recent rains. The trail is protected by the Great Works Regional Land Trust. The area I would be hiking in today is part of the Orris Falls Conservation Area.

I walked on down the trail and found the trail to the Falls. I tried to get some pictures of the falls but due to the high water, I could not cross the stream to get a decent photo. Next time I'll be sure to get a decent photo. It appears to be a fairly large set of falls though.

I continued on a little ways and found the Beaver Bog area and the beaver dam itself. The high water had breached a section of the dam but it was still holding for the most part.

I then took off down the trail even further and was hoping to get to balancing rock before I had to turn around due to darkness. I think I was just before Tatnic Ledges when I took this picture of an animal track.

I think it may be an otter but I am not sure. Let me know if you know for sure. I appologize for the small picture. It's much easier to see in large size.

I stood up after looking at the track, took 2 steps and my cell phone vibrated on me which never happens when I hike. I answered the phone and my wife was on the other end.

Shelby: "Nick, where are you?"
Nick: "I'm Hiking why?"
Shelby: "Because I cut my hand and I need to go to the emergency room to get stitches!"
Nick: "Than Go, I can't do anything for you here!"
Shelby: "Ok, I'm going, it's bleeding really bad!"
Nick: "I'll meet you there!"

At this point, I turned around and ran the roughly 1.3 miles back to the car and headed for the hospital. There's never a dull day around here. More to come!!

York River Camera Fun 3-25-10

Today I was driving around and happened upon a fairly heavy flow coming from what seemed to be a small stream. I happened to have my camera on me so I parked on the side of the road and took the camera in a little ways and saw this:
I spend the better part of an hour walking up and down the banks of this stream and found upstream a ways that there were a few buildings. I don't know what they are but they are in the middle of the woods, fairly run down and there is no power feed to them. On the way out, I snapped this pictureNeither of these pictures are particularly special but again, I got to play with the camera and the polarizing filter. The recent rains have really played havoc on the streams. Turns out this is the outlet of York Pond called the York River. It can be found off the Brixham rd in Eliot, Maine

Mt. Agamenticus 3-20-10

Today I needed to hike. Period. I haven't been hiking since September. I did not even get one single winter hike in and I need to hike. Work has been super stressful so I decided to just go. The house is not clean, the walls are not painted and it's rained just about every weekend so I need to hike. We'll call it a mental health walk.

With my wife's blessing I took off towards Mount Agamenticus. It's a cute little mountain year York, Maine that has a bunch of hiking trails on them. Once at the parking area on Mountain road for one of the small trails, I hiked down the opposite side of the road to a stream that I could hear and messed around with the camera for a bit. None of the pictures were particularly good but I got to mess around with my new polarizing filter. After about an hour of messing around I turned around and bushwacked back up the hill to the road to the trail and then hiked up the mountain.

I forget which trail I took because I lost my map but I hiked up to the Ring trail then up the Horse trail then down the backside's Sweet Fern Trail back to Ring and back down the trail I started. It was a quick hike but it was nice to be out on a sunny day.