Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Hiking the ROW Part 1

Fairpoint ID tag on pole in the ROW-2.jpg
Fairpoint Communications telephone pole ID

On our property there is a right of way (ROW) up to the ridegeline of Barton Mountain for electricity and cables to the cell towers up top. This past September, Fairpoint put in fiber optic cables on those poles. I wrote about this invasion in an earlier post. Because of our concern about the Fairpoint activity we saw from the house, we decided to climb up the ROW to see what damage had been done to the land. We saw plenty. Unfortunately, I didn't take photographs of the damage, but it is still visible and will be visible for years. I will return after mud season to document the damage better. The photos here in this multipart photographic essay are of our activity on the hike — of John, me and the cats Buddy and Oscar. Despite our anger at the invasion, we had a wonderful afternoon. I took only my 70-250mm lens, which was inadequate for most of the macro photos here. Next time I'll take the whole kit and caboodle.

Looking Down the ROW-4.jpg
Looking down the ROW.
Our home is through the woods to the left.

Looking Up the ROW to the ridegeline and cliffs-2.jpg
Looking up the ROW.
All trails end at the bottom of those cliffs, which is where bear and bobcat live.

Buddy Rests Down The ROW-4.jpg
Buddy wanted to rest here.
He actually wanted to turn back and go home, but continued on with us.

Black-capped Chickadee Watches Us-5.jpg
A couple of chickadees kept a close eye on us the entire hike.

Wild Apple up the mountain-1.jpg
We found even more apple trees from the orchard a century ago!

White Worm Coral Fungus (Clavaria fragilis)-4.jpg
White Worm Coral Fungus (Clavaria fragilis)

Bear Scat with Chockecherry Pits-1.jpg
Bear scat full of chokecherry pits.

To be continued . . . .

To view the other photos:
Introduction: Strangers on the mountain
Hiking the ROW: Part 1
Hiking the ROW: Part 2
Hiking the ROW: Part 3

_/\_/\_

1 comment:

  1. As I read through the series, I see how it started with the "ugly" installation of the power and communications equipment, but it looks like there is still much beauty to be seen along the way. The coral fungus is amazing.

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