Where are your favourite walks?

[Iota]

I was out for a constitutional this past weekend and came across a hawk laying on the sidewalk near my house.

As you can tell from the picture below, it was rather strange that it was just lying on its back and staring at me. I am not sure what was going on, but its gaze was perturbed for sure.

I was about to call a local game warden when it hopped over on its feet and flew away. Maybe it wanted a belly rub???



VS

Great pic! Very glad to hear it took itself off eventually.

If it had been a Norwegian Blue, I'd have understood. They stun easily apparently ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZw35VUBdzo

[MusicTurner]

Back on Bornholm island, got a cabin next to a local wineyard very cheaply at Pedersker hamlet, for a week between work schedules. It's November with daylight for only about 6-7 hours, and weather was a very mixed bag, but frost has been rare, however there was also only little sun, and sometimes a lot of wind. Regarding climate change, no snow in Denmark this winter yet, and record-breaking warm November nights (12.8 C).

Took a walk in Paradisbakkerne (the 'Paradise Hills'); and visited the Louisenlund megalithic site with around 60 standing stones, never archaelogically investigated; the Bakkerne Bådehavn beach; and the moors/woods on the central plateau, with a strange mushroom cloud in the sunset, altogether looking almost like a Finnish/Sibelian landscape ...

[krummholz]

Beautiful setting, MT. The last two photos remind me of my home state of Michigan. I never cease to marvel at how the Gulf Stream has kept northern Europe so temperate for its latitude. You are at 55 degrees north, while here in central Vermont we're at just above 44 degrees. Yet we've had some snow already, and last night the low here (in a valley, 250 m elevation) was about -7 C... and we're only expecting a high today of about 2 degrees. You can guess how much colder it must have been on the hilltops and mountain summits...

[MusicTurner]

Thank you. I didn't know Vermont had a somewhat more extreme climate, but associate it with beautiful, forested landscapes, and a peaceful, rather rural  atmosphere, plus the famous autumnal scenery. Maybe parallels to Mid-Sweden or the like come to mind ... are you witnessing any climate changes there? Here, autumn comes later, spring earlier, plus it's becoming warmer ...

There are theories, that the Gulf Stream - ensuring relatively mild winter temperatures even way up North, for example in the Norwegian Lofoten islands, is getting weaker, thereby changing the patterns dramatically maybe 100 years from now. But it's debatable, and it won't be in my own lifetime ...

[krummholz]

Thank you. I didn't know Vermont had a somewhat more extreme climate, but associate it with beautiful, forested landscapes, and a peaceful, rather rural  atmosphere, plus the famous autumnal scenery. Maybe parallels to Mid-Sweden or the like come to mind ... are you witnessing any climate changes there? Here, autumn comes later, spring earlier, plus it's becoming warmer ...

There are theories, that the Gulf Stream - ensuring relatively mild winter temperatures even way up North, for example in the Norwegian Lofoten islands, is getting weaker, thereby changing the patterns dramatically maybe 100 years from now. But it's debatable, and it won't be in my own lifetime ...

I wouldn't call Vermont's climate extreme at all - compared to parts of Quebec and Ontario (in Canada) we're much more temperate... north of Lake Superior and in the interior parts of of northern Ontario, it's not uncommon to see winter lows approaching -40. But we have a harsher climate than where I grew up, in southeastern Michigan in Detroit and suburbs. But yes, Vermont has fabulous, forested and rather mountainous landscapes... there is a wonderful trail system here for hikers, and the scenery in the "high country" is impressive and beautiful (ironic quotes there, since the highest summit in the state, Mt. Mansfield, is at only 1340 m, though it is above timberline and has a beautiful and very fragile alpine zone). I wish I could figure out how to post images here... I have some very nice pictures taken on hikes in the Vermont back country.

