Cascading Waters can be found at 135 Olean Street on the eastern edge of Worcester's northwest parklands, the Cascades. The Cascades are 350 acres of park and conservation lands along the borders of Worcester, Paxton, and Holden, Massachusetts. Home to countless species of plants and animals, the Cascades are open to passive recreation year-round.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Trail conditions and animal sighting

A walk up the Holden Trail (aka: the cart path end of Cataract Street, marked by white triangles) found it well used. It has been plowed by the city up to the roadblock; a well-beaten trail heads around the roadblock and down the remainder of the street. Watch out for a substantial snowbank on the northern end!
Before it turned to snow, this hiker nearly stepped on a busy little mole? shrew? out for a snack in the warmth of the day! About three inches long, brown, with a pink nose, he scurried off into the snow at the side of the road and dove into a footprint to get away. His appearance may clear up a mystery we've been pondering here at the Lodge: tracks of a small mammal with a tail that showed up before dawn two days ago. A mouse from the house or something outside? Perhaps small things outside are stirring.

UPDATE: I am informed by reliable sources that the mammal I ran into was a vole. I'll see if I can pull up a picture to show you.

1 comment:

Caretaker at the GWLT Lodge said...

My personal guess is that there are two tracks outside the Lodge. Vole tracks and Mouse racks.

My guess is that the footprints and tail are the mouse tracks, and that the "U" shaped ruts in the snow with occassional footprints in them are the vole tracks.