The barberry and bittersweet thin out as we get further from the road, replaced by ferns and hemlocks. Automobile noise is supplanted by bird sound. A flock of robins surround us and complain; “Tut tut tut”, a sound that has been perfectly described as disapproval and annoyance. “Don’t you try anything, humans.” Invisible chipmunks too warn each other about our presence. These calls are alerts only. For genuine alarm and dismay listen to birds pestering an owl. That’s common in early July, just not here and now.
The lollipop loop trail features a procession of proud maples and an ancient, even more impressive hickory. Gently dappled light through the deciduous woods is as bright as it gets, then the steep northeast-facing slope takes over. As the path drops down the ridge a medley of hemlocks and Christmas ferns begets a softening, a darkening of daytime. The air is cooler. In the heat of summer this is a great spot for a walk. And a place to view a coniferous forest as it used to be before most invasive plants arrived.
An intermittent brook’s bed is as dry as a dinosaur bone, yet later on down the hill a tiny spring surprises us, flowing steadily in this semi-drought, and encouraging mosses and wetland plants. (Mosquitoes, too). This is the kind of cool moist habitat red-backed salamanders and their rarer relatives are at home in. I resist looking under rocks, my childlike enthusiasm tempered. (Don’t try that either, human). Beyond the trail’s loop the hill drops even more steeply. It will eventually leave the hemlocks behind, replacing them with white pines, as it becomes a river valley and a lake.
Abutting a town conservation area quadruples this J.T. preserve’s protection of the watershed, and also the trail mileage available to our feet and yours. At the pond, an opening, not quite an overlook, awaits the hiker. We’ve seen no dynamic precipices, no roaring waterfalls, no historic trees here. There are several more springs, though. The value of this shaded slope is hidden underground, a combination of geology and hydrology along with geography. What we enjoy today is the fruit of this secret wealth.
George Jacobi