As to climate change, I've only lived in Vermont for 7 years so I can't speak from experience, but from what natives say, the winters are indeed getting less harsh as the planet warms. Even now, the peak autumn foliage comes around the first week in October, which is only a week earlier than it did back home when I was growing up. (Now, peak foliage in southern Michigan occurs in the 3rd or even 4th week in October.) And the first leaves start appearing in the 2nd week of May, which is at about the same time as they used to back home, some 50 years ago. There is no question the climate is warming throughout the northern US.

[MusicTurner]

Yes, I know that some of those more northerly places like Toronto/CDN can have tough winter weather ... at least you're still experiencing some real winter in the traditional sense; we might have it for a few days, a couple of times a year, though there are also rare, longer-lasting exceptions (I think it's been quite a lot of years since that) . In my childhood, we'd have snowstorms in the countryside, blocking hamlets from all outside traffic, even for days (and then schools & pendling would be cancelled etc).

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Back on Bornholm island, got a cabin next to a local wineyard very cheaply at Pedersker hamlet, for a week between work schedules. It's November with daylight for only about 6-7 hours, and weather was a very mixed bag, but frost has been rare, however there was also only little sun, and sometimes a lot of wind. Regarding climate change, no snow in Denmark this winter yet, and record-breaking warm November nights (12.8 C).

Took a walk in Paradisbakkerne (the 'Paradise Hills'); and visited the Louisenlund megalithic site with around 60 standing stones, never archaelogically investigated; the Bakkerne Bådehavn beach; and the moors/woods on the central plateau, with a strange mushroom cloud in the sunset, altogether looking almost like a Finnish/Sibelian landscape ...

Looks like a nice place to explore!  Do they have any idea(s) as to what those stones are for?  Though it sounds like they haven't done much if anything regarding them per your description.

Very cold here...hard to get used to winter coming.

I wouldn't call Vermont's climate extreme at all - compared to parts of Quebec and Ontario (in Canada) we're much more temperate... north of Lake Superior and in the interior parts of of northern Ontario, it's not uncommon to see winter lows approaching -40. But we have a harsher climate than where I grew up, in southeastern Michigan in Detroit and suburbs. But yes, Vermont has fabulous, forested and rather mountainous landscapes... there is a wonderful trail system here for hikers, and the scenery in the "high country" is impressive and beautiful (ironic quotes there, since the highest summit in the state, Mt. Mansfield, is at only 1340 m, though it is above timberline and has a beautiful and very fragile alpine zone). I wish I could figure out how to post images here... I have some very nice pictures taken on hikes in the Vermont back country.

As to climate change, I've only lived in Vermont for 7 years so I can't speak from experience, but from what natives say, the winters are indeed getting less harsh as the planet warms. Even now, the peak autumn foliage comes around the first week in October, which is only a week earlier than it did back home when I was growing up. (Now, peak foliage in southern Michigan occurs in the 3rd or even 4th week in October.) And the first leaves start appearing in the 2nd week of May, which is at about the same time as they used to back home, some 50 years ago. There is no question the climate is warming throughout the northern US.

Love the old covered bridges in Vermont.  Both seeing them and traveling over/through them.   

PD

[MusicTurner]

Looks like a nice place to explore!  Do they have any idea(s) as to what those stones are for?  Though it sounds like they haven't done much if anything regarding them per your description.

Very cold here...hard to get used to winter coming.
Love the old covered bridges in Vermont.  Both seeing them and traveling over/through them.   

PD

Yes, they're monuments for the deceased people, mostly important ones, and sometimes with a grave beneath it. They functioned as cultural symbols for the society, but it's rare that there are any signs on them. They are always somehow pointed in their shape. Some of the most important collections can be found for example in Brittany, France (Carnac etc.), but about 1000 single menhirs are preserved in Denmark. These aren't dated, but obviously, 1000s of years. I wrote megalithic, but they can be from the Bronze Age or the early Iron Age too.

