Another Day in Boxing Heaven

I have been trying to visit Pixley Falls (north of Rome, NY) for years, 5 to be exact, but never seem to time it right.  too busy, too cold, rainy.. But today it fit right in to my schedule so I convince my driver to take me north.  He was all to happy to oblige.  Actually, I don't think he likes me roaming the woods alone.  I really don't know why but I welcome his presence any way and I can put him to work.

Today's box was located under this rock - really under.  In fact 

my driver missed it on the first time around the boulder.

Today, we learned the difference between a wooden bridge (it has handrails) 

and a wooden walk way.  This particular one went from three planks wide to two to one.

We were searching for - a "UFO" and an alien - as you can see from the photo.

And this is a bridge -

All in all it was a beautiful day.  With all the rain we have
had the streams were running fast.  We had hopes to make
it to the falls but threat of yet one more rain storm cut our
trip short.

The drive up to the falls was quite a pleasant one.  Even
though the leaves have all fallen and all that was left were the bronze leaves of the beech trees it was still a very nice day for
site seeing.  Made me wish I could have continued up the gorge and over to the Tug Hill Plateau. That will just have to wait for another day.

Black River Canal Wanderings

Autumn is my favorite time of the year.  My husband just can't understand why. 

It is warmth and comfort.  It is quiet, it is harvest time.  Perhaps it is because I 

remember all the wonderful times I had with my mom canning tomatoes, 

peaches, pickles and freezing and putting by foods for winter. 

The water here was gently flowing past and was so serene and peaceful

 as it carried fallen leaves to the Black River Canal. 

 I had a break in between flu clinics Wednesday and planned to visit the 

Boonville cemetery but found this "UN" public highway to explore.

About half way down the trail was a bridge that spanned a side spur. 

 And on the rail was this sign.  Apparently locals realized the danger of tampering 

with the flood gates below but shooting bb's at the sign was ok.

The water was flowing well.

I knew I wanted to hide my "box" somewhere in this place but wasn't

 quite sure where so I continued my travels. 

The reds of maples is always a nice sight.

At the end of the trail I found these posting quite interesting.  The one in the middle warns 

against trespassing.  I assumed that meant past the barricade where the nicely graveled path

 was as what else would it be referring to? So that meant that I was - horrors - trespassing.  

But then again -  why would I clean up after my pet if I was - trespassing?

And in case you might want to know what NYSCC stands for (as I did) here you go.
NYSCC - very nice web page.

And if it was not a public road - what was it.  Perhaps a public path or maybe a private road.  

WOLF TREES

Something that always excites me in the woods are the BIG trees. These trees are typically referred to as Wolf Trees.  While the tree in the photo doesn't appear to be all that large it was.  You could probably stand three people shoulder to shoulder in front of it and still see trunk on either side. 

A wolf tree is an unusually large tree which dominates the surrounding environment because of its size. Wolf trees tend to have a very large crown, and to be heavily branched. They are also usually older than the surrounding trees, although this is not always the case. Many natural forests have wolf trees, and these trees can also be spotted in settings where people are taking a relatively hands-off approach to forest management.

Classically, a wolf tree is a tree which managed to survive when an older stand of trees was damaged or significantly depleted, making it at least a generation older than the surroundingtrees. For example, a single tree might be left after clearing to create a meadow, a stand of trees might be damaged by fires or storms leaving one or two survivors, or a stand might be heavily logged, leaving only a few trees behind. In these cases, the elimination of other trees allows awolf tree to grow big and strong, because there is no competition, and younger generations grow up around it.

 Finally decided on where to put my letterbox.  On the north west side of the spur.

 This is where the fun begins.  Cause I am alone in the woods, I can see to walk down hill with my trifocals on and can't see with them off.  The side of the falls is a tad steep and of course slippery from all the rain we've had.  But I VERY carefully made my way to the bottom and started my search.  There at the bottom was a HUGE erratic that was a perfect landmark for my plant.  There would be no missing it.

 SMALL AND QUAINT CEMETERIES

Steuben Corner's Cemetery

All the necessary equipment to tend a loved ones grave site. 

On the way home I passed this small family cemetery and just had to turn around and check it out. 

 Here lives the Brooker family from the 19th century.  Amazing how well cared for this 

little out in the middle of nowhere cemetery was. 

And so ended my solo letterboxing day.  Tomorrow I have two more flu clinics in Rome .....

I think a visit to Pixley Falls might be in order. 

Columbus Day Boxing - without the rain

Seems every Columbus Day weekend we get to go letterboxing it rains - usually torrents.  

But this year we were blessed with some of the most beautiful weather I can remember in a long time. 

 I used to participate in an apple fest with my handmade soap so I remember some weekends that were so rainy (thanks to a hurricane one year) that we were inches, many inches,

 deep in mud and we were under tents.

Our first stop - a small neglected cemetery on Bingley Road. 

 Standing like sentries at the entry were two very old trees with holes in them begging for a photo.  

First find

Can't go hiking with out checking out the insect life.  

This lady was a a good 1.5 inches.  

Check out her ovipositor, we would have captured her but
The Lacustrain already had one in his collection.

Sirex Woodwasp - Sirex noctilio

,,/

The Sirex woodwasp, Sirex noctilio, a Eurasian native, was first discovered in New York in 2004, 

in the City of Fulton, Oswego County. This was the first North American discovery of this exotic, 

invasive pest that is one of the top 10 most serious forest insect pest invaders worldwide. 

This pest has caused extensive losses to (non-native) pine plantations across the

 Southern Hemisphere, in Australia, New Zealand, Chile and South Africa, and

 has no known, native natural controls.

Why we don't transport flora and fauna

Our next stop was the link trail also on Bingley Road. 

 If you ever get the chance to, these trails are a wonderful place to explore - full of history.

Not a very good photo but I think you get the idea - those are stalactites  

and they aren't underground or in a cave.

Seems I am always leading the pack.  Don't know if they are slow or I'm just in a hurry. 

One of the beautiful stone structures we found.  The trail crosses over the top of the bridge.

We ended up at a cemetery in Cazenovia.  I was surprised at how large it is. This was an 8 stamp series - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We only found 6 of the little men, as one, which was placed under a crypt, went missing soon after it was placed.  With all the dirt around the hole we are sure that Mr. Woodchuck wasted no time in transplanting that dwarf somewhere else. 

Some of the stone work we came upon as we walk around. 

Celtic Crosses on a Hill.

And off in a corner was this pond with a bridge going to an island 

- we thought just a bit odd  and out of place - 

but under the bridge was supposed to be Snow White .

The Lacustrian is quite persistent in his hunting.  

He was determined to find Miss White.  

I think she might have been hiding in the pond weeds.