Barry
Another feature of the area around Watatick is that it is fairly
sparsely populated relative to most of eastern Massachusetts. When you
look down from the summit of watatick, you see mostly forest.
Bob
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 27, 2009, at 12:11 PM, Barry Caselli <[email protected]>
wrote:
> Very nice. Makes me think of a mountain here in New Jersey called
> High Point. It's 1803 feet. I was there a few years ago and saw
> stunted Pitch Pine and some Scrub Oak. One of them had a witch's
> broom in it. I also hiked a trail through a cedar swamp on High
> Point. I should dig out all those photos and post some of them, if I
> can remember where they are!
> Barry
>
> --- On Fri, 9/25/09, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> From: [email protected] <[email protected]>
> Subject: [ENTS] Watatick
> To: [email protected], [email protected]
> Cc: "Glen Ayers" <[email protected]>, "Sarah Belchetz-Swenson"
> <[email protected]
> >, "Roland Blaich" <[email protected]>, "Tanya Blaich"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "ROBERT CAMPANILE" <[email protected]>, "John Davis"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "Paul Dittmer" <[email protected]>, "David Gafney"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "Carol Gilmour" <[email protected]>, "David Govatski"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "Claudia Hurley" <[email protected]>, "Paul Jahnige (DCR)"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "Judy Isacoff" <[email protected]>, "Amy Kaiser"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "Rob Loomis" <[email protected]>, "Chris Matera"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "Mollie Matteson" <[email protected]>, "Laurie Sanders & Fred
> Morrison" <[email protected]>, "Heidi Ricci" <[email protected]
> >, "Doug Seale" <[email protected]>, "David Stahle" <[email protected]
> >, "Timothy Zelazo" <[email protected]>, "Nancy Weiss"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "Phoebe Weil" <[email protected]>, "Bill Williams"
> ><[email protected]
> >, "Rick VanDePoll" <[email protected]>
> Date: Friday, September 25, 2009, 2:20 PM
>
> ENTS,
>
> Yesterday Monica and I went to Ashburnham, MA. She needed to
> practice on an 1868 Streicher piano for an upcoming Sunday concert.
> After she finished, we climbed nearby Mount Watatick, which is on
> the border of Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
>
> Watatick is geologically similar to Wachusett Mtn and the Pack
> Monadnock in New Hampshire. Watatick rises to an altitude of 1,832
> feet, compared to Mount Wachusett's 2,006 feet. Wachusett is a
> bigger mountain, but Watatick has less development around it and
> offers fine views. The following images show a bit of what Watatick
> has to offer.
>
> Image#1-StrangeDude3.jpg: Watatick's forest have been hammered over
> the past three centuries by human activity. There is a defunct ski
> operation on the north slopes. Mercifully, it is no longer used.
> Because of past use and abuse, most of the peak's forests are
> undistinguished, but Watatick does offer a few surprises. For
> example, there are isolated old trees and some pockets of old
> growth. The hemlock in this imageis probably around 200 years old -
> I think. Any opinions on the hemlock's age?
>
> Image#2-WachusettThruOak.jpg: This image looks west toward Wachusett
> Mountain (the blue background peak). Wachusett is Watatick's sister
> peak and the better known of the two. Wachusett has about 200 acres
> of old growth. I did reconfirm a little old growth on Watatick, but
> the acreage appears very small. There is a larger acreage of old
> second growth.
>
> Image#3-LookingSouth2.jpg: This view looks southward from South
> Watatick, a peak that is about 40 feet lower than Watatick, but has
> the best views of the surrounding country in my opinion.
>
> Image#4-NewHampshire.jpg: This view looks to the northeast and of
> Pack Monadnock. Northeast Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire
> have a number of monadnock formations. I'll leave it to Ed to
> explain what a monadnock is. He will do a far better job.
>
> Image#5-RedSpruceSummit.jpg: The summit of Watatick harbors pockets
> of attractive red spruce. There are quite a few clumps. None on the
> summit I saw were large, but they catch the eye. I didn't see any
> balsam fir. It may be on the mountain. I'll look for it on my next
> trip.
>
> Image#6-HandsomeRedSpruce.jpg: This was one of the most impressive
> red spruces I saw. I didn't measure it, but it is around 7 feet in
> girth and maybe 85 feet tall. On the next trip, I hope to look at
> Watatick's forest in greater depth. An old rock wall high on the
> slopes bears full testament to wide scale colonial and post colonial
> use of Watatick's forests.
>
> Image#7-Wetlands2.jpg: There are attractive wetlands at the base of
> Watatick. This is one. Lots of red maple in Watatick's wetlands.
>
> Bob
>
>
>
>
> >
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