Earth Day! Come join us at a clean up!

We're up bright and early today for the 26th annual Earth Day Clean ups, organized by the REC! GWLT is running clean ups starting at 8:30 am at Coes Reservoir (off of Englewood Ave) and at Cascades East (right off Olean Street).
And yes, Cascades East could use wheelbarrows still!
And at noon, come back to Cascading Waters for a cookout!

It is a GORGEOUS day!
At 7:30 am, it is 51.8 degrees and rising.
77% humidity and falling
The barometer is 29.8 inches of mercury and steady
Very light wind: 1.5 mph during period observed.
Fire danger is HIGH

NWS out of Boston is forecasting: 
Sunny, with a high near 70. Calm wind becoming west 5 to 9 mph in the afternoon.

Earth Day clean-up day!

It's Earth Day clean-up day here in the city of Worcester, and we hope you'll either come down to Cascades East (that's Olean Street, on the Holden line) or find a clean-up near you on the REC's map to pitch in on!

At nine am, it is 50.5 degrees and rising.
We have 53% humidity and falling.
The barometer is 29.62 is inches of mercury and steady.
We have clear blue skies here today.
The fire danger remains MODERATE.

Happy clean-ups!

Trail report in

A hiker stopped by yesterday to let us know that in his travels through Cascades East, Cascades West, and Cascading Waters, he'd only found trail blockage on the switchback section of the Cascades trail heading down slope to Cataract Street; all else had been cleared up.
If anyone's got new or different information, we'd love to hear it!

Hike report

At 8:06 am, it was 65 degrees and steady
97% humidity and steady
Barometer steady at 29.88 inches and a bit overcast

A hike this morning up the Holden Trail end of the Cascades Trail revealed that someone's been clearing it back a bit. (Junior Ranger question: "When are we cleaning up this property?" Cascades East was a private dump for years; let's just say it isn't high on anyone's list!) Japanese knotweed looking sadly healthy in its one clearing (at least it's only one!). No signs over ALB in maples we inspected (hooray!) New signs along Silver Spring, Cascades, and Newton trails are looking great. Checked out the West Tatnuck School spur trail. Took the unmarked trail off of the Newton trail to come out on Navasota. Gentleman we ran into along there reported four deer in their yesterday.

It isn't on the property, but we did find a huge quanity of turkey feathers along Olean Street between Dawson Road and the Holden/Cascades junction. Not much turkey, though.

Ducks!

We have...ducks!

The Junior Rangers report in that they have seen, several times now, a mallard pair (this morning just one of them) in the brook between Olean Street and Cook's Pond. We suspect they may be nesting down by the pond. We hope if they decide to cross Olean, they will take the culvert under the street, as we have no friendly Officer Michael on hand to help them cross!

A hike this morning the length of the Cascades Trail! There was a pretty impressive wind up on the hill this morning. No trash (well, except for the remains of the old dump on Cascades East, which practically qualify as antiques now!). There has, unfortunately, been someone out with a knife blazing the trail: it isn't good for the trees, dude! Not to mention that carving "John 3:16" into a tree is not a great evangelizing technique!

The trail itself is in good shape, 'though the sign pointing the way onto the Silver Spring Trail up from the Cascades Trail is down (and now propped up). We also could use a bit more blazing (with PAINT!) right there, to make the Cascades Trail clearer.

At 10:30, it is 48 degrees.
63% humidity
Overcast skies, but steady barometer
Fire danger is MODERATE
No rain to measure yet today.

Chillier than you'd think out there.