[krummholz]

Yes, I know that some of those more northerly places like Toronto/CDN can have tough winter weather ... at least you're still experiencing some real winter in the traditional sense; we might have it for a few days, a couple of times a year, though there are also rare, longer-lasting exceptions (I think it's been quite a lot of years since that) . In my childhood, we'd have snowstorms in the countryside, blocking hamlets from all outside traffic, even for days (and then schools & pendling would be cancelled etc).

I have similar childhood memories MT... of infrequent, but very memorable winter storms that would make travel impossible for days and cause school cancellations and business closures. Snowstorms like that are quite common here and happen at least once in most winters, but they don't cause the disruption that they did in southern Michigan. Classes at my university would never be cancelled because of snow (it's largely residential anyway) and luckily, I live within easy walking distance of campus. Some trails become impossible to hike without snowshoes or skis, but others are so well-traveled that they're passable even when there is over a meter of snow cover on the ground.

BTW, in terms of latitude we are actually north of Toronto, which can see devastating snow squalls at times due to the proximity of Lake Ontario (but not as often as upstate New York, on the southern and especially eastern shores of both Ontario and Erie), but does not otherwise have a very harsh climate. I was thinking of places in the interior such as Sudbury, and Timmins, or even Moosonee just south of James Bay.

[krummholz]

Love the old covered bridges in Vermont.  Both seeing them and traveling over/through them.   

PD

Me too! We have several in town here, including three in a short distance on a road that crosses the ridge to the west into the next valley. A composer friend lives along that road, between the first two covered bridges, and along the banks of a brook that floods way too often for comfort...

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Yes, they're monuments for the deceased people, mostly important ones, and sometimes with a grave beneath it. They functioned as cultural symbols for the society, but it's rare that there are any signs on them. They are always somehow pointed in their shape. Some of the most important collections can be found for example in Brittany, France (Carnac etc.), but about 1000 single menhirs are preserved in Denmark. These aren't dated, but obviously, 1000s of years. I wrote megalithic, but they can be from the Bronze Age or the early Iron Age too.

I suspected that it might be a graveyard due to the fact that there wasn't a particular shape/arrangement of the stones and that they seemed to be fairly regularly spaced apart.

Me too! We have several in town here, including three in a short distance on a road that crosses the ridge to the west into the next valley. A composer friend lives along that road, between the first two covered bridges, and along the banks of a brook that floods way too often for comfort...

Last I recall, driving etiquette/safety required one to stop a short ways away from the entrance to the bridge, honk ones horn, wait a moment to see whether or not anyone *honk's back, and then slowly proceed through the bridge?

*If you do hear a honk, it means that someone is already on the bridge, in which case you wait for them to finish crossing it.

PD

[krummholz]

Last I recall, driving etiquette/safety required one to stop a short ways away from the entrance to the bridge, honk ones horn, wait a moment to see whether or not anyone *honk's back, and then slowly proceed through the bridge?

*If you do hear a honk, it means that someone is already on the bridge, in which case you wait for them to finish crossing it.

PD

Yes, I believe that's the official etiquette, though I rarely hear anyone honk before entering the local bridges here, because the far end of the bridge is clearly visible from both sides in most cases. The chief danger on those bridges is actually unseen pedestrians - particularly on bright sunny days because of the much dimmer light on the bridge.

[krummholz]

Yes, they're monuments for the deceased people, mostly important ones, and sometimes with a grave beneath it. They functioned as cultural symbols for the society, but it's rare that there are any signs on them. They are always somehow pointed in their shape. Some of the most important collections can be found for example in Brittany, France (Carnac etc.), but about 1000 single menhirs are preserved in Denmark. These aren't dated, but obviously, 1000s of years. I wrote megalithic, but they can be from the Bronze Age or the early Iron Age too.

I find it amazing that these monuments haven't been archaeologically investigated, if I read correctly what you wrote earlier... there must be a treasure trove of information in them.

