Update of Pratt Pond conditions, Feb 2023

Hiking, mtn biking, snow shoeing, kid friendly, wildlife, bird watching.

Feb 13, 2023, My friend Linda and I took the old logging road from Abbott State forest to check on the proposed logging.

The road had been cleared of debris by perhaps a state employee, as they had driven a truck complete with chainsaw. We were grateful as it made our walk much easier.

Happily, the trees slated for logging were still standing. These pictures were taken last year. The red pines are so beautiful and even more impressive in the snow.

I finally got a good picture of this memorial. I hope to learn more about Cajun and what fate betook him in the swamp near the bridge.

As always, when stress hits, the woods call. These days, the stress isn’t as great, but the pleasure of the woods remains. Here I shall pick up my post from last year.

I needed to get out, but driving my husband to his cancer treatments has made me lazy when it comes to driving to trail heads. Pratt is close to home and there was a side trail I wanted to explore. Best of all worlds. Close to home, lightly travelled, and unexplored by us. Sorry Steve Bollinger, I went without you.

Parking at the barred road on the Russell Abbott property we ventured in. Plenty of parking off Starch Mill near Abbott Hill.

The mill has already been mentioned on a previous blog. This day we headed beside an old bridge, too rickity to risk crossing, and hooked up with a trail heading South.

Surprise and delight, and awe. We came to the backside of the old mill.

Hard to see, but there is a pile of bricks here.

Could not resist getting more pictures of the old mill. Here you go.

For more information: https://www.nashuatelegraph.com/news/community-news/2013/06/09/wilton-brothers-created-secret-mill-for-producing-starch/

Leaving the mill, it looked as if we might head back out to the road, but no. We wandered around to the back side of Pratt Pond.

There were a few blow downs to climb over.

The trail was pretty wet, but passable. It had poured the night before.

A few more downed trees, a lovely stone wall, and a huge eratic, kept the trail interesting.

We travelled through laurel filled woods and eventually we hooked up with the trail we had hiked often and headed East toward parking. There are scarey marks and flags on some of the beautiful pines. I hope it doesn’t foretell of logging.