Canyon Park Cabin

This big white pine out “on the point” broke off in a windstorm a few years ago. Two years ago, there were wild honey bees in the holes that you can see about half way down the trunk. This past summer the bees were no where to be seen. The year they inhabited the tree there were thousands of them in and out of the tree, but they never bothered any of us. They were amazing to watch and fun to show people.

The woodpeckers were busy everywhere. I spotted a pair of Downy woodpeckers, what I think was a Red Bellied Woodpecker, and a Flicker. We also saw where a Pileated Woodpecker had been at work, but never got a glimpse of the shy bird.

The hepaticas are the second wildflower we see; clusters of white and purple flowers everywhere, catching every breeze. They bloom before their leaves emerge.

We saw 6 mallard ducks at the pond. If I’m very quiet, I can watch them from the top of the bluff, as they swim and chatter amongst themselves. The slightest noise will send them flying off.

These photos were taken from the pond, in a little boat. You can’t quite tell from this shot but that thing was huge. It was growing out of pure rock, it went up 60ft. then there was a crook in it. And what you see in the sunlight is the top forty or fifty feet. It was really kinda hangin’ out over the pond. It was eery when you were on the water.

Then one day………… I was in town and when I got back, Lynn was like “you gotta go check this out”. It had tipped over! She was on the deck and heard it go down.

The stump is still there, on the cliff into the pond, all 10 foot of stump. The rest of it was in the pond and on the road. It had to be at least one hundred feet long. Check it out when you near the dam. Imagine the top of the tree in the road. You’ll see what I’m talkin’ about.

It took all summer to get it out. The first day we were lucky and had a crowd of people show up. We had a fire as big as a truck and threw stuff in it all afternoon. Then we still had the log in the pond. Mike Martin brought his tractor by and we fished out the forty foot log. Parts of it can still be seen. There is one big part being used for guiding runoff, and another part preventing driving into a swampy area.

It was Blustery. A spring evening, cool and real windy.

There are giant trees all around and the sounds are awesome. It seems that the trees create a bigger sound when there are no leaves. When the wind blows in a certain direction the huge poplars along the driveway roar. It sounds like a train is coming down the drive. The wind changes and the giant white pines make a new sound, a different pitch, a higher note. And almost as loud as the poplars.

A front moves in, some stuff flies across the yard - the winds are now sustained. A little lightning and one big roll of thunder.

It’s exciting but does make a person a little bit jumpy.

It’s comin’ up on “maple syrup” time. March 15th, that’s what the old timers say. No use in even starting collection until that date. It needs to freeze at night and get above 32 degrees during the day or the sap doesn’t run. I’ve tried several times to begin before that date and while I’ve gotten some sap, the weather is just not consistent enough to make all of the work worth the effort.

So, typically I’m gathering up (finding) the tools; the brace and bits, spiles, boiling trays, hydrometer, big tin cans and other equipment to get ready for the makin’ of the syrup. The most difficult part can be getting some concrete blocks for the fireplace….. they are usually frozen together, unless…………….
It’s a simply amazing process. You need to gather the sap from the sugar maples, about 50 gallons will garner a gallon of syrup. You can get about three or four gallons a day from each spile (in good weather). Then boil it down and down and down. The trick is to add enough sap to replace the water vapor that boils off. The process can take eight to ten hours and there is something to do every fifteen minutes. You need to keep the fire hot, add sap as necessary to the dribble can and be sure to keep an eye on the “foam”. If foaming becomes a problem (it’s really a highlight of the day) you need to be ready with a half teaspoon of butter to drop in the hot pre-syrup. (In the old days they would place a piece of bacon on a string just above the pan and when the foam rose high enough it would touch the bacon and retard the foaming action.)

Several weeks ago, before the snow, Lynn and I were at the Park. We were working on the interior of the cabin. Cleaning, getting ready to paint, moving stuff, etc. I didn’t really have time for anything else.

As I said, it was before the snow and an overcast gloomy kind of day. It was wintry, but no snow. I knew that Lynn had been outside for a period of time but didn’t know what she was up to.

Anyway, as we are getting in the car, ready to leave for the day, Lynn says something to the effect of “I went out to the point this afternoon and”. At that point I cut her off and said “it’s really green!” she said “no kidding, it was amazing, all of the mosses and lichens were just lit up.”

I could picture exactly what she was talking about. In the weeks previous I had noticed that on an overcast day that there is a noticeable difference in the way that the woods looks. At first glance might appear to be all brown and uninviting but after a couple of seconds you notice the green.

As we were going up the driveway we both commented about the “green glow”! We talked about how cool the glow is.

Never mind the weather, there is always something to see at Canyon Park.

Canyon Park is so great, it’s hard to describe. You need to experience it for yourself.

This gnarled white pine has watched over this bluff for more than a century.

I walked out to the bluff today, and it was astounding!

The weather has been warm and mild, no snow, and the day was overcast and foggy, almost misty.

As I stood on the bluff, I noticed that I was surrounded by a green glow in the air. All the mosses, ferns, and lichens were growing luxuriantly and obviously enjoying the weather.

They are everywhere on the rock and the tall pines and oaks around the bluff. The towering white pines were also bright green and formed a sort of green room around me and this combined with the green of the mosses, ferns and lichens and their breath, and the fog, the air was literally green. The air felt very rich in oxygen and just sort of rich altogether. I was transfixed by the green glow.
Like so many things here, hard to describe, but you know it was cool. You gotta come see this for yourself!

The Fly Agaric. They seem to pop up every year in the same area in September. They’re cool, and we always try and get some photos.

We’ve just refered to them as fly agaric but doing some research we find that there may be some confusion about the scientific name, see the next paragraph.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION: Amanita muscaria var. guessowii is the common, bright yellow and/or yellow and orange fly agaric of eastern North America. The European name A. muscaria var. formosa Pers. has been mistakenly applied to this taxon. R.E. Tulloss

The spot where they grow appears to be a small built-up campsite from back in the day. It has some sapling’s and a few larger trees on it. It’s almost a peninsula, it juts out about 20 feet towards the swampy area in the canyon. The east side of the site is just off the road.

The agaric pop up overnight in the dryer area along the road and they seem to be around for 10-14 days once they appear.

We are going to have to mark this area, so that traffic doesn’t interfere with growing of this very nice looking fungus!