Merry Christmas to all who celebrate! I hope everyone has a great day. We’ll be having dinner and opening presents with the kids later this afternoon.
Christmas 2023
Tag: Middlesex Fells
Dam work complete in the Middlesex Fells
First time in the Middlesex Fells in a few months, and I was happy to see that the restoration of the North Reservoir dam is finally complete. The road has been reopened and the water level has been restored to its normal level. Also: The Mosquito Rapture must have taken place, because there wasn’t a single one that I could detect. I’m not complaining.
Not Art
A few years ago I noticed a “Not Art” stencil for the first time, on a concrete barrier alongside the Mystic Path, which runs along the eastern shore of the Mystic Lakes. Over the winter I took pictures of every one I saw in Medford, Arlington and the Middlesex Fells. I didn’t go looking for them; I just documented what I encountered. And no, I didn’t know they were a thing until I Googled them. Here’s a Boston magazine story about them from 2014.
The sun sets on 2022
We’ve had quite the sunsets this week. I just got back from a hike in the Middlesex Fells and took this at the South Reservoir.
Happy Thanksgiving!
May your day be spent with family, friends and appreciation for all the good things in our lives.
Summer in November
A walk around the Middle and South Reservoirs in the Middlesex Fells on a summer-like afternoon.
Keep out, sort of
Strategic ambiguity at its finest: Keep out, but if you’re here anyway, don’t let your dog go swimming. Seen on a 5.9-mile walk on the roads around the Middlesex Fells this afternoon, including the semi-forbidden Middle and South Reservoirs.
Dam project underway in the Middlesex Fells
I hadn’t visited the Middlesex Fells for several months, and it looks like I missed a lot. The town of Winchester is rebuilding the 147-year-old North Reservoir Dam at a cost of $6 million. The water level has been lowered considerably in order to accommodate the construction. Here’s a story about it from the Winchester Star, back when there was a Star.
A brown day in the Fells
I took my first hike in the Middlesex Fells since last December. It was a beautiful day, but the trails were much drier than I expected. That doesn’t bode well unless we have an exceptionally wet April. No signs of greenery yet. No patches of snow, either, although there was a little bit of slushy ice on one of the smaller ponds. Click on the photos for a larger view.
Fungi in the Fells
