All posts by Voldemort

Races, Trail Running

Run the Full Moon 5K and more

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Lots of trail running race opportunities coming up this fall!

Full Moon 5K
Saturday September 26, 7:00 P.M. Start
$10 Pre-register and $15 on race day

Get Fit 5K
Join our RRMC friends for their first 5K on Saturday October 3. For more information and to register click on the following link: http://app/public.active.com/rutland-vt/running/distance-running-races/get-fit-rutland-5k-2015

Leaf Chase 10K on the Carriage Trail
Saturday, October 17, 10:00 A.M. Start. Bus leaves Giorgetti at 9:40 for the drive to start in Proctor.

$20 Pre-register and $25 on race day.  Your fee includes a long sleeve t-shirt and a delicious soup and chili lunch at the end.

Hikes, Nature Study, Observations

Fall Foliage Family Nature Hike

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Saturday October 3, 10 am-12 p.m

Join Naturalist Tom Estill as we explore the natural history of Pine Hill Park at the height of the fall foliage season. This easy-moderate hike is designed for hikers of all ages. There will be lots of opportunities to take photos of our spectacular fall foliage and an opportunity to see Muddy Pond covered with hundreds of migrating waterfowl. Bring binoculars, something to drink, and a small snack. FREE

Nature Study, Observations

Plant of the day…

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…or maybe plant of the month is a better title.

If you visit the park in the next few days or weeks there is one plant you will not miss, even if you try! And that plant is the Canada-mayflower, also called false lily-of-the-valley.

Green. Yes! Thank you.
There are literally acres of these guys. This was along Sisyphus.
This will eventually a feathery white flower, and then red berries, A.K.A. bird food !

I shot these on a run up Sisyphus this afternoon and thought I’d pass ’em along. They’re not in bloom yet, but just the sight of all that green finally covering the forest floor will make you smile.

They will bloom in couple weeks with a cluster of white feathery flowers that will eventually turn into red berries, which are a very important source of food for birds in the park.

Yep, they’re common as heck—but their timing is impeccable in my opinion 🙂

More info:

Nature Study, Observations

Warblers are Here !

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Spring in the park is so awesome.

Just at the time we are all back biking and running and hiking, back come all the birds and other furry critters to say “hi” for the new season.

This is a few days old, but I recorded this on my Sunday a.m. (5/3) run on Stegosaurus. For those of you curious about some of the sounds from the trees you are hearing when you’re in the park, I thought  this might be interesting. (Unedited 30 second clip recorded with my phone:)

Back for 2015 are:

  • Black-throated blue warbler (2 sec mark)
  • Black & White Warbler, aka “the squeaky-wheel-gets-the-grease bird (8 sec. mark)
  • Ovenbird singing its unmistakable “teacher, teacher,teacher!” (15 sec mark) You’ll be hearing that one ALL summer long!
  • Black-throated blue warbler again (17sec mark)
  • Black & White Warbler again (20 sec mark)
  • Black-throated blue warbler again (29 sec mark)

In the background for most of the clip are very faint Chickadee “fee-bee” songs…  and my heavy breathing from just coming up the hill… sorry !

Here are some links to the birds mentioned above:

Black-throated Blue Warbler (photo above)

Black-and-white Warbler     blww

Ovenbird     Ovenbird_RWD

Black-capped Chickadee

Want to learn more? Come to the park this Saturday at 7:00am for a bird walk with naturalist Tom Estill.

Nature Study, Observations, Trail Updates

Spring on the Carriage Trail

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Conditions on the Carriage Trail as of April 17th are still pretty wet in spots. Good for frogs — but for bikes, not so much. Good news though, is that it looks to me like the work VYCC did last year in the wet areas is really helping to drain the trail faster.

View of low spot on the Power Line that crosses the Carriage Trail.
Low spot on the Power Line that crosses the Carriage Trail.

 

Meetings, Pine Hill Partnership, Volunteering

2015 Annual Meeting Report

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2015 Annual dinner

Impressive amount of volunteers last year.

  • 3560 Volunteer Hours
  • 4708 VYCC plus Volunteer Hours
  • 68 Work days from the end of April to the end of October
  • 840 Number of volunteers in the park in 2014
  • Thank you very much to everyone who has helped in the park.

 

Projects Completed in 2014:

• Widened pedestrian bridges with Rutland Rotary South
• Rerouted Annex
• Trillium rerouted
• Santa’s Little Helper Mud holes repaired
• Lower Giorgetti by old softball field improved RHS XC team
• Two kiosks for Carriage Trail
• Repaired fabric showing on Underdog powerline
• Installed 7 French Drains on Birches near Voldemort
• First Turn on Exit Strategy had more dirt added to it
• Small reroute on PA4J/Lonely Rock has a less abrupt turn now
• VYCC 3 weeks on Carriage Trail
• VYCC 3 weeks in the fall on Carriage Trail and in the park for a total of 6 weeks
• Ribbon cutting for Carriage Trail
• Repaired powerline on Strong Angel
• Repaired powerline on Jersey Turnpike
• French Drain installed at base of powerline on Jersey Turnpike   near Arthur’s Chair
• French Drain installed on Lonely Rock

 

Future Projects for 2015 and beyond:

• Sore Elbow Segment 2
• Sore Elbow Segment 3
• Furlough needs TLC to prevent water running straight down it
• Shimmer needs TLC on corner to prevent trail erosion
• ‘S’ turn on PA4J near Stegosaurus needs some TLC
• Ramp VYCC started to build off PA4J to enter Strong Angel from West side needs attention
• Reroute for Santa’s near the Droopy Muffin intersection
• Boardwalk at main entrance needs to be leveled
A suggestion was made to widen the boardwalk
A suggestion of taking part of the white pine down that   hangs over the boardwalk that the pileated woodpecker is working over
• Broken Handlebar Extension-anyone will to step up and help with this trail?
• Trail by Carving Bench to prevent people from walking over gardens
• Front entrance-smooth upper tier out so can be mowed
• Fabric on Overlook near the top of Root Ride

Introduced the redesigned Pine Hill Park webpage www.pinehillpartnership.org   Check it out.

We need a champion to drive the Broken Handlebar Trail Extension project

We would like to extend our gratitude to Tim Vile and Ben Reller who have helped us out in many way over the years.

Our board of directors for 2015 are: Joel Blumenthal, Andy Shinn, Keith Wight, Shelley Lutz, Claus Bartenstein, Dave Jenne and Bruce Saxman.

Please use TrailHub.org to find out condition of trails.