New Hampshire – David Kotz

Lyme wildlife – September forest

Frolicking fawns and vandalous bears!

Last week, I posted a video of September clips from the wildlife cameras in my backyard. Today, I’m sharing September clips from my other collection of wildlife cameras, in a forested area here in Lyme New Hampshire. This batch includes an exciting first – a bobcat carrying its prey, presumably back to its den for sharing with the kits. We also see mama bear and her two cubs, as well as a solo adult bear who likes to tear my cameras off trees. Finally, we get to watch a particularly fun segment at the vernal pool: a little fawn frolicking in the shallow water. It proves that every kid loves to play in puddles!

Lyme backyard wildlife – September

Bears and bobcats, oh my!

I found two of my older cameras and placed them in strategic locations in our backyard: down by the river, and on the trunk of a productive apple tree. Both of these locations attract a variety of critters –including a resident possum who loves fresh apples. This month, though, I was surprised to see both a bobcat and a black bear passing through in broad daylight! Click on the photo to see the video.

poster frame for the video; click to visit the video.

Mount Cardigan

A fall-foliage classic hike.

It was a beautiful autumn day, with the fall foliage reaching peak color at the higher elevations. So I left home early for Mount Cardigan, knowing the trailhead parking would fill quickly on a gorgeous holiday weekend. After nabbing one of the last parking spots, I strided quickly up the familiar West Ridge trail to the summit. I passed nearly all the earlier ascending hikers, and encountered one or two sunrise groups descending.

Hikers enjoy the view from Mount Cardigan during peak autumn color.

Mountain View Farm

Visit to a recently conserved property in Orford.

It was a beautiful fall weekend – perfect October weather, with the autumn colors intensifying here in the Connecticut River valley. We drove a bit further north, into the town of Orford NH, then up into the foothills near Mount Cube. At this slightly higher elevation, the fall foliage was nearing peak color.

Hiking 52 weekends

Every weekend for a year.

Today marks the 52nd consecutive weekend I’ve been out hiking.

I never set out to hike every weekend for an entire year. It was perhaps mid-November when I noticed I had been out for a hike every weekend (and sometimes more) since mid-September, so I decided to keep it up. The resulting quest has been a remarkable forcing function – sometimes pushing me to get outdoors even when I felt too busy or too tired to identify, organize, and execute on a plan. In retrospect, it was always worth the effort. Always.

The trail on Anchor Island was muddy, slippery, and challenging; Dusky Sound, New Zealand.

Lyme hills

Two hikes today.

Today was a quintessentially gorgeous September day in New Hampshire – early morning valley fog, then cool air with warm sunshine and calm winds. My long to-do list precluded any serious hiking, so I headed out on two short hikes before and after breakfast.

Early morning fog between the Lyme Pinnacle and Smarts Mountain.

Lyme wildlife – August

My cameras are back in action!

After deploying my five wildlife cameras into a nearby forest, three weeks ago, I went back yesterday to check the cameras and collect the memory cards. Several cameras were askew, hinting that some critters were trying to interfere – and capturing a selfie in the process. You’ll see several of those in this month’s videos! You’ll see bears – lots of bears – deer, coyote, and a new animal I’ve never seen before. Up first: a doe and her fawn. Warning: don’t watch this video unless you can handle massive cuteness!

Clay Brook Trail

A walk in the Lyme Town Forest.

Our little town of Lyme has several beautiful natural areas, many of them conserved and open to the public. The Lyme Town Forest spans a range of forest types and stretches from the Connecticut River up and over some rolling hills in the northwest corner of town. Today I took a walk on some of those trails – far more difficult than I expected – in search of a waterfall.

The ‘waterfall’ is not much to look at, in August. Just a trickle!

Unfortunately, this trail – the Clay Brook Trail – is severely overgrown, its treadway underused and covered with forest litter, and its painted blazes fading. So I spent much of my time pausing, backtracking, and searching for the route. At times it felt more like bushwhacking than hiking. But it was nonetheless a pretty day in a pretty forest. See the photo gallery!

Hike stats: 49th consecutive weekend hike!
Distance: 4.0 miles (6.4km)
Gain: 826 feet (252m)
Time: 1h54m
GaiaGPS track

Moosilauke

It’s been a year, old friend!

Mount Moosilauke is of the first places I wanted to visit after returning home from London. My favorite mountain, of course! I headed up early this morning, while it was still sunny, trying to beat the incoming clouds. The result was a lovely hike, with broad views from the summit. I set off at a brisk pace, wondering how I might feel climbing a big mountain after a year of mostly level ground and rolling hills in the South Downs.

Signs to Mount Moosilauke at the Baker River crossing.

What a year!

A year of personal and professional exploration.

One year ago, today, I headed out the door for a year-long sabbatical. The professional core of that sabbatical was my Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship at Imperial College London, but I also enjoyed meeting colleagues at University College London, during visits to universities across the UK in England, Scotland, and Wales, and at conferences in France, Portugal, and the United Kingdom. The year was academically very productive! And the year also presented incredible opportunities for travel, much of it described in this blog. Here’s a quick summary, with one photo per month. Each month’s heading is a link to the blog posts for that month, and the bullets link to a few travel highlights.