[VonStupp]

Oh, no!  I suspect that it flew into a window; I hope that it wasn't hurt.     Did it seem to be flying o.k.?

PD

Yes, the hawk seemed suddenly quite cogent, and took off handily. I've noticed a lot of winter bird-feeders going up near houses, so I wonder if that had something to do with it.

VS

[MusicTurner]

I find it amazing that these monuments haven't been archaeologically investigated, if I read correctly what you wrote earlier... there must be a treasure trove of information in them.

Yes, it puzzles me a lot too, but the sources are clear, though maybe there was a bit of primitive digging in the mid-19th century, when archaeology-interested King Frederik VII bought the forest; the tiny plot is now belonging to a former Royal residence on Zealand, Jægerspris, very far away. Obviously, archaeologists are very busy here in DK all the time, with many findings and excavations every year. Maybe they don't expect any real surprises at Louisenlund.

Can't help thinking, given the diversity of the stone shapes, if they were perhaps even at times selected from the appearance of a deceased, or patriarch; '... look, here's the skinny tall fellow, remember ? And here's the rather barrell-shaped one !' etc. ...   

[MusicTurner]

I have similar childhood memories MT... of infrequent, but very memorable winter storms that would make travel impossible for days and cause school cancellations and business closures. Snowstorms like that are quite common here and happen at least once in most winters, but they don't cause the disruption that they did in southern Michigan. Classes at my university would never be cancelled because of snow (it's largely residential anyway) and luckily, I live within easy walking distance of campus. Some trails become impossible to hike without snowshoes or skis, but others are so well-traveled that they're passable even when there is over a meter of snow cover on the ground.

(...)

Skiing was also popular in my childhood, we had forest paths and grassy hills quite suitable for it ...
Do you know if any of your locals use snow shoes? I think maybe-maybe a bit in Northernmost Scandinavia, but only very  rarely, I thought it was a very exotic thing these days ...

[krummholz]

Skiing was also popular in my childhood, we had forest paths and grassy hills quite suitable for it ...
Do you know if any of your locals use snow shoes? I think maybe-maybe a bit in Northernmost Scandinavia, but only very  rarely, I thought it was a very exotic thing these days ...

Oh yes, snowshoeing is quite popular around these parts. The snow is regularly so deep from late January on that one really needs them to walk across some fields, and to hike some local trails that get relatively little foot traffic. The university has an Outdoor Center that loans out snowshoes to students and faculty. I have tried them, but found it very difficult to get used to wearing them - was constantly tripping myself up due to their large size. I will probably try them again at some point, but it's not high on my priority list... meanwhile, for winter hikes I will stick to more heavily trafficked trails.

[Szykneij]

We just returend from a Thanksgiving visit to Maine and were able to enjoy a favorite walk through the Rachel Carson Trail in the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. The pleasant 1-mile trek circles through 3 separate habitats: Upland Hardwoods, Shrub-Scrub, and Salt Marsh. At one of the overlooks, a holder is built into the rail for taking pictures with your phone, providing a means of snagging an identical angle of the marsh each visit.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

We just returend from a Thanksgiving visit to Maine and were able to enjoy a favorite walk through the Rachel Carson Trail in the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. The pleasant 1-mile trek circles through 3 separate habitats: Upland Hardwoods, Shrub-Scrub, and Salt Marsh. At one of the overlooks, a holder is built into the rail for taking pictures with your phone, providing a means of snagging an identical angle of the marsh each visit.

Lovely!  And it looks like you and your friends are all having a good time too.

PD

[Irons]

We just returend from a Thanksgiving visit to Maine and were able to enjoy a favorite walk through the Rachel Carson Trail in the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. The pleasant 1-mile trek circles through 3 separate habitats: Upland Hardwoods, Shrub-Scrub, and Salt Marsh. At one of the overlooks, a holder is built into the rail for taking pictures with your phone, providing a means of snagging an identical angle of the marsh each visit.

Looks so peaceful.