Backpacking in Nash Stream Forest

On sunny weekend in July we went backpacking in Nash Stream Forest Area. This time a little hardcore schedule.

<Overnight Backpacking>
Trailhead: Crawford Notch Road (302) and Notchland Road
Total mileage: 21.82 miles
Elevation gain/loss: 5,869 feet

Route: Trailhead-Davis path - Mount Davis -Mount Isolation -Rocky Branch Trail- Stairs col Trail- Davis path-Trailhead

Type: lollipop (first potion is out and back, then loop)

Mount Davis

Due to relative long distance per day, Mr.N suggested leaving Boston at 4 a.m. Four. That means that we needed to get up at 3:30 a.m.! We arrived at the trailhead around 7 a.m.  Surprisingly there are more than five cars already there in the parking lot. The first 4 miles was repeat we did before with a hiking club. It was funny I didn't remember at all about the steep uphill portion for the first 3 miles, but I remembered very well after the point it got to the ridge and much less steep. I have heard that human brains eliminate unpleasant memories, and I thought that this was a good example. At mile 8, we went up to the first mountain summit, Mount Davis. This is a 0.2 mile steep spur trail from Davis path. It was worth taking an additional mileage. 

Mount Isolation

Then next was Mount Isolation. This backpacking can have multiple mountain summits, which is a bonus for long distance backpackers. Mount Isolation is a 0.1 mile spur trail. Again this was worth the stop. I wonder the name of the mountain was because it is isolated. Even now this summit is 6 miles from the closest trail, which is relatively long side compared to other mountains in New England.  

Sign!

camping spot

Then we headed for the campsite. It is a primitive campsites on the first come first serve basis. We hoped that there would be space and also would hope water source. We were not sure where exactly the campsites were, but we found a small sign on the trail (right picture). There were some flat spaces and luckily there were no one at 4:30 p.m.  We took the largest flat spots and started campfire! My favorite activity. There was already a big fire ring. The trail was muddy and the all logs on the ground was wet. Due to the wetness, it was hard to start the fire. 

Later after 6 p.m., group of 5-6 came asked us if there was more further our spot. We said no.  Looked like they were jealous about our spot. They had to take smaller, uneven spot. Early bird gets the worm! Those people pitched the tent over the some bush/trees of our site. I heard they had marijuana and got chatty. Luckily they went to bed as early as us and got quiet.  They seemed to fail to start the fire, that might be the reason they went to bed early. Also Mr.N heard that they were talking, "The hike was so hard. I don't know if I can go back tomorrow." That might be another reason they got quiet early. Good!

Pretty fall

Next day the first 2 miles was soooooo muddy! Grrr. I assume all the mud came from a lot of rain during the week. It was tough to hop on rocks no to get stuck in the mud, however, the bright side was falls were pretty (left picture). There are not many falls of this type (wet, mossy, hidden) in the West. This type of falls are usually in the forest and it always reminds me of Zen, from a viewpoint of Japanese. The beauty presents deep inside of these scenery. 

Cairn

After 2 miles, we hiked on a most isolated trail, rocky branch trail. Most people go to mountain summits in a shortest way. The Rocky branch trail, which is full of rocks and branches actually, is not the trail for any mountain in a shortest route. We indeed didn't pass anybody in the entire rocky branch trail. I really liked the rocky branch trail, not only isolated, but also trail was rather well marked. There are many river crossing, and it was marked as a cairn (the picture in the upper right). Sometimes two cairn was found in the opposite direction, that is often happened on the abandoned trail. The trail finding was fun. 

5,869 feet elevation gain and loss was hardcore, but it was a good one. 

Kayaking on Blackstone river/Great Meadow

More social distancing! Kayaking on the weekends. 

First one is blackstone river and canal. This is in central Mass. Blackstone river is a very shallow, and quiet river. "Nice!" I thought at first. Then, 0.3 mile of kayaking, we had to land, carry kayak on the stairs to walk over the dam. Grrr. This was a tough part. The kayak is heavy on the stairs. For sure it was a good training for arm muscle. 

Quiet Water

Other than that, the kayaking was nice.  The water was extremely calm and quiet. It was a sunny day without winds, meaning perfect for kayaking. One challenging part was that the water was too shallow sometimes and had to find a way for a deeper water portion. It was an adventure. 

Below 2 pictures are nice red-winged blackbird and a heron. Nice to see them. More kayaking, I have more opportunities to see red-winged blackbirds. Then more and more convinced that blackbirds are real bullies. They chase big birds aggressively. I saw they chased away herons, who are at least 5 times bigger than them, and also chased away hawks. It is funny. 

Flowers for sure

A couple of weeks later, we went kayaking on Great Meadows National Refuge. We had kayaked in the Great Meadows before, but we did a different portion this time. Now we saw flowers that were not bloomed last time. They are flowers for sure, but I don't know what flowers (the left picture). Please let me know if you know! Nice purple ones.

Canada Geese

Clouds formed

Then a Canada geese family! A couple of weeks ago we saw a Canada geese family, but that time babies were much much smaller. However, this time babies were almost the same size as mother! Wow. Only evidence they are babies of the mother was following mother. Probably they need to move to south where there is no winter, so babies need to grow quickly. Long journey ahead for them. After a few hours of kayaking, we saw thunder clouds formed and heard thunder in the distance, so we kayaked back to the starting point and left. 

Relaxed kayak!