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.

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Beautiful Sunday!

Yesterday was a busy one for the Trust!

EAST SIDE TRAIL SYSTEM

In the morning we met with Wellesley College representatives and GWLT volunteers for a Spring run-though of the East Side Trail system.

The main stem of the East Side Trail generally gets attention but the Millstone Trail and the Ghost Trail haven't had as much attention, and so that is where we started. Also, long-term, the Parks Department is going to rejigger the golf course greens out by the hairpin turn on Skyline Drive, and the yellow spur trail there is in places going under the saw, and in others just a wee bit too close to the golf hole. As a preemptive act we switched the end of the yellow spur to start just a short hop further south on Skyline Drive. The old blazes were removed, the new trail was blazed in yellow, and the whole of the spur was repainted for clarity.

We cut some blow downs, collected some trash, cleared deadfall, trimmed back branches, and generally spiffied things up!

COOKS POND CONSERVATION RESTRICTION

About a year and a half ago, inspired by Elsie Uffleman, a neighbor and member of Cooks Pond, we started to push back against the forested edge that had jumped the stone wall, marched to the curb, and began growing into Olean Street, in some cases even leaning out into traffic. Trees love sun, and these trees were on the march!

Well, there is only so much you can get done in a work day (that turned into two), and even the portion we cleared had trees that we just hadn't been able to get to. Besides, the trees never sleep, and new shoots and new branches were already making there way back out to Olean Street!

So yesterday we went out and recut the section we worked on a year and a half ago. Amusingly, the idea had been to expand upon the work done to date and to clear more of the frontage, but a half-day's work proved that holding the line and improving the work done to date would take all of the time allotted and then some!

KINNEYWOODS CAMPING:

Troop 37 out of Tatnuck Square spent Friday to Sunday camping out at Kinneywoods!

It is wonderful to have kids introduced to Greater Worcester's wilder side! And it is great to have this sort of use available for folks! If you even are curious, yes, some GWLT properties do allow for camping by permission, and yes, you can ask!



Glad the Troop 37 folks had such great weather!


Trailhead Conditions at 7: 00 am at Cascading Waters (elev. 630'):

Temperature is 33.1 degrees F and steady;
Humidity is 70% and steady;
Pressure is 30.03" of Hg and steady;
Wind is stirring, but no mph are registering;
The sky is clear, and the sun is out;
The Cascades are running;
The Cascades Brook is flowing in both channels;
The USFS Fire Danger Class is MEDIUM.


National Weather Service Forecast:

Sunny, with a high near 66. West wind 9 to 11 mph.

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