Saturated Scavenger Hunt

The first trip to the Barrington Headwaters or Tamposiland happened yesterday. It is a strange sensation going into a place for the very first time knowing that you will eventually come to know the woods more intimately by performing a research project. That will be the future, this is the now.

Walking the old logging road that has been there since the early 18th century I was struck by the discontinuity of trees on the north and south side. Small hemlocks like toothpicks stuck out on one side while southern edge was covered in much older trees such as oak, pine and maple. With blueberry bushes coating the ground I thought of possible disturbances of the area...my mind jumped to fire. Eleanor made a good point today of not jumping to conclusions to but to think of all possible story lines that could have taken place. I found my self thinking about what this forest was like 200 years ago as I am ambled down the path.

The feature of the landscape that struck me most were the stone walls lining the logging road. Giant stones placed by the roadside, what arduous work that must have been to construct these walls. Who made them? Why were they there? How many settlers inahabited the area and called it home? The foundations were striking. Two foundations sat side by side, one falling apart with loose, rough stones constructing the walls. The other, well stabalized, with flat rocks on top and straight lines, striations in the rocks leading us to believe those were quarried rock. A time disparity emerges. One last stone structure caught my eye, a horseshoe shaped wall with the keystone being at a small stream. What was the purpose of this wall? Was it something special or simply a boundary marker.

After an all out rain storm we returned to the cars fully saturated but still smiling and happy to be out in the woods in the rain rather than an office on a sunny day!

The day in the Barrington Headwaters left with me with many questions unanswered but served as an amazing introduction to a place. To begin to know a place and feel connected to it no matter how loosely will help immensley in formulating our upcoming research projects!